Association between smoking behaviour changes and characteristics of current smokers before and during COVID-19 pandemic
| Increased PR (95% CI)* | Quit PR (95% CI)* | ||
| Fear of COVID-19 | No (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Yes | 1.20 (0.92 to 1.57) | 0.77 (0.62 to 0.95) | |
| Living in a COVID-19 endemic area | No (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Yes | 0.98 (0.75 to 1.28) | 0.85 (0.68 to 1.06) | |
| Current smoking rules in the workplace | Indoor smoking ban (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Partial smoking ban | 0.91 (0.67 to 1.23) | 1.05 (0.78 to 1.41) | |
| No smoking ban | 1.02 (0.59 to 1.74) | 0.86 (0.44 to 1.66) | |
| Do not know | 0.82 (0.56 to 1.21) | 1.32 (0.98 to 1.77) | |
| Self-imposed smoking rules at home | Both cigarettes and HTPs prohibited (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Both cigarettes and HTPs allowed | 0.90 (0.66 to 1.22) | 0.28 (0.21 to 0.38) | |
| HTPs allowed only | 1.07 (0.73 to 1.56) | 0.26 (0.16 to 0.42) | |
| Do not know | 0.45 (0.22 to 0.95) | 1.57 (1.17 to 2.11) | |
| Current type of tobacco use | Cigarettes only (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| HTPs only | 1.13 (0.79 to 1.62) | 1.64 (1.26 to 2.15) | |
| Cigarettes and HTPs (dual use) | 1.35 (1.01 to 1.79) | 1.09 (0.85 to 1.42) | |
| Sex | Male (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Female | 1.04 (0.77 to 1.41) | 1.25 (0.96 to 1.62) | |
| Age (years) | 15–29 | 1.96 (1.21 to 3.18) | 1.37 (0.95 to 2.00) |
| 30–39 | 1.94 (1.29 to 2.93) | 1.12 (0.79 to 1.60) | |
| 40–49 | 1.71 (1.22 to 2.40) | 1.02 (0.73 to 1.41) | |
| 50–59 (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 | |
| 60–69 | 0.61 (0.38 to 0.98) | 0.81 (0.55 to 1.19) | |
| 70–75 | 0.72 (0.34 to 1.52) | 0.77 (0.42 to 1.41) | |
| Household income | Less than JPY2 million | 1.01 (0.62 to 1.64) | 1.05 (0.71 to 1.57) |
| JPY2–6 million | 0.88 (0.64 to 1.22) | 1.01 (0.77 to 1.32) | |
| Over JPY6 million (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 | |
| Prefer not to answer | 1.12 (0.71 to 1.75) | 0.82 (0.54 to 1.24) | |
| Do not know | 0.82 (0.46 to 1.46) | 0.91 (0.61 to 1.38) | |
| Self-rated health | Good (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Poor | 1.85 (1.40 to 2.44) | 0.84 (0.63 to 1.13) | |
| Marital status | Married (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Never married | 0.96 (0.70 to 1.30) | 1.29 (0.99 to 1.68) | |
| Divorced/widowed | 1.64 (1.08 to 2.48) | 0.80 (0.48 to 1.32) | |
| Alcohol use | No/quit (ref) | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Yes | 1.02 (0.76 to 1.37) | 1.14 (0.90 to 1.45) |
Boldface=statistically significant with p<0.05.
COVID-19 endemic areas were: Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Osaka, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Gifu, Aichi and Kyoto.
*PR was estimated by a multivariate Poisson regression model with all variables simultaneously entered into the model.
CI, confidence interval; HTP, heated tobacco product; JPY, Japanese yen; PR, prevalence ratio; ref, reference.