Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Aug 29, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 2, 2018 - Sep 16, 2018
Date Accepted: Dec 10, 2018
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Study protocols on the use of tobacco and nicotine containing products in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom (Greater London), 2018-2020: household surveys of the general population and consumers of a heat-not-burn tobacco product.
ABSTRACT
Background:
Philip Morris International (PMI) has developed a novel heat-not-burn tobacco product, Tobacco Heating System (THS), which is marketed under the brand name of IQOS® with HEETS® (IQOS). The aerosol generated by THS has substantially fewer toxicants than combustible cigarette smoke. To evaluate the potential of harm reduction associated with IQOS use, the assessment of the uptake and continued use of IQOS in the context of all other tobacco and nicotine containing products is crucial. In March 2018, PMI launched cross-sectional surveys in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom (Greater London) to estimate the prevalence and use patterns of IQOS and other tobacco and nicotine containing products use in these three markets following the commercialization of IQOS. This publication describes the protocol of the surveys.
Objective:
The objectives of the surveys are to estimate the prevalence of tobacco and nicotine containing products use, describe past and current patterns of use, and explore their associations with self-reported health, motivation to use, risk perceptions, and perceived aesthetic changes.
Methods:
The overall design of the surveys is similar in all 3 countries. They are repeated cross-sectional surveys being conducted annually over three consecutive years (2018 to 2020) and in two samples: a representative sample of the general population and a sample of IQOS users. A total of 6,085 adults per year will be selected from the general population for each survey through multi-stage stratified sampling and participants will respond to face-to-face computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI). Additionally, 1,404, 1384, and 1246 IQOS users per year in Germany, Italy, and Greater London, respectively, will be randomly selected from the PMI IQOS user database and will be invited to complete the survey online by computer-assisted self-interviews (CASI). The Smoking Questionnaire (SQ) is used to assess the tobacco use patterns of the participants.
Results:
The recruitment of the general population sample began in March 2018, and of the IQOS user sample began in April 2018. The data collection is ongoing and the results of the first year data analysis are expected to be available by June 2019.
Conclusions:
Since the design of the three surveys is similar, the results will allow for cross countries comparison of the prevalence of IQOS and other tobacco and nicotine containing products use as well as patterns of use and associated factors. Clinical Trial: NCT03527004 NCT03527017 NCT03527030
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.