Smokers likelier to quit under strict, city-wide smoking bans

Researchers have said that completely banning tobacco use inside the home - or more broadly in the whole city - measurably boosts the odds of smokers either cutting back or quitting entirely.

Wael K. Al-Delaimy, MD, PhD, professor and chief of the Division of Global Health in the UC San Diego Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, said that when there's a total smoking ban in the home, we found that smokers are more likely to reduce tobacco consumption and attempt to quit than when they're allowed to smoke in some parts of the house.

He said that the same held true when smokers report a total smoking ban in their city or town, asserting that having both home and city bans on smoking appears to be even more effective.

Al-Delaimy said the findings underscore the public health importance of smoking bans inside and outside the home as a way to change smoking behaviors and reduce tobacco consumption at individual and societal levels.

He said that California was the first state in the world to ban smoking in public places in 1994 and we are still finding the positive impact of that ban by changing the social norm and having more homes and cities banning smoking.

Al-Delaimy and colleagues surveyed 1,718 current smokers identified as a representative sample of the adult population in California.

They found that total home smoking bans were significantly associated with reduced consumption and successful quitting, but partial bans were not. Similarly, smokers who report smoking is broadly banned in their city were also more likely to attempt to quit and succeed than in places where smoking is not banned.

The researchers found that total home bans were more effective in reducing smoking among persons 65 years and older and among females, while city smoking bans were significantly associated with quit attempts in males, but not females.

The study has been published online in journal of Preventive Medicine.