title: Evaluation of smoke-free policies in seven cities in China, 2007-2012.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  China is the world's largest consumer of tobacco, with hundreds of millions of people exposed daily to secondhand smoke (SHS). Comprehensive smoke-free policies are the only effective way to protect the population from the harms of SHS. China does not have a comprehensive national smoke-free law but some local-level regulations have been implemented.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate local level smoke-free regulations across 7 cities in China by measuring the prevalence of smoking in public places (workplaces, restaurants and bars), and support for smoke-free policies over time.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were from Waves 2 to 4 of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) China Survey (2007-2012), a face-to-face cohort survey of approximately 800 smokers in each of 7 cities in mainland China. Multivariate logistic regression models estimated with generalised estimating equations were used to test the changes in variables over time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As of 2012, over three-quarters of respondents were exposed to smoking in bars; more than two-thirds were exposed to smoking in restaurants and more than half were exposed to smoking in indoor workplaces. Small decreases in the prevalence of smoking were found overall from Waves 2 to 4 for indoor workplaces, restaurants and bars, although the decline was minimal for bars. Support for complete smoking bans increased over time for each venue, although it was lowest for bars.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Existing partial smoking bans across China have had minimal impact on reducing smoking in public places. A strongly enforced, comprehensive national smoke-free law is urgently needed in order to achieve greater public health gains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Geoffrey T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Fong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Genevieve
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sansone
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Mi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Lorraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Anne C K
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Quah
authors.affiliation: Tobacco Control Office, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015995:Prevalence; D061845:Smoke-Free Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000639:trends; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013997:Time Factors; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution
keywords: Global health; Low/Middle income country; Public policy; Secondhand smoke