Lung health, tobacco, and related products: gaps, challenges, new threats, and suggested research
Simone St Claire, Hebe Gouda, Kerstin Schotte, Ranti Fayokun, Dongbo Fu, Cherian Varghese, V. Prasad
Abstract
The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health challenges the world has ever faced, killing more than 8 million people around the world every year. In 2017, tobacco killed 3.3 million users and people exposed to secondhand smoke from lung-related conditions including chronic respiratory diseases, tracheal, bronchus and lung cancers, respiratory infections and tuberculosis. Despite the strong body of evidence around the harms of tobacco use to lung health from direct and passive exposure to tobacco smoke, there are still several knowledge gaps that need to be bridged through targeted research, for example, tobacco and nicotine addiction, surveillance and monitoring, waterpipe tobacco, heated tobacco products, electronic nicotine delivery systems, inhalation of aerosols, cessation aids, and dual use. Operational and implementation research can help make current efforts and interventions, that we know work, more effective and more efficient. Tobacco use is on the decline, but the rate of reduction is not fast enough and it is apparent that the agreed global target of 30% reduction in tobacco use among adults by 2025 will not be met. Therefore, accelerated research is needed to crystalize the impact of tobacco control towards reducing tobacco use prevalence across populations.