Effect of the smoking free work places ban law in Puerto Rico on the quitline smoking cessation counseling program

Objective: In March of 2006 the government of Puerto Rico enacted the Smoke Free Work Places Ban law which was effective a year later in March of 2007. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of the ban on the Puerto Rico Quitline (PRQ), telephone-based, smoking cessation counseling program. Methods: The outcome variable is the number of smokers that decided to register with the PRQ counseling program to quit smoking. Data on the number of registered smokers was collected two years before and a year after the introduction of the law banning smoking in March of 2007. Graphical and statistical analyses were used to compare the number of registered smokers before and after the introduction of the law controlling for seasonal effects and other events. Results: Analyses shows that from February of 2007, the month before the introduction of the law, and until September of 2007 there was a significant increase in the number of registered smokers compared with the same months of the previous year. Preliminary statistical analysis on this data shows a significant 58.3% increase in the number of smokers that registered with the PRQ (p=.008). Conclusion: Evidence from the number of registered smokers suggest that the outreach effort for promoting and educating about the new law together with the introduction of the Smoke Free Work Places Ban had a positive impact on the utilization of the Puerto Rico Quitline.