Nicotine yield and roll your own (RYO) cigarette usage in a large municipal hospital smoking cessation center

Purpose Men and women differ in their sensitivity to nicotine. In addition many smokers believe that roll-your-own (RYO) cigarettes are not as addictive as manufactured cigarettes. The purpose of our study was to compare the different characteristics of smokers addressing to our smoking cessation center. Methods Forty three people (20 male and 23 female), mean age of 48,81 ± 1,62, smoking 41,92 ± 3,46 packyears participated in our survey, at Evaggelismos Hospital during the last year. Nineteen(19) used RYO cigarettes, while 24 used manufactured cigarettes.Analysis was performed with the aid of the independent sample t- test. Results** Men using RYO cigarettes were of mean age 40.43 ± 3,45 and smoked 48,28 ± 8,65 packyears while women using manufactured cigarettes aged 55,46 ± 2,84 and smoked 49,38 ± 6,52 packyears. On the other hand women using RYO cigarettes were of mean age 45,91 ± 3,45 smoking 26,29 ± 5,06 while women using manufactured cigarettes aged 49,45 ± 2,36 and smoked 46,09 ± 6,25 packyears. The difference of smoking usage (packyears) is statistical significant at 0,05 (both sided). Nicotine yield of manufactured cigarettes was different between men and women (0,68 ± 0,067 mg vs 0,48 ± 0,073 mg) at a p =0,052), while there is no record of RYO nicotine composition. **results expressed as mean ± SE Conclusions Smokers using RYO cigarettes are younger than those using manufactured cigarettes. Interestingly women using RYO cigarettes present a significantly smaller (by 46%) amout of packyears than those using manufactured cigarettes. In addition women smoke less than men and they chose cigarettes with less nicotine yield.