Brown & Williamson
Preliminary Draft Smoking-Related Deaths and Financial Costs
Fields
- Attachment
- 155361
- Type
- REPT, REPORT, OTHER
- BIBL, BIBLIOGRAPHY
- FOOT, FOOTNOTES
- LIST
- REPORT
- BIBL, BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Named Person
- Ashford
- Atkinson
- Califano, J./Us Dept, O.F. Health And Human Services
- Cook
- Doll
- Goldman
- Kristein, M.
- Leu
- Lewit
- Luce
- Oster
- Peto
- Schaub
- Schweitzer
- Townsend
- Vogt
- Warner
- Wolfe, S.
- X/Us Subcomm, O.N. Health
- X/Us Office, O.F. Technology Assessment
- Rice
- X/Us Natl Center For Health Statistics
- Cooper
- X/Us Natl Heart Lung + Blood Inst
- Hodgson, T.
- Kopsteinx/Health Care Financing Administration
- X/Us Congressional Budget Office
- Hartuniam
- X/Natl Center For Health Statistics
- Hedrick
- X/Us Dept, O.F. Health, Education & Welfare
- X/Natl Science Foundation
- X/Mn Dept, O.F. Health
- X/American Cancer Society
- X/Veterans Administration
- X/Uk Natl Health Service
- X/Kaiser Permanente
- Atkinson
- Request
- A4
- A5
- F4
- A5
- Characteristic
- CONF, CONFIDENTIAL
- DRFT, DRAFT
- Litigation
- 10004026
- Date Loaded
- 24 May 1999
- Author
- Kronebusch, K.
- Original File
- Social Cost of Cigarette Smoking 820000
Document Images
(
PRELL~INARY DRAFT
SMOKING-REIATED DEATHS AND FINANCIAL COSTS
Karl Kronebusch
Office of Technology Assessment
U.S. Congress
May 10, 1985
PEELIMINAEY DRAFT
"~A~AA'~ ........... 4" " '~A'~'A~A ....... ~A~'A .............
* NOTE: This is a PRELIMINARY DRAFT. *
* lU has not Been approved for release By OTA. *
* IU is Being circulated for review purposes *
* only, and should nou be quoted, disuribuued, *
* or reproduced. The mauerial is Being re- *
* viewed and should noU Be considered final. *
¢D

#'|
DRAFT. (519185)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OK EEPRODUCE
Iq~FRODUCTI ON
Smoking is ~he larges~ single preventable cause of death in ~he United
States. The use of cigarettes, cigars, and pipes has been associated with a
diverse group of diseases, including cancers of the lung, lip and mouth,
esophagus, pancreas and bladder; heart disease; and chronic lung disease. The
Subcommittee on Health of ~he House Ways and Means Committee has asked ~hat
OTA prepare an analysis of ~he financial costs of smoking uo societT, and ~he
costs borne by the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
This analysis includes a brief review of previous estimates of the
costs of smoking-related disease. Pas~ cost estimates have generally used ~he
fraction of mortality related to smoking (attributable risk) and ~hen
multiplied ~hau fraction times ~he costs of a particular illness category.
The estimates in ~his paper will follow ~he same general approach. The first
step is to estimate ~he number of deaths related to smoking in each of the
three major disease categories that has been associated wi~h smoking--cancers,
heart disease, and chronic respiratory disease.
Most previous estimates have not calculated ~he number of deaths by age
group. The estimates in ~his paper will do so, and will ~hus be able to
present the age distribution of smoking-related deaths as well as to calculate
~he number of life-years lost due to smoking-rela~ed disease. Life-years
saved is a measure that is increasingly being used for evaluating ~he effects
of health interventions. After all, death is inevitable for each of us, but
l

q
DR&.~rT (5/9/85)
(
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPEODUCE
the reduction of ~he incidence of premauure death is an achievable goal.
Life-years lost is one measure of =he extent of premature mortallry.
The second step is to apply =he estimates of the fraction of mortality
for each major disease category to =he heal=h care costs and lost produculvicy
costs for each category. Thus, in the first step an estimate will be prepared
of the fraction of cancers, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory system
disease =hat are related to smoking. In =he second step, those fractions are
applied to =he total heal=h care costs and los~ productivity costs for each
class of disease.
The third step of =his analysis will be to apply information on the
share of heal=h care costs for the elderly paid for by government programs to
=he esulmated costs of smoking-related disease among the elderly. Finally,
there will be a discussion of how health care costs and the costs of other
social programs might change as a result of reduced smoking.
PReViOUS ESTIMATES OF THE EXTENT OF SMOKING-RELATED DISEASE
Table I presents the range of a~ributablerisk estimates for smoking-
related disease. "Attributable risk" is a concept from epidemiology. Put
most simply, attributable risk is =he fraction or percen=age of disease that
is associated with a specified risk factor. In this case, the risk factor is
smoking of tobacco products, most generally cigarettes.
O
tO

e~
(519185)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, 0RREPEODUCE
The fraction of major disease categories a~ributed =o smoking ranges
from 20 ¢o A0 percenu of cancers, ii =o 30 percenu of cardiovascular disease,
and 20 ~o A0 percent of all respiratory system disease (including 80-90
percen~ of chronic obsuruc~ive lung disease)I. AU firs= blush, ~hese ranges
appear to be fairly narrow--a factor of 2 or 3 separates ~he lower end of each
range from the upper. Bun because the number of =oral deaths in each of ~hese
categories is qu/=e large, the difference between an estimate based on the
lower bound and one based on an upper can amounu =o =ens of thousands of
deaths. Some analysus have also also au~ribuued some dear/%s from digesuive
system disease (e.g. s~omach and duodenal ulcers), accidental injuries (e.g.
fires), and perinaual morrmliry (mothers who smoke during pregnancy tend ~o
have higher ra~es ofmlscarriages and lower bir~hweight babies).
Table I also presents several of the esuimates of the number of deauhs
from smoking-realted disease. These range from around 300,000 deaths each
year ¢o 485,000. The Surgeon General's reports on smoking have, in the last
few years, presenned estimates of 129,000 deaths from cancer, 170,000 deaths
from hear~ disease, and 50,000 deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease.
Together, these ~oual to abouu 350,000 deaths annually.
PREVTOUS ESTIMATES OF THE COSTS OF SMOKING-RELATED DTSEASE
Generally, two broad cauegories of costs have been considered in
IChronic obsuructive lung disease is a general category of disease than
includes chronic bronchi=is, emphysema, and asthma. Physicians compleuing
death ceruifica=es now more commonly use this general category, rather ~han
refering specifically =o bronchi=is or emphysema.
&q
O
C¢
&1

?
DRm'Z (519185)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
previosus esuimaces of smoking-related disease costs. These are usually
called ~he direct and indlrecu cosus of illness. The direct cosus are goods
and services ~hat are used in caring for and treating ~hose with disease.
Generally, ~he only direct costs r_hac are estimated are ~hose directly
associated wir/Imedical care. Indirect costs are generally represented by the
lose producuivi~y of ~hose who suffer from disease. Lost productivity is
generally measured using lost wages, often with some adjustment for ~he
household services provided by housewives.
The literat-ure on r~he cost of illness has used ~o differen~ approaches
to estimate direcu and indirecU costs. In ~he prevalence approach, all
medical cosus are attributed co ~he year in which ~he money is act~ally spenu.
. In ~he incidence approach, present and future medical costs2 are aucributed co
r~he year in which r~he disease flrsu becomes manifesU. Thus, if r_he course of
a disease involves medical crea~menu over r_hree differenu years before the
pauienc dies, ~he prevalence approach would assign ~he costs separauely co
each year. The incidence approach, on ~he ocher hand, would calculate a
presenn value for ~he scream of costs over nhe ~hree-year period, and assign
r~hau single sum to ~he firs~ year ~he disease was treated. For diseases chac
involve less than one year of Crea~menu, ~he ~wo approaches are essenuially
the same.
2These are expressed as present values, i.e. ~hey have been discounted to cake
account of ~he time value of money. This is the notion ~hat, even in an
economy witch stable prices, a dollar today is worth more than a dollar
tomorrow. This is so because wi~h a dollar ~oday, an investment can be made
CO earn a return. The appropriate race of in~erest to use for discountin~
future effects, however, has been a matzer of some dispute.

• °
,L
" i. * ,r
DRAFT (5/9/S5)
L~
DO NOT qUOTE, CITE, OE R22KODUCE
For uhe indirect costs, ~he prevalence approach assigns ~he costs of
los~ productlvi~y due Uo morbidity co ~he year in which ~he producclvicy is
lose. In ~he prevalence approach, ~he future earnlnEs lost due co mortallry
are discounted Co uhe presen~ and assigned uo ~he year of death. In ~he
incidence approach, all indirect costs due Co morbldicy and ~he lose fut,~re
earnings due Co mortality are discounued Co ~he present and assigned Co ~he
year ~he disease is first manifesu.
The landmark work of rice and her colleagues (Rice, 1967; Cooper &
Rice, 1976), which discusses ~he costs of all diseases, used ~he prevalence
approach, as does ~he mosu recenu update of ~his method by Hodgson and
Kopscein (Hodgson & Kopscein, 198A). Only recently have researchers ~-ried co
implement uhe incidence approach. For example, Hartnmian and colleagues, have
measured and compared ~he costs of coronary hearu disease, stroke, cancer, and
motor vehicle injuries (Haruunian, et el. ).
Table 2 presents previous estimates of ~he costs of smoking. One of
~he earliest estimate of ~he costs of smoking was ~hac of Hedrick. He used
~he resul~s of a Canadian s~udy of ~he cosrm of smoking in Canada for lung
cancer, coronary heart disease, chronic bronchiuis and emphysema. The
resulting costs of $278 million was increased hy 50 percenu co cake account of
diseases not included. AfTer adding in estimates of -~he costs of morbidicy
and of fires (from =he Canadian study), the total amounted to $526.5 million.
An esclmate of U.S. costs was made by multiplying this figure for Canadian
costs by !0--=he ratio of =he U.S. Gross National Produce to ~ha~ of Canada
(Hedrick, 1971).

DRAYT, (5/9185)
DO NOT QUOTE, CZTE, OR REPRODUCE
The most commonly cited estimate of the costs of smoking is one
prepared by Lute and Schweiczer (1978). Followlng =he prevalence approach,
they used the Cooper and Rice (1976) cost of illness statistics for the year
1972, inflated them Co 1975 dollars,3 and then attributed 20 percent of =he
costs of neoplasms, 25 percent of circulatory system costs, A0 percent of
respiratory system disease costs, and 1.i percent of the costs of fires. The
total estimated heal=h care costs were about $8.2 billion, which, according to
=heir calculations represented 7.8 percent of =he Coral health care
expenditures in the U.S. The indlrecC costs of lost earnings amounted Co $6.2
billion for morbidity, and 12.9 billlon for mortality. Their coral was $27.5
billion.A
Then HHS Secretary Joseph Califano, in the forward co the 1979 Surgeon
General's report on smoking, estimated thaC smoking resulted in $5-8 billion
in health care expenses--2.5 Co A percent of the Nation's health care costs of
$205 billion. Lost produccivlt-y, wages, and absenteeism due co smoking
related illness were estimated Uo amount Co $12-18 billion.5
Sidney Wolfe estimated =he morbidiuy, mortality, and direct healr_h care
costs of smoking to be $18.9A billion in 1976. The morbidity costs were
calculated using =he results of a Depar=menc of Heal=h, Education, and Welfare
study thaC found =hac 19 percent of days lost from work were related to
smoking. This resulted in a figure of $2.96 billion. To this he added $I.18
3Using the medical care component of the Consumer Price Index (~or medical
costs) and the Gross National Product Implicit Price Deflator (for lost
earnings.
Aincluding $176 million for property costs due to fires.
51 have no= ye= determined how these es=imaces were generated, it seems
curious that they are lower than the estimates Lute and Schweiuzer had
published the previous year!
1'¢
0
CO
t'O
GO

. DRAFT (519/S5)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, 0R REPRODUCE
billion =o account for morbidity among ~hose unable ~o work, for a to~al
morbidity cost of $4.14 billion. Mortality costs and direct medical care
costs were estimated using a==ibuuable risks derived from a Nauional Science
Foundation report. Mortalit-y costs amounted =o $7.7 billion. Direcu heal=h
care costs were esuimated to be $.93 billion for cancers, $1.99 billion for
cardiovascular disease, and $1.67 billion for respiratory diesease in 1972.
An adjustment for the increase in medical costs between 1972 and 1976 resulted
in an es~ima=e of $7.1 billion for 1976 (Wolfe, 1977).
Marvin Kristein derived his estimate of heal~h care costs from
informa=ion ~hat implied ~hat smokers of one or more packs per day had a 50
percen~ ~rea~er hospi~alizauion raue r~han nonsmokers. Using data on ~he
number of such smokers in 1975, and ~he total nauional spending on health
care, he calculated r.hat smokers used $5.2 billion in heal~h care services in
1975. He used a National Center for Heal~h Statistics esuima=e ~ha= 77
million days were lost from work in 1965 due to cigaret=e smoking. These he
valued at $40 per day ~o generate an estimate of $3.1 billion in losu
productlviUy due to morbidity. Using an es~ima=e ~hau 300,000 deaths in 1975
were associated witch smoking, he calculated that =he los= earnings amoun=ed to
$12 billion (Kristein, 1977).
In a second article, Kristein esuima~ed ~he costs of borne by business
firms for r~he "average" smoker. He included estimates of r.he cosus of heal~h
insurance, fire losses, workers' compensation, absenueeism, productivity
losses, and involuntary exposure ~o tobacco smoke. Added ~ogether, ~hese
amounted ~o be~aeen $336 and $601 (1980 dollars) per smoker (Kris~ein, 1983).
Co

DRAF (5/9/S5)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
Osier and colleagues estimated r~e costs of smoking-related cases of
lung cancer, coronary heart disease, and chronic obstr~u:tive pulmonary disease
using the incidence approach (Osier, ec al, 1984). They, however, only
estimated r.he "expected value" of costs for age and sex-specific groups of
smokers. For example, men aged ~0-4~ who smoke more than two packs per day
incur, on average, a discounted ~otal of $56,670 in direct medical care costs
and indirect costs due Uo lost productiviuy compared ~o non-smokers of the
same age and sex.6 They did not attempt ~o agEregate these group specific
costs for all of society.
Rice and Hodgson (1983) have also developed estimates for r.he costs of
smoking, using ~he prevalence approach. They developed more detailed
estimates of the fractions of mornality associated wir.h smoking than ~he ones
used by Lute and Schweitzer. The result was that they attributed about 22
percent of cancer dear~s, 16 percent of circulatory system dearths, 20 percent
of respiratory system deanhs, 16 percent of digestive system deaths, and 3.5
percent of infectious and parasitic disease deaths (specifically,
~uberculosis) to smoking. These fractions were ~hen multiplied by ~he costs
of medical care and lost productivity for each of these categories. In 1980
dollars, ~he direct medical costs amounted to $16.1 billion, r~he indirect
costs of morbidity were about 6.9 .billion, and the indirec~ costs of
mortality, about $19.2 billion. The total costs were thus about $A2.2 billion
(Rice and Hodgson, 1983).
6Costs are in 1980 dollars and r_he discounu rate used was 5 percent. For
women smokers of the same age Croup, the costs are lower, $19,000, largely
because the indirec= costs are based on the average eaz-nings of women, which
are substantially less than those of men.
ba
O
O

• JC • i
(-
(
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OK KEPEODUCE
The Minnesota Department of Heal~h has developed estimates of the costs
of smoking-related disease for r, he state of Hinnesota. Their approach is
generally r/~e same as ~hat used by Rice and Hodgson, wi~h ~he addition of
specific information on the prevalence of smoking in M/nnesota. They estimate
~hat r.he direct medical care cost of smoking-related disease in Minnesota in.
1983 was $37&.6 million and ~he indirect cost of lost income due to premature
deanh was $303.3 million. These total to $677.9 million or about $807 for
each smoker in t/~e s~aue and $I.A8 for each pack of cigarettes sold in
Minnesota (Minn. Dept. of Heal~h, 198&).
Table 2 also presents ~hese estimated costs with adjustments for ~he
effects of inflation since~hese estimates were made. After this adjustment,
most of ~hese estimates appear to fall within a limited range: $15 to $30
billion in direct health care costs, and $25 to SA0 billion fn indirect
productivity losses (in 1985 dollars).
In addition, researchers have used information from surveys and the
medical care data collection system of a Health Maintenance Organization, to
compare smokers and nonsmokers in their use of medical services and the
frequency of lost worktime and disability. Based on data from the 196A-5 and
197& National Health Interview Surveys, r/le Surgeon General's 1979 report on
Smoking and Heal~h found ~hat current cigarette smokers tend to report more
chronic conditions, such as emphysema and arteriosclerotic heart disease, than
persons who never smoked. The incidence of acute conditions, such as
influenza, was higher among smokers ~han among nonsmokers. Current smokers
also reported an excess of work loss days and bed disability days than did the
nonsmokers. Finally, current smokers and former smokers reported more

. DRArZ (S/9185)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
hospitaliza~ions than nonsmokers (DHHS, 1979). R/ce and Hodgson are now
conducting an analysis of r_he da~a collected in the 1979 Health Interview
survey. Their preliminary analysis finds thac compared to persons who have
never smoked, current and former smokers report more days of restricted
activity, bed disability, and work loss. According ~o ~hese data, smokers
also use more medical services. They repor~ about 12 percent more physician
visits and 22 percent more hospital days for each I00 persons per year (Thomas
Hodgson, personal communication, 1985).
Ashford conducted a large survey of the use of medical services in ~he
city of Exeter in the United Kingdom. They found ~hat up co about the age of
60, male smokers consistently had more contacts wi~h ~helr doctors r_han did
nonsmokers. The amount of ~he difference varied by age group, but t~pically
was about 25 percent more than for nonsmokers. Above ~he age of 60, however,
the nonsmokers ~ended ~o use more medical services. In part, ~his was
believed to occur because by ~hat age many of the smokers have already died.
For hospital services, the smokers had a higher average length of stay in r~he
hospital ~handld the non-smokers (Ashford, 1973).
VogU and Schweitzer used data collec~ed from the computer system of ~he
Oregon re~ion of the Kaiser-Permanente Medical Care Program. They observed
~hat smokers used 20 percent more inpatien~ services ~han never smokers, but
chat this difference "did not quite reach s~auisuical significance." Smokers
aged A5-6A did have siEnifican~ly more hospital discharges for influenza and
respiratory infections than did never smokers. In responses ~o a survey
question, smokers' assessments of their personal heal~h were worse than the
assessment of never smokers. Finally, they found that the never smokers used
i0

..... ( (
DRAFT (519185)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPKODUCE
m~re outpatient, preventive medical services ~han did smokers, and were more
liekly to use outpatient medical care for minor illnesses (Vogu & Schweiczer,
19s4).
0TA'S ESTI~fATES
The following discussion outlines OTA's methods for estimating the
smoking-related mortality, ~he llfe-years lost, the direct and indirect social
costs of smoking, ~he health care costs of smoking, and r~he costs incurred by
Medicare and Medicaid for smoking-related disease. The discussion focuses on
~he accompanying tables, which show 0TA's calculations in detail7.
Smoking-related MortaliT7 •
Table 1 presents previous estimates of the percentage of mortality in
different disease categories chat have been related to smoking. Some of ~hese
categories are less clearly associated with smoking than o~her categories. In
par~ ~his is because for some ~here are important factors that may confound
the associations between smoking and disease. ~or example, smokers also tend
to be relatively heavy drinkers of alcoholic beverages. Thus an apparent
excess of disease in smokers may not be because of the use of tobacco, but due
7The detail is presented, not to overwhelm the reader, but to allow her/him co
retrace each step of ~he calculations. For ~he same reason, most of the
mortalit7 estimates presented in ~he ~ables have only been rounded to the
nearest whole number. These calculations are no~ nearly this accurate, but
further rounding has not been made in order to allow readers to duplicate
OTA's methods.
ii

,°
DRAF (519/85)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
Co r.he consumption of alcohol. Smokers as a group have a higher incidence of
cirrhosis of ~he liver and ulcers. This excess of liver cirrhosis is probably
due Uo consumption of alcohol. Ulcers may be independently associated wluh
smoking, but for ~his analysis, both cirrhosis and ulcers will be excluded.
Women who smoke during pregnancy also tend Co have a higher rate of
miscarriase and ~he babies born alive weigh less than r_he average for r_he
babies of nonsmokers. There is also some evidence that children of smokers
have more episodes of respiratory illness than do children of nonsmokers.
Burning cigaretues also s~aru fires--fires that take an estimaUed 2,500 lives
each year. Finally, nonsmokers who are exposed to cigarette smoke ("passive
smokins") may have an increased risk of disease compared to people nou exposed
to tobacco smoke. For simplicity, however, these cauegories will be excluded
from ~his analysis.
Instead, OTA has focused on the three major categories of smoking-
related disease--cancers, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory system
disease. These accoun~ for ~he vast majoriUy of smoking-rela~ed deaths.
Cancer Deaths
Table 3 presents r/Re calculation of the number of deaths in 1982 for"
~he cancer sites most clearly associated with smoking: the respiratory
system; lip, oral cavil, and pharyr~; esophagus, pancreas, and bladder. The
me~hod is identical Uo the method used by Doll and Peto to generate their
estimate r.hat about 30 percent of cancer deaths in the U.S. in 1978 were
associated wir.h smokin~ (Doll & Peto, 1981).8
.........._..__
8Doll and Peto prepared their estimates under contract to OTA. Their report
was the basis for part of the OTA assessment of Technologies for Dererminin~
12
&n
o

(5/9/85)
(
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
Their method used the mortalit7 rates for nonsmokers from the large
American Cancer Soclet7 (ACS) study (often referred to as ~he "25-state s~udy"
or r.he "million person s~udy"). The age-specific mortality rates (from
Garfinkle, 1980) are r~hen applied to the number of people in age and sex
specific population Eroups. Multiplying the t~vo leads to an estimate of the
"expected" number of deaths r~hat would have occurred in a given year if
everyone had r~he mortalit-y experience of ~he nonsmokers in the ACS s~udy.
This "expected" number is ~hen subtracted from the number of deaths that
ac~ually occurred. The difference is attributed to smoking. The number of
deaths for each t~/pe of cancer is taken directly from the Vital Scatlstics
data published by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The NCHS
data are based on ~he information about the "underlying" cause of death
supplied on dearth certificates by physicians.
The las~ column is r.he "attributable risk," the percen~ of r.he deaths
in ~hau category ~hat can be attributed to smoking. It is calculated by
dividing r.he number of "excess" deaths by ~he total number of dear.hs in that
particular age or sex grouping.
In addition to the five major sites, Doll and Peto also attributed a
relatively small number of cancers at other specified sites to smoking. These
include some sites ~hau may be associated with tobacco, such as kidney
cancers, and o~hers that may include some misdiagnosed cancers (for example,
some "stomach" and "liver" cancers may be misdia~nosed pancreatic cancers).
Doll and Peuo included 5,000 male and 1,000 female cancer deaths for these
Cancer Risks from the Environment. The Doll and Peuo report itself was later
published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and republished as a
book by Oxford University Press.
13

DRAZT (5/9/85)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
or-her si~es. The figures of 5,000 and 1,000 are also used for OTA's
estimates.
They also included a share of ~he cancers reported To NCHS wlthou~
information on r~he specific site. The fraculon of male and female cancers
~ha~ had been esuima~ed for the specified si~es was then applied to the total
number from unspecified slues. Doll and Peso made one adjus~menu to ~he non-
smokers' mor~alit-y rates from ~he ACS study. To allow for r~he possibiliuy
~ha~ ~he nonsmokers in ~he ACS s~udy were less exposed uo alcohol or o~her
causes of upper respiratory or digestive system cancers r~han were nonsmokers
in ~he enulre U.S. populauion, ~hey doubled the number of deaths from cancers
of ~he mouuh, pharyruc, larynx, and esophagus expecUed in non-smokers. This
adjusrmenu has been made for ~hese si~es in Table 3.
Table 4 ~o~als uhe resulus of ~e calculauions in Table 5. Overall,
abouu 32 percen~ of all cancer dear.hs in 1982 are a~ribu~ed to smoking,
compared ~o 30 percen~ in 1978. Fort-y-four percenU of cancer mortali~ in men
is relaued uo smoking, and abouu 18 percenU of female cancer moruali~y. There
are siEnificanu age differences in the auuribu~able risks for cancer. Fifuy
percent of male cancer deaths under ~he age of 65 are related to smoking,
compared uo A1 percenu of male cancer deaths over age 65. Similarly, for
women, 23 percenu of deaths under age 65 and 15 percenu of those over 65 are
a~ributed to smoking.
To construc~ a lower bound estimate of the smoking-relaUed autribuuable
risk for cancers, OTA assumed ~hau only lung cancers are associated with
smoking. In addition, uo accoun~ for ocher possible causes of lung cancer
~hau ACS subjects may nou have been exposed ~o (such as certain occupational
14
O

\ 6
DRAFT (5191S5)
<.
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
exposures, such as to asbestos), ~he non-smoker rates from the ACS study were
doubled. The resulting attributable risk estimates for cancer are still
large--33 percent for males under 65, 27 percent for males 65 and over, 15
percent for females under 65, and 8 percent for females 65 and over. This
certainly overstates sets too low a lower bound for the estimates of cancer
risks. However, the resultinE estimate of smoking-related dearths is still
very large--about 89,000 deaths or 21 percent of all U.S. cancer deaths.
The highest reported estimate for smoking-related attributable risk for
cancer is 38 percent (Doll & Peto, 1981, based on tables prepared by Enstrom).
An upper bound can be constructed from this estimate. If the 58 percent
figure is increased to ~0 percent to allow for the increasing share of cancers
due to smoking over time, ~his upper bound represents a 25 percent increase
over r_he OTA attributable risk estimate of 32 percent. If this is assumed to
apply equally to all age and sex groups, then the upper bound estimates are:
63 percent and 51 percent for men under and over 65, and 29 and 19 percent for
women under and over 65. These lower and upper bounds are used in the
calculation of smoking-related costs in Table 16.
Chronic Obstructive Lung D~sease Deaths
Table 5 presents r_he calculations of attributable risk for chronic
obstructive lung disease. These include emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
The attributable risks are calculated using the method employed for cancer
deaths. The published results of the ACS study (Hammond, 1966) provide age-
specific death rates only for emphysema.
15

DP, ArZ (5191S5)
<
C
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
The races for nonsmokers for emphysema from r/%e ACS s~udy were doubled
before ~hey were applied to ~he count of ~he U.S. population by age and sex in
1982. This allows for deaths from o~her forms of chronic obstructive lung
disease ~hat are related tosmoking r~hat were not included under the coding
"emphysema." In addition, this doubling allows for the probability that the
ACS population did not have large numbers of people wir/% significant
occupational exposures (such as to asbestos, silica, coal dust, cotton dust);
exposures that lead to or_her forms of chronic lung disease. Finally, ~he
actual dear/is reported by NCHS were reduced by I0 percent, r-he approximate
number of dear/%s due to asthma that are also included in this cause of dear-h
classification.
Thus, about 87 percent of chronic obstructive lung disease deaths
appears to be related to smoking. Table 6 presents the total number of deaths
coded as related to t/Re respiratory system. These include pneumonia, and
influenza, as well as chronic obstructive lung disease. While the
approximately A6,000 smoking-related deaths from chronic obstructive lung
disease represent about 87 percent of all chronic obstructive lung disease
deaths, r-hey account for about ~3 percent of all deaths from respiratory
system disease.
In contrast to smoking-related cancer deaths, the attributable risk for
male respiratory system dear/Rs is lower for r/Rose under 65 than it is for
r_hose 65 and over. The attributable risk for men over 65 is A9 percent, while
for those under 65 it is about AO percent. For women, however, the reverse is
true. Forty-four percent of respiratory system disease deaths for women under
65 are attributed to smoking, compared to about 34 percent of respiratory
system dear/Rs for women over 65.
16
G8

DP, (SlglSS)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
An important assumption is ~ha~ uhe death races for non-smokers from
~he ACS study can be applied co the U.S. population. Aside from smoking, ~he
only or_her siEnificanC cause of chronic lung disease is occupational exposure.
The ACS population may noU have included very many people with these
exposures. To allow for ~his, the races from the ACS s~udy were doubled for
OTA's esclmace ~hac about 87 percenu of chronic funE disease is associated
with smoking. Even if the ACS races are ~ripled, the resultinE auuribucable
risk estimate is 81 percent. Zf, on the ocher hand, the races from the AC3
s~udy are increased by only 50 percent (co allow for smoking-related funE
disease no~ reporued as emphysema), the attributable risk is 90 percent.
There is evidence thau smokers have an increased risk of dying of
pneumonia and influenza, buU because of the epidemic nature of influenza, ic
is difficult co estimate precisely the smoking-related fracuion for any one
year. Thus, even though some of ~hese deaths are related Co smoking, they
have been excluded from this estimate of the number of deaths associated with
smoking.
For uhe cosu analysis presenued below, however, an acuribucable risk
estimate for pneumonia and influenza mor~aliuy has been used Co develop an
upper limit Co the range of attributable risk estimates for all respirauory
system disease. Rice and Hodgson aUuribuued abouu 20 percenU of male and 30
percent of female deauhs from pneumonia and influenza to smoking. Adding 20
percenu of pneumonia/influenza mortality to the Table 6 values of 39.9 percent
(under 65) and A9.3 percenu (65 and over) yield upper bound esuimaues of A8
percenu and 59 percenu. For females, adding 30 percenu of pneumonia/influenza
mor~alit-y yields upper bound estimates of 57 (under 65) and ~ percenu (65 and
17

• b
DRA ' (5191S5)
(
(
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OK REPRODUCE
over). Lower bound estimates were constructed by simply (and somewhat
arbitrarily) subCracn/aE 20 and 30 percent from ~he estimates in Table 6.
resulting range of attributable risk estimates is used in Table 16 for
calculating smoking-rela~ed healr/% care costs.
The
Caudiovascular Disease Deaths
Cardiovascular disease includes bor.hhearu disease and strokes. The
latter is less clearly linked to smoking ~han the former. In addition, even
in ~he studies ~hat have linked it to smoking, it appears ~hat only in younger
age groups (specifically, those under r/Re age of 65) do smokers have
siEniflcan~ excess risk of cerebrovascular mortality.
~stlmates Usln~ Rates Sot Non-smokers. Epidemiologic studies have
clearly linked smoking with ischemic heart disease. Death from ischemlc heart
disease arises from a myocardial infarction, the most common form of fatal
"heart attack." Heart disease rates have been declining over r/Re last 2
decades. Thus, r/Re heart disease death rates from the ACS study cannon be
used directly to generate an "expected" number of cases.
Mortality from all cardiovascular disease has been falling for the last
20-30 years--for heart disease rates began falling in the mid-sixties, while
for strokes the decline began in r/Re 1950s. It is generally believed that
these declines represent the results of a combination of factors, including
improvements in diet, decreases in ~he prevalence of smoking, and changes in
medical care, such as improved control of hi,h blood pressure, the use of
intensive care units and coronary artery bypass surgery. However, the
relative importance of these factors is still a ma~ter of debate (see Goldman
18
O

DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OE REPRODUCE
& Cook, 198A; Pell & Fayerweacher, 1985; ~alker, 1983; Kleinman, eC el., 1979;
Kennel, 1982; Scallones, 1980).
Because of the quantitative uncertaint-y in portion of the decline in
cardiovascular mortality =hac can be attributed to the reduction in smoking, a
range of adjustments is used here. Goldman and Cook have attributed 2&
percenU of the decline in coronary hear~ disease death races co reductions in
smoking. In Table 7, =he non-smoker death races for coronary hear= disease
from the ACS study have been adjusted by I00%, 75%, and 50% of the overall
percentage decline in the years following =he 1963 followup of =he ACS study.
Seventy-flve percenu approximates the Goldman and Cook esuimace thaC 2A
percent of the decline is due to reduced smoklng--a change thac would noc
affect the rates for non-smokers. This is bounded by adjustments chat assume
thac non-smokers experienced, either I00 percent or 50 percent of the decline
in overall cardiovascular mortality races.9
Table 8 presents similar calculations using data from =he Framingham
Hear~ Study. Because of =he care oaken in diagnosis of disease and reporting
of informaclon on cause of death for =he subjects of =his suudy, the rates for
the different subcacegories of deaths due co circulatory system disease do noC
directly correspond co national raues. However, the races for all
cardiovascular disease are comparable. Thus in Table 8 the races for all
91C should be noted Chac these calculations for hear= disease only include
persons up co the age of 85. The ACS s=udy did uoc publish hear= disease
rates for those over 85. However, as will be discussed later in =his paper,
mortality ratios for smokers (compared co non-smokers) decline wizh advancing
years as non-smokers eventually die of hear= disease. For example, =he
mortality ratio for chose aged 75-8A is 1.2. Thus =he implici= assumption
uhau no one over =he age of 85 dies of smoking-rela=ed hear= disease
undersua=es these es=ima=es, but probably no= =o any great ex=enc.
19

• . 4 •
DRA (519185)
(-
("
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OK P~EPEODUCE
cardiovascular disease for non-smokers are used to calculate an "expected"
number of deaths for each sex and age group. These rates are based on the
data from ~he IS-year followup of =he Framingham suudy population. Again an
adJus~nenC needs to be made for ~he changes in cardiovascular mortali~/ races
since r~hac followup. So in Table 8 ~he rates have been adjusted by I00%, 75%,
and 50% of ~he decline in total cardiovascular dear/1 rates among white males
and females since 1968.10
Tables 9 and I0 present ~he results of ~hese calculations in summary
form. Using ~he ACS races, ~he attributable risk of cardiovascular disease
deaths for smoking in all ages and sexes is between 8.6 and 23.0 percent, wi~h
a middle estima=e (using 75 percent of ~he decline in rates) of 15.8 percen=
of ischemic hear= disease. Using ~he da=a from ~he Framingham s~udy, the
range for all ages and bo~h sexes combined is beuween 8.3 and 15.8 percent of
all cardiovascular disease dea=hs, wi~h a middle estimate of 13.3 percent.
Ischemic hearu disease accounted for 552,786 of =he 967,868 U.S. dea=hs
in 1982 from all cardiovascular disease. Thus abou= 57 percent of all
cardiovascular disease deaths are coded as ischemic hear= disease. Thus ~he
range from Table 9 (based on r~he ACS races) of 8.6 =o 23.0 percent of ischemic
heart disease implies a range of 4.9 to 13.1 percent of all cardiovascular
disease, wi~h a middle esuima=e of 9.0 percent. This, of course, assumes =ha=
only ischemic hear= disease is associa=ed wi=h smoking and ~hau o=her forms of
cardiovascular disease (non-ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease,
and or/ler forms of vascular disease) are not associa=ed wi=h smoking.
10The Framingham s=udy does not provide da=a for =hose over =he age of 75.
For ~he middle es=imaue, and addi=ion was made of about 12,000 deaths--an
au=ribu=able risk of 5 percent for men aged 75-8A, 2 percent for men over 85,
and 2 percent for men aged 75-8A. These have been included in Table i0.
2O

(5/9/s5)
(
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OK REPRODUCE
This middle estlmace of 9.0 percent (from the ACS data) compares to a
middle estimate of 13.3 percent from ~he Framingham data. To ~he extent that
cardiovascular disease other ~han ischemic hear~ disease is associated wi~h
smoking, a difference Between ~hese two estimates would be expected.
However, a close look at ~he data in Table I0 for men and women in the
age groups 55-6A and 65-7A reveals something a bit peculiar. Generally,
attributable risk estimates decline for each age group when compared to ~he
next younger age group. But in Table I0, ~he attributable risk for men aged
55-6A is less ~han ~hat for men aged 65-74. This is also true for women, but
~he difference is not nearly as dramatic. The Framlngham rates for non-
smokers aged 55-6A are probably too low, while ~hose for 65-74 are probably
too high.II Thus Table I0 also presents a recalculation that attempts uo
smoo~h the a~Uribu~able risk estimates for this discrepant age groups. The
resulting recalculation is an overall attributable risk of 9.5 percent of
cardiovascular disease.12
Estimates Us~n~ MoT~alit-y Ka~os and $mokinK ?~eva~ence. A second
approach for developing attributable risk estimates can also be used. This
approach uses the mortality ratio (or relative risk) from the ACS "million
person" stn/dy and combines it wi~h the prevalence of smoking in the U.S.
population. The formula13 for this is:
llpar~ of the reason for this may be the relatively small size of the
Framingham S~udy population. Wi~h smaller study populations, there will be
fluctuations in the rates for age and sex specific subgroups that are due urely to chance.
2Readers, of course are encouraged to sus~irute ~heir own figures for age- ,
specific ac~ributable risks. The "smoothed" 75% decline figures are merely
"eyeball" estimates and are not based on r/%e use of statistical techniques for ~,~
smoo~hing data. .~,~
13For the derivation of this formula, see, for example, Lilienfeld (1976).
Go
21

. Da :'T (519185)
DO NOT qUOTE, CITE, OKEEPEODUCE
attributable risk
b(r-1)
............ x 100
b(r-l) + 1
~n r~his case, r is the relative risk or mortalit7 ratio--the ratio of the
mortality rate for smokers to the mortality race for nonsmokers, while b is
the fraction of the population that are smokers.
Table Ii presents the results of these calculations. The mortalit7
ratios from the ACS "million person" study. Figures on smoking prevalence, by
lO-year abe group are from unpublished data collected in the first stage of a
new epidemiologic study being conducted by the ACS. The first three columns
of the table show the results for current smokers. The attributable risk
percentages fall rapidly with advancing age. This is because only for the
younger age groups do the smokers have very large relative risks. As smokers
and non-smokers age, r.he relative risks for heart disease deline, because
ocher causes Of heart disease in non-smokers and smokers alike become more
importantI~.
Mortaliuy ratios for former smokers decline as the number of years of
non-smokinE increases. A precise calculation of the attributable risk for
this group would require information on the number of years of successful
nonsmoking, as well as the level and duration of previous smoking. This
information is difficult to gather. However, except for people who are ill
and who have recently given up smoking because of their illness, the morualit-y
ratios for current smokers would represent a maximum value for the mortality.
14The actual rates for heart disease in both smokers and non-smokers continue
=o rise as =hey age.
22

DP3.rr (SlglSS)
(-
DO NOT QUOTE, CZTE, OR REPRODUCE
ra~ios for former smokers. The righ~-haud half of Table Ii presents these
calculations.
Table 12 presents the application of these a~uribuuable risks to
estimate ~he number of deaths from ischemic heart disease. Some of ~he o~her
forms of hear~ disease, such as rheumatic hear~ disease, are no~ associated
wir.h smoking. Bun some of ~he o~her ~ypes of disease r/Ran are grouped as
"other forms of heart disease," such as aortic aneurism, are. Thus some
fraction of deaths coded as due Uo other forms of heart disease should also be
related Uo smoking. Table 13 presents calculations for ~hese deaths using the
attributable risk estimates developed for ischemic hear~ disease (Table II).
Table IA summarizes r/le results of ~hese calculations for deaths from
heart disease. The first column presents total cardiovascular mortality (both
heart disease and strokes). The second column presents ~he number of smoking-
related ischemic heart disease deaths in curren~ smokers, while r.he ~hird
column presents ~he maximum attributable ischemic heart disease deaths for
former smokers. The fourr~h column presents deaths for other forms of heart
disease amon~ current smokers, and ~he fifr/t columns does the same for former
smokers. In both cases the calculations assume the same mor~aliuy ratios r_hat
were used for ischemic hearu disease.
The fifth column presents a lower bound estimate that is simply ~he
number of ischemic hear~ disease deaths a~Kribu~able ~o smokin~ amon~ current
smokers. The nex= column presents the maximum from these calculations--the
to~alof ischemic and or~her forms of hear~ disease, assuming ~ha~ ex-smokers
have the same relative risks as curren~ smokers. Assuming ~hat ~he relative
risks from the ACS study are appropriate for 1982, the real smoking-rela~ed
23
&n
&J

• DL L T (519185)
(-
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR EEPKODUCE
at=rihu~able risk lles somewhere in bet-~een the lower bound of about AS,000
dear~s and ~he upper bound of 130,000 deaths. These bounds Uranslace into a
range of A.6 Uo 13.5 percenu. The "middle esuimaue" presenued in ~he lasu ~wo
columns represents ~he ischemic hear~ disease deaths among current smokers
plus one-half of ~he ischemic hear~ disease deaths amon5 former smokers and
one-half of r/le or/let forms of hearu disease.
The "middle esUimaue" amounts to 9.0 percenu of all cardiovascular
disease. These calculaulons imply ~hac IA.5 percen~ of male cardiovascular
mor~aliuy, and 3.5 percenU of female cardiovascular deaths are related Co
smoking. These results are very dependenu on the age group being considered.
For example, over 80 percenn of the cardiovascular deauhs among 35-~ year old
males are associated wiUh smoking, while only abouu 5 percent of ~he dearths
among 75-8A year old men are. For ~hese calculaclons, ic was assumed ~hat
none of ~he cardiovascular deaths Co men and women over 85 are related Co
smoking.
The 1983 reporu of ~he Surgeon General scares ~hat "up to 30 percent of
all CHD [coronary hearU disease] deaths in ~he United ScaUes are attributable
co ~he cigarecue smoking habit" ~U..S. DHHS, 1983, p. 65). The source for this
is given co a joinu document prepared by ~e National Cancer Institute and the
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U.S. DHHS, 1977>. ThaC document
presents a cable listing aucribucable risk estimates for heart disease,
arteriosclerosis, bronchitis/emphysema, and cancers of the oral cavity,
esophaEus, pancreas, larynx, ~rachea, kidney, and bladder. However, the
document provides no deuails of ~he calculations or assumptions behind ~hese
estimates.
2~
t0

- t
(519185)
<
C
DO NOT QUOTE, C~TE, OK REPRODUCE
The ~otal number of smoklng-rela=ed cardiovascular disease dearths
(assuming 75 percent of r.he decline in hear= disease dear/1 rates) in Table 9
is abou~ 87,000. The total number of cardiovascular disease deaths (again
assumlnE 75 percent of ~he decline in the relevant death rates) in Table I0 is
about 128,000. The "smoothed" estimate is 92,000. The "middle estimate" from
Table IA is about 88,000, with a range of 45,000 to 150,000. These are still
very large totals, even if ~hey are less than ~he Surgeon General's estimate
of 170,000.
For ~he cos~ calculation presented below, the range of attributable
risks will use bo~h extremes. AU the lower bound will be the figure of about
90,000 deaths or an attributable fraction of about 9 percent. At the upper
bound, we will use ~he figure of 30 percent of heart disease deaths (applied
~o all diseases of r_he heart) plus about 9 percent of deaths from
cerebrovascular disease (Rice & Hodgson). Together, r.hese amount to about 25
percent of all cardiovascular system deaths.15 These 25 percent will be
dlstribuued be~een men and women and between those over 65 and r_hose under 65
assuming r_hau this distribution is the same as that developed as the "middle
estimate" of Table i4. Wile ~his range of between 9 percent and 25 percent
is fairly large, we can be reasonably sure that the true value lies somewher
in between.
Life-Tears Los=
Table 15 presents a calculation of the number of life-years lost due to
15This figure is also the upper limit of previous estimates of the
attributable risk for all circulatory system disease. See Table I above.
25
Ui
0
¢0

DRAYT (5/9/S5)
C
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
smoking-related disease for each of r/Re three major disease categories
discussed above. The total life-years lost are calculated using ~o different
estimates of r/Re number of years of expected remaining life. The first
estimate is based on data for the entire U.S. published by the National Center
for Healr/% Statistics. These data on average life expectancy aU given ages
include bo~h smokers and non-smokers and, thus, tend to underestimate the
number of years remaining for non-smokers.
The second estimate uses unpublished life table data from the ACS
million person st-~dy that distinguishes the life expectancy of non-smokers
from that of smokers. Using these data, the estimated number of life-years
lost increases from about A.A million to A.8 million, an increase of nearly I0
percent. The last two columns of Table 15 also present the number of life- •
years lost before the age of 65--years ~hat are generally spent as part of the
productive labor force.
SmokinK-related Health Care Costs
Once attributable risk estimates have been developed, it is relatively
easy to estimate the financial costs of smoking using the approach ~hat has
generally been used in the past. This method is to simply apportion direct
health care costs and indirect productivity costs based on the attributable
risks that are based on smoking-related mortality. The major assumption here
is that the proportion of costs attributable to smoking is equal ~o the
proportion of deaths related to smoking in each disease category. Thus, it is
assumed that if 32 percen~ of all U.S. cancer deaths are associated with
26
N
O
G0

C
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
smoking, then 32 percenc of the health care costs for treating cancer are also
associated with smoking. This is an importanu assumption that should be
explored in fuEure research on =he costs of smoking. However, answering this
quesuion would require extensive data collection that is beyond =he scope of
=his OTA sEudy.
Table 16 presents the calculauions of health care costs for 1982, usinE
the range of atEributable risk estimates discussed in the previous section.
The costs of care for each major disease category for men and women over and
under the age of 65 are from Hodgson and Kopstain (1984). Their figures for
1980 have been inflated ~o 1982 values using the increase in personal health
care costs, by type of spendinE, that is implied in the estimates of National
Health Expendit~LTes developed by the Healr.h Care FinancinE Administration
(Gibson, Levit, Lazenby, & Waldo, 198A).
UsinE the dana for 1982, the Coral health care costs of smoking-related
disease amount co between $15 and $30 billion or from 5.6 co 10.9 percent of
tonal U.S. healuh spending. Table 17 presents ~he same calculations using the
projected spending for 1985.16 For 1985 the range is from about $20 billion
co nearly $40 billion, wi=h a middle estimate of about $30 billion.
Table 18 presents the method for calculating costs co the major
government programs ~hat provide for health care services. The esCimaUed
cosUs of each disease category and uype of service for chose over 65 (from
Table 17) is shown in the first column. Each of these component values is
multiplied by the estimated fraction of chat type of service uhat is paid for
by =he paruicular governmenu program.
16Each component of the costs of care was increased by the latest projection
for 1985 from HCFA (~. Arnett, personal communication, 1985).
27
&q
Co

(519185)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPEODUCE
The results of these calculations, for the entire range of attributable
risk estimates for those 65 and over, is presented in Table 19. OTA estimates
that the smoklng-related costs to the Medicare program amount to between $2.8
and $6.7 billion. The Medicaid programbears costs between $0.5 and l.&
billion, while other government programs (mostly the health services provided
by ~he Veterans' Administration) incur costs of between $0.3 and $0.7 billion.
The total for these programs is between $3.5 and $8.8 billion. The middle
estimate is $6.& billion. Even if the costs of circulatory system disease are
reduced by using ~he lower bound attributable risk, the estimate is still
large, about $4.7 billion to the various government programs.
The Medicaid program is Jointly financed by the Federal Government and
the states.17 Thus, the Federal share of the estimated Medicaid costs for
smoking-related disease amounts to about 54 percent of $0.5 and l.A billion or
between $0.3 and $0.8 billion. Subtracting this range from the total
government costs in Table 19 gives a range of $3.3 to $8.2 billion as the
estimated burden on the Federal budgen of paying for the treatment of smoking-
related disease.
Table 20 is the calculation of indirect costs of lost productivity.
Morbidity and mortality costs for each disease category are from Rice and
Hodgson (1983)18. They have been inflated to 1985 dollars using the actual
increase in aggregate employee earnings between 1980 and 198A and the
17In 1983, Medicaid was estimated to have paid $35.6 billion for personal
health care services. Of this $19.2 billion (b& percent) was paid by the
Federal government, and $16.~ billion (A6 percent) was paid by state and local
~overnments (see Table 10, in Gibson, Levit, Lazenby, & Waldo, 198A).
8Mor~ality costs represent the present value of :he stream of expected
lifetime earnings, discounted at A percent.
28
0

..... < (
\
(S19188)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
projected increase to 1985 from r~he baseline projections of the Congressional
Budget Office (C. Kask, personal communication, 1985). The attributable risks
for r_hose under 65, developed in the previous section, are used to calculate
r~he smoking-related costs.
The productivlcy losses to r~he economy due to smoking-related morbidity
and premature mortality are considerable. The range is from $49 billion to -
about $85 billion, wir_h a middle estimate of nearly $70 billion.
The final economic cost of smoking is simply r-he costs to smokers of
purchasing cigarettes. In 198A, about 600 billion cigarettes, or about 30
billion packs, were sold. The retail sales of these cigarettes amounted to an
estimated $28.8 billion. Sales of cigars, chewing tobacco, snuff, and loose
tobacco (such as for pipes) added another $1.9 billion for total tobacco sales
of $30.7 billion (USDA, 1985).
FUTURE COSTS ZF SMOKING IS REDUCED
It is tempting to treat the estimated smoking-related health care costs
as an opporrunicy for reducing the costs of medical care in r/Re U.S. However,
while reduced smoking will clearly lead to reductions in premature mortality,
and increased life expectancy, this will not happen immediately. In addition,
it is a perverse, but real fact of life, ~hat elimination of smoking might not
result in reductions in total medical spending or in the costs of the Medicare
program. However, a policy to reduce the costs of the Medicare system by
allowing hundreds of thousands of preventable smoking-related deaths to occur
each year is contrary to ethical standards and the principles of the U.S.
29
N
O

