[Current Status of Flavored Tobacco Products Use]

Flavored Tobacco Products (FTPs) are widely used by adolescents, youths, and women. Framework Convention on Tobacco Control recommends regulating tobacco flavoring. From May to June 2022, an online and qualitative survey of a nationwide panel of people aged 13-39 years was conducted. Of the 10,030 participants, 6,374 (63.5%) had used tobacco products. Among 5,243 current users, 4,045 (77.2%) were FTP users-an increase of 12.4%p from 64.8% in 2016. In terms of current FTP users by age group, 85.0% were aged 13-18, 80.1% were 19-24 years, and 74.5% were 25-39 years. There were twice as many respondents who said that FTP affected their first attempts to smoke, and the awareness of harmfulness was lowered. FTPs are also used in e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. For first-time smokers who tried flavored cigarettes once or twice, the odds ratio (OR) for current smokers was 1.4 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-1.6, age-adjusted) compared to those who started with unflavored cigarettes. The OR of continuing to smoke FTPs was 10.9 (95% CI, 9.5-12.4). It is necessary to continuously identify FTP patterns, improve awareness, and prepare countermeasures to prevent the addiction to tobacco among adolescents.