Electronic Cigarettes PSP Question Verification Form

The purpose of this Question Verification Form is to enable Priority Setting Partnerships (PSPs) to describe clearly how they checked that their questions were unanswered, before starting the interim prioritisation stage of the process.

The JLA requires PSPs to be transparent and accountable in defining their own scope and evidence checking process. This will enable researchers and other stakeholders to understand how individual PSPs decided that their questions were unanswered, and any limitations of their evidence checking.

Name of the PSP

Electronic Cigarettes

Please describe the scope of the PSP

The aim of the electronic cigarettes PSP is to identify the unanswered questions about the use of electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation and harm reduction from patient and clinical perspectives and then prioritise those that patients and clinicians agree are the most important. The PSP included in its scope questions about pregnant smokers, young people, smokers with different health conditions, e.g. COPD, lung cancer; prisoners; mental health patients; homeless population; routine and manual workers; and any age. The PSP excluded from its scope questions about non-UK population.

Please provide a brief overview of your approach to checking whether the questions were unanswered

This was done primarily by Abby Hunter in conjunction with the steering group. Any queries about whether a question was truly unanswered was discussed with the steering group.

Please list the type(s) of evidence you used to verify your questions as unanswered

We looked for systematic reviews and meta analyses. We looked for relevant guidelines e.g. from NICE, Public Health England; Royal College of Physicians. We also looked for ongoing surveys, e.g. the Smoking Toolkit Study that regularly collects data on prevalence of smoking, and vaping, across different regions and demographic factors.

Please list the sources that you searched in order to identify that evidence

PubMed; Cochrane Collection; Embase; PsychInfo; Google Scholar; PHE; NICE

What search terms did you use?

Electronic cigarettes

E-cigs

E-cigarette

Vaping

Electronic Nicotine Delivery System

ENDS

Please describe the parameters of the search (eg time limits, excluded sources, country/language) and the rationale for any limitations

We excluded articles that were not in English. We searched back 4 years

Names of individuals who undertook the evidence checking

Abby Hunter

On what date was the question verification process completed?

2.4.19