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. 2021 May 12:7:32.
doi: 10.18332/tpc/133933. eCollection 2021.

A geospatial analysis of age disparities in resolute localities of tobacco and vaping-specific storefronts in California

Raphael E Cuomo  1   2   3 , Joshua S Yang  4 , Vidya L Purushothaman  1   3 , Matthew Nali  3 , Jiawei Li  1 , Tim K Mackey  1   2   3
Affiliations

A geospatial analysis of age disparities in resolute localities of tobacco and vaping-specific storefronts in California

Raphael E Cuomo et al. Tob Prev Cessat. .

Abstract

Introduction: Concomitant with the popularization of vaping, vape shops have dramatically proliferated over the past years. This study assesses whether vape storefronts in California are significantly associated with density of different age groups, and whether this differs between tobacco storefronts or non-specific tobacco retailers.

Methods: Addresses for licensed tobacco retailers were obtained from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Business names and addresses were used to obtain store categories cross-referenced from Yelp. Using a cross-sectional ecological design, stores categorized as 'Vape Shop' or 'Tobacco Shop' were geolocated and compared with age-related variables from the American Community Survey. Regression was conducted in R to determine relationships between age group concentration, in ventiles, and proportion of tracts with tobacco-specific or vape-specific stores. Geospatial visualization was conducted using ArcGIS.

Results: We found 848 vape shops, 820 tobacco shops, 419 categorized as both, and 20320 retailers with neither category. Overall, 1800 tobacco and/or vape shops were categorized in 1557 of California's 23194 census tracts. A positive linear association was found between ventiles of two age categories, 20-24 and 25-34 years, and proportion of tracts with vape-specific or tobacco-specific shops separately.

Conclusions: Positive associations were found for ages 20-34 years but not for other ages, suggesting vape shops are strategically located in areas populated by young adults. Location-based targeting increases access, thereby increasing proportion of tobacco users, and could be a critical factor in e-cigarette uptake and use. Further study to identify additional age-related demographic characteristics among clientele of tobacco storefronts is warranted.

Keywords: age; disparities; electronic nicotine delivery devices; tobacco; vaping.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have each completed and submitted an ICMJE form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. The authors declare that they have no competing interests, financial or otherwise, related to the current work. J. Li and T. Mackey report that they are employees of the healthcare data science startup company S-3 Research LLC, currently funded by an NIH SBIR contract award. V. Purushothaman reports he is an employee of the United Nursing International Health Care Recruiters, with the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency. Both companies had no input, provided no funding and had no involvement in this study. All authors report funding from Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, University of California.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
At the census track level, the relationship between ventiles of twelve separate age groups compared to percentage of tracts containing a vape or tobacco shop. Each ventile contains 1158 tracts
Figure 2
Figure 2
In black, the relationship between median age and shops which are categorized as either vapespecific or tobacco-specific, at the census track level. In red, the relationship between median age and shops which are neither categorized as vape-specific nor tobacco-specific
Figure 3
Figure 3
With vape-specific shops as green triangles and tobacco-specific shops as blue squares, shop location atop a census tract basemap for California’s four most populous cities, with white-black choropleth shading according to concentration of the population aged 25–34 years
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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