PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kyriakos, Christina N
AU  - Erinoso, Olufemi
AU  - Driezen, Pete
AU  - Thrasher, James F
AU  - Katanoda, Kota
AU  - Quah, Anne C K
AU  - Tabuchi, Takahiro
AU  - Perez, Cristina de Abreu
AU  - Seo, Hong Gwan
AU  - Kim, Su Young
AU  - Nordin, Amer Siddiq Amer
AU  - Hairi, Farizah Mohd
AU  - Fong, Geoffrey T
AU  - Filippidis, Filippos T
TI  - Prevalence and perceptions of flavour capsule cigarettes among adults who smoke in Brazil, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia and Mexico: findings from the ITC surveys
AID  - 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083080
DP  - 2024 Apr 01
TA  - BMJ Open
PG  - e083080
VI  - 14
IP  - 4
4099  - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/4/e083080.short
4100  - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/4/e083080.full
SO  - BMJ Open2024 Apr 01; 14
AB  - Introduction The global market of flavour capsule cigarettes (FCCs) has grown significantly over the past decade; however, prevalence data exist for only a few countries. This study examined prevalence and perceptions of FCCs among adults who smoke across five countries.Methods Cross-sectional data among adults who smoked cigarettes came from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project Surveys—Brazil (2016/2017), Japan (2021), Republic of Korea (2021), Malaysia (2020) and Mexico (2021). FCCs use was measured based on reporting one’s usual/current brand or favourite variety has flavour capsule(s). Perceptions of the harmfulness of one’s usual brand versus other brands were compared between those who used capsules versus no capsules. Adjusted logistic regression models examined correlates of FCC use.Results There were substantial differences in the prevalence of FCC use among adults who smoke across the five countries: Mexico (50.3% in 2021), Republic of Korea (31.8% in 2021), Malaysia (26.5% in 2020), Japan (21.6% in 2021) and Brazil (6.7% in 2016/2017). Correlates of FCC use varied across countries. Capsule use was positively associated with being female in Japan and Mexico, younger age in Japan, Republic of Korea and Malaysia, high education in Brazil, Japan and Mexico, non-daily smoking in Republic of Korea, and having plans to quit in Japan and Republic of Korea. There was no consistent pattern of consumer perceptions of brand harmfulness.Conclusion Our study documented the high prevalence of FCCs in some countries, pointing to the need to develop and implement regulatory strategies to control these attractive products.Data are available upon reasonable request. In each country participating in the international Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation (ITC) Project, the data are jointly owned by the lead researcher(s) in that country and the ITC Project at the University of Waterloo. Data from the ITC Project are available to approved researchers 2 years after the date of issuance of cleaned data sets by the ITC Data Management Centre. Researchers interested in using ITC data are required to apply for approval by submitting an International Tobacco Control Data Repository (ITCDR) request application and subsequently to sign an ITCDR Data Usage Agreement. The criteria for data usage approval and the contents of the Data Usage Agreement are described online (http://www.itcproject.org).