The Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at Truth Initiative, Washington, DC, USA.
Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2017 Dec 29;17(1):983. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4987-z.
Although menthol was not banned under the Tobacco Control Act, the law made it clear that this did not prevent the Food and Drug Administration from issuing a product standard to ban menthol to protect public health. The purpose of this review was to update the evidence synthesis regarding the role of menthol in initiation, dependence and cessation.
A systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature on menthol cigarettes via a PubMed search through May 9, 2017. The National Cancer Institute's Bibliography of Literature on Menthol and Tobacco and the FDA's 2011 report and 2013 addendum were reviewed for additional publications. Included articles addressing initiation, dependence, and cessation were synthesized based on study design and quality, consistency of evidence across populations and over time, coherence of findings across studies, and plausibility of the findings.
Eighty-two studies on menthol cigarette initiation (n = 46), dependence (n = 14), and cessation (n = 34) were included. Large, representative studies show an association between menthol and youth smoking that is consistent in magnitude and direction. One longitudinal and eight cross-sectional studies demonstrate that menthol smokers report increased nicotine dependence compared to non-menthol smokers. Ten studies support the temporal relationship between menthol and reduced smoking cessation, as they measure cessation success at follow-up.
The strength and consistency of the associations in these studies support that the removal of menthol from cigarettes is likely to reduce youth smoking initiation, improve smoking cessation outcomes in adult smokers, and in turn, benefit public health.
尽管薄荷醇并未被《烟草控制法案》所禁止，但该法案明确规定，这并不妨碍食品和药物管理局发布产品标准来禁止薄荷醇，以保护公众健康。本综述的目的是更新有关薄荷醇在起始、依赖和戒断方面作用的证据综合。
通过 2017 年 5 月 9 日之前在 PubMed 上进行的薄荷醇香烟同行评议文献的系统检索，对薄荷醇香烟进行了系统评价。还审查了国家癌症研究所的薄荷醇和烟草文献目录以及 FDA 的 2011 年报告和 2013 年增编，以获取其他出版物。根据研究设计和质量、人群和时间跨度内证据的一致性、研究之间结果的一致性以及研究结果的合理性，对涉及起始、依赖和戒断的纳入文章进行了综合。
共纳入 82 项关于薄荷醇香烟起始（n=46）、依赖（n=14）和戒断（n=34）的研究。大型、有代表性的研究表明，薄荷醇与青少年吸烟之间存在关联，其关联的大小和方向一致。一项纵向研究和八项横断面研究表明，与非薄荷醇吸烟者相比，薄荷醇吸烟者报告尼古丁依赖程度更高。十项研究支持薄荷醇与降低戒烟成功率之间的时间关系，因为它们在随访时测量了戒烟成功。
这些研究中关联的强度和一致性支持从香烟中去除薄荷醇可能会降低青少年吸烟的起始率，改善成年吸烟者的戒烟效果，从而有益于公众健康。
