3. Perceived health risks of heated tobacco products, tobacco cigarettes, and e-cigarettes: Findings from a populationbased cross-sectional household survey in Germany (DEBRA study)

Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) have been distributed in Germany since 2016. There are currently no representative data on how people in Germany perceive the health risks of HTPs, tobacco cigarettes and electronic cigarettes (ecigarettes) in relation to each other and whether there are specific target groups who might underestimate the health risks of single products. We aimed to describe perceived health risks of three tobacco and nicotine product classes in relation to each other: HTPs, tobacco cigarettes, e-cigarettes in the German population, and to explore potential associations between socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors, ever use of e-cigarettes and HTPs and perceived health risks.

We used data from 11 waves (2019 –2021; N=6097 (current or recent ex-smokers (≤1year))) of the German Study on Tobacco Use (DEBRA): a cross-sectional, representative, face‐to‐face household survey in the German population aged ≥14 years. Associations between socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors, ever use of e-cigarettes and HTPs and perceived health risks will be analysed using three multivariable logistic regression analyses.

Of the respondents, 55.2% (95% confidence interval (CI)=53.9-56.4) rated tobacco cigarettes, 25.4% (95%CI=24.3-26.5) e-cigarettes and 19.5% (95%CI=18.5-20.5) HTPs as the most harmful product. As the least harmful product e-cigarettes were rated by 40.2% (95%CI=39.0-41.5), HTPs by 34.9% (95%CI=33.6-36.1) and tobacco cigarettes by 24.9% (95%CI=23.8-26.0) of the respondents (weighted data). The analyses regarding the associations are still ongoing, but results will be available at the time of the conference. Descriptive data indicate a need for specified education on product-specific health risks of HTPs, e-cigarettes and cigarettes in Germany.