Electronic cigarette retail outlets and proximity to schools

Purpose. To compare the retail distribution and density per population of electronic and conventional cigarettes in smoke-free communities with and without e-cigarette restrictions. Design. A cross-sectional study with field observations of retail tobacco stores. Setting. Two Central Kentucky counties with 100% smoke-free workplace regulations; counties selected on the basis of whether e-cigarette use was restricted. Subjects. Fifty-seven tobacco retailers in two counties, including conventional retailers and stand-alone e-cigarette stores. Measures. Type and location of store and products sold; addresses of stores and schools geocoded with ArcGIS. Analysis. Bivariate comparisons between counties, rates and confidence intervals for frequency of tobacco retailers and e-cigarette stores per population. Results. Fifty-three percent of tobacco retailers sold e-cigarettes. E-cigarette availability did not differ by whether smoke-free regulation covered e-cigarettes. Rates of tobacco retailers and e-cigarette distributors per 10,000 were 8.29 and 4.40, respectively, in the two-county area. Of the 40 schools, 88% had a tobacco retailer and 68% had an e-cigarette distributor within 1 mile. Conclusion. In this exploratory study, e-cigarette use restriction was not related to store availability. For a relatively new product, e-cigarettes were readily available in retail outlets and close to schools.