Perceptions of health warnings on cigarette sticks among the adult population in Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional survey

Ahmed F Al-Ahmadi; Mohammed A Almatrafi; Ahmed K Ali; Osama H Alsaedi; Abdulmohsen H Al-Zalabani

doi:10.18332/tid/182912

Perceptions of health warnings on cigarette sticks among the adult population in Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional survey

Tob Induc Dis. 2024 Feb 21:22. doi: 10.18332/tid/182912. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Ahmed F Al-Ahmadi^{1

2

3

4}, Mohammed A Almatrafi¹, Ahmed K Ali^{1

2}, Osama H Alsaedi^{1

2}, Abdulmohsen H Al-Zalabani⁵

Affiliations

¹ General Directorate of Health Affairs of Medina, Ministry of Health, Al Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
² Model of Care, Madinah Health Cluster, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
³ Quit Smoking Clinic, Public Health Department, King Salman Medical City, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Preventive Medicine Program for Postgraduate Studies, Ministry of Health, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Taibah University, Al Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Introduction: Health warnings on cigarette sticks are emerging as a tool to control tobacco consumption; hence, understanding how they are perceived is valuable in determining their effectiveness. Our study aimed to evaluate the perception of health-related messages and warnings on individual cigarette sticks. It also aimed to evaluate the perceptions of the effectiveness of cigarette packaging warnings and the acceptance level for the inclusion of health warnings on cigarette sticks.

Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted on 285 individuals in Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The survey was distributed online using a non-probability convenience sampling technique. The chi-squared test and logistic regression analysis were used to determine the association of sociodemographic characteristics and smoking-related variables with participants' perceptions of health warnings on cigarette sticks and packaging. The responses were also assessed qualitatively using conceptual content analysis.

Results: In all, 18.6% of participants perceived that the package warnings were either 'quite effective' or 'very effective' in prompting smokers to quit. For health warnings on cigarette sticks, 28.1% of participants perceived that the theme of statistics on mortality was either 'quite effective' or 'very effective' in prompting smokers to quit, compared to 35.0 % for the theme of social and financial consequences. Respondents who had secondary education and lower were almost two times more likely to support the inclusion of health warnings than those who had a university education and higher (OR=1.9; 95% CI: 1.02-3.7, p=0.042). Most of the comments were positive for the inclusion of health warnings on cigarette sticks.

Conclusions: Most participants perceived that package warnings were ineffective, but warnings on cigarette sticks were effective methods of dissuasion of cigarette use. Smokers were almost twice as likely to perceive as effective supportive messages to quit than non-smokers. The majority of participants 'agreed' or 'strongly agreed' to the inclusion of health warnings on cigarette sticks.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia; dissuasive cigarettes; public health; tobacco control.

Grants and funding

FUNDING There was no source of funding for this research.