Cigarette design features in low-, middle-, and high-income countries

Abstract

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 (P0.001). 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. Copyright © 2012 Rosalie V. Caruso and Richard J. O'Connor.