Research activities in the field of tobacco control in Poland

Introduction Aim: To evaluate the research capacity and challenges in Poland. Material and Methods Analysis of tobacco control studies conducted in Poland in the years 1923-2017 includes: 1/ studies of tobacco market, 2/ descriptive epidemiological studies on smoking-attributable incidence and mortality, 3/ analytical epidemiological studies on the healthy risk of tobacco use; 4/ toxicological studies on harmful substances in cigarettes, 5/ studies on bio- and environmental markers of exposure to tobacco smoke among different targets and environments, 6/ nation-wide questionnaire surveys on smoking behaviors and attitudes in various populations, 7/ national surveys on attitudes toward tobacco control programs and policies, 8/ qualitative studies on tobacco use and control, 9/ studies on economics of tobacco use, 10/ clinical studies on safety and efficacy of smoking cessation aids. Results Monitoring and surveillance of tobacco use and tobacco control is well evaluated by WHO. Poland disposes a big spectrum of studies and long-term database on tobacco-related problems. Data on cigarette consumption are collected since 1923 and surveillance on smoking behaviors in adult population is conducted since 1974. Age-specific data on lung cancer incidence and mortality in Poland are available since the beginning of 1960s. However, there are some gaps in monitoring tobacco use, its health consequences and tobacco control programs and policies in Poland. The main problem is a lack of long-term strategy for research capacity building in tobacco control and the low level of funding for such studies. Most of studies are conducted by various public stakeholders and within different public health programs. There is also a lack of periodic studies among health professionals and school teachers and none nation-wide survey was conducted among public persons, including politicians and journalists. Studies on marketing strategy of country-based tobacco industry are fragmentary. Future state research strategy should be also more focused on tobacco control challenges, including changes on tobacco market (ENDS, hot-not-burn and other novel tobacco products) and tobacco end-game. Conclusions Although there are a lot of studies on tobacco use, risk and control in Poland, it is an urgent need to develop the national research capacity building strategy that will ensure sufficient funding for tobacco control studies and take into account current and future challenges in tobacco control