Urban-Rural Differences in Tobacco Product Availability in Food Retailers, United States, 2017

Citation

Reimold, Alexandria E.; Kong, Amanda Y.; Delamater, Paul L.; Baggett, Christopher D.; & Golden, Shelley D. (2023). Urban-Rural Differences in Tobacco Product Availability in Food Retailers, United States, 2017. Journal of Rural Health, 39(2), 338-346. PMCID: PMC9755460

Abstract

PURPOSE: Tobacco use prevalence is higher in rural compared to urban settings, possibly due to differences in tobacco availability, including the option to purchase food and other essential items in stores that do not sell tobacco (tobacco-free food retailers). The goal of this research is to determine whether tobacco-free food retailer availability varies by urbanicity/rurality.
METHODS: Using the 2017 National Establishment Time-Series database, we identified food retailers across all census tracts containing food retailers in the United States (n = 66,053). We used multivariable logistic and linear regression models to test whether tobacco-free food retailer availability varied across 4-levels of census tract urbanicity/rurality (urban, suburban, large town, and small town/rural) for 2 outcomes: (1) the presence of at least 1 tobacco-free food retailer and (2) the percent of all food retailers that were tobacco-free.
FINDINGS: Compared to urban core census tracts, suburban census tracts had a lower odds (aOR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.73, 0.81) of having at least 1 tobacco-free food retailer, while small town/rural census tracts had greater odds (aOR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.15, 1.32). Suburban census tracts (B = -2.29, P < .001) and large town census tracts (B = -1.90, P < .001) also had a lower percentage of tobacco-free food retailers compared to urban census tracts.
CONCLUSIONS: Compared to urban cores, tobacco-free food retailers were less prevalent in suburban and large town areas, though similarly or slightly more available in rural areas. Future research should assess whether these differences depend on varying store types.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12687

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2023

Journal Title

Journal of Rural Health

Author(s)

Reimold, Alexandria E.
Kong, Amanda Y.
Delamater, Paul L.
Baggett, Christopher D.
Golden, Shelley D.

Article Type

Regular

PMCID

PMC9755460

Data Set/Study

National Establishment Time-Series Database

Continent/Country

United States of America

State

Nonspecific

ORCiD

Delamater - 0000-0003-3627-9739
Reimold - 0000-0001-6159-9414