Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2000 Aug 5;321(7257):351-4.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.321.7257.351.

Impact of the Massachusetts tobacco control programme: population based trend analysis

L Biener  1 , J E Harris, W Hamilton
Affiliations

Impact of the Massachusetts tobacco control programme: population based trend analysis

L Biener et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objective: To assess the impact of the Massachusetts tobacco control programme, which, since its start in January 1993, has spent over $200m-"the highest per capita expenditure for tobacco control in the world"-funded by an extra tax of 25 cents per pack of cigarettes.

Design: Population based trend analysis with comparison group.

Subjects: Adult residents of Massachusetts and other US states excluding California.

Main outcome measures: Per capita consumption of cigarettes as measured by states' sales tax records; prevalence of smoking in adults as measured by several population-based telephone surveys.

Results: From 1988 to 1992, decline in per capita consumption of cigarettes in Massachusetts (15%) was similar to that in the comparison states (14%), corresponding to an annual decline of 3-4% for both groups. During 1992-3, consumption continued to decline by 4% in the comparison states but dropped 12% in Massachusetts in response to the tax increase. From 1993 onward, consumption in Massachusetts showed a consistent annual decline of more than 4%, whereas in the comparison states it levelled off, decreasing by less than 1% a year. From 1992, the prevalence of adult smoking in Massachusetts has declined annually by 0.43% (95% confidence interval 0.21% to 0.66%) compared with an increase of 0. 03% (-0.06% to 0.12%) in the comparison states (P<0.001).

Conclusions: These findings show that a strongly implemented, comprehensive tobacco control programme can significantly reduce tobacco use.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Annual per capita cigarette sales (based on tax receipts for wholesale deliveries) in Massachusetts and in remaining 48 US states (excluding California)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Trends in adult smoking prevalence in Massachusetts and remaining 48 states (excluding California)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. National Cancer Institute. ASSIST: American stop smoking intervention study for cancer prevention. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society; 1994. . (NIH pub. 94-3743).
    1. Bal DG, Kizer KW, Felton PG, Mozar HN, Niemeyer D. Reducing tobacco consumption in California: development of a statewide anti-tobacco use campaign. JAMA. 1990;264:1570–1574. - PubMed
    1. Abt Associates. Independent evaluation of the Massachusetts tobacco control program: fifth annual report. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates; 1998.
    1. Biener L, Fowler FJ, Jr, Roman AM. Technical report: 1993 Massachusetts tobacco survey. Boston, MA: Department of Health; 1994.
    1. Biener L, Roman AM. 1998 Massachusetts adult tobacco survey: Technical report and tables. Boston, MA: Center for Survey Research; 1999.

Publication types