Jennifer A Fidler1, Robert West. 1. Health Behaviour Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK. j.fidler@ucl.ac.uk
Abstract
AIM: To assess smoking prevalence before and after the rise in legal age of sale of cigarettes in England and Wales from age 16 to age 18 in October 2007. DESIGN: A series of monthly cross-sectional household surveys: the 'Smoking Toolkit Study'. SETTING: England. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 53, 322 adults aged 16 and over interviewed between October 2006 and May 2009, 1136 of whom were aged 16 or 17 years. MEASUREMENTS: Change in smoking prevalence from pre- to post-legislation, assessed by self-reported smoking status, among the 16-17-year-old group and older adults. FINDINGS: The prevalence change following the legislation among those aged 16 and 17 was 7.1 percentage points (denominator=1136) compared with 2.4 percentage points (denominator=52,186) for older adults (odds ratio 1.36, P=0.024, 95% confidence interval=1.04-1.77 for the interaction). There was no difference within older age categories. CONCLUSIONS: There was a greater fall in prevalence in 16-17-year-olds following an increase in age of sale than in older age groups. This provides some support to the view that raising the age of sale can, at least in some circumstances, reduce smoking prevalence in younger age groups.
AIM: To assess smoking prevalence before and after the rise in legal age of sale of cigarettes in England and Wales from age 16 to age 18 in October 2007. DESIGN: A series of monthly cross-sectional household surveys: the 'Smoking Toolkit Study'. SETTING: England. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 53, 322 adults aged 16 and over interviewed between October 2006 and May 2009, 1136 of whom were aged 16 or 17 years. MEASUREMENTS: Change in smoking prevalence from pre- to post-legislation, assessed by self-reported smoking status, among the 16-17-year-old group and older adults. FINDINGS: The prevalence change following the legislation among those aged 16 and 17 was 7.1 percentage points (denominator=1136) compared with 2.4 percentage points (denominator=52,186) for older adults (odds ratio 1.36, P=0.024, 95% confidence interval=1.04-1.77 for the interaction). There was no difference within older age categories. CONCLUSIONS: There was a greater fall in prevalence in 16-17-year-olds following an increase in age of sale than in older age groups. This provides some support to the view that raising the age of sale can, at least in some circumstances, reduce smoking prevalence in younger age groups.
Authors: Summer Sherburne Hawkins; Janet Chung-Hall; Lorraine Craig; Geoffrey T Fong; Ron Borland; K Michael Cummings; David Levy; Sara C Hitchman Journal: Nicotine Tob Res Date: 2020-12-12 Impact factor: 4.244
Authors: Jennifer A Fidler; Lion Shahab; Oliver West; Martin J Jarvis; Andy McEwen; John A Stapleton; Eleni Vangeli; Robert West Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2011-06-18 Impact factor: 3.295
Authors: Kirk Allen; Chris Kypridemos; Lirije Hyseni; Anna B Gilmore; Peter Diggle; Margaret Whitehead; Simon Capewell; Martin O'Flaherty Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2016-04-01 Impact factor: 3.295