ArticleThorax2011
Increasing the age for the legal purchase of tobacco in England: impacts on socio-economic disparities in youth smoking.
Article in Thorax, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- What is the Relationship Between Raising the Minimum Legal Sales Age of Tobacco Above 20 and Cigarette Smoking? A Systematic Review.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Pooled it
- Health behaviour changes around transitions into and out of unpaid caregiving in the UK: A longitudinal study.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Changing awareness and sources of tobacco and e-cigarettes among children and adolescents in Great Britain.Tobacco control · 2024Article
- Trends in Deaths Attributable to Smoking in China, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States From 1990 to 2019.International journal of public health · 2022Article
- Who would be targeted by increasing the legal age of sale of cigarettes from 18 to 21? A cross-sectional study exploring the number and characteristics of smokers in England.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2021Article
- Which tobacco control policies do smokers support? Findings from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey.Preventive medicine · 2021Article
- Persistent disparities in smoking among rural Appalachians: evidence from the Mountain Air Project.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Article
- Impact of UK Tobacco Control Policies on Inequalities in Youth Smoking Uptake: A Natural Experiment Study.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2020Article
- Long-term evaluation of the rise in legal age-of-sale of cigarettes from 16 to 18 in England: a trend analysis.BMC medicine · 2020Article
- Association of Peer Influence and Access to Tobacco Products With U.S. Youths' Support of Tobacco 21 Laws, 2015.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2019Article
- Policies that limit youth access and exposure to tobacco: a scientific neglect of the first stages of the policy process.BMC public health · 2019Article
- A qualitative study of how young Scottish smokers living in disadvantaged communities get their cigarettes.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe minimum age for the legal purchase of tobacco increased from 16 to 18 years in England, Scotland and Wales on 1 October 2007. The authors examined the impact of this legislation on disparities in smoking behaviour and access to cigarettes among youth in England.
methodsA multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out adjusting for secular trends in regular smoking using data from the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Survey, a national survey of 11-15 year olds. The primary outcome measure was regular smoking and the predictor variables were the law increasing the minimum age for purchase and eligibility for free school meals (FSM).
resultsIncreasing the minimum age for purchase was associated with a significant reduction in regular smoking among youth (adjusted OR 0.67; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.81, p=0.0005). This effect was not significantly different in pupils eligible for FSM compared with those that were not (adjusted OR 1.29; 95% CI 0.95 to 1.76, p=0.10 for interaction term). The percentage of pupils who stated that they found it difficult to buy cigarettes from a shop did not increase in those eligible for FSM (25.2% to 33.3%; p=0.21) but did increase significantly in others (21.2% to 36.9%; p<0.01) between 2006 and 2008. No differences in ease of purchase were found between pupils eligible for FSM and those not before or after the legislation (2006: p=0.34, 2008: p=0.55).
conclusionsIncreasing the age for the legal purchase of tobacco was associated with reduced regular smoking among youth in England and appeared to have a similar impact in different socio-economic groups.
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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.