ArticleTobacco control2006
The Tobacco Control Scale: a new scale to measure country activity.
Article in Tobacco control, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 116 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
116 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 347 citations in OpenAlex.
- Passive smoking exposure and incidence and disease outcomes of inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic review of dietary trans-fat reduction interventions.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2017Pooled it
- Systematic review of dietary salt reduction policies: Evidence for an effectiveness hierarchy?PloS one · 2017Pooled it
- An international systematic review of smoking prevalence in addiction treatment.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2016Pooled it
- Contextual factors in the surveillance of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in Germany: political, social and environmental indicators.Journal of health monitoring · 2026Article
- Tobacco product flavour policies in the USA.Tobacco control · 2025Article
- Placing smoking prevalence in the context of tobacco control measures in Europe.Journal of health monitoring · 2025Article
- Impact of Tobacco Use and Prevention Laws on Regional Cigarette Sales: An Analysis of Provincial Disparities and Convergence Patterns in Spain.Health economics review · 2025Article
- Prevalence, trends and outcomes from smoking in elective surgical systems: a secondary analysis of a prospective observational cohort study across 442 hospitals from 29 countries across Europe.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2025Article
- How do restrictions on opioid prescribing, harm reduction, and treatment coverage policies relate to opioid overdose deaths in the United States in 2013-2020? An application of a new state opioid policy scale.The International journal on drug policy · 2025Article
- Impact of tobacco control policies on socioeconomic inequalities in smoking prevalence and quit ratios: an ecological study in the European Union (2009-2020).BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Commercial Tobacco Endgame Goals: Early Experiences From Six Countries.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Article
- Tobacco Control Policy in India: Progress and Challenges Quantified Using the Tobacco Control Scale.Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2024Article
- Perception of pregnant individuals, health providers and decision makers on interventions to cease substance consumption during pregnancy: a qualitative study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Impact of National Tobacco Control Policy on Rates of Hospital Admission for Pneumonia: When Compliance Matters.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The Diffusion of Smoking: Association Between School Tobacco Policies and the Diffusion of Adolescent Smoking in 38 Schools in 6 Countries.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2023Article
- Tobacco endgame in the WHO European Region: Feasibility in light of current tobacco control status.Tobacco induced diseases · 2023Article
- Smoking trends and health equity in Switzerland between 1992 and 2017: dependence of smoking prevalence on educational level and social determinants.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship ban adoption: A pilot study of the reporting challenges faced by low- and middle-income countries.Tobacco induced diseases · 2023Article
- Gambling policy positions of Finnish newspapers between 2004 and 2020: An automated content analysis.Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2022Article
56 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo quantify the implementation of tobacco control policies at country level using a new Tobacco Control Scale and to report initial results using the scale.
methodA questionnaire sent to correspondents in 30 European countries, using a scoring system designed with the help of a panel of international tobacco control experts.
resultsThe 30 countries are ranked by their total score on the scale out of a maximum possible score of 100. Only four countries (Ireland, United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland) scored 70 or more, with an eight point gap (most differences in scores are small) to the fifth country, Malta, on 62. Only 13 countries scored above 50, 11 of them from the European Union (EU), and the second largest points gap occurs between Denmark on 45 and Portugal on 39, splitting the table into three groups: 70 and above, 45 to 62, 39 and below. Ireland had the highest overall score, 74 out of 100, and Luxembourg was bottom with 26 points. However even Ireland, much praised for their ban on smoking in public places, did not increase tobacco taxes in 2005, for the first time since 1995.
conclusionsAlthough the Tobacco Control Scale has limitations, this is the first time such a scale has been developed and applied to so many countries. We hope it will be useful in encouraging countries to strengthen currently weak areas of their tobacco control policy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.