Some smoking restrictions reduce the number of cigarettes smoked per day
To develop a logistic regression are used model of the effect of working in a workplace where smoking was restricted on the likelihood of current daily smokers having reduced the number of cigarettes they reported smoking per day during the period between 12 months prior to the survey and the time of the survey. Co-variates controlled for in the analyses were gender, age, race/ethnicity, education level, family income level, and number of cigarettes smoked per day 1 year prior to the survey.
Current daily smokers who worked in areas where there were some smoking restrictions were more likely to have reduced the number of cigarettes smoked per day when compared to smokers who worked in areas where there were no restrictions (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.06-1.96). The effect for current daily smokers working in areas where smoking was banned was even more robust (OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.10-2.16). Data for the 1996 CTS are also presented in Table 3-5, but the small number of smokers who work in areas that are not smoke-free (state law requires smoke-free workplaces in California) makes meaningful comparison difficult; however, there appears to be a similar trend in the 1996 CTS. These data suggest that the trend toward a reduction in number of cigarettes smoked per day among workers who work where smoking is restricted demonstrated for the CPS data is due to the effect of the smoking restrictions on smoking behavior, rather than being due to smoking restrictions being easier to implement in workplaces where there are fewer heavy smokers.
These data taken as a whole suggest that a smoke-free workplace policy results in a reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked per day by continuing smokers.
