A refreshing poison: one‐quarter of young New Zealand smokers choose menthol

Abstract

Menthol is added to cigarettes to give a cooling sensation when smoked. In the US, half of all young smokers smoke menthol.

Predictors, Indicators, and Validated Measures of Dependence in Menthol Smokers

“…Among adolescents, studies have found no difference by menthol status on the Hooked on Nicotine Checklist, 73,74,102 and lower Hooked on Nicotine Checklist scores for adolescent preferring only menthol vs. only nonmenthol and compared to those who smoked both. 73 No difference by menthol status on the FTND was reported in another study of adolescents.…”

“…32,56,57,60,68,73,74,80–84,89,92,95,97,98,100–105 Seventeen published studies included validated measures and a menthol comparison, 1 analysis included partial FTND scores, and 5 studies compared validated dependence measures among smokers in racial/ethnic groups with disproportionately high and low menthol use. These studies are summarized in Table 1.…”

Measures of dependence in menthol and nonmenthol smokers - A comprehensive narrative review

“…A total of 17 published studies, which compare menthol and nonmenthol smokers based on a validated measure of cigarette dependence, [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] were included in the 2014 review. 6 In that review, studies consistently showed that menthol smokers scored the same or lower on cigarette dependence measures as nonmenthol smokers.…”

“…Eight publications included information on smoking frequency in the 2014 review, and all reported menthol smokers were statistically significantly less likely to be daily smokers compared to nonmenthol smokers or that there was no difference in smoking frequency. 35,36,73,74,78,79,91,92 For the current review, 15 publications were identified as including information on smoking frequency. 46,67,83,86,89,[93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102] Nearly all of the new studies provide evidence of either no difference or less frequent smoking among menthol smokers.…”

“…Studies supporting that menthol smokers are not more likely than nonmenthol smokers to be daily smokers or to smoke more frequently include multiple publications with adjusted analyses of large and representative survey data 35,67,74,79,83,92,97 and unadjusted analyses from other representative and large studies. 36,73,87,89,91,93,96 Two publications include discordant findings. Based on 19,889 participants in the 2013-2014 NSDUH, a higher percentage of menthol smokers were reported to be daily smokers compared to nonmenthol smokers, however it appears daily and non-daily smoking may have been mislabeled, because no other analyses of NSDUH or other nationally representative surveys would support that the majority of smokers in the U.S. were nondaily smokers.…”