Electronic, heat-not-burn, and combustible cigarette use among chronic disease patients in Japan: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Although tobacco smoking adversely affects health, many people continue to smoke while suffering from chronic disease. Few studies have examined electronic and heat-not-burn cigarette use among chronic disease patients. Our objective was to investigate electronic, heat-not-burn and combustible cigarette use among chronic disease patients with hypertension, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), asthma, atopic dermatitis, cancer, or mental disorders.

Methods: We analyzed 4432 eligible respondents aged 40-69 years from a 2015 internet survey (randomly sampled research agency panelists) with a propensity score weighting adjustment for 'being a respondent in an internet survey' in Japan. The outcome measure was the prevalence of electronic, heat-not-burn, and combustible cigarette use. Intention to quit was also calculated.

Results: In all, 32.1% (n=80) of male patients with more than two diseases and 10.3% (n=16) of female patients were current smokers. Of the patients who had no intention to quit smoking, 15.5% were male patients with atopic dermatitis and 63.7% with mental disorders. Of the men, 7.7% without any diseases had ever used e-cigarettes, while 7.7% and 6.4% of men with one disease or more than two diseases, respectively, had ever used e-cigarettes. Of the women, 3.5% without any diseases had ever used e-cigarettes, while 2.1% and 2.9% of women with one disease or more than two diseases, respectively, had ever used e-cigarettes. Percentage of heat-not-burn tobacco current or ever use was low (<0.1%) among both men and women.

Conclusions: Differences in the use of electronic and combustible cigarettes according to the number of diseases were not obvious. However, sex differences for smoking among chronic disease patients, especially in atopic dermatitis and mental disorders, were found.