Disabilities, Inequalities, Smoking, and E-Cigarettes (DISE)
DISE is a current TFRI project (2022-2025), led by Principal Investigators Dr Joan Hanafin and Prof Luke Clancy, that sets out to understand tobacco use in people with disabilities and how it can increase inequalities.
DISE is funded by RCDHT.
This study examines the use of combustible and electronic cigarettes in adolescents and young adults (AYA) with disabilities. Tobacco use is strongly associated with social and health inequalities, being linked with economic vulnerability, morbidity and premature death. People with disabilities experience specific and well-documented inequalities, among them, poorer health, educational, economic, and labour force outcomes. There is some evidence of higher tobacco use among people with disabilities. In this TFRI study disability includes a broad scope of mental, intellectual, sensory or physical impairments (1).
We will investigate inequalities associated with the use of cigarettes/e-cigarettes among Adolescent and Young Adults (AYA) with disabilities, through analyses of 4 waves of the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) Child Cohort datasets, establishing prevalence of disabilities and of smoking and e-cigarette use at different age points (13, 17/18, 20 years).
Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is the national longitudinal study of children and youth in Ireland, providing datasets on 20,000 young people in Ireland in two cohorts (Child and Infant). This study will use data from the GUI Child Cohort, Waves 1 to 4 comprising participants first surveyed in 2008 aged 10 years and who are now 23-24 years old. Numbers of study participants are 8,568 (Wave 1), 7,525 (Wave 2), 6,216 (Wave 3), 5,190 (Wave 4) and 2,277 (Covid Wave). CSO (2016) estimates for numbers of young people with disability in this age group in Ireland are approximately 10%.
Findings from this study, disseminated through reports, scholarly journals and conferences, will provide the evidence base for Government policy and legislation on tobacco products with, for the first time, specific recommendations on regulation, education, and cessation that are more inclusive of adolescents and young people with disabilities.
Research Outputs from DISE
Image on this page designed by pch.vector/Freepik
