Evaluating the European Union (EU) Tobacco Products Directive: Findings from the EUREST-PLUS ITC cohort study among six EU Member States (MS)

Abstract

Efforts to mitigate the devastation of tobacco-attributable morbidity and mortality in the European Union (EU) consist of its newly adopted Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) along with the first-ever health treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The aim of this Horizon 2020 project entitled European Regulatory Science on Tobacco: Policy Implementation to Reduce Lung Disease (EUREST-PLUS) is to monitor and evaluate the impact of the implementation of the TPD across the EU, within the context of WHO FCTC ratification. The EUREST-PLUS ITC cohort study of adult smokers in six EU MS (Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Spain), uses a pre- vs. post-TPD implementation study design, evaluating the impact of several tobacco control policy provisions, including but not limited to health warning labels, smoke free areas and electronic cigarettes. The study is designed to generate strong inferences about the effectiveness of tobacco control policies, as well as to elucidate the mechanisms and factors by which policy implementation translates to population impact. Findings from EUREST-PLUS have potential global implications for implementation of innovative tobacco control policies and its impact on the prevention of lung diseases.