Peer-Reviewed Publications

      Risk perception of IQOS™ and cigarettes: Temporal and cross-country comparisons

      AlMoosawi, S.; Bajec, M.; Mainy, N.; Kallischnigg, G.; Zwisele, B.; Fischer, K.; Magnani, P.; Roulet, S.

      Published
      May 17, 2022
      DOI
      10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101123
      PMID
      35669892
      Link to publication
      Topic
      Summary

      Background: Risk perception (RP) is central to smokers’ decision to switch to smoke-free tobacco and nicotine products (TNP). This study assessed temporal trends in the health RP of a novel heated tobacco product, IQOS™, relative to cigarettes, among current IQOS™ users. 

      Methods: The analyses included repeated cross-sectional data from online surveys in Germany (2018–19), Italy (2018–19), and Japan (2016–17, 2017–18, and 2018–19) among a random sample of current adult IQOS™ users from local registers of IQOS™ users. The health RPs of cigarettes and IQOS™ were assessed using the ABOUT™–Perceived Risk instrument, and their difference was described as the relative RP of IQOS™ to cigarettes (RPCig:IQOS™). 

      Results: After adjustment for covariates, the relative RPCig:IQOS™ was higher in 2018 than in 2019 (0.93; standard error, 0.33; P = 0.005). This was driven by an increase in the RP of IQOS™ over time in Italy (2018: 42.6 [95% CI, 41.6–43.5]; 2019: 44.4 [43.4–45.4]) and Japan (2017: 44.0 [43.1–44.9); 2018: 45.9 [45.2–46.7]; 2019: 48.6 [47.9–49.4]), while the RP of cigarettes remained stable.

      Conclusions: The relative RP of IQOS™ decreased over time, driven by an increase in the RP of IQOS™, in agreement with epidemiological studies indicating a temporal reduction in the relative RP of smoke-free TNPs. Continued surveillance of the RP of novel TNPs is warranted to inform effective TNP risk communication and ensure that adults smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke understand the relative risks of novel TNPs.

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      Reduced Risk Products ("RRPs”) is the term we use to refer to products that present, are likely to present, or have the potential to present less risk of harm to smokers who switch to these products versus continuing smoking. PMI has a range of RRPs in various stages of development, scientific assessment and commercialization. All of our RRPs are smoke-free products that deliver nicotine with far lower quantities of harmful and potentially harmful constituents than found in cigarette smoke.