Cigarette Design Features in Low-, Middle-, and High-Income Countries

الملخص EN

Previous studies have shown that country income grouping is correlated with cigarette engineering.

Cigarettes (N=111 brands) were purchased during 2008–2010 from 11 low-, middle-, and high-income countries to assess physical dimensions and an array of cigarette design features.

Mean ventilation varied significantly across low- (7.5%), middle- (15.3%), and high-income (26.2%) countries (P≤0.001).

Differences across income groups were also seen in cigarette length (P=0.001), length of the tipping paper (P=0.01), filter weight (P=0.017), number of vent rows (P=0.003), per-cigarette tobacco weight (P=0.04), and paper porosity (P=0.008).

Stepwise linear regression showed ventilation and tobacco length as major predictors of ISO tar yields in low-income countries (P=0.909, 0.047), while tipping paper (P<0.001), filter length (P<0.001), number of vent rows (P=0.014), and per-cigarette weight (P=0.015) were predictors of tar yields in middle-income countries.

Ventilation (P<0.001), number of vent rows (P=0.009), per-cigarette weight (P<0.001), and filter diameter (P=0.004) predicted tar yields in high-income countries.

Health officials must be cognizant of cigarette design issues to provide effective regulation of tobacco products.