BOX S-5Research Recommendations: Public Health Implications of E-Cigarettes

The following specific suggestions illustrate the range of priority research areas provided in the body of the report:

Recommendation 20-1: The committee recommends that the Food and Drug Administration and other federal research sponsors and/or device manufacturers prioritize e-cigarette research that addresses key gaps regarding harm reduction and the public health implications of e-cigarettes. This might include rapid response funding opportunities.

• Research on the mechanisms through which e-cigarette use affects combustible tobacco cigarette smoking (both ever use among youth and quitting among current combustible tobacco cigarette smokers).
• Research on potential harm reduction to bystanders exposed involuntarily to tobacco smoke after secondhand or thirdhand exposure to combustible tobacco smoke is replaced by secondhand or thirdhand exposure to emissions of e-cigarettes.

Recommendation 20-2: The committee recommends that the Food and Drug Administration and other federal research sponsors and/or device manufacturers prioritize research on the public health implications of e-cigarettes that improves the quality of e-cigarette research. This includes protocol and methods validation and development and use of appropriate study design, including the use of appropriate control groups.

• Studies that build on existing nationally representative population surveys of adults to monitor patterns of e-cigarette use in detail on an ongoing basis to include characterization of patterns of e-cigarette use such as the frequency and duration of use, type of device used, and reason for use.