Deficiencies in public understanding about tobacco harm reduction: results from a United States national survey

Introduction:
This summary will provide an overview of a study examining deficiencies in public understanding about tobacco harm reduction. The study analyzes a national survey of US adults to determine patterns in knowledge of relative harms of different tobacco products.

Key Points:

* The study used data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 4 Cycle 2, conducted between October 2012 and January 2013.
* Participants reported their perceptions of the relative risks of e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and different types of cigarettes compared to "traditional" cigarettes.
* The analysis focused on the consistency and accuracy of harm reduction beliefs.
* The results showed that 65% of respondents accurately reported that no cigarettes were less harmful than any others.
* 51% of respondents perceived e-cigarettes to be safer than regular cigarettes, which aligns with current scientific evidence.
* Only 9% of respondents perceived some smokeless tobacco products to be safer, which strongly supported by the evidence.
* However, only 3.5% of respondents had patterns of relative risk perceptions in line with current scientific evidence for all three modalities.

Main Message:
The study highlights a significant discrepancy between current evidence and public perceptions of relative risk of various tobacco/nicotine products. For most tobacco types, a large proportion of the population held inaccurate harm reduction beliefs. Although there was substantial awareness that no cigarettes were safer than any other cigarettes, there could be benefits from increasing the percentage of the public that appreciates this fact, especially among current smokers. Given the potential benefits of tobacco risk reduction strategies, public health education efforts to increase understanding of basic harm reduction principles are needed to address these misperceptions.

Kiviniemi, Marc T., and Lynn T. Kozlowski. “Deficiencies in Public Understanding about Tobacco Harm Reduction: Results from a United States National Survey.” Harm Reduction Journal 12, no. 1 (December 2015): 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-015-0055-0.