Tobacco Institute
The Economic Costs of the Health Effects of Smoking, 1984
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- Evans
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- Rice, D.P. 5
- Hodgson, T.A. 6
- Sinsheimer, P. 7
- Browner, W.
- Kopstein, A.N.
- Milbank Quarterly 8
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Annotations
- 1. National Center Health Statist Named Person
- Affiliation:
National Center Health Statistics
- Affiliation:
- 2. Us Public Health Service Named Person
- Affiliation:
US Public Health Service
- Affiliation:
- 3. Childrens Hospital Philadelphi Named Person
- Affiliation:
Childrens Hospital Philadelphia
- Affiliation:
- 4. Office Technology Assessment Named Person
- Affiliation:
Office Technology Assessment
- Affiliation:
- 5. Rice, D.P. Author
- Affiliation:
University California San Francisco
- Affiliation:
- 6. Hodgson, T.A. Author
- Affiliation:
National Center Health Statistics
- Affiliation:
- 7. Sinsheimer, P. Author
- Affiliation:
San Diego State University
- Affiliation:
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- Affiliation:
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`I'he Economic C.'ort.r of the Health tiffectt of SnrokinR, 1984 507
So6
D. P. Rice et al.
Removing this constraint, Gori and Richter find quite different
results for some variables in 2000. With disease prevention, the
Wharton model predicts a federal surplus compared to a projected
deficit in the absence of disease prevention, with a 65 percent difference
in the two estimates. More modest increases in the GNP and government
receipts and a much smaller increase in transfer payments are predicted.
But with this latter assumption about labor-force participation, much
larger increases in unemployment and unemployment benefits result.
Gori and Richter rightly caution that the trends shown and not
the numbers are important. In any case, for the purpose of our concern
with longer-run reductions in smoking and their impact upon the
economy, it is important to note that the direction of change in
important economic variables is uncertain. The various models can
be quite sensitive to assumptions about key parameters, and a good
deal more analysis is required before we can be confident about long-
run effects of changes in smoking patterns.
Estimated Economic Costs of the Health Effects of
Smoking
Previous studies of the economic costs of smoking, employing the
prevalence-based approach, applied global proportions attributable to
smoking to illness costs (Hedrick 1971; Luce and Schweitzer 1978).
For example, Luce and Schweitzer applied the following smoking
percentages to updated cost-of-illness estimates originally published
by Cooper and Rice in 1976: neoplasms-20 percent, circulatory
system-25 percent, and respiratory system-40 percent. For this
article, we have refined the estimates by using the epidemiologic
methodology of "attributable risk" to calculate the direct (personal
health care expenditures) and indirect (morbidity and mortality) costs
associated with cigarette smoking.
Attributable risk is "the maximum proportion of a disease that can
be attributed to a characteristic or etiologic factor" (Lilienfeld and
Lilienfeld 1980) and assumes that other factors influencing the occurrence
of smoking-related diseases are equally distributed among smokers
and nonsmokers. But smokers differ from nonsmokers in certain genetic,
social, and economic characteristics which may contribute to disease.
The prevalence of smoking 'varies by race (more blacks smoke than
whites), education (fewer college graduates smoke than persons with
only some high school), income (males with lower income smoke
more, while the opposite holds for women), and occupation (blue-
collar workers smoke more than professional or technical workers)
(Vogt 1983; Warner 1983). If factors known to be related to health
status and smoking habits are not controlled, the impact of smoking
on health and the costs of smoking may be overstated.
An interesting attempt to overcome this problem by Leu and Schaub
(1983) analyzed smoking and medical care expenditures using three
types of persons: smokers, nonsmokers, and nonsmoking smokers.
The latter is a statistical construction having the smoking habits of
a nonsmoker but like a smoker in other respects. Leu and Schaub
assumed that 65 percent of smokers' excess mortality was due to
smoking and 35 percent to other characteristics of smokers. Although
it would be important to account for differences in mortality and
morbidity between smokers and nonsmokers not due to smoking, the
empirical basis for doing so is not readily apparent, and the Leu and
Schaub assumption is arbitrary.
The detailed methodology and sources of data for estimating the
attributable risks for medical care utilization, morbidity, and mortality
and their application to the direct and indirect costs of illness are
detailed in the methodology appendix at the end of this article.
Summary results are presented below.
