Local smoke-free public policies, quitline call rate, and smoking status in kentucky

Purpose. The study investigated the relationships among local smoke-free public policies, county-level quitline call rate, and adult smoking status.

Design. A retrospective cross-sectional examination of demographic characteristics, smoking status of Kentuckians, and data from the Kentucky Tobacco Quitline were used to investigate the relationship of local smoke-free ordinances or Board of Health regulations together with county-level quitline use rates and population-level adult smoking status.

Setting. One hundred and four Kentucky counties.

Subjects. The sample was comprised of 14,184 Kentucky participants with complete demographic information collected from the 2009-2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

Measures. Individual-level demographics and smoking status from the BRFSS; county-level urban/rural status; quitline rates; and smoke-free policy status. Analysis. Given the hierarchical structure of the dataset, with BRFSS respondents nested within county, multilevel modeling was used to determine the predictors of smoking status.

Results. For every 1-unit increase in the county-level call rate the likelihood of current smoking status decreased by 9%. Compared to those living in communities without a policy, those in communities with a smoke-free public policy were 18% less likely to be current smokers. Limitations include quitline call rate as the sole indicator of cessation demand, as well as the cross-sectional design.

Conclusion. Communities with smoke-free policies and higher rates of quitline use have lower rates of adult smoking. (Am J Health Promot 2014;29[2]:123-126.).