SynthesisBMJ open2016
Perceptions and impact of plain packaging of tobacco products in low and middle income countries, middle to upper income countries and low-income settings in high-income countries: a systematic review of the literature.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Small/Kiddie Cigarette Packaging Size and Its Impact on Smoking: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Tobacco packaging design for reducing tobacco use.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Strengthening tobacco control policy: using plain packaging to reduce product appeal and enhance public awareness.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- European Code Against Cancer, 5th edition - tobacco and nicotine containing products, second-hand smoke, alcohol and cancer.Molecular oncology · 2026Review
- Tobacco endgame policies: an analysis of preferred strategies and support levels in a sample from Qatar.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Opportunities for plain packaging of tobacco products in the Philippines: results of a nationwide online survey.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Evaluating the impact of plain packaging among Canadian smokers: findings from the 2018 and 2020 ITC Smoking and Vaping Surveys.Tobacco control · 2023Article
- Graphic health warnings and plain packaging in the Philippines: results of online and household surveys.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Will plain packaging of cigarettes achieve the expected? Perceptions among medical students.Tobacco induced diseases · 2022Article
- Taxation and tobacco plain packaging effect on Saudi smokers quitting intentions in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia.Saudi medical journal · 2020Article
- Evaluating smoking control policies in the e-cigarette era: a modelling study.Tobacco control · 2020Article
- Evaluating the impact of introducing standardized packaging with larger health-warning labels in England: findings from adult smokers within the EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys.European journal of public health · 2020Article
- The scope of tobacco cessation randomized controlled trials in low- to middle-income countries: protocol for a scoping review.Systematic reviews · 2020Article
- Implementation of Cigarette Plain Packaging: Triadic Reactions of Consumers, State Officials, and Tobacco Companies-The Case of Saudi Arabia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Adolescent and adult perceptions of the effects of larger size graphic health warnings on conventional and plain tobacco packs in India: A community-based cross-sectional study.Tobacco induced diseases · 2019Article
- Adolescent's Perception about the Introduction of New Cigarette Packaging and Plain Packaging of Cigarette Packs: A Qualitative Study.Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine · 2018Article
- The tobacco industry's challenges to standardised packaging: A comparative analysis of issue framing in public relations campaigns in four countries.Health policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2018Review
- Trends in smoking and smokeless tobacco use among Danish Adolescents, 1997-2014.Tobacco prevention & cessation · 2018Article
- Plain packaging of tobacco products: the logical next step for tobacco control policy in India.BMJ global health · 2018Review
- Standardized packaging and illicit tobacco use: A systematic review.Tobacco prevention & cessation · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo review the current literature around the potential impact, effectiveness and perceptions of plain packaging in low income settings.
methodA systematic review of the literature. DATA SOURCES: 9 databases (PubMed, Global Health, Social Policy and Practice, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA), CINAHL, PsycINFO, British Library for Development Studies (BLDS), Global Health Library and Scopus) were searched. The terms used for searching combined terms for smoking and tobacco use with terms for plain packaging. STUDY SELECTION: Studies investigating the impact of plain packaging on the determinants of tobacco use, such as smoking behaviour, appeal, prominence, effectiveness of health warnings, response to plain packs, attitudes towards quitting or likelihood of smoking in low-income settings, were identified. Studies must have been published in English and be original research of any level of rigour. DATA EXTRACTION: Two independent reviewers assessed studies for inclusion and extracted data. DATA SYNTHESIS: The results were synthesised qualitatively, with themes grouped under four key headings: appeal and attractiveness; salience of health warnings and perceptions of harm; enjoyment and perceived taste ratings; and perceptions of the impact on tobacco usage behaviour.
resultsThis review has identified four articles that met the inclusion criteria. Studies identified that tobacco products in plain packaging had less appeal than in branded packaging in low-income settings.
conclusionsThis review indicates that plain packaging appears to be successful in reducing appeal of smoking and packets, and supports the call for plain packaging to be widely implemented in conjunction with other tobacco control policies. However, there are considerable gaps in the amount of research conducted outside high-income countries.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.