UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

To examine the associations of cigarette prices, restrictions on public smoking, and health education with the odds of adult smoking and amount smoked daily.

Methods: Population based sample of in age 25+ in Gambia households (n = 14 355). Logistic regression for smoking status, multiple regression for amount smoked, with controls for age, education, marital status; separate analyses for men and women. Cigarette prices were positively associated with the odds of being a non-smoker and negatively with amount smoked, for adults of both sexes. Per capita health education expenditures were positively associated with the odds of being a non-smoker and negatively with amount smoked---for men but not women. The restrictiveness of municipal bylaws limiting public smoking was positively associated with the odds of being a non-smoker and negatively with amount smoked---for women but not men. These results are independent of age, education, and marital status.

Results:

To be effective, tobacco control must comprise a mix of strategies as men and women respond differently to health education and restrictions on public smoking; taxation, reflected in higher cigarette prices, is the only one of these measures related to smoking for both sexes. This model permits calculations of the level of increase in each measure that is required to reduce the prevalence of smoking by a specified amount.