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. 2008 Aug;98(8):1443–1450. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.128991

TABLE 2—

Parameter Estimates From Conditional Least Squares Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Model of Monthly Adult Smoking Prevalence: Australia, June 1995 to December 2006

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4
b (SE) P b (SE) P b (SE) P b (SE) P
Tobacco control GRPs (2 months’ laga) −0.00060 (0.00036) .103 −0.00064 (0.00040) .080 −0.00065 (0.00036) .074 −0.00077b (0.00034) .025
Cigarette costliness (immediate effect) −5.227 (3.691) .159 −5.813 (3.800) .129 −8.425 (2.917) .005 −8.802c (2.891) .003
NRT GRPs (2 months’ lag) −0.00030 (0.00042) .476 −0.00043 (0.00040) .290 −0.00043 (0.00040) .283
Smoke-free restaurant laws (immediate effect) −0.0104 (0.0098) .293 −0.0104 (0.0103) .317
NRT sales (immediate effect) −0.00011 (0.00009) .232
Moving average, 1-month lag (θ1d) 0.905 (0.040) <.001 0.890 (0.041) <.001 0.878 (0.043) <.001 0.879 (0.043) <.001
Residual auto-correlation at 6-month lag e 2.65 .753 2.51 .774 2.76 .736 2.23 .816
Residual auto-correlation at 12-month lag e 4.65 .947 4.33 .959 4.64 .948 3.80 .975
Residual auto-correlation at 18-month lag e 15.32 .572 13.16 .725 14.74 .614 15.00 .595
Residual auto-correlation at 24-month lag e 25.65 .318 23.17 .451 24.56 .373 24.39 .382

Note. GRPs = gross television audience rating points for the population 18 years and older representing average potential exposure to ads; NRT = nicotine replacement therapy.

aTransfer function.

bAn increase of 1 GRP per month is associated with a decline in prevalence of 0.00077 percentage points; to estimate a reduction in smoking prevalence of 0.30 percentage points, we divided the desired prevalence percentage point change required (−0.30) by the unstandardized parameter estimate for tobacco control GRPs (−0.00077), giving 390 GRPs.

cAn increase of 1% in cigarette costliness is associated with a decline in prevalence of 8.802 percentage points; to estimate a reduction in smoking prevalence of 0.30 percentage points, we divided the desired prevalence percentage point change required (−0.30) by the coefficient for cigarette costliness (−8.802), giving a 0.03-percentage-point increase in cigarette costliness.

dThis parameter estimate accounts for the effects of time.

eThese are diagnostic parameter estimates that must be nonsignificant for the model to be acceptable.