Methods of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys

Abstract

Background The EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe surveys aim to evaluate the impact of the European Union’s Tobacco Products Directive (EU TPD) implementation within the context of the WHO FCTC. This article describes the methodology of the 2016 (Wave 1) and 2018 (Wave 2) International Tobacco Control 6 European (6E) Country Survey in Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Spain; the England arm of the 2016 (Wave 1) and 2018 (Wave 2) ITC 4 Country Smoking and Vaping (4CV) Survey; and the 2016 (Wave 10) and 2017 (Wave 11) ITC Netherlands (NL) Survey. All three ITC surveys covering a total of eight countries are prospective cohort studies with nationally representative samples of smokers. Methods In the three surveys across the eight countries, the recruited respondents were cigarette smokers who smoked at least monthly, and were aged 18 and older. At each survey wave, eligible cohort members from the previous waves were retained, regardless of smoking status, and dropouts were replaced by a replenishment sample. Results Retention rates between the two waves of the ITC 6E Survey by country were 70.5% for Germany, 41.3% for Greece, 35.7% for Hungary, 45.6% for Poland, 54.4% for Romania and 71.3% for Spain. The retention rate for England between ITC 4CV1 and ITC 4CV2 was 39.1%; the retention rates for the ITC Netherlands Survey were 76.6% at Wave 10 (2016) and 80.9% at Wave 11 (2017). Conclusion The ITC sampling design and data collection methods in these three ITC surveys allow analyses to examine prospectively the impact of policy environment changes on the use of cigarettes and other tobacco products in each country, to make comparisons across the eight countries.

Quitting behaviours and cessation methods used in eight European Countries in 2018: findings from the EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys

“…As done in all ITC surveys, all statistics presented were weighted to ensure estimates represented the population of smokers in each country. Calibration of the weights was done according to estimated total smokers by age and sex, but in addition, we considered NUTS region and degree of urbanization (13). We performed stratified analyses using chi-squared statistics to examine the characteristics of respondents who made a quit attempt of 24 hours or longer in the previous 12 months compared to those who did not make a quit attempt.…”

“…We report on 2018 data from a longitudinal study, which included recruitment of new smokers (replenishment sample). There were differences in the retention rates across countries with the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany retaining more than 70% of the sample, compared to less than 50% in other countries (13). It is possible that the differences in retention rates have resulted in selection bias with more ex-smokers included in countries with higher retention rates.…”

“…Data were collected on age, gender, education (low: primary, lower and middle [both prevocational secondary]; moderate (secondary vocational, senior general secondary and pre-university); high (higher professional or a university degree)) and income. Monthly household gross income was reported in the local currency (13). Financial stress, a direct indicator of economic deprivation (19), was assessed by: 'In the last 30 days, because of a shortage of money, were you unable to pay any important bills on time, such as electricity, telephone or rent bills?…”

Perceptions, Predictors of and Motivation for Quitting among Smokers from Six European Countries from 2016 to 2018: Findings from EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys

“…Interviews were conducted face-to-face using computer assisted personal interviews (CAPI). Further details about the study methodology are provided elsewhere [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Smoking cessation behaviors and reasons for use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products among Romanian adults

“…The strengths of our report are a high response rate (88%) and a nationally representative large sample that provides more accurate estimates for Romania than other regional surveys 16 , 29 , 47 . However, self-reported tobacco use behaviors are known to have social desirability bias leading to underestimation 48 .…”