Smoking bans linked to improvement in tobacco use

(HealthDay)—Smoking bans in the home and city/town are significantly associated with smoking reduction and making a quit attempt, according to a study published online Nov. 26 in Preventive Medicine.

Rong W. Zablocki, from the University of California San Diego in La Jolla, and colleagues used data from follow-up telephone interviews conducted in 2011 for 1,718 current California smokers to examine whether smoking ban policies (home, work, and town) are associated with changes in tobacco use (reduction in smoking rate and quit attempts). The correlations were adjusted for demographic and other variables.

The researchers found that, compared with living in a home with no home ban, living in a home with a total ban correlated significantly with smoking reduction and making a quit attempt (adjusted odds ratios, 2.4 and 2.3, respectively). The odds of smoking reduction and making a quit attempt were also increased with self-reported perception of an outdoor ban in one's city/town (adjusted odds ratios, 1.7 and 1.8, respectively).

"These results provide quantitative evidence that smoking bans encourage quitting behaviors that positively impact smokers and nonsmokers, underscoring the public health importance of smoking bans inside and outside the home," the authors write.

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