• Yoneatsu Osaki, Jiamo Mei, Takeo Tanihata, and Masumi Minowa.
• Division of Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Tottori 683-8503, Japan. yoneatsu@grape.med.tottori-u.ac.jp
• Prev Med. 2004 Mar 1; 38 (3): 338-42.

BackgroundA survey on smoking behavior and relating factors among university students is necessary for establishing antismoking measures toward younger generation. To determine brand preferences of young smokers, we conducted a cross-sectional survey for students in a university.MethodsAn anonymous questionnaire was completed by the students at their annual health examinations. A total of 5688 students out of 7136 responded this survey (79.7%). The questionnaire included questions about smoking status, number of cigarettes smoked, brand preference, etc.ResultsSmoking prevalence was 55.2% for males and 12.0% for females. Estimated consumption of Japanese-brand cigarettes was 46.8% for males and 36.1% for females, whereas that of American-brand cigarettes was 36.3% for males and 45.1% for females. These values are much higher than the market share of imported cigarettes in Japan (17.1% in 1992). Five American brands ranked in the top 10 brands among these university students, whereas only one American brand was ranked in the top 10 brands in the Japanese market in 1992. Smokers who prefer cigarettes with higher nicotine ratings were more likely to have a higher consumption rate than otherwise.ConclusionsCigarette brand preference is an important aspect to realize the smoking behavior among young smokers.

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