Under-25s are half as likely to succeed and are less worried about their health, according to HKU researchers
Young smokers find it twice as hard to quit compared to older people, according to a medical survey.
Of 1,203 smokers seeking assistance at the University of Hong Kong's stop-smoking clinic between August 2000 and January 2002, only 11 per cent were under 25.
Of that group, only 8 per cent succeeded in quitting - a rate less than half that for those aged 25 or older. The youngest smokers were 11 and the oldest over 80.
Professor Lam Tai-hing, head of the department of community medicine, said overseas experience also showed young people were less successful at quitting.
The professor said he had met smokers who took their first puff when they were three.
