New Tobacco and Tobacco-Related Products: Early Detection of Product Development, Marketing Strategies, and Consumer Interest.

ABSTRACT: A wide variety of new tobacco and tobacco-related products have emerged on the market in recent years.To understand their potential implications for public health and to guide tobacco control efforts, we have used an infoveillance approach to identify new tobacco and tobacco-related products.Our search for tobacco(-related) products consists of several tailored search profiles using combinations of keywords such as "e-cigarette" and "new" to extract information from almost 9000 preselected sources such as websites of online shops, tobacco manufacturers, and news sites.Developments in e-cigarette design characteristics show a trend toward customization by possibilities to adjust temperature and airflow, and by the large variety of flavors of e-liquids. Additionally, more e-cigarettes are equipped with personalized accessories, such as mobile phones, applications, and Bluetooth. Waterpipe products follow the trend toward electronic vaping. Various heat-not-burn products were reintroduced to the market.Our search for tobacco(-related) products was specific and timely, though advances in product development require ongoing optimization of the search strategy. Our results show a trend toward products resembling tobacco cigarettes vaporizers that can be adapted to the consumers' needs. Our search for tobacco(-related) products could aid in the assessment of the likelihood of new products to gain market share, as a possible health risk or as an indicator for the need on independent and reliable information of the product to the general public.

SUBMITTER: Staal YC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5996176 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature