Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

LIVE: Thursday 2nd May 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)

Quality sleep is essential for health. But what happens to our brains when sleep patterns are disturbed? Join our experts to explore the interplay between sleep disruption and neurological diseases, and the questions that you need to be asking your patients to help you prevent the harmful effects of sleep deprivation.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

A cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between tobacco and alcohol outlet density and neighbourhood deprivation

Authors: Niamh K Shortt, Catherine Tisch, Jamie Pearce, Richard Mitchell, Elizabeth A Richardson, Sarah Hill, Jeff Collin

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2015

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

There is a strong socio-economic gradient in both tobacco-and alcohol-related harm. One possible factor contributing to this social gradient may be greater availability of tobacco and alcohol in more socially-deprived areas. A higher density of tobacco and alcohol outlets is not only likely to increase supply but also to raise awareness of tobacco/alcohol brands, create a competitive local market that reduces product costs, and influence local social norms relating to tobacco and alcohol consumption. This paper examines the association between the density of alcohol and tobacco outlets and neighbourhood-level income deprivation.

Methods

Using a national tobacco retailer register and alcohol licensing data this paper calculates the density of alcohol and tobacco retail outlets per 10,000 population for small neighbourhoods across the whole of Scotland. Average outlet density was calculated for neighbourhoods grouped by their level of income deprivation. Associations between outlet density and deprivation were analysed using one way analysis of variance.

Results

There was a positive linear relationship between neighbourhood deprivation and outlets for both tobacco (p <0.001) and off-sales alcohol (p <0.001); the most deprived quintile of neighbourhoods had the highest densities of both. In contrast, the least deprived quintile had the lowest density of tobacco and both off-sales and on-sales alcohol outlets.

