FDA, NIH to conduct joint study on tobacco use

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will conduct a large-scale, national study of tobacco users to monitor and assess the behavioral and health impacts of new government tobacco regulations.

The initiative, called the Tobacco Control Act National Longitudinal Study of Tobacco Users, is the first large-scale NIH/FDA collaboration on tobacco regulatory research since Congress granted FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009.

Investigators will follow more than 40,000 users of tobacco products and those at risk for tobacco use ages 12 and older. They will examine what makes people susceptible to tobacco use; evaluate use patterns and resulting health problems; study patterns of tobacco cessation and relapse in the era of tobacco regulation; evaluate the effects of regulatory changes on risk perceptions and other tobacco-related attitudes; and assess differences in attitudes, behaviors, and key health outcomes in racial-ethnic, gender, and age subgroups.

Scientific experts at NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse and the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products will coordinate the effort.

While smoking rates have dropped significantly since their peak in the 1960s, nearly 70 million Americans ages 12 and older were current users of tobacco products in 2010, according to the agencies. Cigarette smoking results in more than 443,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year -- more than alcohol, illegal drug use, homicide, suicide, car accidents, and AIDS combined.