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July 2003, Vol 93, No. 7 | American Journal of Public Health 1075-1076
© 2003 American Public Health Association

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Tobacco Outlet Density and Demographics in Erie County, New York

Andrew Hyland, PhD, Mark J. Travers, K. Michael Cummings, PhD, MPH, Joseph Bauer, PhD, Terry Alford and William F. Wieczorek, PhD

Andrew Hyland, Mark J. Travers, K. Michael Cummings, Joseph Bauer, and Terry Alford are with Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY. William F. Wieczorek is with Buffalo State College, Buffalo.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Andrew Hyland, PhD, Department of Cancer Prevention, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm and Carlton St, Buffalo, NY 14263 (e-mail: andrew.hyland{at}roswellpark.org).


   INTRODUCTION
TOP
 INTRODUCTION
METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 References
 
Economic literature shows that smokers are responsive to the price of cigarettes and that African American and lower-income smokers are particularly price sensitive.1–4 Tobacco control policies that effectively restrict access and use of cigarettes will raise the cost of the cigarettes themselves as a result of increased costs in obtaining and using cigarettes. For example, zoning restrictions on the number of tobacco outlets in a given area will require smokers to travel greater distances, which has a cost associated with it, to obtain cigarettes. Studies in the alcohol literature indicate that reductions in the physical availability of alcohol products are associated with positive health and behavioral outcomes,5–8 especially in low socioeconomic areas.9,10 No such studies have been performed concerning tobacco retail outlet densities. Given this deficiency in the tobacco literature, we set out to determine whether tobacco outlets were more densely concentrated in areas with lower incomes and more African Americans.


   METHODS
TOP
 INTRODUCTION
 METHODS
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 References
 
The addresses of all 1019 licensed tobacco selling retail outlets in Erie County, NY, in 1996 were obtained from the Erie County Department of Health. The 1995 TIGER/Line files, which are used for census mapping needs, for Erie County were obtained to map 1990 census data into the 227 residential census tracts in Erie County. The total population of Erie County in 1990 was 968 532, with 11% African American and 3% other races, which are concentrated in census tracts within the city of Buffalo, NY, the county’s largest city. Initial geocoding with Arcview, Version 3.1 (ESRI, Redlands, Calif), which was supplemented with the use of telephone directories, street maps, and neighborhood canvassing, led to successful geocoding of 1007 (98.8%) outlets.

The primary density measure studied was the number of outlets per 10 km of roadway in a given census tract. The percentage of African American residents and the median household income by census tract were used based on 1990 census data. The median outlet density across each income and race quartile was calculated. Analysis of variance was used to determine statistical significance of mean differences across quartile categories.


   RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
TOP
 INTRODUCTION
 METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
References
 
As shown in Table 1Go, census tracts with lower median household income and a greater percentage of African Americans had greater tobacco retail outlet densities (P < .05 for both measures).


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  		TABLE 1—— Tobacco Outlet Density, by Income and Race Quartiles, in Erie County, NY
 
These findings are consistent with the alcohol literature9,10 and suggest that persons who reside in these locations may have greater physical access to cigarettes. Although not directly tested in this study, future study is needed to test whether outlet density is associated with cigarette smoking, and these studies should account for spatial autocorrelation of outlets. Barriers such as clean indoor air policies and access restrictions essentially raise the cost of obtaining and using cigarettes, so consumption is predicted to decrease under such restrictions. Because lower-income and African American smokers are more price sensitive, policies that decrease tobacco outlet densities, such as zoning restrictions, may have a greater effect in these populations, although additional research is needed to address this hypothesis.


   Footnotes
 
Contributors

A. Hyland coordinated the study and finalized the brief. M. J. Travers collected and analyzed the data and wrote an initial draft of the brief. K. M. Cummings advised on methods for data collection and analysis. J. Bauer assisted with the analysis and contributed to the writing of the brief. T. Alford contributed advice on the study design and interpretation of the findings. W. F. Wieczorek provided advice on the analytical approach and assisted in writing the brief.

Human Participant Protection

No protocol approval was needed for this study.

Peer Reviewed

Accepted for publication August 23, 2002.


   References
TOP
 INTRODUCTION
 METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 References
 
1. Chaloupka FJ, Grossman M. Price, Tobacco Control Policies and Youth Smoking. Cambridge, Mass: National Bureau of Economic Research; December 1996. Working Paper 5470.

2. Lewit EM, Hyland A, Kerrebrock N, Cummings KM. Price, public policy, and smoking in young people. Tob Control. 1997;6:S17–S24.[Free Full Text]

3. Response to increases in cigarette prices by race/ethnicity, income, and age groups—United States, 1976–1993. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep.1998;47(29):605–609.[Medline]

4. Chaloupka GJ, Pacula R. Sex and race differences in young people’s responsiveness to price and tobacco control policies. Tob Control.1999;8:373–377.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

5. Scribner RA, MacKinnon DP, Dwyer JH. Alcohol outlet density and motor vehicle crashes in Los Angeles County cities. J Stud Alcohol.1994;55:447–453.[ISI][Medline]

6. Gruenewald PJ, Millar AB, Treno AJ, Yang Z, Ponicki WR, Roeper P. The geography of availability and driving after drinking. Addiction.1996;91:967–983.[ISI][Medline]

7. Jones-Webb R, Toomey TL, Short B, et al. Relationships among alcohol availability, drinking location, alcohol consumption, and drinking problems in adolescents. Subst Use Misuse.1997;32:1261–1285.[ISI][Medline]

8. Gruenewald PJ, Ponicki WR, Holder HD. The relationship of outlet densities to alcohol consumption: a time series cross-sectional analysis. Alcohol Clin Exp Res.1993;17:38–47.[ISI][Medline]

9. Gorman DM, Speer PW. The concentration of liquor outlets in an economically disadvantaged city in the northeastern United States. Subst Use Misuse.1997;32:2033–2046.[Medline]

10. LaVeist TA, Wallace JM. Health risk and inequitable distribution of liquor stores in an African American neighborhood. Soc Sci Med.2000;51:613–617.




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