Risk communication vital

Comparative risk communication might encourage smokers to switch to lower-harm tobacco products, according to the results of a study by US researchers at the Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta.

The researchers found also that comparative risk messages with more negative anti-smoking elements in the design might be particularly effective, because they led to ‘higher self-efficacy to quit smoking’.

They concluded that regulatory agencies might want to consider using comparative risk messages with more negative anti-smoking elements ‘to educate the public about lower risk of e-cigarettes’.

An abstract of the Tobacco Control study is available on the BMJ Journals website.