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Response to Increases in
Cigarette Prices by Race/Ethnicity, Income, and Age
GroupsUnited States 1976-1993
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The Friday, July 31, 1998, issue of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Report (MMWR) contains the article, "Response to Increases in Cigarette
Prices by Race/Ethnicity, Income, and Age Groups---United States 1976-1993." New
analysis of 14 years of health data by CDC shows that lower-income, minority, and younger
populations are more likely than other groups to quit or cut down on their smoking in
response to cigarette price increases, thereby gaining considerable health benefits. Other
findings of the study include:
- When analyses control for important factors
like income and education, blacks are twice as responsive as whites to price increases,
and Hispanics are even more price responsive. These racial differences are not fully
understood, but they document that cigarette price increases would lower smoking rates and
enhance public health outcomes, especially for minority groups.
- Even after analyses control for income and other
variables, it is estimated that about one quarter of 18-24-year-old Hispanic smokers and
approximately 10 percent of 18-24-year-old black smokers would quit smoking altogether in
response to a 10 percent price increase, whereas only about 1 percent of white
smokers of the same age would quit. With the exception of whites, the effect of price on
smoking rates declines with age.
- Younger smokers are more likely than older
smokers to quit smoking or reduce the amount they smoke as a result of price increases.
Among both black and Hispanic smokers, those aged 18-24 were almost four times more price
responsive than those aged 40 and older.
- Smokers with family incomes equal to or below the
family median income were more likely to respond to price increases by quitting than
smokers with family incomes above the income median.
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