Developing a novel e-cigarette regulatory and policy control scale: results from the European Union

Shah, Ajay; Britton, John; Bogdanovica, Ilze

Abstract

Background: E-cigarette regulations vary considerably between countries though a standard approach for comparing regulatory frameworks does not exist. Additionally, there is no evidence on whether regulatory variations are associated with differences in e-cigarette use and smoking cessation. This study aims to develop a regulatory scale to measure and compare e-cigarette regulations between European Union countries and investigate whether scores are associated with e-cigarette use and smoking cessation. Methods: Data from a range of sources, such as ECigIntelligence, were used to develop a scale and score countries in the respective areas of e-cigarette scale. We used correlation analysis to investigate association between scale scores and e-cigarettes market, e-cigarette prevalence and use of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. Results: An e-cigarette scale consisting of 10 domains was developed. Our analysis suggests that higher e-cigarette scale scores were associated with significantly greater use of e-cigarettes within countries, and greater increases in the prevalence of former smoking smokers between 2014 and 2017. Conclusions: Whilst further work is needed to develop the scale in line with rapidly changing regulatory landscape and product development, the current findings suggest that countries that have implemented e-cigarette regulations might be more successful in obtaining public health gains such as increase in the proportion of former smokers compared to countries where e-cigarette market and sales is not regulated.

Citation

Shah, A., Britton, J., & Bogdanovica, I. (2022). Developing a novel e-cigarette regulatory and policy control scale: results from the European Union. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy, 29(6), 719-725. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2021.1959520

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 18, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Aug 12, 2021
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: Jul 29, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 13, 2022
• Journal: Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy
• Print ISSN: 0968-7637
• Electronic ISSN: 1465-3370
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 719-725
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2021.1959520
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5864031
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687637.2021.1959520