title: Cigarette prices, smoking, and the poor: implications of recent trends.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined the relationship between smoking participation and cigarette pack price by income group and time period to determine role of cigarette prices in income-related disparities in smoking in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from the 1984-2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys linked to information on cigarette prices to examine the adjusted prevalence of smoking participation and smoking participation-cigarette pack price elasticity (change in percentage of persons smoking relative to a 1% change in cigarette price) by income group (lowest income quartile [lower] vs all other quartiles [higher]) and time period (before vs after the Master Settlement Agreement [MSA]).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Increased real cigarette-pack price over time was associated with a marked decline in smoking among higher-income but not among lower-income persons. Although the pre-MSA association between cigarette pack price and smoking revealed a larger elasticity in the lower- versus higher-income persons (-0.45 vs -0.22), the post-MSA association was not statistically significant (P>.2) for either income group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite cigarette price increases after the MSA, income-related smoking disparities have increased. Increasing cigarette prices may no longer be an effective policy tool and may impose a disproportionate burden on poor smokers.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA. pfranks@ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Franks
authors.forename: Anthony F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Jerant
authors.forename: J Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Leigh
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiem
authors.forename: Ilene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Sandy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D011203:Poverty; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000639:trends; D013660:Taxes / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology