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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

2020; Oxford University Press; Volume: 30; Issue: Supplement_3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/eurpub/ckz215

1464-360X

Shannon Gravely, Pete Driezen, Christina N Kyriakos, Mary E. Thompson, James Balmford, Tibor Demjén, Esteve Fernández, Ute Mons, Yannis Tountas, Kinga Janik‐Koncewicz, Witold Zatoński, Antigona Trofor, Constantine Vardavas, Geoffrey T. Fong, Constantine Vardavas, Andrea Glahn, Christina N Kyriakos, Dominick Nguyen, Katerina Nikitara, Cornel Radu-Loghin, Polina Starchenko, Aristidis Tsatsakis, Charis Girvalaki, Chryssi Igoumenaki, Sophia Papadakis, Aikaterini Papathanasaki, Manolis Tzatzarakis, Constantine Vardavas, Nicolas Bécuwe, Lavinia Deaconu, Sophie Goudet, Christopher Hanley, Oscar Rivière, Tibor Demjén, Judit Kiss, Anna Piroska Kovacs, Esteve Fernández, Yolanda Castellano, Marcela Fu, Sarah O Nogueira, Olena Tigova, Ann McNeill, Katherine East, Sara C Hitchman, Ute Mons, Sarah Kahnert, Yannis Tountas, Panagiotis Behrakis, Filippos T Filippidis, Christina Gratziou, Paraskevi Κatsaounou, Theodosia Peleki, Ioanna Petroulia, Chara Tzavara, Antigona Trofor, Marius Eremia, Lucia Maria Lotrean, Florin Mihălţan, Gernot Rohde, Tamaki Asano, Claudia Cichon, Amy Far, Céline Genton, Melanie Jessner, Linnéa Hedman, Christer Janson, Ann Lindberg, Beth Maguire, Sofía Ravara, Valérie Vaccaro, Brian J. Ward, M. C. Willemsen, Hein de Vries, Karin Hummel, Gera E. Nagelhout, Witold Zatoński, Aleksandra Herbeć, Kinga Janik‐Koncewicz, Krzysztof Przewoźniak, Witold Zatoński, Geoffrey T. Fong, Thomas K Agar, Pete Driezen, Shannon Gravely, Anne C K Quah, Mary E. Thompson,

Noise Effects and Management

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.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').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).The majority of respondents in these six EU countries perceived e-cigarettes to be equally or more harmful than combustible cigarettes.