Most smokers still don't fully understand the ways smoking can harm them

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-10-27 10:00

Australia; International; VIC; QLD

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The vast majority of current and former smokers don't know how much each aspect of smoking contributes to the overall risk to their health, according to Australian and international researchers. The team surveyed over 12,900 current smokers and recent ex-smokers across Australia, Canada, England and the US about their understanding of the role combustion products, nicotine, unburned tobacco and additives play in the harms of smoking. They say one in 25 participants were able to correctly rate the harm of all four aspects of smoking, with younger participants more likely to be correct. The researchers add that health educators need to be aware many smokers do not have a clear enough understanding of the risks of smoking to make informed decisions.

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conference: PLOS ONE

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Organisation/s: The University of Melbourne, The University of Queensland, Deakin University

Funder: The ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey in the US, Canada, and England was supported by grant P01 CA200512 from the US National Cancer Institute, and a Foundation Grant (FDN-148477) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The ITC Australia Project was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (GNT1106451). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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