title: Tobacco control policies and perinatal and child health: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Children experience considerable morbidity and mortality due to tobacco smoke exposure. Tobacco control policies may benefit child health by reducing this exposure. We aim to comprehensively assess the effects of the range of tobacco control policies advocated by the WHO on perinatal and child health.
  
  
  METHODS
  We will systematically search 19 electronic literature databases (from inception) for published studies, and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform for unpublished studies. Additional work will be identified via handsearching references and citations, and through consulting an international panel of experts. No language restrictions will apply. Following Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) guidelines, randomised and clinical controlled trials, controlled before-and-after studies, and interrupted time series designs, are eligible. Studies of interest will assess the impact of any of the WHO-advocated tobacco control policies contained in the MPOWER acronym (except 'Monitoring tobacco use') on at least one outcome of interest among children aged 0-12 years. The primary outcomes are: perinatal mortality, preterm birth, asthma exacerbations requiring hospital attendance and respiratory infections requiring hospital attendance. Data will be extracted using customised forms and authors will be contacted to obtain missing information. Risk of bias will be assessed using EPOC criteria. Findings will be reported in narrative and tabular form. Between-study heterogeneity will be assessed clinically and statistically using I(2). If appropriate and possible, random-effects meta-analysis will be conducted for each unique combination of intervention and outcome. Subgroup analyses will be performed to assess the influence of the comprehensiveness of each policy, and to explore the impact of each policy according to socioeconomic status.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  No ethical assessment is necessary as we will summarise existing studies. We will publish our findings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  PROSPERO; CRD42015023448.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatology, Erasmus University Medical Centre-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands Centre for Medical Informatics, Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Jasper V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Been
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mackenbach
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care and Public Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Millett
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands Centre for Medical Informatics, Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheikh
mesh_terms: D000067576:Child Health; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D000068104:Infant Health; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D011050:Policy Making; D011247:Pregnancy; D019064:Product Packaging; D012307:Risk Factors; D061845:Smoke-Free Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000078202:Systematic Reviews as Topic; D019460:Tobacco Industry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution
keywords: NEONATOLOGY; PAEDIATRICS; PREVENTIVE MEDICINE; PUBLIC HEALTH