Tobacco Price Increase and Consumption Behaviour Among Male Smokers in Saudi Arabia: a Community-Based Study
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Research article EMHJ – Vol. 26 No. 12 – 2020 Tobacco price increase and consumption behaviour among male smokers in Saudi Arabia: a community-based study Mohamad Al-Tannir,1 Amani Abu-Shaheen,2 Youssef Altannir 3 and Mustafa Altannir 3 1Research Monitoring Department, Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Correspondence to: Mohamad Al- Tannir: [email protected]). 1King Fahad Medical City, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2Scientific Writing Department, Research Center, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 3Research Monitoring Department, Research Center, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Abstract Background: Saudi Arabia doubled its tobacco tax in June 2017. Aims: To examine the association between an increase in tobacco prices and consumption behaviour among current male smokers in Riyadh. Methods: We conducted a community-based study using a self-administered questionnaire distributed to current male smokers aged 15+ years in Riyadh in 2018. The survey included questions on sociodemographic characteristics, tobacco consumption and self-reported chronic health conditions. Results: A total of 1481 participants were included in the final data analysis. After the tobacco tax was doubled, 25.6% of the participants reduced their cigarette consumption and 1.0% quit smoking. The average daily cigarette consumption af- ter enforcing the tobacco tax [19.77, standard deviation (SD) 10.7], was statistically significantly lower than before taxation (21.19, SD 10.8) (P < 0.0001). The calculated price elasticity of demand was −0.20 (inelastic). Employment status (P = 0.002) and per capita gross domestic product purchasing power parity (P = 0.001) were the only statistically significant factors associated with the change in smoking habits. Conclusions: Increasing tobacco prices reduced tobacco consumption by 26.6% among Saudi Arabian male smokers. Keywords: tobacco tax, tobacco consumption, male smokers, smoking habits, Saudi Arabia Citation: Abu-Shaheen A; Altannir Y; Altannir M. Tobacco price increase and consumption behaviour among male smokers in Saudi Arabia: a communia- ty-based study. East Mediterr Health J. 2020;26(12):1518–1524. https://doi.org/10.26719/emhj.20.066 Received: 12/05/19, accepted: 30/12/19 Copyright © World Health Organization (WHO) 2020. Open Access. Some rights reserved. This work is available under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Introduction increase their utilization because of a lack of social support, costs and access constraints (8). Also, clinicians Tobacco consumption is one of the biggest contributors were not likely to advise patients to quit or use smoking to public health problems, killing approximately 7 million cessation alternatives due to either time constraints with people worldwide each year (1). An average of 6 million deaths is attributable to the direct use of tobacco, while patients or inadequate training in delivering smoking an average of 890 000 deaths result from second-hand cessation services (8). smoking. According to global health observational data, Imposing taxes on tobacco products has proven to more than 1 billion people smoked tobacco in 2015, and be the most effective policy to reduce tobacco use and nearly 80% of them lived in low- and middle-income its adverse effects on health, the economy and society countries (1). (9–13). After joining the WHO Framework Convention for In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) Tobacco Control in 2005, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of reported that the overall rate of tobacco use in Saudi Health initiated a national tobacco control programme Arabia among those aged 15+ years was 12.2%, with a rate with remarkable efforts. Saudi Arabia announced the of 23.7% among males compared with 1.5% among females doubling of tobacco tax on June 10, 2017 following the (2). In a previous survey of Saudi Arabian adolescents decision of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. aged 13–15 years, the prevalence of tobacco use was 21.2% Increasing the price of tobacco products is considered among males and 9.1% among females (3). to be a highly effective policy to reduce tobacco use, Tremendous efforts have been made to reduce which eventually decreases the associated morbidity tobacco consumption all over the world in the form and mortality (14). Indeed, reducing tobacco use is a key of bans on smoking in public places, anti-smoking component of the Healthy People 2030 vision, part of the advertising campaigns, and comprehensive tobacco national action plan for improving the health of all Saudi control programmes (4–7). Arabians. The Gulf Cooperation Council governments provide This study aimed to assess the association between access to smoking cessation treatments such as nicotine the tobacco price increase due to higher tobacco taxes and replacement therapy (e.g. patch, inhaler, gum). However, consumption behaviour among current male smokers in the availability of these smoking alternatives did not Riyadh. 