Conclusions

The social gradient evident in alcohol and tobacco supply may be a contributing factor to the social gradient in alcohol- and tobacco-related disease. Policymakers should consider such gradients when creating tobacco and alcohol control policies. The potential contribution to public health, and health inequalities, of reducing the physical availability of both alcohol and tobacco products should be examined in developing broader supply-side interventions.
Literature
1.
World Health Organisation. Global health risks: mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risks. Geneva: World Health Organisation; 2009.
2.
World Health Organization. European action plan to reduce the harmful use of alcohol 2012–2020. Geneva: World Health Organisation; 2011.
3.
Baumann M, Spitz E, Guillemin F, Ravaud J-F, Choquet M, Falissard B, et al. Associations of social and material deprivation with tobacco, alcohol, and psychotropic drug use, and gender: a population-based study. Int J Health Geogr. 2007;6(1):50.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
4.
Huckle T, You RQ, Casswell S. Socio-economic status predicts drinking patterns but not alcohol-related consequences independently. Addiction. 2010;105(7):1192–202.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Harrison L, Gardiner E. Do the rich really die young? Alcohol-related mortality and social class in Great Britain, 1988–94. Addiction. 1999;94(12):1871–80.CrossRefPubMed
6.
Siegler V, Al-Hamad A, Johnson B, Wells C. Social inequalities in alcohol related adult mortality by National Statistics Socioeconomic Classification, England and Wales, 2001–2003. In: ONS health stati sti cs quarterly. London: ONS; 2011.
7.
Giskes K, Kunst AE, Benach J, Borrell C, Costa G, Dahl E, et al. Trends in smoking behaviour between 1985 and 2000 in nine European countries by education. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005;59(5):395–401.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
8.
Ellaway A, Macintyre S. Does where you live predict health related behaviours?: a case study in Glasgow. Health Bull (Edinb). 1996;54(6):443–6.
9.
Pearce J, Barnett R, Moon G. Sociospatial inequalities in health-related behaviours: pathways linking place and smoking. Prog Hum Geogr. 2011;1–22.
10.
Chuang YC, Cubbin C, Ahn D, Winkleby MA. Effects of neighbourhood socioeconomic status and convenience store concentration on individual level smoking. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005;59(7):568–73.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
11.
Henriksen L, Feighery EC, Schleicher NC, Cowling DW, Kline RS, Fortmann SP. Is adolescent smoking related to the density and proximity of tobacco outlets and retail cigarette advertising near schools? Prev Med. 2008;47(2):210–4.CrossRefPubMed
12.
Huckle T, Huakau J, Sweetsur P, Huisman O, Casswell S. Density of alcohol outlets and teenage drinking: living in an alcogenic environment is associated with higher consumption in a metropolitan setting. Addiction. 2008;103(10):1614–21.CrossRefPubMed
13.
Novak SP, Reardon SF, Raudenbush SW, Buka SL. Retail tobacco outlet density and youth cigarette smoking: a propensity-modeling approach. Am J Public Health. 2006;96(4):670–6.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
14.
Pokorny LA, Schoeny ME. The relation of retail tobacco availability to initiation and continued smoking. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2003;32:193–204.CrossRefPubMed
15.
Weitzman ER, Folkman A, Folkman M, Wechsler H. The relationship of alcohol outlet density to heavy and frequent drinking and drinking-related problems among college students at eight universities. Health Place. 2003;9(1):1–6.CrossRefPubMed
16.
West JH, Blumberg EJ, Kelley NJ, Hill L, Sipan CL, Schmitz KE, et al. Does proximity to retailers influence alcohol and tobacco use among Latino adolescents? J Immigr Minor Health. 2010;12(5):626–33.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Institute of Medicine. Ending the tobacco problem: a blueprint for the nation. Washington D.C.: Institute of Medicine of the National Academies; 2007.
18.
De Leon J, Rendon DM, Baca-Garcia E, Aizpuru F, Gonzalez-Pinto A, Anitua C, et al. Association between smoking and alcohol use in the general population: stable and unstable odds ratios across two years in two different countries. Alcohol Alcohol. 2007;42(3):252–7.CrossRefPubMed
19.
20.
Grant I, Springbett A, Graham L. Alcohol attributable mortality and morbidity: Alcohol population atrributable fractions for Scotland 2009. Edinburgh: SCOTPHO; 2009
21.
Scotland ISD. Alcohol statistics Scotland 2011. NHS Scotland: Edinburgh; 2010.
22.
Taulbut M, Gordon D, McKenzie K. Tobacco smoking in Scotland: an epidemiology briefing. In. Edinburgh: NHS Health Scotland and Scottish Public Health Observatory; 2008.
23.
Rutherford L, Shar C, Bromley B. The Scottish health survey: volume 1 adults. The Scottish Government: Edinburgh; 2012.
24.
Walsh D, Bendel N, Jones R, Hanlon P. It’s not ‘just deprivation’: why do equally deprived UK cities experience different health outcomes? Public Health. 2010;124(9):487–95.CrossRefPubMed
