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Reduction of youth smoking with restrictions on flavored cigarettes

Reduction of youth smoking with restrictions on flavored cigarettes in Massachusetts, USA Hawkins SS, et al. Flavored tobacco product restrictions in Massachusetts associated with reductions in adolescent cigarette and e-cigarette use. Tobacco Control. Online First. 9 March 2021.

https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2021/03/09/tobaccocontrol-2020-056159

“Researchers examine the associations between county-level flavored tobacco product restrictions, tobacco 21 policies, and smoke-free laws prohibiting e-cigarettes with adolescent cigarette and e-cigarette use in Massachusetts, and to assess whether policy effects varied by age.

Counties with greater implementation of flavored tobacco product restrictions were associated with a decrease in the level of cigarette use among users (incidence rate ratio -1.56; 95% CI -2.54 to -0.58). A significant interaction (p=0.03) revealed the largest reductions among 14 and 18-year-olds. Increasing flavored tobacco product restrictions were also associated with reductions in the likelihood of e-cigarette use (OR -0.87; 95% CI -1.68 to -0.06). Increasing tobacco 21 restrictions were associated with decreases in cigarette use only among 18-year-olds, while there was no evidence of associations between smoke-free laws with the use of either tobacco product.”

Stephen Hamann

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