Comparing Cardiovascular Outcomes Among Heated Tobacco Product Users, Cigarette Smokers, Former Smokers, and Never Smokers: Protocol for a Real-World Retrospective Study in Japan.

This protocol describes a large-scale study that intends to identify patients with CVD from a nationally representative healthcare database and utilizes multiple data sources to evaluate their history of tobacco product usage. This will be the first study to assess the effect of HTP use on CVD outcomes by sex. Given the limited evidence on the health impacts of HTP in relation to CVD, the results of this study will provide insights into the effect of switching to HTP use compared to continued CIG smoking in patients with a prior cardiovascular event.