Tobacco control policies and smoking cessation treatment utilization: A moderated mediation analysis

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 16; no. 8; p. e0241512
• Main Authors: Thrul, Johannes, Riehm, Kira E, Cohen, Joanna E, Alexander, G Caleb, Vernick, Jon S, Mojtabai, Ramin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 30.08.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Air cleanliness; Air Pollution, Indoor - legislation & jurisprudence; Biology and Life Sciences; Care and treatment; Cigarette smoking; Cigarettes; Drug addiction; Education; Excise taxes; Female; Health aspects; Health insurance; Humans; Indoor air; Indoor environments; Insurance coverage; Internet resources; Male; Mediation Analysis; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental health; Minority & ethnic groups; Multivariate statistical analysis; Nicotiana - adverse effects; Nicotine; Older people; Policies; Population; Public health; Public Policy - legislation & jurisprudence; Smoking; Smoking - legislation & jurisprudence; Smoking cessation; Smoking Cessation - legislation & jurisprudence; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic factors; Substance abuse; Tax rates; Taxes; Taxes - legislation & jurisprudence; Tobacco; Tobacco Products - adverse effects; Tobacco Use - legislation & jurisprudence; Tobacco Use Cessation Devices; United States; United States; United States > US; Maryland; Baltimore Maryland
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241512

Tobacco policies, including clean indoor air laws and cigarette taxes, increase smoking cessation in part by stimulating the use of cessation treatments. We explored whether the associations between tobacco policies and treatment use varies across sociodemographic groups. We used data from 62,165 U.S. adult participants in the 2003 and 2010/11 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS) who reported smoking cigarettes during the past-year. We built on prior structural equation models used to quantify the degree to which smoking cessation treatment use (prescription medications, nicotine replacement therapy, counseling/support groups, quitlines, and internet resources) mediated the association between clean indoor air laws, cigarette excise taxes, and recent smoking cessation. In the current study, we added selected moderators to each model to investigate whether associations between tobacco polices and smoking cessation treatment use varied by sex, race/ethnicity, education, income, and health insurance status. Associations between clean indoor air laws and the use of prescription medication and nicotine replacement therapies varied significantly between racial/ethnic, age, and education groups in 2003. However, none of these moderation effects remained significant in 2010/11. Higher cigarette excise taxes in 2010/2011 were associated with higher odds of using counseling among older adults and higher odds of using prescription medications among younger adults. No other moderator reached statistical significance. Smoking cessation treatments did not mediate the effect of taxes on smoking cessation in 2003 and were not included in these analyses. Sociodemographic differences in associations between clean indoor air laws and smoking cessation treatment use have decreased from 2003 to 2010/11. In most cases, policies appear to stimulate smoking cessation treatment use similarly across varied sociodemographic groups.