Tc Podcast

The International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project), founded in 2002, systematically evaluates key policies of the WHO FCTC in 22 countries, containing more than 50% of the world’s population, 60% of the world’s smokers and 70% of the world’s tobacco users. In this podcast Corne Van Walbeek, guest editor of the supplement, speaks to Geoffrey T Fong, University of Waterloo, and Frank Chaloupka, University of Illinois, about the 13 papers in the supplement and the links between the results across different countries.

Becky Freeman, TC's Assistant Editor; Web & New Media, talks to Andrew Hyland, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, about his paper looking at the associations between tobacco exposure and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Read the full paper: Associations of lifetime active and passive smoking with spontaneous abortion, stillbirth and tubal ectopic pregnancy: a cross-sectional analysis of historical data from the Women's Health Initiative http://goo.gl/IM1Keh

Becky Freeman, TC assistant editor, talks to Silvy Peeters, University of Bath, about her paper - The Revision of the 2014 European Tobacco Products Directive: An Analysis of the Tobacco Industry’s Attempts to ‘break the health silo’

Mohammad Siahpush, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Health Promotion, Social & Behavioral Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Public Health. He describes his research as being "about trying to understand what makes people behave the way they do. In looking for answers, I examine characteristics of individuals as well characteristics of the environments where people live.” Weight gain when quitting smoking is a common concern, particularly amongst women. The increased attention of excess weight impacting on health suggests that some smokers may feel they are not achieving any net health benefits from quitting smoking if they gain weight once they stop smoking. In this podcast Becky Freeman, TC Assistant Editor, Web and New Media, talks to Prof Siahpush about his paper examining if it is indeed better to be a thin smoker or a fat ex-smoker. Read the full paper: It is better to be a fat ex-smoker than a thin smoker: findings from the 1997–2004 National Health Intervie

Welcome to this first Tobacco Control podcast, which is on the economic cost of smoking in those with mental ill health. Treatments for mental health disorders and smoking-related diseases account for substantial expenditure in all healthcare systems. At any time in the UK about one in six adults has a mental health disorder, typically anxiety, depression or schizophrenia, while the prevalence of smoking in this group, at 33% in 2007, is around 50% higher than in the general population. Since people with mental health disorders are also more likely to smoke heavily, this group accounts for as much as 42% of the total national tobacco consumption. Despite the significant health and financial impacts of smoking in this population, little research into the economic burden has been carried out. But now a study in TC has estimated the economic costs of the health effects of cigarette smoking among people with mental disorders in the UK. TC assistant editor Becky Freeman talks to lead author Qi Wu, Qi Wu, Mental