Exposure of electronic cigarettes in Russia: results from Russian tobacco control policy evaluation study

Abstract

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) are not regulated under the Tobacco Control Law in Russia, very little is known about exposure to these products. Aim: To assess the exposure of population to ENDS in Russia. Methods: Data from Russian Tobacco Control Law Evaluation Survey (June – August 2017) are analysed. 11699 randomly selected respondents from 4320 households in 5 Russian Subjects were interviewed and a stratified sample (n=5289 aged≥18 years) of smokers(n=3228), former smokers(n=1012) and never smokers(n=1049) participated in the survey. Results: 34% of the respondents were familiar with ENDS; 11.9% had tried e-cigs, 25.8% of those were regular users. 69.2% of smokers, who used e-cigarettes hadn’t reduce the amount of smoked tobacco. 44.4% had made a quit attempt by means of e-cigarettes: of those 65.2% failed to quit smoking, and 75.3% could not quit neither smoking nor e-cigarettes in a long term. Only 18.7% ENDS users knew that e-cigarettes cause addiction, 35.8% were not sure, and 45.5% even denied the fact. Those were mostly the youngst respondents aged 18-24 years (52.3%), among all age groups (p Vaping was not allowed in the household of 70% respondents. Mostly vaping was allowed at home of the current tobacco smokers(21.8%), compared to quitters (p Strong legislation should be considered to regulate the ENDS.