Smoking-related changes or brand switching? Smokers' anticipated responses to a large increase in Taiwan's Tobacco Health and Welfare Surcharge.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the impact on smokers' behaviour of a planned increase in the Health and Welfare Surcharge of Tobacco Products in Taiwan. STUDY DESIGN: This study used a structured questionnaire to perform telephone interviews. Stratified random sampling was applied to interview current smokers aged 18-65 years in Taiwan. METHODS: Based on nationwide survey data of smokers' responses to future increases in cigarette prices, this study used multinomial logistic regression to perform its analyses. RESULTS: After the proposed increase in the Health and Welfare Surcharge of Tobacco Products, subsequent cigarette price increases would motivate nearly 30% of the smokers to adopt smoking-related changes and 10% to change to lower-priced brands. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that a large increase in the Health and Welfare Surcharge of Tobacco Products would lead to considerable changes in smoking behaviour, which in turn would increase cessation rate at the population level.