{"id":34122,"date":"2026-02-12T10:08:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T10:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=34122"},"modified":"2026-02-12T10:08:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T10:08:41","slug":"most-cigarette-and-little-cigar-users-overestimate-nicotines-harm-new-u-s-path-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/most-cigarette-and-little-cigar-users-overestimate-nicotines-harm-new-u-s-path-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Most cigarette and little cigar users overestimate nicotine\u2019s harm, new U.S. Path study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>63 per cent of adults who use little cigars and cigarillos overestimate nicotine\u2019s harm<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>65.7 per cent have incorrect perceptions about nicotine\u2019s health risks<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>No significant difference compared with people who smoke cigarettes or use both products<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Using additional tobacco products linked to more accurate nicotine perceptions<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Most adults who use little cigars and cigarillos overestimate the dangers of nicotine &#8211; and they are just as likely to get it wrong as people who smoke cigarettes, according to a new U.S. study.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tobaccoinduceddiseases.org\/pdf-214722-135041?filename=Perceptions-of-nicotine-h.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The analysis<\/a>, published in the journal Tobacco Induced Diseases, examined data from more than 5,500 U.S. adults who currently used little cigars and cigarillos (LCCs), cigarettes, or both, drawn from Wave 7 (2022 to 2023) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers reported that \u201capproximately 63 per cent of respondents who use LCCs overestimated nicotine harms and 65.7 per cent reported nicotine misperceptions\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What the study looked at<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers noted that \u201cLittle is known about nicotine perceptions among people who use little cigars and cigarillos (LCCs)\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While previous research has shown that many people who smoke cigarettes misunderstand nicotine\u2019s role in smoking-related disease, nationally representative data on LCC users have been lacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using cross-sectional data from adults aged 18 and over, the team assessed responses to the question: \u201cHow harmful do you think nicotine is to health?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Participants answered on a five-point scale ranging from \u201cnot at all\u201d to \u201cextremely\u201d harmful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study defined two types of misperceptions: overestimating nicotine\u2019s harm (rating it \u201cvery\u201d or \u201cextremely\u201d harmful), and broader incorrect perceptions (rating it \u201cnot at all\u201d, \u201cvery\u201d or \u201cextremely\u201d harmful).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sample included people who used cigarettes only, LCCs only, and those who used both. People who only used LCCs as blunts were excluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>No difference between product types<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the central findings was that nicotine misperceptions were widespread &#8211; and did not differ significantly by product type. The authors concluded: \u201cPeople who use LCCs are equally likely to overestimate or be incorrect about nicotine harms as those who exclusively or dual use cigarettes\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Statistical analysis showed no significant differences in adjusted odds ratios between exclusive cigarette users (the reference group), dual users, and those who used LCCs without cigarettes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, switching between or combining combustible products did not appear to change how harmful respondents believed nicotine to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Other tobacco use linked to more accurate views<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the study did identify one notable difference. \u201cPeople who used other tobacco products in addition to LCCs and\/or cigarettes were significantly less likely.. to overestimate the harms of nicotine compared to those who did not use other tobacco products\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same group was also less likely to hold incorrect perceptions more broadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The additional products captured in the analysis included electronic nicotine products (vapes), traditional cigars, pipe tobacco, hookah, snus and other smokeless tobacco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The authors concluded: \u201cusing additional products is associated with correct responses about nicotine harms.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Demographic differences<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The study also found significant differences across demographic groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Adults aged 25 to 54 were more likely than those aged 18 to 24 to overestimate and misjudge nicotine\u2019s harms. Males were less likely than females to hold misperceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic respondents were more likely than non-Hispanic White respondents to overestimate nicotine\u2019s harms and to hold incorrect perceptions. Higher educational attainment was associated with lower odds of misperception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, the authors wrote: \u201c..people who use LCCs and\/or cigarettes are likely to overestimate the harm of nicotine (63.0 per cent; 95 per cent CI: 61.8-64.2) and have incorrect perceptions about the harm of nicotine (65.7 per cent; 95 per cent CI: 64.6-66.9)\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Policy implications<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The findings are particularly relevant in the context of U.S. regulatory authority over nicotine levels in tobacco products. As the paper notes, \u201cThe FDA has regulatory authority to set nicotine levels for tobacco products in the US\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authors suggest that misperceptions may have real-world consequences. \u201cPrior research indicates that individuals in population sub-groups that overestimate the harms of nicotine may not realize that nicotine replacement therapy is an FDA-approved, safe, and effective cessation tool\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They add that \u201cOngoing monitoring of nicotine misperceptions in these specific groups of LCC users will help detect changes to the absolute prevalence of misperceptions following regulatory actions and estimate how these misperceptions impact the continued use of combustible tobacco products\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Strengths and limits<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The study draws on what the authors describe as \u201cthe most recent nationally representative PATH Study data to provide an estimate of nicotine perceptions\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, they acknowledge limitations. The research \u201cuses self-reported data susceptible to social desirability biases\u201d, \u201cis cross-sectional and thus does not allow for causal inference\u201d, and \u201cwas conducted using only US data, which limits its generalizability for adult LCC users in other countries\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even so, the central message is that misunderstanding about nicotine\u2019s harms remains common &#8211; not only among people who smoke cigarettes, but also among those who use little cigars and cigarillos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most adults who use little cigars and cigarillos overestimate the dangers of nicotine &#8211; and they are just as likely to get it wrong as people who smoke cigarettes, according to a new U.S. study. The analysis, published in the journal Tobacco&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990002,"featured_media":34123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257,259],"tags":[186],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-34122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-science","tag-nicotine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34130,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34122\/revisions\/34130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34122"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=34122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}