Smoking bans seem to be helping efforts to butt out, Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday.
Twenty per cent of smokers who live in smoke-free homes had quit two years later compared to 13 per cent of quitters, living in homes without any restrictions, the study found.
Similar findings were noted in the workplace. About 27 per cent of smokers who are not allowed to smoke at work had quit two years later as opposed to only 13 per cent of workers permitted to light up on the job.
The study concluded that restrictions at home or at work push smokers who already want to quit to do so.
"At every stage, a smoker weighs the pros and cons of quitting," said Margot Shields, a senior analyst for Statistics Canada.
"Perhaps in the cold Canadian winter, the fact that they have to go outside to smoke might just switch that balance," she told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.
The information, outlined in a report titled "Smoking bans: Influence on smoking prevalence" was compiled from the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey and the National Population Health Survey.
The data found the number of smoke-free homes, where smokers live, increased with the introduction of provincial legislation that banned cigarettes in bars and other public places.
"There was some concern this might increase the prevalence of smoking at the home but the numbers indicate otherwise, that in fact, more and more household with smokers have gone smoke-free," Shields said.
The study also looked at the impact bans have on people who are in different stages of quitting. In homes with no restrictions, 70 per cent of smokers and former smokers either did not want to quit or wanted to quit but had taken no action. That was compared to 44 per cent of smokers and ex-smokers living in smoke-free homes.
In offices where smokers are not allowed to light up, 33 per cent of the smokers and ex-smokers were able to quit compared with 22 per cent of those who reported no restrictions at work.
Between the years 2000 and 2006, there was a decline in the number of Canadians who smoke, from about 24 per cent to 18 per cent. There was also a significant rise in the number of smokers who live in smoke-free homes, from 27 per cent to 43 per cent. That number increased even more when children younger than 15 years of age lived at the home, from 38 per cent to 55 per cent.
Smoking bans also lead to less cigarette consumption, the study says.
The study found that in 2005, smokers who live in homes with no restrictions typically smoked 16 cigarettes a day. In comparison, smokers who had partial restrictions enforced at home smoked 15 a day while smokers living with a total ban had an average of nine cigarettes a day.
That's two cigarettes a day fewer for smokers living with a ban for two years and just 0.4 fewer for those living without one for the same period.
Workplace bans resulted in similar numbers. Smokers who work in an office where smoking is completely banned, smoked an average of 12 cigarettes a day, compared to 14 a day for smokers with partial bans, and 17 a day for those who work at a place with no restrictions at all.
That's 2.1 fewer cigarettes a day for smokers working at an office ban for two years. There was no change in the number of cigarettes for people who work without a ban.
