ArticleBMC public health2020
The actual and anticipated effects of a menthol cigarette ban: a scoping review.
Article in BMC public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 3 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
62 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review investigating policy design and implementation of US state and local policy to restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2026Pooled it
- The Impact of Menthol Cigarette Bans: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review and network meta-analysis of population-level interventions to tackle smoking behaviour.Nature human behaviour · 2024Pooled it
- Restricting choice of e-cigarette flavor and device type increases choices to use combusted cigarettes among adults who dual use both products: Results from a within-subjects randomized trial.Addictive behaviors · 2026Trial
- Substitutability of menthol cigarette alternatives: a clinical trial.Tobacco control · 2025Trial
- Menthol versus tobacco e-liquid flavor: Impact on acute subjective effects, puff patterns, and intentions for use among Black and White menthol smokers.Addictive behaviors · 2024Trial
- Illegal product purchasing in the experimental tobacco marketplace: Effects of menthol cigarette and cigarette ventilation ban.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Trial
- Menthol versus non-menthol flavouring and switching to e-cigarettes in black and Latinx adult menthol combustible cigarette smokers: secondary analyses from a randomised clinical trial.Tobacco control · 2023Trial
- Effect on Tobacco Use and Subjective Measures of Including E-cigarettes in a Simulated Ban of Menthol in Combustible Cigarettes.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2022Trial
- Acute effects of inhaled menthol on cognitive effects of intravenous nicotine among young adult cigarette smokers.Addictive behaviors · 2021Trial
- Menthol Smoking and Nicotine Dependence among Black/African American Women Smokers Living in Low-Resource, Rural Communities.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Effects on Smoking Behavior of Switching Menthol Smokers to Non-menthol Cigarettes.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2021Trial
- The U.S. Federal Menthol Ban: a Critical Step Toward Health Equity for African Americans.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Effects of menthol cigarette and e-cigarette flavour restrictions on tobacco product purchasing: insights from the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace.Tobacco control · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Social Determinants of Health and Cigarette Smoking Behaviors Among Adults in the United States, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 2023.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Conversations with African Americans Regarding a Ban on the Sale of Menthol Cigarettes.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Cooling the Conversation: Discourse About Menthol and Flavored Tobacco Restrictions on TikTok.Substance use & misuse · 2026Article
- Perceptions of a Menthol Cigarette and Flavored Cigar Ban Among Black and White Adults Who Smoke Menthol Cigarettes, United States, 2024.Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) · 2025Article
- Changing patterns of cigarette and ENDS transitions in the USA: a multistate transition analysis of adults in the PATH Study in 2017-2019 vs 2019-2021.Tobacco control · 2025Article
- Tobacco product flavour policies in the USA.Tobacco control · 2025Article
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA), under the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, banned characterizing flavors in cigarettes; however, mentholated tobacco products were exempt. Since 2009, over 20 US jurisdictions and numerous countries around the world have extended this restriction to menthol. Currently, the FDA is reconsidering its position on a nation-wide menthol cigarette ban. However, the effects of such a ban remain unclear. We conducted a scoping review to explore the impact of a menthol cigarette ban on individual behaviors (initiation, cessation, and product switching), sales, and compliance.
methodsWe conducted a search of the international literature using PubMed, EBSCO, and Web of Science (to November 25, 2019). We retrieved articles relevant to the impacts of an implemented or hypothetical menthol ban. We also included studies of flavored tobacco product bans due to their potential relevance in gauging compliance and product substitutability.
resultsThe search identified 493 articles, of which 24 were included. Studies examined the effects of implemented menthol bans (n = 6), hypothetical menthol bans (n = 12) and implemented flavor bans that exclude menthol (n = 6). Menthol bans were found to reduce sales and increase smoking cessation with only partial substitution for non-menthol cigarettes. US smokers' reactions to a hypothetical ban indicate that about 25-64% would attempt to quit smoking and 11-46% would consider switching to other tobacco products, including 15-30% to e-cigarettes. Flavor ban studies indicate reductions in initiation of 6%. Ban compliance was high, but studies indicate that the tobacco industry and retailers have attempted to circumvent their impact via packaging changes and online sales.
conclusionOur review finds that extending the US cigarette flavor ban to menthol products would promote smoking cessation and reduce initiation. This evidence supports further action by the FDA towards mentholated tobacco products. However, few studies have been conducted in the vaping era.
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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.