Are local smoke-free laws fostering disparities in health protection?

Audience:

Tobacco control professionals working at the state and local levels

Key Points:

Several studies have suggested that individuals with low socioeconomic status and certain racial/ethnic groups may be less likely to live in communities with strong smoking restrictions. This would imply that local smoking restrictions may be unintentionally contributing to disparities in health protections.  However, these studies have been limited to specific states and regions. 

We will examine this issue in 10 states which lack state comprehensive smoke-free laws, but have a number of local smoke-free laws in place.  We will use data from the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation U.S. Tobacco Control Laws Database to identify local smoke-free laws.  We will use data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to identify demographic characteristics of local populations, including income, education, unemployment, and race/ethnicity.   Smoke-free law data will be linked to demographic data to compare characteristics of state residents who are covered by comprehensive local smoke-free laws to characteristics of their counterparts who are not covered. 

Educational Experience:

The findings of this study will provide additional insight into the extent to which local smoke-free laws may unintentionally create disparities in health protections. 

Benefits:

If we find that smoke-free laws are contributing to disparities in certain populations, one potential implication could be a need for greater efforts by tobacco control practitioners to engage specific population groups in local policy efforts.