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Study Overview
The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study will look at tobacco use and health in Americans ages 12 years and older.
- The PATH Study will include about 59,000 people from all over the country who may or may not use tobacco.
- Researchers will interview participants once a year for at least three years. They’ll also ask adults for voluntary urine and blood samples, and cells from the inside of their cheeks. These samples will be used for scientific tests.
- The study will help scientists learn how and why people start using tobacco, quit using it, and start using it again after they’ve quit. They’ll learn about health and how it’s affected by tobacco use.
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will use results from the study to make decisions about tobacco products aimed at achieving the goals of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA).
- Work on the PATH Study started in 2011. Interviews will start in fall 2012.
In October 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new study called the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study.
The PATH Study is the first project that the FDA and NIH have done together since Congress gave FDA authority to regulate tobacco products. The study will look at tobacco use and how it affects the health of Americans.
About 59,000 people ages 12 years and older will be invited to participate in the PATH Study. Some of them will use tobacco; others won’t. Interviewers will meet with each person once a year for at least three years.
The PATH Study will
- Look at reasons why some people use tobacco and others don’t
- Look at how and why people
- Start using tobacco
- Start using different types of tobacco products
- Use two or more tobacco products
- Switch from one tobacco product to another
- Look at how people quit using tobacco
- Look at reasons why some people who quit using tobacco start using it again
- Look at changes in people’s attitudes toward tobacco over time, including those potentially related to measures enacted under the FSPTCA
- Look at differences in tobacco use-related attitudes, behaviors, and health among
- Men and women
- People of different races and ethnic groups
- People of different ages
- Collect samples of blood, urine, and cells from inside the cheeks of study participants age 18 and older. The samples will be used for scientific testing.
Information from the PATH Study will help NIH and FDA to understand tobacco use behaviors and health. Findings from the study will provide a scientific framework for the FDA to make decisions about future changes in tobacco products that will help achieve objectives of the 2009 FSPTCA.
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