Perceived Relative Harm of Selected Cigarettes and Non-Cigarette Tobacco Products—A Study of Young People from a Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Rural Area in Poland

Kaleta, Dorota; Polanska, Kinga; Bak-Romaniszyn, Leokadia; Wojtysiak, Piotr

doi:10.3390/ijerph13090885

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Perceived Relative Harm of Selected Cigarettes and Non-Cigarette Tobacco Products—A Study of Young People from a Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Rural Area in Poland

Dorota Kaleta

^1,*,

Kinga Polanska

¹,

Leokadia Bak-Romaniszyn

² and

Piotr Wojtysiak

Department of Tobacco Control, Preventive Medicine Department, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz 90-752, Poland

Department of Nutrition in Digestive Tract Diseases, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz 93-338, Poland

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editors: Linda Bauld and Rosemary Hiscock

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2016, 13(9), 885; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090885

Received: 19 June 2016 / Revised: 26 August 2016 / Accepted: 26 August 2016 / Published: 6 September 2016

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tobacco Control and Priority Groups)

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Abstract

The perceived health risk of recently introduced nicotine and tobacco products may influence both their uptake and continued use. The aim of the study was to assess how adolescents rate relative harmfulness of slim and menthol cigarettes, water pipes, e-cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco compared to regular cigarettes. Cross-sectional survey data from students aged 13–19 years from Piotrkowski district, Poland were analyzed. Among the sample of 4050 students, 3552 respondents completed anonymous, confidential, self-administered questionnaire adapted from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). The study results indicate that the students perceived slim cigarettes and menthol cigarettes as less harmful, which is in line with the message created by tobacco companies. On the other hand, less popular products such as water pipes and smokeless tobacco were considered as more harmful. The current study indicates insufficient and misleading perception of harmfulness of different tobacco/nicotine products available on the Polish market. Simultaneously, there is insufficient countrywide public health education in this matter. Preventive measures are necessary to discourage young people from smoking uptake and to ensure that potential consumers can, based on objective data, make informed decisions about cigarettes and non-cigarette tobacco products. View Full-Text

Keywords: tobacco control; harm reduction; public health education; health communication; cigarettes; electronic cigarettes; smokeless tobacco; water pipe

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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Kaleta, D.; Polanska, K.; Bak-Romaniszyn, L.; Wojtysiak, P. Perceived Relative Harm of Selected Cigarettes and Non-Cigarette Tobacco Products—A Study of Young People from a Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Rural Area in Poland. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2016, 13, 885. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090885

AMA Style

Kaleta D, Polanska K, Bak-Romaniszyn L, Wojtysiak P. Perceived Relative Harm of Selected Cigarettes and Non-Cigarette Tobacco Products—A Study of Young People from a Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Rural Area in Poland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2016; 13(9):885. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090885

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kaleta, Dorota, Kinga Polanska, Leokadia Bak-Romaniszyn, and Piotr Wojtysiak. 2016. "Perceived Relative Harm of Selected Cigarettes and Non-Cigarette Tobacco Products—A Study of Young People from a Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Rural Area in Poland" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13, no. 9: 885. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090885

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Perceived Relative Harm of Selected Cigarettes and Non-Cigarette Tobacco Products—A Study of Young People from a Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Rural Area in Poland

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