Tobacco Retail Outlets and Vulnerable Populations in Ontario, Canada

Michael O. Chaiton, Graham C. Mecredy, Joanna E. Cohen and Melodie L. Tilson
Additional contact information
Michael O. Chaiton: Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, University of Toronto, 33 Russell Street Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada
Graham C. Mecredy: Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, University of Toronto, 33 Russell Street Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada
Joanna E. Cohen: Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, University of Toronto, 33 Russell Street Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada
Melodie L. Tilson: Non-Smokers' Rights Association, Ottawa, ON, K1P 5G4, Canada

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-11

Abstract: Interest has been increasing in regulating the location and number of tobacco vendors as part of a comprehensive tobacco control program. The objective of this paper is to examine the distribution of tobacco outlets in a large jurisdiction, to assess: (1) whether tobacco outlets are more likely to be located in vulnerable areas; and (2) what proportion of tobacco outlets are located close to schools. Retail locations across the Province of Ontario from Ministry of Health Promotion data were linked to 2006 Census data at the neighbourhood level. There was one tobacco retail outlet for every 1,000 people over age 15 in Ontario. Density of outlets varied by public health unit, and was associated with the number of smokers. Tobacco outlets were more likely to be located in areas that had high neighbourhood deprivation, in both rural and urban areas. Outlets were less likely to be located in areas with high immigrant populations in urban areas, with the reverse being true for rural areas. Overall, 65% of tobacco retailers were located within 500 m of a school. The sale of tobacco products is ubiquitous, however, neighbourhoods with lower socio-economic status are more likely to have easier availability of tobacco products and most retailers are located within walking distance of a school. The results suggest the importance of policies to regulate the location of tobacco retail outlets.

Keywords: tobacco; retail; availability; disparities; geospatial analysis; prevalence; school (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/12/7299/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/12/7299/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:12:p:7299-7309:d:31418

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().