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The relation between cigarette price and hand-rolling tobacco consumption in the UK: an ecological study
- Source :
- BMJ Open
- Publication Year :
- 2015
- Publisher :
- BMJ Publishing Group, 2015.
-
Abstract
- OBJECTIVES: Cigarette price increases reduce smoking prevalence but as a tobacco control policy are undermined by the availability of lower cost alternatives such as hand-rolling tobacco. The aim of this descriptive study is to explore time trends in the price of manufactured cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco, and in the numbers of people who smoke these products, over recent years in the UK. SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: UK. OUTCOME MEASURES: Trends in the most popular price category (MPPC) data for cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco from 1983 to 2012 adjusted for inflation using the Retail Price Index, and trends in smoking prevalence and the proportion of smokers using hand-rolling tobacco from 1974 to 2010. RESULTS: After adjustment for inflation, there was an increase in prices of manufactured cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco between 1983 and 2012. Between 1974 and 2010, the prevalence of smoking fell from 45% to 20%, and the estimated total number of smokers from 25.3 to 12.4 million. However the number of people smoking hand-rolling tobacco increased from 1.4 to 3.2 million, and MPPC cigarette price was strongly correlated with number of people smoking hand-rolling tobacco. CONCLUSIONS: Although the ecological study design precludes conclusions on causality, the association between increases in manufactured cigarette price and the number of people smoking hand-rolling tobacco suggests that the lower cost of smoking hand-rolling tobacco encourages downtrading when cigarette prices rise. The magnitude of this association indicates that the lower cost of hand-rolling tobacco seriously undermines the use of price as a tobacco control measure.
- Subjects :
- Inflation
Male
Paper
medicine.medical_specialty
Epidemiology
media_common.quotation_subject
Public Policy
cigarette prices
Environmental health
Tobacco in Alabama
Tobacco
Prevalence
Medicine
Humans
hand rolling tobacco prices
health care economics and organizations
media_common
Tobacco harm reduction
Consumption (economics)
business.industry
Public health
Research
Tobacco control
Smoking
Commerce
Ecological study
General Medicine
Tobacco Products
Taxes
United Kingdom
Price index
cigarette prices, hand rolling tobacco prices, smoking prevalence
Female
business
smoking prevalence
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20446055
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- BMJ Open
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....bb7bffb50e8b4e59e383a3c6e10fec8d