Spatial Clustering of Tobacco Retailers Near US Public Schools.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Previous studies have found that tobacco retailers cluster near schools. However, all retail outlets may be located near each other and near schools due to existing infrastructure and zoning policies. We assessed whether tobacco retailers cluster near schools in the United States more than expected when accounting for existing retail locations.

Aims and methods

We identified 322 056 probable tobacco retailers, 95 110 public schools, and more than 3.8 million businesses comparable to tobacco retailers in land use and business type. We created 500 simulated tobacco retailer datasets by randomly selecting from the larger list of businesses. For each simulated dataset, we calculated the distance from schools to the nearest tobacco retailer (proximity) and the count

SUBMITTER: Halvorson-Fried SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10803112 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature