School of Nursing, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Nov 19;17(22):8575. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17228575.
The growing popularity of heated tobacco products (HTPs) among youth may act as a gateway for smoking and jeopardize youth health. We aimed to describe the use of HTPs among youth smokers in Hong Kong and examine their risk awareness of HTPs as well as awareness of the proposed legislation. We conducted retrospective data analyses on the Youth Quitline Cohort ( = 731). We extracted participants' sociodemographic data, smoking profiles, and HTP use from 1 January 2017. Participants' HTP use increased from 5.7% in 2017 to 37.9% in 2020. Among the 731 participants, 175 were HTP users and 556 were HTP nonusers. Compared with nonusers, a significantly higher proportion of HTP users had tried using other tobacco products at least once. The most common reason for using HTPs was curiosity. HTP users were more likely than nonusers to misclassify HTPs as e-cigarettes; agree that HTPs were healthier and contained fewer harmful substances than conventional cigarettes; consider HTPs as a smoking cessation aid; and believe that HTPs could reduce conventional cigarette consumption. Overall, 61.2% of youth smokers disagreed with banning HTPs. Risk awareness of HTPs among youth might affect their likelihood of using these products. Stricter regulations on advertising and intensive health education are imperative to avoid misleading information and limit youth exposure to such harmful products.
加热烟草产品（HTP）在青少年中的日益普及可能成为吸烟的入口，并危及青少年的健康。我们旨在描述香港青少年吸烟者对 HTP 的使用情况，并研究他们对 HTP 的风险意识以及对拟议立法的认识。我们对青年戒烟热线队列（=731）进行了回顾性数据分析。我们从 2017 年 1 月 1 日起提取参与者的社会人口统计学数据、吸烟情况和 HTP 使用情况。参与者的 HTP 使用量从 2017 年的 5.7%增加到 2020 年的 37.9%。在 731 名参与者中，有 175 名 HTP 用户，556 名 HTP 非用户。与非用户相比，HTP 用户尝试使用其他烟草产品的比例明显更高。使用 HTP 的最常见原因是好奇。HTP 用户比非用户更有可能将 HTP 错误归类为电子烟；认为 HTP 比传统香烟更健康，含有的有害物质更少；认为 HTP 是戒烟辅助工具；并认为 HTP 可以减少传统香烟的消费。总的来说，61.2%的青少年吸烟者不同意禁止 HTP。青少年对 HTP 的风险意识可能会影响他们使用这些产品的可能性。对广告进行更严格的监管和加强健康教育对于避免误导信息和限制青少年接触此类有害产品至关重要。
