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Caroline M Fichtenberg Center for
Tobacco Control Research and Education, Institute for Health Policy
Studies, Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California,
San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
Correspondence to:
S A Glantz glantz{at}medicine.ucsf.edu
Objective:
To quantify the effects of smoke-free
workplaces on smoking in employees and compare these effects to those
achieved through tax increases.
What is already known on this topic
What this study adds
The combined effects of people stopping smoking and reducing
consumption reduces total cigarette consumption by 29% To achieve similar results through taxation would require cigarette
taxes per pack to increase from $0.76 to $3.05 in the United States and
from £3.44 to £6.59 in the United Kingdom
Design:
Systematic review with a random effects
meta-analysis.
Study selection:
26 studies on the effects of
smoke-free workplaces.
Setting:
Workplaces in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Germany.
Participants:
Employees in unrestricted
and totally smoke-free workplaces.
Main outcome measures:
Daily cigarette consumption
(per smoker and per employee) and smoking prevalence.
Results:
Totally smoke-free workplaces are associated with reductions in prevalence of smoking of 3.8% (95% confidence interval 2.8% to 4.7%) and 3.1 (2.4 to 3.8) fewer cigarettes smoked per day per continuing smoker. Combination of the effects of reduced prevalence and lower consumption per continuing smoker yields a mean
reduction of 1.3 cigarettes per day per employee, which corresponds to
a relative reduction of 29%. To achieve similar reductions the tax on
a pack of cigarettes would have to increase from $0.76 to $3.05
(
0.78 to
3.14) in the United States and from £3.44 to £6.59
(
5.32 to
10.20) in the United Kingdom. If all workplaces became
smoke-free, consumption per capita in the entire population would drop
by 4.5% in the United States and 7.6% in the United Kingdom, costing
the tobacco industry $1.7 billion and £310 million annually in lost
sales. To achieve similar reductions tax per pack would have to
increase to $1.11 and £4.26.
Conclusions:
Smoke-free workplaces not
only protect non-smokers from the dangers of passive smoking, they also
encourage smokers to quit or to reduce consumption.
Smoke-free workplaces are associated with lower cigarette consumption
per continuing smoker
Smoke-free workplaces reduce prevalence of smoking as well as
consumption
© BMJ 2002
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