title: Cigarette prices and smoking prevalence after a tobacco tax increase--Turkey, 2008 and 2012.
abstract: Raising the price of tobacco products has been shown to reduce tobacco consumption in the United States and other high-income countries, and evidence of this impact has been growing for low- and middle-income countries as well. Turkey is a middle-income country surveyed by the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) twice in a 4-year period, in 2008 and 2012. During this time, the country introduced a policy raising its Special Consumption Tax on Tobacco and implemented a comprehensive tobacco control program banning smoking in public places, banning advertising, and introducing graphic health warnings. The higher tobacco tax took effect in early 2010, allowing sufficient time for subsequent changes in prices and smoking to be observed by the time of the 2012 GATS. This report uses data from GATS Turkey to examine how cigarette prices changed after the 2010 tax increase, describe the temporally associated changes in smoking prevalence, and learn whether this smoking prevalence changed more in some demographic groups than others. From 2008 to 2012, the average price paid for cigarettes increased by 42.1%, cigarettes became less affordable, and smoking prevalence decreased by 14.6%. The largest reduction in smoking was observed among persons with lower socioeconomic status (SES), highlighting the potential role of tax policy in reducing health disparities across socioeconomic groups.
authors.forename: Deliana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kostova
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Andes
authors.forename: Toker
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Erguder
authors.forename: Ayda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yurekli
authors.forename: Bekir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Keskinkılıç
authors.forename: Sertaç
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Polat
authors.forename: Gönül
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Culha
authors.forename: Evin Aras
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Kilinç
authors.forename: Enver
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Taştı
authors.forename: Yılmaz
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Erşahin
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozmen
authors.forename: Ramazan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: San
authors.forename: Hilal
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ozcebe
authors.forename: Nazmi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bilir
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Asma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013660:Taxes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000191:economics*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult