Municipal tobacco control in the Capital Region of Denmark can be improved.

INTRODUCTION: Smoking remains the single preventable factor with the highest impact on morbidity and mortality in Denmark. The aims of this study were to assess the quality of municipal tobacco control (TC) in the 29 municipalities of the Capital Region of Denmark, and to compare the quality of the TC and the priority given to TC with the prevalence of daily smoking across municipalities. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In March 2012 a questionnaire regarding municipal TC was sent to the 29 municipalities of the Region. The response rate was 100%. Data were merged with information from the Health Survey undertaken in the Capital Region in 2010 which included 49,806 respondents. We assessed the quality of TC using two measures: self-reported priority (scale 1-10) and calculated quality score (scale 0-70), and compared these measures with the prevalence of daily smoking two years before. RESULTS: There were large differences in TC between the municipalities of the region. A high smoking prevalence in 2010 was significantly associated with a high priority given to TC in 2012 (p = 0.03). The mean priority of TC was 7.1 (range 3-10) and the mean quality score was 37.1 (range 17-55). Smoking cessation services and prevention of second-hand smoking exposure seem to be the main areas of focus, while several at-risk groups were given a low priority. CONCLUSION: In some municipalities, TC seems to be neglected, while others have achieved high standards. We call for major improvements in TC in the majority of municipalities.