C¸
DR~_~T (5/9/85) DO NOT QUOTE, CITE,
0KKEPRODUCE
healr/% care system. Neverr.heless, a discussion of the potential impact on
healr/% care costs of reduced smoking is necessary for informed decisions
concerning policies ~hat affect r-he consumption of tobacco products.
Several epidemiologic stn~dles have examined ~he question of whether
~hose who quit smoking improve ~heir chances of survival. The results are
clear; except for ~hose who quit because of a serious illness, ~hose who stop
smoking have improved life expectancy compared Uo those who continue to smoke.
With each year of non-smoking, the relative risk of death for r_he ex-smoker,
compared to ~hose who never smoked, tend~ to decline.
Those who never smoke have ~he lowest mor~allry rates for the various
smoking-related diseases. Measures that reduce the chances that people will
ever start smoking, will have the greatest impact on longevity and death
rates. Of course ~he heal~h benefit of fewer people initiating ~he smoking
habit in 1985 will not be realized until years in the fut~re. For example,
most twenty year olds who star~ smoking today will not experience smoking-
related premature mortality until their forties, fifties, and sixties.
Similarly, r_he benefits of improved health for twenty year olds dissuaded from
the cigarette habit today will not be seen in death rates until 20 to A0 years
from now. Although real, improvements in health due to reduced smoking will
not be immediate.
In addition, the improvements in health may not necessarily reduce
medical costs in the long run. Leu and Schaub, using a computer model that
simulated a hypothetical Swiss male population under the assumption that no
one had smoked during the century from 1876 co 1976. They compared the
estimated medical care spending in 1976 for this hypothetical population wi~h
3O

(
DP.~'E (5/9/85)
actual expenditures in 1976.
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, 0RREPRODUCE
They found little difference becween the
spending in 1976 for these ~wo populations.
The major difference was chat r.he hypochetical non-smoking population
was larger and older than r_he actual population. Overall, ~he non-smoking
populaclon was about 1.~ percent larger. In the older age groups, the
differences were much larger. They estimated r~hat if r~here had not been any
smokers, r.he population of males over r.he age of 65 would have been i0 co IA
percent larger in 1976 than ~he act'~al Swiss male population. (Gori and
Richter have also pointed co the potential increase in r~he size of r_he
populaclon over the age of 65 chat would accompany ~he reduction in the number
of tobacco-related disease deaths (Gori & Richter, 1978; Richter & Gori,
1980).)
Al=hough smokers use more hospital services ~han do non-smokers for a
given year between the ages of 35 and 8A, ~he longer survival of non-smokers
leads co their using more medical services over r_heir entire lifetimes.
However, ~his is spread out over a greater number of years than for the
smokers. According co Leu and Schaub, the lower annual medical care use by
non-smokers bet-~een age 35 and 8A, is almost exactly offset by the predicted
increase in overall spending that results from ~he increase in the size of the
population and =he increase in percentage of the population in the older age
groups (Leu& Schaub, 1983).
A~kinson and Townsend estimated the effects thaC a ~0 percent reduction
in smoking would have on the British National Health Service and budget of the
British government over the years between 1976 and 2000. Reduced smoking
would reduce the need for hospital beds and would temporarily reduce the
31

DR~ (5191s5)
DO NOT QUOTE, CZTE, OR REPRODUCE
number of ou~aclenc visits Co doctors. Over time, however, as r_he non-
smokers aged, ~he number of physician visits would increase. In addition,
~here would be reducuions in r_he governmenu's cosus of providing sickness
benefits and widows' benefits, but increases in the costs of providing
retirement pensions (A~kinson & Townsend, 1977).
A preliminary analysis by Lewit has pointed ouU tha~ savings in healr~h
care costs can be achieved during ~he time it takes ~o move from uhe curren~
suate, in which r~here are cosus for treating smoking-related disease, to a
fut~tre s~a~e in which ~hose cosus have been eliminated. For example, if
smoking-related disease is eliminated by ~he year 2005, health care cosr_s for
Ureaulng smokingorelaUed disease will have been eliminated, while ~here will
be increased costs for ureauing ~he 'larger number of people alive in 2005. AU
some point in ~he future, r_he increase in healr~h care costs for treatinE r_he
additional people alive will approach (and probably a~ least equal) r.he
decrease in costs from r_he elimination of smoking-rela~ed disease. During the
many years between now and ~hat fut-~re time, Lewit argues that society can
save heal~h care costs (Lewit, 1983).
From ~he suandpoinu of r~he Nation's healr~ care system, savings may be
possible during ~he transition to a society with fewer smokers. It is clear
uhau currently large sums are spent treating smoking-relaUed disease. Future
Urends in the use of medical technology and changes in government and ~hird-
party reimbursement will clearly affect future costs. Predicting ~he extent
of ~hese changes and their effects is difficul~. New, more expensive
~echnologies may become more widely used. In ~his discussion of smoking-
relaued disease, iu should be no~ed ~hat all of the pa~ienus who have received
32

DRAFT (5191S5)
DO NOT QUOTE, CZTE, ORREPRODUCE
r~he experimental artificial heart had been smokers19.
However, from r.he standpoint of ~he Social Security and Medicare
progTams, reduced smoking may lead to increased costs. This is simply because
r~here will be more people living Uo retirement age and thus becoming eligible
~o receive Social Security and Medicare benefits. For example, OTA's
estimates imply that of ~he approximately 273,000 who died of smoklng-rela~ed
disease in 1982, 44 percent or about 121,000, died before they reached their
65r.hbir~hday.
There will be some increase in revenues to the governmen~ and the
Social Security and Medicare trust funds because people will be working more
years. The increase in ~hese revenues, however, may not equal the additional
costs borne by these proErams for ~he additional retirees. Reductions in
smoking will also be accompanied by reduction in the sales of cigarettes and
declining demand for tobacco. This could create potentially large economic
dislocations as well as reductions in Federal and state tax revenues that are
associated wi~h the production and sales of tobacco and tobacco products20.
Of course, from a narrow vantage point that considers only the finances
of r~he Social Security and Medicare systems, we should all die the day before
we retire. This is not an acceptable basis for public healr~h policy. More
generally, many would argue that it is inappropriate to consider r~he potential
future healr_h care costs avoided by unnecessary premature deaths. On the
other hand, even ~hough the reduction of smoking-related disease may not lead
19Ravenholt estimates that each of these patients had smoked more than 250,000
~igare=tes during his lifetime (Ravenhol=, in press).
UHow these dislocations and adjus~nents can be ameliorated is an important
issue for government policy.
33

(5/9/s5)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, 0EREPEODUCE
Co medical cost savings, it will lead to large gains in produccivit7 as people
who would have died before age 65 continue to work until ~he normal age of
retirement.
But It is more important to focus instead on the improvements in
healr.h, longevity, and overall quality of llfe chat would accompany reduced
smoking. Measures to reduce smoking might lead to large improvements in
longevity for relatively modest expenditures. Thus, as Warner has pointed
out, reduction in smoking may be a cost-effecCive way of improving health,
even if it does not prove to be cosC-savfnE (Warner, 198A).
34
Co

