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Article History

Received: 26 June 2019

Accepted: 28 April 2020

First Online: 26 May 2020

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: This study is an epidemiological population survey and is conducted in accordance with the most current versions of the Declaration of Helsinki [], the guidelines for Good Epidemiological Practice [] and local laws and regulations. The study is conducted in accordance with the most current version of Marketing Research Guideline and Personal Information Protection Guideline that JMRA (Japan Marketing Research Association) have established. Those guidelines also comply with ICC/ESOMAR codes of conduct. At the beginning of April 2018, an independent ethics committee (IEC) in Japan, consisting of 9 members (clinical and legal) were informed about the intended data collection and all required documents were provided, including protocol, participant information letter and questionnaire. The IEC, based at Kitamachi Clinic in Tokyo, reviewed the study documents and approved study conduct on 17th April 2018 before fieldwork commenced. This study did not actively ask for adverse events/effects (AEs) or product complaints which occurred during use of the HTP <i>glo,</i> but interviewers were instructed to record anything reported by participants; during this study, no participants spontaneously reported any AE or product complaints related to <i>glo</i> during questionnaire distribution or collection by interviewers. During fieldwork, participants were informed about the study purpose, their requested tasks, time of involvement, data confidentiality and data protection, incentive and contact details in case of questions; by completing the paper questionnaire, the participant was informed they were implicitly giving consent to participate in this study.

: Participants were informed prior to giving their consent to participate in this study that grouped data would be published.

: Authors are full time employees of British American Tobacco (BAT) Research and Development UK, or of Kantar Germany (Health Division), who conducted the study on behalf of BAT. Nippon Research Centre (NRC) were the local fieldwork providers, working with Kantar Japan.