25.
26.
Shortt NK, Tisch C, Pearce J, Richardson EA, Mitchell R. The density of tobacco retailers in home and school environments and relationship with adolescent smoking behaviours in Scotland. Tobacco Control 2014, doi: 10.​1136/​tobaccocontrol-2013-051473
27.
Loomis BR, Kim AE, Goetz JL, Juster HR. Density of tobacco retailers and its association with sociodemographic characteristics of communities across New York. Public Health. 2013;127(4):333–8.CrossRefPubMed
28.
Romley JA, Cohen D, Ringel J, Sturm R. Alcohol and environmental justice: the density of liquor stores and bars in urban neighborhoods in the United States. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2007;68(1):48–55.CrossRefPubMed
29.
Marsh L, Doscher C, Robertson LA. Characteristics of tobacco retailers in New Zealand. Health Place. 2013;23:165–70.CrossRefPubMed
30.
Hay GC, Whigham PA, Kypri K, Langley JD. Neighbourhood deprivation and access to alcohol outlets: a national study. Health and Place. 2009;15(4):1086–93.CrossRefPubMed
31.
Wood LJ, Pereira G, Middleton N, Foster S. Socioeconomic area disparities in tobacco retail outlet density: a Western Australian analysis. Med J Aust. 2013;198(9):489–91.PubMed
32.
Livingston M. The social gradient of alcohol availability in Victoria, Australia. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2012;36(1):41–7.CrossRefPubMed
33.
Richardson EA, Shortt NK, Pearce J, Mitchell R. Alcohol-related illness and deaths in Scottish neighbourhoods: is there a relationshop with the number of alcohol outlets. Edinburgh: Centre for Research on Environment, Society and Health and Alcohol Focus Scotland; 2014.
34.
Donaghy E, Bauld L, Eadie D, McKell J, Pringle B, Amos A. A qualitative study of how young Scottish smokers living in disadvantaged communities get their cigarettes. Nicotine Tob Res. 2013.
35.
Stead M, Jones L, Docherty G, Gough B, Antoniak M, McNeill A. ‘No-one actually goes to a shop and buys them do they?’: attitudes and behaviours regarding illicit tobacco in a multiply disadvantaged community in England. Addiction. 2013;108(12):2212–9.CrossRefPubMed
36.
Government HM. The government’s alcohol strategy. London: The Home Office; 2012.
37.
Katikireddi SV, Higgins M, Smith KE, Williams G. Health inequalities: the need to move beyond bad behaviours. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2013;67(9):715–6.CrossRefPubMed
38.
Clifford D, Hill S, Collin J. Seeking out’easy targets’? Tobacco companies, health inequalities and public policy. Tob Control. 2013.
39.
40.
Schneider S, Gruber J. Neighbourhood deprivation and outlet density for tobacco, alcohol and fast food: first hints of obesogenic and addictive environments in Germany. Public Health Nutr. 2013;16(07):1168–77.CrossRefPubMed
41.
Yerger V, Przewoznik J, Malone R. Radicalized geography, corporate activity, and health disparities: tobacco industry targeting of inner cities. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2007;18(4 Suppl):10–38.CrossRefPubMed
42.
43.
Cohen JE, Anglin L. Outlet density: a new frontier for tobacco control. Addiction. 2009;104(1):2–3.CrossRefPubMed
44.
Babor TF, Caetano R, Casswell S, Edwards G, Giesbrecht N, Graham K, et al. Alcohol: no ordinary commodity: research and public policy. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2010.CrossRef
45.
Pearce J, Rind E, Shortt N, Tisch C, Mitchell R. Tobacco retail environments and social inequalities in individual-level smoking and cessation among Scottish adults. Nicotine Tob Res. 2015.
46.
Government TS. Creating a tobacco-free generation: tobacco control strategy for Scotland. The Scottish Government: Edinburgh; 2013.
Metadata
Title
A cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between tobacco and alcohol outlet density and neighbourhood deprivation
Authors
Niamh K Shortt
Catherine Tisch
Jamie Pearce
Richard Mitchell
Elizabeth A Richardson
Sarah Hill
Jeff Collin
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2321-1

Other articles of this Issue 1/2015

BMC Public Health 1/2015 Go to the issue

Research article

Intra-household evaluations of alcohol abuse in men with depression and suicide in women: A cross-sectional community-based study in Chennai, India

Research article

Non-fatal overdoses and related risk factors among people who inject drugs in St. Petersburg, Russia and Kohtla-Järve, Estonia

Research article

Association of obesity with socioeconomic status among adults of ages 18 to 80 years in rural Northwest China

Study protocol

KIDS OUT! Protocol of a brief school-based intervention to promote physical activity and to reduce screen time in a sub-cohort of Finnish eighth graders

Research article

Development of a community health inclusion index: an evaluation tool for improving inclusion of people with disabilities in community health initiatives

Research article

Does introducing an immunization package of services for migrant children improve the coverage, service quality and understanding? An evidence from an intervention study among 1548 migrant children in eastern China