Study Finds Connection Between Proximity To Tobacco Retailer, Chances Of Quitting Smoking
A Finnish study published online in JAMA Internal Medicine found that “found that every 500-meter (about one third of a mile) increase in distance to the nearest tobacco shop increased an individual’s odds of quitting by 20 percent to 60 percent.”
In an accompanying editorial, Cheryl Bettigole, MD, MPH, and Thomas Farley, MD, MPH, of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, wrote, “We can now conclude that tobacco outlets and the heavy dose of tobacco marketing they dump into their communities cause smoking – more precisely, they inhibit quitting among smokers.