Users of non-combusted cigarettes in South Korea tend to use combustible cigarettes also, according to a Yonhap News Agency story citing the results of a recent survey.
This reportedly meant that the users of non-combusted cigarettes were enjoying only limited health benefits.
According to the survey conducted by the Anti-smoking Support Center of the Korea Health Promotion Institute, all users of Philip Morris International’s IQOS, a non-combusted device, ‘tended to use ordinary cigarettes too’.
The survey was conducted among 228 South Koreans aged from 19 to 24 in September last year, three months after IQOS was launched in the country. The results were published in the British Medical Journal.
The Center said the survey was significant despite the low number of participants, because it was part of the process of gathering data on the initial stage of the non-combusted cigarette market.
The survey found that 38.1 percent of the respondents were aware of IQOS and that 3.5 percent currently used the product.
According to a survey conducted by the Korean Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco earlier this year, 98 percent of non-combusted-cigarette users also consumed combustible cigarettes.
Health benefits limited
