Cigarette prices, smoking, and the poor: implications of recent trends.
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.
Franks
Peter
P
Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA. pfranks@ucdavis.edu
Jerant
Anthony F
AF
Leigh
J Paul
JP
Lee
Dennis
D
Chiem
Alan
A
Lewis
Ilene
I
Lee
Sandy
S
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