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Cigarette prices, cigarette expenditure and smoking-induced deprivation: findings from the International Tobacco Control Mexico survey
  1. Mohammad Siahpush1,
  2. James F Thrasher2,3,
  3. Hua H Yong4,
  4. K Michael Cummings5,
  5. Geoffrey T Fong6,7,
  6. Belén Saenz de Miera3,
  7. Ron Borland4
  1. 1Department of Health Promotion, Social and Behavioral Health, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
  2. 2Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
  3. 3Tobacco Control Research Department, Center for Population Health Research, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico
  4. 4VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control, The Cancer Council Victoria, Victoria, Australia
  5. 5Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
  6. 6Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
  7. 7Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  1. Correspondence to Dr Mohammad Siahpush, Department of Health Promotion, Social and Behavioral Health, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 986075 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-6075, USA; msiahpush{at}unmc.edu

Abstract

Aim Mexico implemented annual tax increases between 2009 and 2011. We examined among current smokers the association of price paid per cigarette and daily cigarette expenditure with smoking-induced deprivation (SID) and whether the association of price or expenditure with SID varies by income.

Methods We used data (n=2410) from three waves of the International Tobacco Control Mexico survey (ie, 2008, 2010, 2011) and employed logistic regression to estimate the association of price paid per cigarette and daily cigarette expenditure with the probability of SID (‘In the last 6 months, have you spent money on cigarettes that you knew would be better spent on household essentials like food?’).

Results Price paid per cigarette increased from Mex$1.24 in 2008, to Mex$1.36 in 2010, to Mex$1.64 in 2011. Daily cigarette expenditure increased from Mex$6.9, to Mex$7.6 and to Mex$8.4 in the 3 years. There was no evidence of an association between price and SID. However, higher expenditure was associated with a higher probability of SID. There was no evidence that the association of price or expenditure with SID varied by income.

Conclusion Tax increases in Mexico have resulted in smokers paying more and spending more for their cigarettes. Those with higher cigarette expenditure experience more SID, with no evidence that poorer smokers are more affected.

  • Advertising and promotion
  • cessation
  • economics
  • end game
  • environmental tobacco smoke
  • harm reduction
  • health communication
  • media campaigns
  • older people and smoking
  • packaging and labelling
  • prevalence
  • psychosocial theories
  • public opinion polls
  • public policy
  • qualitative study
  • research methods
  • smoking caused disease
  • social psychology

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050613

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    Footnotes

    • Funding This research was funded by the Mexican National Council on Science and Technology (CONACyT Salud-2007-C01-70032) and the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (P01 CA138389).

    • Competing interests None.

    • Ethics approval he protocol was approved by the institutional review board at the Mexican National Institute of Public Health.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement All data from preliminary analyses that have not been shared in the manuscript can be obtained from the first author, Mohammad Siahpush.