How does regulation affect tobacco users?

挑战

为了保护国民的健康免受烟草制品的有害影响, 2009年《趣赢平台》授权美国食品和药物管理局(FDA)监管烟草的生产, 市场营销, and 分布 of these products. 这项任务将要求FDA的烟草制品中心(CTP)收集坚实的证据基础，为其监管活动提供信息. 纵向队列研究被认为是提供这一证据的最佳途径, and in September 2011, 美国国立卫生研究院(NIH)和CTP发起了烟草与健康人口评估(PATH)研究.

The study’s goal is to assess tobacco use behavior, 的态度, 和信仰, 以及全国范围内与烟草相关的健康结果，使用访谈数据和生物标本数据. With these measurements, the study provides the evidence-based information required to develop, 实现, and evaluate tobacco regulations. What was needed was a dynamic research company—long experienced in longitudinal, large-scale surveys, expert in tobacco regulatory science, interviewing techniques and use of technologies, 股本推动, 并拥有员工连续性和灵活性的声誉-开发和实施研究. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and CTP tapped 趣赢平台 for the job. 适宜卫生技术研究是最重要的国家烟草研究，从2011年开始至今，韦斯特一直在进行这项研究.

解决方案

In collaboration with NIDA and CTP, 我们开始将我们的烟草监管科学知识应用到总体研究设计的构建中, the sampling and weighting procedures, the development of questionnaires, and the design of biological specimen collection protocols. 我们还设计和开发了适宜卫生技术研究的复杂系统，用于调查处理和管理, 可视化跟踪可, automated instrument design and testing, 数据处理, 和分析.

下一个, 我们招募了全国代表性的烟草使用者和非吸烟者样本——大约34人,000名成年人和15,000 youth aged 12-17. Most participants have stayed with the study since the beginning. As needed, we replenish the sample.

We use the gold standard system for survey interviewing—Blaise. 这个强大的系统提供最先进的音频计算机辅助自我面试(ACASI), computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI), computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI), and other interviewing capabilities across a variety of platforms.

收集数据, we rigorously train our field data collectors, 服务台工作人员, 抽血者, and others who interact with the participants in person-to-person communication, interviewing techniques, the collection of biospecimens, and the goals and importance of the study.

For each annual survey, 我们修改了问卷，以反映NIDA和CTP目前对科学数据的需求, the changing tobacco product marketplace, and shifts in the public’s use and perceptions of the products. The questionnaires include granular questions about behavior, 的态度, 和信仰 around 12 distinct tobacco products. 问题不仅集中在烟草使用行为上，也集中在药物使用和滥用上, mental 健康 issues, 健康 and medical care, 社会因素.

从研究参与者收集血液和尿液样本，以评估接触烟草制品及其潜在危害. 趣赢平台 coordinates the shipping of specimens to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other laboratories for analysis; processes and conducts quality control reviews of the biomarker data from laboratory analysis; and produces technical documentation. We also manage the PATH Study Biospecimen Access Program, 这使得研究团体可以将这些生物标本用于他们自己的研究.

趣赢平台在PATH研究上的努力包括与NIDA和CTP合作，研究与烟草使用相关的健康不平等——我们在2023年尼古丁和烟草研究学会的会议上与其他研究人员一起提出了这个主题.

For each longitudinal survey wave, 趣赢平台 produces a vast number of data files for use by NIDA, CTP, and the 趣赢平台 team, as well as restricted- and public-use files for the external research community. These data files include questionnaire and biomarker data, along with extensive technical and methodological documentation.

In collaboration with NIDA and CTP staff, 趣赢平台 develops special analyses, 报告, and peer-reviewed 出版物 in leading medical, 健康, and social science journals. 目前, we have jointly produced more than 100 such 出版物; PATH Study data has resulted in more than 700 additional 出版物 by outside researchers and hundreds of presentations at scientific meetings.

Our research is enhanced by the preeminent research, 临床, and academic partners we lead who contribute to the study’s design, 出版物, and other scientific output. They include Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dartmouth University, Medical University of South Carolina, New York University, Rutgers University, University of California at San Diego, University of Minnesota, and University of Waterloo.

自2013年以来，我们一直在持续收集PATH研究数据，除了2020年COVID-19大流行停止面对面访谈时暂停了3个月. By pivoting to alternate interviewing modalities, “雪克隆”, self-administered questionnaire, and a different way of collecting biospecimens, 我们能够完成那一年的时间调查，使PATH研究成为2020年收集成年人数据的唯一具有全国代表性的烟草研究.

结果

适宜卫生技术研究正在提供丰富的证据，以进一步促进NIDA和CTP对烟草使用行为以及烟草使用如何长期影响健康的理解. 该情报通知CTP有关生产的监管决策和行动, 分布, 以及烟草产品的销售，以减少烟草使用给美国人带来的公共健康负担，为我们的社会创造一个更健康的未来.