Uneven access to smokefree laws and policies contributes to health inequity

Amy Hafez, Mariaelena Gonzalez, Maggie Kulik MC, Maya Vijayaraghavan, and I just published “Uneven Access to Smoke-Free Laws and Policies and Its Effect on Health Equity in the United States: 2000-2019” in American Journal of Public Health.  It reviews the literature and finds that although overall smoking prevalence has declined, it remains high among many subpopulations that are disproportionately burdened by tobacco use, resulting in tobacco-related health disparities. Slow diffusion of smoke-free laws to rural regions, particularly in the South and Southeast, and uneven adoption of voluntary policies in single-family homes and multiunit housing are key policy variables associated with the disproportionate burden of tobacco-related health disparities in these subpopulations. Developing policies that expand the reach of comprehensive smoke-free laws not only will facilitate the decline in smoking prevalence among subpopulations disproportionately burdened by tobacco use but will also decrease exposure to secondhand smoke and further reduce tobacco-caused health disparities in the United States.

This paper is a nice complement to ANRF’s “Bridging the Gap” and Truth Initiative’s “Tobacco Nation” projects.

The full citation is Hafez AY, Gonzalez M, Kulik MC, Vijayaraghavan M, Glantz SA.  Uneven Access to Smoke-Free Laws and Policies and Its Effect on Health Equity in the United States: 2000-2019. Am J Public Health. 2019 Sep 19:e1-e8. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305289. [Epub ahead of print].  It is available here.