Smoke-free homes and workplaces are associated with smokers' quitting or cutting their cigarette consumption, a new study has found.
The study, titled "Smoking bans: Influence on smoking prevalence," published today in Health Reports, found that in the past decade, smokers living in newly smoke-free homes or workplaces were more likely to quit over the next two years than smokers with no restrictions at home or at work.
Using data from the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey and the National Population Health Survey, the study examined links between smoking restrictions and rates of smoking cessation and cigarette consumption.
Among smokers living in homes that became "smoke-free" during the survey period, 20% had quit two years later. This compares with 13% of smokers living in homes that were not smoke-free.
Similarly, 27% of smokers who initially reported no restrictions at work, but who two years later reported a complete ban, had quit. This is more than double the 13% among those who continued to face no restrictions at work.
Findings suggest that for smokers wanting to quit, restrictions may tip the balance towards action.
The study distinguished between earlier stages of quitting (including a desire to quit, but no action taken) and later stages (actually quitting and maintenance). In homes with no restrictions, 70% of smokers and former smokers either had no plans to quit or wished to do so but had taken no action. This was the case for just 44% of smokers and former smokers in smoke-free homes.
As well, in smoke-free homes, 42% had either quit recently or were former smokers who were maintaining that status. The comparable figure in homes with no restrictions was 15%.
Similarly, in workplaces where smoking was completely banned, 33% of the combined group of smokers and former smokers had quit, compared with 22% of those who reported no restrictions at work.
Smoking bans on the rise
Between 2000 and 2006, the percentage of Canadians who smoked daily or occasionally declined from about 24% to 18%. During the same period, the proportion of smokers living in homes where smoking was totally banned rose from 27% to 43%. For smokers in households with children younger than 15, the increase was from 38% to 55%.
The rise in the percentage of smokers living in smoke-free homes coincides with the introduction of legislation to ban smoking in public places in many provinces and communities across the country.
In 2005, the vast majority of employed smokers faced at least some restrictions at work, with smoking completely banned (42%), allowed only in designated areas (37%), or restricted only in certain places (9%). Just 12% of employed smokers encountered no smoking restrictions in 2006, compared with 24% in 1998. Smokers in white-collar and sales and services jobs were more likely to report total bans than were workers in blue-collar occupations.
Smoking bans lead to reduced cigarette consumption
In 2005, smokers living in smoke-free homes averaged 9 cigarettes a day, compared with 15 a day for those facing partial restrictions, and 16 a day for those in homes with no restrictions.
The relationship was similar for workplace bans. Smokers in workplaces where smoking was totally banned averaged 12 cigarettes a day; those encountering partial bans, 14 a day; and those with no workplace restrictions, 17 a day.
Smokers who continued to smoke after their homes became smoke-free averaged 2.0 fewer cigarettes a day than they had two years earlier. This compared with 0.4 fewer cigarettes a day among smokers living in homes that were still not smoke-free.
Smokers whose workplaces went from no restrictions to total bans averaged 2.1 fewer cigarettes a day two years later, while the average daily cigarette consumption of smokers still facing no workplace restrictions did not change.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey numbers, including related surveys, 3226 and 4440.
The study "Smoking bans: Influence on smoking prevalence", which is part of today's Health Reports online release (82-003-XWE, free), is now available from the Publications module of our website.
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Margot Shields (
The complete version of the latest issue of Health Reports, Vol. 18, No. 3 (82-003-XWE, free) is now available. A paper copy (82-003-XPE, $22/$63) is also available.
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