Drovandi Aaron, Teague Peta-Ann, Glass Beverley, Malau-Aduli Bunmi
College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.
Tob Induc Dis. 2019 Mar 28;17:23. doi: 10.18332/tid/104753. eCollection 2019.
Innovations in tobacco control interventions are required to ensure continued reductions in global tobacco use, and to minimise attributable morbidity and mortality. We therefore aimed to investigate the perceived effectiveness of current cigarette packaging warnings and the potential effectiveness of cigarette-stick warnings across four countries.
An online survey was distributed to adult smokers in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Participants rated (using a 5-point Likert scale) and commented on the effectiveness of current cigarette packaging warnings and text warnings on eight cigarette sticks that prompted smokers to quit. Ratings were analysed using proportional odds logistic regression, and comments were analysed using content analysis.
Participants (N=678, mean age=44.3 years) from all four countries perceived cigarette packaging warnings as being minimally effective in prompting smokers to quit, citing desensitisation and irrelevance of the warnings, with US participants particularly critical of the text-only warnings. Compared to packaging warnings, the cigarette-stick warnings describing the financial costs of smoking and the effect of smoking on others, were the highest rated in all four countries (OR=3.42, 95% CI: 2.75-4.25, p<0.001 and OR=2.85, 95% CI: 2.29-3.55, p<0.001, respectively) and cited as strong messages to reduce smoking. Half of the participants either 'agreed' or 'strongly agreed' to the use of cigarette-stick warnings.
The findings of this study suggest that cigarette packaging warnings may experience a loss of effectiveness over time, eventually resulting in minimal impact on smoker behaviour. Health and non-health focused warnings and messages on individual cigarette sticks represent a novel and potentially effective method for reducing tobacco use. This would complement tobacco control interventions currently employed, resulting in public health benefits.
需要创新烟草控制干预措施，以确保全球烟草使用持续减少，并将可归因的发病率和死亡率降至最低。因此，我们旨在调查四个国家对当前香烟包装警示的感知效果以及烟支警示的潜在效果。
对澳大利亚、加拿大、英国和美国的成年吸烟者进行了一项在线调查。参与者对当前香烟包装警示以及促使吸烟者戒烟的八支烟支上的文字警示的效果进行评分（使用5分李克特量表）并发表评论。使用比例优势逻辑回归分析评分，使用内容分析方法分析评论。
来自所有四个国家的参与者（N = 678，平均年龄 = 44.3岁）认为香烟包装警示在促使吸烟者戒烟方面效果甚微，理由是对警示脱敏以及警示不相关，美国参与者对纯文字警示尤为不满。与包装警示相比，描述吸烟经济成本以及吸烟对他人影响的烟支警示在所有四个国家的评分最高（OR = 3.42，95% CI：2.75 - 4.25，p < 0.001；OR = 2.85，95% CI：2.29 - 3.55，p < 0.001），并被视为减少吸烟的有力信息。一半的参与者“同意”或“强烈同意”使用烟支警示。
本研究结果表明，香烟包装警示可能会随着时间推移而失去效果，最终对吸烟者行为的影响微乎其微。关注健康和非健康的个人烟支警示和信息是减少烟草使用的一种新颖且可能有效的方法。这将补充目前采用的烟草控制干预措施，带来公共卫生效益。
