title: The importance of the belief that "light" cigarettes are smoother in misperceptions of the harmfulness of "light" cigarettes in the Republic of Korea: a nationally representative cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A number of countries have banned misleading cigarette descriptors such as "light" and "low-tar" as called for by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. These laws, however, do not address the underlying cigarette design elements that contribute to misperceptions about harm. This is the first study to examine beliefs about "light" cigarettes among Korean smokers, and the first to identify factors related to cigarette design that are associated with the belief that "light" cigarettes are less harmful.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analysed data from Wave 3 of the ITC Korea Survey, a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,753 adult smokers, conducted October - December 2010. A multinomial logistic regression was used to examine which factors were associated with the belief that "light" cigarettes are less harmful than regular cigarettes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One quarter (25.0 %) of smokers believed that "light" cigarettes are less harmful than regular cigarettes, 25.8 % believed that smokers of "light" brands take in less tar, and 15.5 % held both of these beliefs. By far the strongest predictor of the erroneous belief that "light" cigarettes are less harmful was the belief that "light" cigarettes are smoother on the throat and chest (p < 0.001, OR = 44.8, 95 % CI 23.6-84.9).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The strong association between the belief that "light" cigarettes are smoother on the throat and chest and the belief that "light" cigarettes are less harmful, which is consistent with previous research, provides further evidence of the need to not only ban "light" descriptors, but also prohibit cigarette design and packaging features that contribute to the perception of smoothness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada. a7green@uwaterloo.ca.
authors.forename: Annika C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada. geoffrey.fong@uwaterloo.ca.|School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. geoffrey.fong@uwaterloo.ca.|Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. geoffrey.fong@uwaterloo.ca.
authors.forename: Geoffrey T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Fong
authors.affiliation: The Cancer Council, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ron.borland@cancervic.org.au.
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Borland
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada. ackquah@uwaterloo.cap.
authors.forename: Anne C K
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Quah
authors.affiliation: Center for Cancer Prevention and Detection, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Republic of Korea. hongwan@ncc.re.kr.
authors.forename: Hong Gwan
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Management and Policy, National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Republic of Korea. drheat10@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yeol
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Social and Epidemiological Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, London, Ontario, Canada. Tara.EltonMarshall@camh.ca.|Clinical Public Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Tara.EltonMarshall@camh.ca.|School of Health Studies, Western University, London, Canada. Tara.EltonMarshall@camh.ca.|Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Western University, London, Canada. Tara.EltonMarshall@camh.ca.
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Elton-Marshall
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D011356:Product Labeling / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D062789:Tobacco Products