Perceived Effect of Increased Pricing on Smoked Tobacco Products Quit Rates: A Cross-sectional Study in a Block of Haryana

Background: The price of cigarettes and bidis is known to be related to the cessation of these products. Objective: To assess the perception of smokers about their quitting behavior on price increase in smoke tobacco product. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study among people who were 18 years of age and above was conducted in 2017 among 277 participants in Haryana. Global adult tobacco survey 2009 questionnaire with objective oriented modification was used to examine the willingness to pay (WLP) for a smoked tobacco product, maximum price for quitting smoking, reinitiating smoking, and the knowledge about harmful effects of using tobacco products. Descriptive statistics and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to find the relationship among various demographic characteristics and price of quitting smoking. Results: Among the participants, 65 (23.4%) were found to be current smoker and of them 48 (74%) smokers responded to quit smoking on increasing the price of smoked tobacco products. Average daily price paid by the smokers was Rs. 23 and Rs. 8 for cigarettes and bidis, respectively. The odds of quitting smoking among cigarette smokers were higher than those of among bidi smokers (OR = 5.2, 95% CI 2.877-10.04). The odds of quitting smoking among those spending more than Rs. 10/day were lower than those spending <Rs. 10 on these products (OR = 4.8, 95% CI 1.1-22.3). 72.9% of the smokers declared >100% increase in current price for quitting smoking. Conclusion: An increased magnitude of price increase on smoke tobacco products is invariably an effective method of decreasing smoking prevalence.