Association between single, dual, poly use of tobacco products and smoking cessation in Korean adult smokers

INTRODUCTION: This study examined the association between smoking cessation and different usage combinations of three tobacco products (combustible cigarette [CC], electronic cigarette [EC], heated tobacco product [HTP]) in Korean adults. METHODS: We analyzed repeated data from the Korea Health Panel Survey (KHPS), which consisted of nationally representative samples. A total of 1380 Korean adults participated in the study. The outcome of interest was whether the participant succeeded in quitting smoking all types of tobacco products. Participants were classified according to whether they smoked any of the three tobacco products (CCs and/or ECs and/or HTPs) based on their self-reported responses. RESULTS: A total of 211 participants had quit smoking during the follow-up period. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for smoking cessation was 3.15 (95% CI: 1.66-5.95), and 1.81 (95% CI: 0.63-5.21) for participants who currently smoke only HTPs (HTP-only user) and participants who currently vape only ECs (EC-only user), respectively, compared with participants who currently smoke only CCs (CC-only user). There was no significant association between dual or triple smoking and smoking cessation. CONCLUSIONS: HTP-only users had a statistically significant association with smoking cessation, with higher odds of quitting smoking within two years compared to CC-only users. Further studies with a large sample are required to validate our results considering a small number of participants in the comparison groups in this study.