Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
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We estimated the price and income elasticity of cigarette demand and the impact of cigarette taxes on cigarette demand and cigarette tax revenue in Malaysia. The data on cigarette consumption, cigarette prices, and public policies between 1990 and 2004 were subjected to a time-series regression analysis applying the error-correction model. The preferred cigarette demand model specification resulted in long-run and short-run price elasticities estimates of -0.57 and -0.08, respectively. ⋯ The model predicted that an increase in cigarette excise tax from Malaysian ringgit (RM) 1.60 to RM2.00 per pack would reduce cigarette consumption in Malaysia by 3.37%, or by 806,468,873 cigarettes. This reduction would translate to almost 165 fewer tobacco-related lung cancer deaths per year and a 20.8% increase in the government excise tax revenue. We conclude that taxation is an effective method of reducing cigarette consumption and tobacco-related deaths while increasing revenue for the government of Malaysia.
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This study examined perceived risk of harm from smoking or ST use in a U. S. nationally representative sample of high school seniors and examined its association with current smoking status. Data were derived from the Monitoring the Future project for 1999 through 2003 (n = 11,093). ⋯ Adjusting for sex and race, high school seniors who perceived that smoking conveyed a greater risk for harm than did using smokeless tobacco were significantly more likely to be smokers than were those who perceived equal risk from the products (odds ratio [OR] = 1.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.29-1.60). Those who perceived that using smokeless tobacco was riskier than smoking were even more likely to be current smokers (OR = 2.43; 95% CI 1.96-3.01). Effective methods for communicating accurate health risks to young people are needed.
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Review Meta Analysis
Waterpipe smoking and nicotine exposure: a review of the current evidence.
The waterpipe, also known as shisha, hookah, narghile, goza, and hubble bubble, has long been used for tobacco consumption in the Middle East, India, and parts of Asia, and more recently has been introduced into the smokeless tobacco market in western nations. We reviewed the published literature on waterpipe use to estimate daily nicotine exposure among adult waterpipe smokers. We identified six recent studies that measured the nicotine or cotinine levels associated with waterpipe smoking in four countries (Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, and India). ⋯ Even among subjects who were not daily waterpipe smokers, a single session of waterpipe use produced a urinary cotinine level that was equivalent to smoking two cigarettes in one day. Estimates of the nicotine produced by waterpipe use can vary because of burn temperature, type of tobacco, waterpipe design, individual smoking pattern, and duration of the waterpipe smoking habit. Our quantitative synthesis of the limited human data from four nations indicates that daily use of waterpipes produces nicotine absorption of a magnitude similar to that produced by daily cigarette use.
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Most tobacco control efforts in western countries focus on the factory-made, mass-produced (FM) cigarette, whereas other tobacco products receive relatively little attention. Noncombusted tobacco products (i.e., referred to as smokeless tobacco), particularly Swedish-style snus, carry lower disease risks, compared with combusted tobacco products such as cigarettes. In this context, it is important to know what tobacco users believe about the relative harmfulness of various types of tobacco products. ⋯ Use of other tobacco products was low but may be growing among smokers in the four countries studied. Smokers are confused about the relative harms of tobacco products. Health education efforts are needed to correct smoker misperceptions.
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Comparative Study
Higher nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in menthol cigarette smokers with and without schizophrenia.
This study examined whether smoking menthol cigarettes was associated with increased biochemical measures of smoke intake. Expired carbon monoxide (CO) and serum nicotine and cotinine were measured in 89 smokers with schizophrenia and 53 control smokers immediately after smoking an afternoon cigarette. Serum nicotine levels (27 vs. 22 ng/ml, p = .010), serum cotinine levels (294 vs. 240 ng/ml, p = .041), and expired CO (25 vs. 21 ppm, p = .029) were higher in smokers of menthol compared with nonmenthol cigarettes, with no differences in 3-hydroxycotinine/cotinine ratios between groups when controlling for race. ⋯ Although rates of mentholated cigarette smoking were not higher in smokers with schizophrenia overall, they were significantly higher in non-Hispanic White people with schizophrenia compared with controls of the same ethnic/racial subgroup (51% vs. 28%, p<.0001). The higher exhaled CO in menthol smokers suggests that the higher nicotine levels are at least partly related to increased intake of smoke from menthol cigarettes, although menthol-mediated inhibition of nicotine metabolism also may be a factor. Menthol is an important cigarette additive that may help explain why some groups have lower quit rates and more smoking-caused disease.