Do cigarette prices near secondary schools vary by area-level socioeconomic status? Findings from a field study in Ontario and Québec, Canada

G Emmanuel Guindon; Annie Montreuil; Pete Driezen; Ryan Stahlbaum; Didier Giolat; N Bruce Baskerville

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102936

Do cigarette prices near secondary schools vary by area-level socioeconomic status? Findings from a field study in Ontario and Québec, Canada

Health Place. 2023 Jan:79:102936. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102936. Epub 2022 Dec 6.

Authors

G Emmanuel Guindon¹, Annie Montreuil², Pete Driezen³, Ryan Stahlbaum⁴, Didier Giolat⁵, N Bruce Baskerville⁶

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Department of Economics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Electronic address: emmanuel.guindon@mcmaster.ca.
² Institut national de santé publique du Québec, Montréal, QC, Canada; Département de psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada; School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
⁴ Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁵ Institut national de santé publique du Québec, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁶ School of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada; Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

PMID: 36493496
DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102936

Abstract

Objectives: To examine, in the context of youth smoking, whether cigarette prices near secondary schools varied by area-level socioeconomic status in Southwestern and Central Ontario, and the greater Montréal region.

Methods: We collected cigarette prices four times between 2016 and 2019 from stores near secondary schools and used mixed-effects and ordinary least squares regressions.

Results: We found consistent evidence that cigarette prices near secondary schools were lower in neighbourhoods with lower area-level household income, and that differences were large enough to be meaningful. In Ontario and Québec, our results indicate a Can$0.26 [0.04, 0.47] to Can$0.51 [0.33, 0.69] and Can$0.10 [-0.04, 0.24] to Can$0.37 [0.22, 0.52] difference in prices for a pack of 25 cigarettes between neighbourhoods with a median household income standard deviation below/above the provincial median, respectively.

Conclusion: Policy changes that limit area-level cigarette price differences without lowering cigarette prices may reduce inequities in youth smoking.

Keywords: Canada; Cigarette; Neighbourhood; Ontario; Price; Québec.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Commerce*
Humans
Ontario
Quebec
Schools
Social Class
Taxes
Tobacco Products*