Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Gravely, Shannon
• Driezen, Pete
• Kyriakos, Christina N
• Thompson, Mary E
• Balmford, James
• Demjén, Tibor
• Fernández, Esteve
• Mons, Ute
• Tountas, Yannis
• Janik-Koncewicz, Kinga
• Zatoński, Witold
• Trofor, Antigona C
• Vardavas, Constantine I
• Fong, Geoffrey T

Titel

European adult smokers’ perceptions of the harmfulness of e-cigarettes relative to combustible cigarettes: cohort findings from the 2016 and 2018 EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys

Ist Teil von

• European journal of public health, 2020-07, Vol.30 (Supplement_3), p.iii38-iii45

Ort / Verlag

England: Oxford University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Quelle

PAIS Index

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract Background This study presents perceptions of the harmfulness of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) relative to combustible cigarettes among smokers from six European Union (EU) countries, prior to the implementation of the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), and 2 years post-TPD. Methods Data were drawn from the EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys, a cohort study of adult smokers (≥18 years) from Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Spain. Data were collected in 2016 (pre-TPD: N = 6011) and 2018 (post-TPD: N = 6027). Weighted generalized estimating equations were used to estimate perceptions of the harmfulness of e-cigarettes compared to combustible cigarettes (less harmful, equally harmful, more harmful or ‘don’t know’). Results In 2016, among respondents who were aware of e-cigarettes (72.2%), 28.6% reported that they perceived e-cigarettes to be less harmful than cigarettes (range 22.0% in Spain to 34.1% in Hungary). In 2018, 72.2% of respondents were aware of e-cigarettes, of whom 28.4% reported perceiving that e-cigarettes are less harmful. The majority of respondents perceived e-cigarettes to be equally or more harmful than cigarettes in both 2016 (58.5%) and 2018 (61.8%, P > 0.05). Overall, there were no significant changes in the perceptions that e-cigarettes are less, equally or more harmful than cigarettes, but ‘don’t know’ responses significantly decreased from 12.9% to 9.8% (P = 0.036). The only significant change within countries was a decrease in ‘don’t know’ responses in Spain (19.3–9.4%, P = .001). Conclusions The majority of respondents in these six EU countries perceived e-cigarettes to be equally or more harmful than combustible cigarettes.