Summary: | Introduction
Tobacco retailer density may be associated with greater youth initiation
and reduced success during quit attempts; however, the extent to which tobacco
retailer density has changed overtime across multiple categories of retailers has
not been reported.
Methods
Data on licensed tobacco retailers within California from 2015–2019 were
obtained from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Store
type was categorized by automated cross-referencing with Yelp. Geolocations
were aggregated at county level for analyzing longitudinal trends in changes in
tobacco retail density including demographic characteristics.
Results
The number of active CA tobacco retailer licenses increased from 19825
in 2015 to 25635 in 2019. The highest percent increase in tobacco retailer
licenses (9.1%) was observed in 2017. The number of specialized tobacco stores
was highest in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Riverside counties. We observed
a significant increase in the number of active licenses for non-specialized and
specialized tobacco stores, both overall and after controlling for the size of
populations within each region. Time was a statistically significant predictor for
the number of active licenses for only non-specialized stores, after adjusting
for covariates. Regional volume of retailers was positively associated with higher
proportion of women, lower median household income, and higher proportion
of Hispanic residents.
Conclusions
Monitoring the changes in tobacco retail density and associated
sociodemographic factors over time can help to identify communities at higher
risk for tobacco and nicotine product exposure and access, and its associated
health disparities.
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