Cigarettes : increase the price of the package favors the withdrawal

Canonlife/epictura

Published the 21.08.2017 at 17: 05

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tabaccigaretteaddiction

Increase the price of tobacco to reduce the number of smokers ? The idea resurfaced with a new study published in the journal Epidemiology. The work, led to the Drexel University (Philadelphia), show that the fact of increase of a dollar the price of a package of cigarettes will increase the probability of cessation among smokers – and especially among the “old smokers” who consume tobacco for many years. Such an increase reduces, overall, the risk of smoking.

In reaching this conclusion, the researchers observed ten-year changes in the price of tobacco to the scale of six districts in the United States (in addition to-Atlantic, the prices differ according to the States, but also the streets and shops). They were then intersected these data to determine the impact of these price increases on the behavior of smokers living in the district studied.

Effective in heavy smokers

The work concentrated on the older, because they are also the most reluctant to quit smoking. For the study, 632 smokers aged 58 on average (from 44 to 84 years) were followed for ten years. “Our results show that price increases on cigarettes were associated with more withdrawal in the elderly population, suggesting that tobacco taxes could be particularly effective for behavioural change “.

In detail, the authors found that an increase of one dollar in the price of tobacco (0.9 euro) increased by 20 % the probability of smoking cessation among the ” old ” smokers. Overall, in the areas where we observed this increase, the risk of smoking was decreased by 3 %.

This effect was even more noticeable in heavy smokers (who smoke more than half a pack per day). These proportions were 35 % above their average number of cigarettes smoked each day when the package was an extra dollar.

“Given that heavy smokers smoke more cigarettes per day, it is possible that they feel more heavily the impact of a price increase,” write the authors, who believe that more youngsters might be also sensitive to this increase in price, or even more.

In France, the defenders of the cause of tobacco are many to ask for an increase in the price of tobacco, one of the few levers effective to reduce smoking. The government announced at the beginning of the month of July that it would progressively the price of a pack of cigarettes to ten euros, compared to around seven today (+40 %). France will join and the countries which apply the highest rates on tobacco, with the United Kingdom and Australia.