Summary: | Background
The WHO MPOWER strategy recommends the use of health
warnings on cigarette packs about the impact of tobacco on health. Previous
studies have shown the association of noticing warnings and making a quit
attempt. Argentina introduced warnings as by the National Tobacco Control Law
in 2012. This study aimed to measure the association of health warnings and
attitudes towards quitting.
Methods
Secondary
analysis from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) done in Argentina in 2012,
restricted to adult smokers of
18 years old or more. Results from a population-based study were analyzed using
multivariable logistic regression modelling for the association of noticing
health warnings and having favorable attitudes (referring one quit attempt during last year, quit less than a year ago or
reported intention of quitting during the next month or year).
Results
Our
sample included 1,717 smokers and recent quitters representing 6,431,623 in
a population-weighted projection (mean age 40.21 years, 37.77% women).
Favorable attitude was present in 26.15% 95%CI 20.53-32.67 (mean age 41.41
years, 35.86% females). Most of them (83.55%) referred noticing warnings during the
last month and 40.09% (95%CI 33.12-47.49) admitted warnings made them consider
to quit. Multivariate
analysis showed health warnings were strongly associated with favorable
attitudes towards smoking cessation (OR 4.64 95%CI 2.28-9.41, p=0.001) after adjusting by age, gender, educational
level and income.
Conclusions
Noticing
health warnings on cigarette pack was associated to favorable attitudes toward
cessation. They had a robust effect and were effective regardless of smoker demographics.
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