Smoking reduces due to tobacco control policies

Increasing taxes on tobacco and smoke-free policies have resulted in the reduction of smoking among older adults, according to a recent study.

This was noted in the European countries where the laws regarding tobacco usage have increased. Researchers examined data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) on adults aged 50 years and older in four waves from 2004 to 2013 from 10 countries and the study was later published in the journal Addiction.

A negative association between tobacco control policies and smoking was observed especially among those between 50 and 65 years old, and among those with lower levels of education.

By contrast, no relationship was found among those older than 65 years and among those with high education. Furthermore, the association was not found to be different between men and women.

"Among tobacco control policies, we found tax increases and smoke-free policies particularly associated with the reduction in smoking among the lower educated adults older than 50 years, suggesting that these policies could potentially reduce socio-economic inequalities in smoking," said lead author Manuel Serrano-Alarcon.

According to the researchers, if the laws regarding tobacco usage are strict than that is directly proportional to a decrease in smoking amongst older adults.

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