ArticleTobacco control2021
Smokers' awareness of filter ventilation, and how they believe it affects them: findings from the ITC Four Country Survey.
Article in Tobacco control, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Cigarette filter ventilation, product appeal and regulatory options: a review of the influence of ventilation on consumers' sensory and risk perceptions.Tobacco control · 2026Pooled it
- Tobacco package health warnings about product manipulations: an experimental study among Australian adults who smoke.Health promotion international · 2025Trial
- Effect of Cigarette Type and Smoking Behavior on Urinary Metabolite Levels of Tobacco-Associated Toxicants.Chemical research in toxicology · 2026Article
- Still 'Cool': tobacco industry responds to state-wide menthol ban with synthetic coolants.Tobacco control · 2025Article
- Association of cigarette design features with smoker characteristics and risk beliefs: Cross-sectional findings from the 2019 ITC France Survey.Tobacco prevention & cessation · 2025Article
- The Effects of Filter Ventilation and Expanded Tobacco on the Tar, Nicotine and Carbon Monoxide Yields from Cigarettes Sold in Australia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Is perception reality? Associations among "light" cigarettes and number of cigarettes smoked per day.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFilter ventilation creates sensations of 'lightness' or 'smoothness' and is also highly effective for controlling machine-tested yields of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide. Nearly all factory-made cigarettes (FMC) now have filter ventilation in countries such as Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA. Research conducted before 'light' and 'mild' labelling was banned found low smoker awareness of filter ventilation and its effects. This study explores current levels of awareness of filter ventilation and current understanding of its effects in these four countries.
methodsWe used data from the 2018 wave of the ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey with samples from USA, England, Canada and Australia. Analyses were conducted initially on a weighted sample of 11 844, and subsequently on 7541 daily FMC smokers.
findingsOnly 40.3% of all respondents reported being aware of filter ventilation. Among daily FMC smokers, only 9.4% believed their cigarettes had filter ventilation. Believing that their usual cigarettes are smoother was positively associated with believing they are also less harmful. Both these beliefs independently predict believing their cigarettes are ventilated (smoother OR=1.97 (95% CI 1.50 to 2.59) and less harmful OR=2.41 (95% CI 1.66 to 3.49) in relation to those believing each characteristic is average.
interpretationAwareness of filter ventilation is currently low, despite decades of public 'education efforts around the misleading nature of 'light' and 'mild" descriptors. Few smokers realise that their cigarettes almost certainly are vented. Smokers who believed their cigarettes have filter ventilation were more likely to believe they were both smoother and less harmful. Awareness of the technology appears to be insufficient to prevent smokers being deceived by it. Filter ventilation is inherently misleading to smokers and it is time to ban it.
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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.