The impact of local smoke‐free policies on smoking behaviour among adults in Indonesia: a quasi‐experimental national study

AIMS: To investigate to what extent the adoption of local smoke‐free policies (SFPs) in Indonesia in 2007–13 was associated with changes in adult smoking behaviour. DESIGN: A quasi‐experimental study. SETTING: Indonesia, 2007 and 2013. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1 052 611 > 25‐year‐old adults. Data were derived from the 2007 and 2013 Indonesian national health survey. MEASUREMENTS: For both years, provincial and district SFPs were identified from government documents in 497 districts in 33 provinces. Multi‐level logistic regression analysis assessed the association of adoption of provincial and district SFPs between 2007 and 2013 with smoking continuation (among ever‐smokers), current smoking and high smoking intensity (among current smokers). We controlled for survey year, SFP in 2007, socio‐demographics and district characteristics. FINDINGS: Provincial SFP exposure was associated with lower odds of smoking continuation [strong SFP versus no SFP: odds ratio (OR) = 0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.66–0.76] and smoking intensity (strong SFP: OR= 0.91, 95% CI = 0.86–0.97), but also with higher odds of current smoking (strong SFP versus no SFP: OR = 1.08; 95% CI = 1.04–1.12). District SFP exposure was associated with higher odds of smoking continuation (strong SFP versus no SFP: OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.01–1.14) and current smoking (strong SFP versus no SFP: OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.05–1.14), but with lower odds of smoking intensity (moderately strong SFP versus no SFP: OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.91–0.99). CONCLUSIONS: There may be an association between the adoption of local smoke‐free policies in Indonesia and decreased adult smoking intensity. However, the evidence is inconsistent, which may reflect problems with policy implementation and enforcement,