title: Tobacco retailer proximity and density and nicotine dependence among smokers with serious mental illness.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined the density and proximity of tobacco retailers and associations with smoking behavior and mental health in a diverse sample of 1061 smokers with serious mental illness (SMI) residing in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants' addresses were geocoded and linked with retailer licensing data to determine the distance between participants' residence and the nearest retailer (proximity) and the number of retailers within 500-meter and 1-kilometer service areas (density).
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than half of the sample lived within 250 meters of a tobacco retailer. A median of 3 retailers were within 500 meters of participants' residences, and a median of 12 were within 1 kilometer. Among smokers with SMI, tobacco retailer densities were 2-fold greater than for the general population and were associated with poorer mental health, greater nicotine dependence, and lower self-efficacy for quitting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings provide further evidence of the tobacco retail environment as a potential vector contributing to tobacco-related disparities among individuals with SMI and suggest that this group may benefit from progressive environmental protections that restrict tobacco retail licenses and reduce aggressive point-of-sale marketing.
authors.affiliation: Kelly C. Young-Wolff, Lisa Henriksen, and Judith J. Prochaska are with the Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Kevin Delucchi is with the Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Kelly C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Young-Wolff
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Henriksen
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Delucchi
authors.forename: Judith J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Prochaska
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012495:San Francisco / Q000453:epidemiology; D012723:Sex; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology