Use of Pharmacy Data to Evaluate Smoking Regulations' Impact on Sales of Nicotine Replacement Therapies in New York City

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 95; no. 6; pp. 1050 - 1055
• Main Authors: Metzger, Kristina B, Mostashari, Farzad, Kerker, Bonnie D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Am Public Health Assoc 01-06-2005; American Public Health Association; American Journal of Public Health 2005
• Subjects: Analgesics; Biological and medical sciences; Cigarettes; Drug stores; Drug therapy; Health Promotion - legislation & jurisprudence; Health surveillance; Humans; Impact analysis; Low income groups; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; New year; New York City - epidemiology; Nicotine; Nicotine - administration & dosage; Nicotine - supply & distribution; Pharmacies - statistics & numerical data; Pharmacy; Poisson Distribution; Postal codes; Public health; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Public Policy; Research and Practice; Smoking; Smoking - drug therapy; Smoking - epidemiology; Smoking - legislation & jurisprudence; Smoking cessation; Smoking Cessation - statistics & numerical data; State taxes; Tax increases; Taxes - legislation & jurisprudence; Tobacco; Tobacco Industry - legislation & jurisprudence; Tobacco Use Disorder - drug therapy; Tobacco Use Disorder - epidemiology; Tobacco Use Disorder - prevention & control; Tobacco, tobacco smoking; Toxicology; Transdermal medication; Trends; Urban Population; Workplace - legislation & jurisprudence; United States; North America; America; United States > US; New York City New York; Alkaloid; Tobacco; Replacement therapy; Sales; Use; Tobacco smoking; Regulation; Tax; Economic aspect; Smoke-free space; Public health; Nicotine
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.048025

Recently, New York City and New York State increased cigarette excise taxes and New York City implemented a smoke-free workplace law. To assess the impact of these policies on smoking cessation in New York City, we examined over-the-counter sales of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products.
Pharmacy sales data were collected in real time as part of nontraditional surveillance activities. We used Poisson generalized estimating equations to analyze the effect of smoking-related policies on pharmacy-specific weekly sales of nicotine patches and gum. We assessed effect modification by pharmacy location.
We observed increases in NRT product sales during the weeks of the cigarette tax increases and the smoke-free workplace law. Pharmacies in low-income areas generally had larger and more persistent increases in response to tax increases than those in higher-income areas.
Real-time monitoring of existing nontraditional surveillance data, such as pharmacy sales of NRT products, can help assess the effects of public policies on cessation attempts. Cigarette tax increases and smoke-free workplace regulations were associated with increased smoking cessation attempts in New York City, particularly in low-income areas.