Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2011 Oct;66(10):862-5.
doi: 10.1136/thx.2010.154963. Epub 2011 Apr 17.

Increasing the age for the legal purchase of tobacco in England: impacts on socio-economic disparities in youth smoking

Christopher Millett  1 , John Tayu Lee, Daniel C Gibbons, Stanton A Glantz
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Increasing the age for the legal purchase of tobacco in England: impacts on socio-economic disparities in youth smoking

Christopher Millett et al. Thorax. 2011 Oct.

Abstract

Background: The minimum age for the legal purchase of tobacco increased from 16 to 18 years in England, Scotland and Wales on 1 October 2007. The authors examined the impact of this legislation on disparities in smoking behaviour and access to cigarettes among youth in England.

Methods: A multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out adjusting for secular trends in regular smoking using data from the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Survey, a national survey of 11-15 year olds. The primary outcome measure was regular smoking and the predictor variables were the law increasing the minimum age for purchase and eligibility for free school meals (FSM).

Results: Increasing the minimum age for purchase was associated with a significant reduction in regular smoking among youth (adjusted OR 0.67; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.81, p=0.0005). This effect was not significantly different in pupils eligible for FSM compared with those that were not (adjusted OR 1.29; 95% CI 0.95 to 1.76, p=0.10 for interaction term). The percentage of pupils who stated that they found it difficult to buy cigarettes from a shop did not increase in those eligible for FSM (25.2% to 33.3%; p=0.21) but did increase significantly in others (21.2% to 36.9%; p<0.01) between 2006 and 2008. No differences in ease of purchase were found between pupils eligible for FSM and those not before or after the legislation (2006: p=0.34, 2008: p=0.55).

Conclusions: Increasing the age for the legal purchase of tobacco was associated with reduced regular smoking among youth in England and appeared to have a similar impact in different socio-economic groups.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of regular smoking among 11–15 year olds in England by free school meal status. Lines indicate predicted values and points indicate observed smoking prevalence. Regular smoking prevalence (free school meals (FSM)/non free school meals (NFSM)): 2003: 13.1%/8.8%; 2004: 13.5%/8.1%; 2005: 12.2%/8.4%; 2006: 11.9%/ 8.3%; 2008: 10.6%/5.7%. Number of observations: 2003:9430 (1164 FSM/8266 NFSM), 2004:8893 (1048 FSM/7845 NFSM), 2005:8229 (1208 FSM/7021 NFSM), 2006:7148 (1100 FSM/6048 NFSM), 2008:6882 (983 FSM/5899 NFSM).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Jha P, Peto R, Zatonski W, et al. Social inequalities in male mortality, and in male mortality from smoking: indirect estimation from national death rates in England and Wales, Poland, and North America. Lancet. 2006;368:367–70. - PubMed
    1. Gilman SE, Abrams DB, Buka SL. Socioeconomic status over the life course and stages of cigarette use: initiation, regular use, and cessation. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2003;57:802–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pierce JP, Fiore MC, Novotny TE, et al. Trends in cigarette smoking in the United States. Educational differences are increasing. JAMA. 1989;261:56–60. - PubMed
    1. Fidler JA, West R. Changes in smoking prevalence in 16-17-year-old versus older adults following a rise in legal age of sale: findings from an English population study. Addiction. 2010;105:1984–8. - PubMed
    1. Fair society, healthy lives [accessed 22 Feb 2010];The Marmot Review. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview/FairSocietyHealthyLives. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms