Association of availability of tobacco products with socio-economic and racial/ethnic characteristics of neighbourhoods.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association of neighbourhood median income and racial/ethnic composition with the availability of tobacco products in Omaha Metropolitan Area, Nebraska, USA.


METHODS
A total of 94 census tracts were selected at random. The outcome measures were the percentage of stores that sold tobacco and the number of stores that sold tobacco per square mile in each census tract.


RESULTS
Median household income was negatively associated (P<0.001), and percentage African American population (P<0.001) and percentage Hispanic population (P=0.049) were positively associated with the percentage of stores that sold tobacco. Median household income was negatively associated (P<0.001) and percentage Hispanic population (P=0.012) was positively associated with the number of stores that sold tobacco per square mile.


CONCLUSIONS
Policies that reduce the number of tobacco outlets might reduce social disparities in tobacco use.
Siahpush
M
M
Department of Health Promotion, Social and Behavioral Health Sciences, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 986075 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-6075, USA. msiahpush@unmc.edu
Jones
P R
PR
Singh
G K
GK
Timsina
L R
LR
Martin
J
J
D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017062:Small-Area Analysis; D012907:Smoking / Q000208:ethnology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014030:Tobacco, Smokeless