Introduction:
Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on cancer and has been shown to have adverse health effects on adults and children, including heart and respiratory diseases. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have irrupted in the market with sales volumes increasing considerably across the EU. The TackSHS Project is aimed to elucidate the impact that SHS and e-cigarette aerosols have on the respiratory health and how health effects vary according to socio-economic parameters with particular emphasis on specific vulnerable groups (patients suffering from chronic lung diseases, heavy smokers, etc.).

Material and Methods:
Through an integrated series of workpackages, the TackSHS Project will investigate the determinants of SHS exposure, both assessed at the individual level and in the environment (survey and SHS assessment in 12 countries), the overall burden of disease caused (lung diseases and cardiovascular diseases), including the specific respiratory health changes in patients and healthy people, the economic impact of both mortality and morbidity caused by these exposures, the methods to characterize these exposures and novel interventions to reduce them.

Results:
This integrated approach will enable significant step-change beyond the state-of-the-art in understanding SHS and e-cigarette aerosols exposure. The Project will put together for the first time the first-line research teams, and the conjunction of the workpackages will result in a step forward to tackle exposure to SHS and e-cigarettes aerosols.

Conclusions:
TackSHS is a four-year project that started in 2015.

Funding:
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 681040