(519185)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OP, KEPKODUCE
Ashford, "Smoking and the Use of the Health Services," Brit. J. Prey. Soc.
Med. 27:8-17, 1973.
Atklnson, A.B., & Townsend, J.L., "Economic Aspects of Reduced Smoking,"
Lancet, pp. A92-95, Sept. 5, 1977.
Bloom, B.S., Knott, R.S., Evans, A.E., "The Epidemiolo~y of Disease Expenses:
The Costs of Caring for Children with Cancer," JAMA 253(16):2393-97,
April 26, 1985.
Boden, L.I., "The Economic Impact of Environmental Disease on Health Care
Delivery," Journal of Occuparional Medicine 18(7):~67-472, July 1976.
Cooper, B., Rice, D.P., "The Economic Cost of Illness Revisited," Social
Securi~yBulletln, 39:21-36, 1976.
Doll, R. & Peto R., "The Causes of Cancer: Quantitative Estimates of
Avoidable Risks of Cancer in ~he United States Today," Journal of the
National Cancer Institute 66(6):1193-1308, June 1981.
Garfinkel, L., "Cancer Mortality in Nonsmokers: Prospective Study by the
American Cancer Society," Journal of the National Cancer InstiTute
65(5):1169-73, November 1980.
Gibson, R.M., Levit, K.R., Lazenby, H., & Waldo, D.R., "National Health
Expenditures, 1983," Health Care Financing Review 6(2):1-29, Winter
198A.
Goldman, L., & Cook, E.F., "The Decline in Ischemic heart Disease Mortality
Kates," Annals of Incernal Medicine 101(6):825-36, December 198A.
Gori, G.B., & Richter, B.J., "Macroeconomics of Disease Prevention in the
United States," Science 200:I12A-30, June 9, 1978.
Hammond, E.C., "Smoking in Relation to the Death Rates of One Million Men and
Women," in Epidemiological Approaches co the Scud7 of Cancer and O~her
Chronic Diseases, W. Haenszel (ed.), National Cancer Institute
Monograph 19, January 1966.
Harrunian, N.S., Smart, C~N., & Thompson, M.S., The Incidence and Economic
Cosrs of Major Health Impairments (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath & Co.,
Lexington Books, 1981).
Hodgson, T.A., & Kopstein, A.N., "Health Care Expenditures for Major Diseases
in 1980," Health Care Financing Review, 5(A):I-12, Summer 198A.
/¢
35

DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OR REPRODUCE
Kannel, W.B., "Meaning of =he Downward Trend in Cardiovascular Mortaliuy,"
Journal of =he American Medical Associa~on 2A7(6):877-80, Feb. 12,
1982.
Kleinman, J.C., Feldman, J.J., & Monk, M.A., "The Effects of Changes in
Smoking Habits on Coronary heart Disease Mor=aliuy," American Journal
of Public Health 69(8):795-802, August 1979.
Kristein, M.M., "Economic Issues in Prevention," PrevenEive Medicine 6:252-6A,
1977.
Kristein, M.M., "How Much Can Business Expect to Profit from Smoking
Cessation," Preventive Medicine 12:358-81, 1983.
Leu, E.E. & Schaub, T., "Does Smoking Increase Medical Care Expenditure?" Soc.
Sci. Med. 17(23):1907-14, 1983.
Lewit, E.M., & Coates, D., "The Potential for Using Excise Taxes to Reduce
Smoking," Journal of Healch Economics 1:121-45, 1982.
Lewiu, E.~., "Some Economic Issues Raised by Reduced Smoking," preliminary
draft, typescript, 1983.
Lewit, E.M., "Estimated Cost of Illness Attributable to Cigarette Smoking,
196A-1983," report prepared for the American Council on Science and
Health, tTpescrlpt, 1984.
Lilienfeld, A.M, Foundations of Epidemiology (New York: Oxford Univ. Press,
1976).
Lute, B.E., & Schweir.zer, S.O., "Smoking and Alcohol Abuse: A Comparison of
their Economic Consequences," New England Journal of Medicine
298(10):569-71, March 9, 1978.
Lyon, H.L., & Simon, J.L., "Price Elasi=icicy of =he Demand for Cigarettes in =he United
States," American Journal of Agricul~u:al Economics 50:888-
95, November 1968.
Minnesota Department of Health, The Minnesora Plan for Nonsmoking and Health:
Report and Recommendations fo =he Technical Advisory Committee on
NonsmokinE and Healch, (Minneapolis, HN: Minn. Dept. of Health,
September, 1984). --
Osuer, G., Coldiuz, G.A., & Kelly, N.L., The Economic Costs of Smoking and
Benefits of Quic~ing (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1984).
Pell, S., & Fayerwea=her, W.E., "Trends in =he Incidence of Myocardial
Infarction and in Associa=ed Mor=aliCy and Morbidity in a Large
Employed Popula=ion, 1957-1983," New England Journal of Medicine
312(16):1005-i011, Apr. 18, 1985.
36
N
O
&J
&q
GD

(519185)
r
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, OK KEPEODUCE
Ravenholt, R.T., "Addiction Mortality in the United States, 1980: Tobacco,
Alcohol, and O~her Substances," Populaclon and Development Review
10(A):697-72A, December 1984.
Ravenholt, R.T., "Tobacco's Impac~ on 20~h Cenrury U.S. Mortality," American
Journal of Preventive Medicine, in press.
Rice, D., "Estimating the Costs of Illness," American Journal of Public
Health, 57:A2~-~0, 1967.
Rice, D.P., & Hodgson, T.A., "Economic Costs of Smoking: An Anlysis of Data
for r.he United States," unpublished paper presented at ~he Allied
Social Science Association Annual Meetings, San Fransisco, CA, December
28, 1983.
Richter, B.J., & Gori, G.B., "Demographic and Economic Effects of the
Prevention of Early Mortality Associated with Tobacco-related Disease,"
in Banbury Report 3--A Safe Cigarerte?, G.B. Gori, F.G. Book (ads.)
(Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, March 12,
1980), pp. 3AI-351.
Rogot, E. & Murray, J.L., "Smoking and Causes of Death among U.S. Veterans:
16 years of Observation," Public Health Reports 95(3):213-222, May-June
1980.
Stallones, R.A., "The Rise and Fall of Ischemic Heart Disease," Scientific
American 2A3(5):53-59, November 1980.
Townsend, J.L., & Meade, T.W., "Ischaemic Heart Disease Mortality Eisks for
Smokers and Non-Smokers," Journal of EpidemioloEy and CommuniryHealch
33(A):243-2A7.
U.S. Department of Agricult-u/e, Economic Kesearch Service, "Tobacco: Outlook
and Siruation Kepor~," March 1985.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health,
National Cancer Institute and National Heart, Lung, and Blood
InstiLnlte, Smoking and ~ealrh: A Program ro Reduce the Risk of Disease
in Smokers, Status Keporu, December 1977.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Of $ice on Smoking and Health,
Smoking and Healah: A Report of the Surgeon General (Washington, DC:
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979)
U.S. DeparTment of Health and Human Services, Office on Smoking and Health,
The Health Consequences of Smoking--Cancer: A Report of the Surgeon
General (~ashing=on, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1982)
37

(5/9/85)
DO NOT QUOTE, CITE, ORKEPRODUCE
U.S. Department of Heal~h and Human Services, Office on Smoking and Heal~h,
The Heal=h Consequences of Smoking--Cardiovascular Disease: A Report
of the Surgeon General (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1983)
U.S. Department of Heal~h and Human Services, Office on Smoking and Heal~h,
The Heal~h Consequences of Smoking--Chronic ObsTrucTive LunE Disease:
A Report of r~he Surgeon General (Washinguon, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office, 198A).
Yogi, T.M. and Schweitzer, S.O., Medical CosTs of Clgarecre Smoking, reporu
prepared for ~he National Center for Health Services Kesearch, U.S.
Deparument of Heal~h and Human Services, January 1984.
Walker, W.J., "Changing U.S. Life Style and Declining Vascular MortaliCy--A
RetrospecTive," New England Journal of Medicine 308(11):649-51, Mar.
17, 1983.
Warner, K., BenefiTs and Costs of An=ismoking Poli=cies, report prepared for
=he National Center on Heal=h Services Research, U.S. Department of
Heal~h and Human Services, May 1982.
Warner, K., "The Economics of Smoking and Lung Cancer," in L.A. Loeb, V.L.
Ernster, K.E. Warner, et al., "Smoking and Lung Cancer: An Overview,"
Cancer Research AA:5940-58, December 1984.
Williams, J.K., & Jusrus, D.G., "Evaluauion of Nationwide Health CosTs of Air
Pollution and Cigarette Smoking," Journal of abe Air Pollu~ion Control
AssociaTion 24(11):1063-66, November 1974.
Wolfe, S.M., "Economic Costs of Smoking," typescript, March 1977.
38
