Prevalence and Associated Factors of Cigarette Smoking among South African Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocol

Mukhethwa Londani; Olanrewaju Oladimeji

doi:10.3390/mps6050085

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Cigarette Smoking among South African Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocol

Methods Protoc. 2023 Sep 11;6(5):85. doi: 10.3390/mps6050085.

Authors

Mukhethwa Londani^{1

2}, Olanrewaju Oladimeji¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public Health, Walter Sisulu University, Eastern Cape, Mthatha 5117, South Africa.
² Directorate of Research and Innovation, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.

Abstract

Tobacco use, particularly the initiation of smoking during adolescence and young adulthood, represents a significant public health concern in South Africa. The influence of socio-cultural factors, marketing strategies of the tobacco industry, and accessibility of tobacco products have all been implicated in this context. This systematic review and meta-analysis protocol aims to scrutinise the body of literature on this issue, providing a comprehensive understanding of the patterns and determinants of tobacco use among South African adolescents and young adults, with an eye towards informing more effective policy interventions. The available literature for studies on tobacco use will be systematically searched and reviewed. Five international scholarly databases, namely PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, and Scopus, will be searched. Peer-reviewed studies will be included if they are conducted in South Africa or South African provinces and if they include the prevalence of tobacco use among adolescents and young adults aged between 12 and 24 years. The results of such an analysis can guide future policy designs, enabling them to be more targeted and thus more effective. The findings can also have implications for shaping global tobacco control strategies, given the transferability of successful interventions across different populations and cultural contexts. This protocol has been registered in the PROSPERO database (ID: CRD42023428369).

Keywords: South Africa; adolescents; meta-analysis; systematic review; tobacco use; young adults.

Grants and funding

M.L doctoral programme is funded by the Sustained Academic Research and Training Program (SACERT). O.O.’s research protected time was partially supported by the Incentive Funding for Rated Researchers’ Grant from National Research Foundation (No: 132385), the South African Medical Research Council Research Capacity Development Initiative Program (award number: RCDI1002), and Walter Sisulu Seed Funding. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the funders.