University of Western Australia (UWA) researchers have found that poorer West Australian suburbs have four times the number of tobacco outlets than those found in their affluent neighbors, according to a story on WAtoday.com.au.
The study was published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
It is unlikely that the researchers were surprised by the findings. The lead researcher, UWA’s Centre for the Built Environment and Health associate professor, Lisa Wood, was quoted as saying that people from “lower socio-economic backgrounds” had a higher smoking prevalence than did those from higher socio-economic backgrounds. “…and we already know there’s a whole raft of reasons for that,” she said.