CONFERENCE PROCEEDING
Attitudes of Serbian adults towards e-cigarette use
 
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1
Institute of Public Health of Serbia "Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut", Belgrade, Serbia
2
Public Health Association of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
3
Ministry of Health of Serbia, Sector for European Integration and International Cooperation, Belgrade, Serbia
4
Institute of Public Health of Subotica, Subotica, Serbia
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Biljana Kilibarda   

Institute of Public Health of Serbia „Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut“, Belgrade, Serbia, dr Subotica 5, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Submission date: 2017-04-06
Acceptance date: 2017-04-07
Publication date: 2017-05-25
 
Tob. Prev. Cessation 2017;3(May Supplement):39
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
To analyze the attitudes of Serbian adults related to e-cigarettes and provide a basis for the development of targeted interventions.

Material and Methods:
Data were obtained through a survey among the adult population of Serbia conducted via face to face interviewing on a nationally representative sample of 1041 citizens of Serbia 18+ years old.

Results:
Smoking prevalence was calculated at 39.2% (40% male, 39% female). Prevalence of ever use e-cigarettes was 11% (12% male and 11% female) and of current use was 2%, both for male and female. The main reasons to use e-cigarettes were curiosity (51%), use as a substitution to cigarettes or to reduce the number of cigarettes (23%), for smoking cessation (18%), while 2% use it as it looks fashionable. There was no statistically significant difference for various above listed reasons for e-cigarette use according to sex, type of residence nor age. E-cigarette use didn't have any influence on the smoking pattern of 77% of those who ever used e-cigarette. The majority of citizens think that e-cigarettes with nicotine should be regulated in the same way as tobacco products (63%) and that e-cigarettes are harmful to health (67%), while 28% of smokers think that they could help them to quit smoking.

Conclusions:
Curiosity was cited as the main reason for trying e-cigarettes among a substantial number of those who had ever tried them, calling for actions aimed to reduce experimentation with e-cigarettes and their wide distribution. Further education on all aspects of e-cigarettes is needed among the general population including on the harmful effects of nicotine in any form.

eISSN:2459-3087