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 Researchers found that every 500-meter (about one third of a mile)
increase in distance to the nearest tobacco shop increased an
individual’s odds of quitting by 20 percent to 60 percent.
“We anticipated that distance to a tobacco shop may play a role in
smoking habits,” said senior author Dr. Mika Kivimaki of University
College London and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in
Helsinki. “But it was a surprise that the association was so
strong.”
The researchers combined the results of two previous studies that
together included more than 20,000 smokers and former smokers.
Participants completed smoking behavior surveys twice, three to nine
years apart, and the researchers geocoded their residential
addresses and locations of the nearest tobacco outlet.
At the beginning of the two studies, participants included 6,259
current smokers in one study and 1,090 in the other. By the second
wave of surveys, 28 percent and 39 percent, respectively, had quit
smoking.
Between surveys, 39 percent of study participants had also changed
residential address.
Those who moved at least 500 meters further from a tobacco outlet
were about 16 percent more likely to quit than people who remained
at the same distance from the nearest shop.
On the individual level, a person who moved 500 meters further away
during the study was 57 percent more likely to quit after the move,
even when the researchers accounted for marriage, health status and
changes in financial situation that might affect risk for smoking
relapse.
Of those who were former smokers at the beginning of the study
period, about 7 percent had relapsed by the second surveys, though
relapse was not associated with distance to a tobacco outlet,
according to the results in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“We know that most smokers would like to stop smoking, but this is
difficult because cigarettes include addictive substances,” Kivimaki
told Reuters Health by email. “Perhaps, a longer distance to a
tobacco shop makes the decision to quit smoking a bit easier.”
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Moving further from a tobacco source, or removing the nearest
source, ups the odds of quitting, and policymakers might be able to
harness this association, he said.
“Our findings are consistent with a more general principle, ‘Make
the healthier choice the easier choice,’” Kivimaki said. “Reduced
availability of tobacco products, which was supported by our
findings, complements public health policies that aim to create
environments that facilitate integration of physical activity into
daily lives and legislation that support healthful diet choices.”
But it’s unclear whether the results apply to workplaces as well, or
only to residential areas, he said.
“We can now conclude that tobacco outlets and the heavy dose of
tobacco marketing they dump into their communities cause smoking –
more precisely, they inhibit quitting among smokers,” Dr. Cheryl
Bettigole and Dr. Thomas A. Farley of the Philadelphia Department of
Public Health write in a commentary published with the findings.
Globally and in some areas of the U.S., policies attempt to address
the community risk factor of smoking retail outlets, they note. San
Francisco limits the number of tobacco licenses granted per
supervisorial district and New Orleans limits tobacco retailers near
schools, they write.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2byidUY and http://bit.ly/2aO7Nz5 JAMA
Internal Medicine, online August 15, 2016.
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