Hackworth Emily E, Petillo Samantha L, Sun Yanwen, Vidaña-Pérez Dèsirée, Moodie Crawford, Niederdeppe Jeff, Hammond David, Thrasher James F
Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Tob Control. 2024 Dec 23. doi: 10.1136/tc-2024-059007.
Canada has become the first country in the world to require warnings to be displayed on cigarette sticks. Tobacco companies were given a transition period, from 30 April to 31 July 2024 to ensure that all king size cigarettes sold in the country included warnings on the filter of each cigarette stick. Warnings on the filter of regular size cigarettes will be implemented from April 2025.
We used an online panel provider to recruit an open cohort of adults in Canada who smoked factory-made or roll-your-own cigarettes. Seven waves of data were collected at 3-month intervals between February 2023 to August 2024, with 10 521 observations across 4310 participants. Participants were asked about support for the inclusion of warnings on cigarette filters, accompanied by an image of one of the six prescribed warnings (eg, 'Cigarettes damage your organs'). Smoking behaviours and sociodemographic characteristics were also queried.
Generalised estimated equations were used to estimate support at each wave. At W1 (February 2023, prior to the policy announcement), 25% of participants reported supporting printed health messages on cigarette sticks, significantly increasing to 27% by W7 (August 2024, at the end of the implementation transition period). Participants were more likely to support the policy if they used other nicotine/tobacco products, roll-your-own cigarettes, had a recent quit attempt, intended to quit, or had higher risk perception of smoking harms, and less likely if they were older, female, white or reported greater reactance to warnings on cigarette packs.
Just as increased support has been found for a range of tobacco control policies post-implementation, we found increased support for warnings on cigarettes during the transition period. However, support for this policy among people who smoke remains low. Other countries considering implementing this policy may consider these findings.
加拿大已成为世界上第一个要求在烟支上展示警示语的国家。烟草公司被给予一个过渡期，从2024年4月30日至7月31日，以确保该国销售的所有特大号香烟在每支烟的过滤嘴上都带有警示语。普通尺寸香烟过滤嘴上的警示语将于2025年4月起实施。
我们通过一家在线样本供应商招募了加拿大的一个成年吸烟者开放队列，这些人吸食工厂制造的香烟或手卷烟。在2023年2月至2024年8月期间，每隔3个月收集7波数据，4310名参与者共有10521条观测数据。参与者被问及对在香烟过滤嘴上添加警示语的支持情况，并配有六种规定警示语之一的图片（例如，“香烟损害您的器官”）。还询问了吸烟行为和社会人口学特征。
使用广义估计方程来估计每一波的支持率。在第1波（2023年2月，政策宣布前），25%的参与者表示支持在烟支上印制健康信息，到第7波（2024年8月，实施过渡期结束时）显著增至27%。如果参与者使用其他尼古丁/烟草产品、手卷烟、近期有过戒烟尝试、打算戒烟或对吸烟危害的风险认知较高，则更有可能支持该政策；而如果他们年龄较大、女性、白人或对烟包上的警示语反应较大，则支持的可能性较小。
正如在一系列烟草控制政策实施后发现支持率有所提高一样，我们发现在过渡期内对香烟警示语的支持率也有所提高。然而，吸烟者对这项政策的支持率仍然很低。其他考虑实施这项政策的国家可能会考虑这些研究结果。