1518 Research article EMHJ – Vol. 26 No. 12 – 2020 Methods ulation across all districts of Riyadh and considering an incomplete and non-response rate of 20%, we would need Participants and questionnaire a sample of 1534 male smokers. The sample collected was A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted almost equal across the 5 districts: North 310, South 303, between April and October 2018 in all 5 districts of Riyadh East 308, West 308, Central 305. The sampling frame in- city (North, South, East, West, Central). Male smokers cluded coffee shops that had a seated smoking area. Site (current and those who quit after the tobacco tax in- visits and meetings with coffee shops managers were crease) aged 15+ years were eligible to participate. Males done in advance to acquire their approval for data col- below the age of 15 years, females, and males over 15 years lection. A convenience sample of 107 coffee shops was old who had never smoked were excluded. The study was reviewed for eligibility; 10 (9%) were determined ineligi- approved by the institutional review board at King Fahad ble due to the absence of an outdoor space designated for Medical City in Riyadh. smoking. An additional 5 (4.5%) coffee shops did not allow us to collect data on their premises. Therefore, data col- Participants were approached in coffee shops lection took place in 92 coffee shops: North 20, East 19, and other public places to take part in this study by South 18, West 18, Central 17. completing a self-administered questionnaire that was created based on an in-depth review of the literature (3,9– Statistical analysis 13). Considering the age categories, the sample size was Demographic characteristics of study participants were equally distributed across the 5 districts. The following reported as mean and standard deviation (SD) of a con- procedures were followed to ensure the validity of the tinuous variable, and categorical variables were reported questionnaire. First, the literature was reviewed and as number and percentage. previous instruments were examined to develop drafts of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was then reviewed Chi-squared was used to measure the association by 4 experts in research methodology and epidemiology. between the change in smoking habit (stopping, reducing, the average number of cigarettes per day) and Finally, to ensure the questionnaire was clear and well the covariates, including age, marital status, education, understood by the target population, a pilot study was employment status, and yearly income based on the GDP conducted on 50 Saudi Arabian males aged 15+ years per capita PPP in Saudi Arabia (US$ < 45821.61, ≥ 45821.61). recruited in coffee shops and other public places. Based For the multivariate analysis, a backward-elimination on the experts’ recommendations and the outcome of approach in a multiple logistic regression model was the pilot study, a few questions were reformulated and performed. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals amended to enhance the questionnaire’s validity. The were reported. The correlation coefficient, the standard pilot survey data were not included in the final analysis. deviation of the coefficient, and P-values were reported. The reliability, measured using Cronbach’s alpha, was We used SPSS, version 22, for data analysis and accounted 0.72. for the complex sampling design. A 2-tailed P-value of The questionnaire had 3 parts covering sociodemo- 0.05 was considered significant. graphic characteristics, tobacco consumption and self-re- The effect of increasing the tobacco tax on ported chronic health conditions. It took an average of 10 consumption behaviour was evaluated by calculating the minutes to complete. tobacco price elasticity. Sociodemographic characteristics included age group, The price elasticity of demand for tobacco was education level, marital status, employment status, and estimated using the ratio between the percent change in yearly income based on Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic the quantity demanded and the corresponding percent product (GDP) per capita purchasing power parity (PPP), change in price as in the formula below: equal to US$ 45 821 (14). Price elasticity of demand = percentage change in Tobacco consumption was assessed using 9 questions: quantity/percentage change in price opinion regarding the increase in tobacco prices, type of Percentage change in quantity = (Q − Q )/[(Q + Q )/2] tobacco consumed, change in consumption behaviour 2 1 2 1 × 100 based on the tax increase, change of cigarette brand to one with a cheaper price, number of cigarettes smoked Percentage change in price = (P2 − P1)/[(P2 + P1)/2] × 100 before and after taxation, number of years as a smoker, place where cigarettes are purchased, price of preferred Results type of tobacco, and current tobacco use. The final data set included 1481 out of 1534 male partici- pants since 53 questionnaires were excluded because of Sample size estimate extensive missing data. A total of 694 participants (47.0%) According to a 2016 census of the population of Riyadh, were in the 25–34 years age group, 821 (55.7%) were single, there were 3 747 557 males aged 15+ years.