Disability and Medical Care Utilization Differentials
Smokers are sicker and require more medical care than those who do
not smoke. Table I records a comparison of the disability and medical
care utilization rates for persons 17 years and over who ever smoked
(current and former smokers) and those who never smoked, by age
and sex; the data are from the Smoking Supplement of the 1979
National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Higher rates in all the
measures are reported for smokers compared with nonsmokers, ranging
from 6 percent for physician visits to 72 percent for persons unable
to work or keep house. The differentials between male smokers and
nonsmokers are especially high. For example, the number of men
reporting that they are unable to work is 88 percent higher for smokers
compared with nonsmokers. For male smokers, hospital days are 63
percent higher, restricted-activity days are 55 percent higher, and

TABLE 1
Disability and Medical Care Utilization by Cigarette Smoking Status, Sex and Age: United States,
1979
Both sexes Mala Females
A ed
Smoking 17 ~ean
status and over
17-44
years
45-64
years Aged
65 years 17 years
and over and over
17-44
years
45-64
years Aged
65 years 17 years
and over and over
17-44
years
45-64
years
65 years
and over
RESTRICTED-ACTIVITY DAYS PER PERSON PER YEAR
All persons' 22.3
Ever smoked2 24.2
Never smoked 20.3 15.1
17.9
12.1 26.3
28.8
22.6 42.8
41.4
43.9 20.0
22.9
14.8 13.7
15.8
10.7 24.4
27.5
14.3 39.4
39.8
39.5 24.4
25.8
23.4 16.5
20.4
13.1 28.2
30.7
25.9 45.2
44.2
45.3
BED-DISABILITY DAYS PER PERSON PER YEAR
All pe:sons' 7.5
Ever smoked2 7.8
Never smoked 7.2 5.7
6.5
4.7 8.1
8.8
7.1 13.8
11.7
15.4 6.1
6.7
4.8 4.3
4.8
3.5 7.1
8.1
3.6 12.1
11.1
14.5 8.9
9.3
8.6 6.9
8.4
5.7 9.1
9.8
8.5 15.0
12.7
15.7
WORK-LOSS DAYS PER CURRENTLY EMPLOYED PERSON PER YEAR
All persons' 4.9
Ever smoked2 5.4
Never smoked 4.3 5.0
5.8
4.0 4.7
4.6
5.1 -
-
- 4.5
5.0
3.6 4.5
5.2
3.4 4.3
4.6
3.3 -
-
- 5.5
6.2
5.0 5.6
6.9
4.5 5.4
4.6
6.3
NUMBER OF PERSONS UNABLE TO WORK OR KEEP HOUSE3 PER 100 PERSONS4
All persons' 5.0 1.1
Ever smoked2 6.2 1.3
Never smoked 3.6 0.8 6.8
9.0
3.2 17.2
22.1
13.3 7.9
9.4
5.0 1.7
2.0
1.2 11.4
12.7
6.8 28.6
30.6
24.7 2.5
2.0
2.9 0.5
0.5
0.5 2.6
3.5
1.8 9.1
7.2
9.8
HOSPITAL DAYS PER PERSON PER YEAR
All persons' 1.2 0.8 1.4 2.7 1.1 0.6 1.5 2.5 1.4 0.9 1.3 2.9
Ever smoked2 1.4 0.9 1.6 2.9 1.3 0.8 1.7 2.7 1.4 1.1 1.5 3.2
Never smoked 1.1 0.6 1.1 2.6 0.8 0.5 1.0 2.2 1.3 0:8 1.2 2.7
PHYSICIAN VISITS PER PERSON PER YEAR
All persons' 5.0 4.5 5.2 6.8 4.2 3.4 4.7 6.5 5.8 5.6 5.5 6.9
Ever smoked2 5.2 4.7 5.3 7.0 4.4 3.6 4.9 6.5 6.2 6.0 5.9 7.9
Never smoked 4.9 4.4 4.9 6.6 3.7 3.1 4.1 6.6 5.6 5.3 5.3 6.6
Soxrre: Smoking Supplement of the 1979 National Health Interview Survey.
Natc: These estimates will be slightly different than other published National Health Interview
Survey estimates because these are computed
from the one-third sample of persons who were given the smoking supplement. In addition, the
variables "unable to work/keep house" and
"hospital days" reflect slight definicional modifications from other published estimates.
' Excludes persons of unknown smoking status.
= Includes current and former smokers.
3 Includes only females keeping house.
4 Number of persons unable to work or keep house is nor adjusted by labor-force participation,
employment, or housekeeping rates.
TIMN 305890

510 D. P. Rice et al.
bed-disability and work-loss days are about 40 percent higher. The
differentials in these disability and medical care utilization measures
for female smokers compared with nonsmoking women are lower,
ranging from 8 to 24 percent. For women reporting that they are
unable to work or keep house, the rates are higher for the nonsmokers,
except for those 45 to 64 years of age.
Similar patterns are seen by age. The disability and medical care
utilization rates for smokers under age 65, especially males, are sig-
nificantly higher than for nonsmokers. For those aged 65 and over,
the differentials are not as large and for several measures (bed-disability
days for men and women, restricted-activity days for women and
women unable to keep house), the rates are slightly higher for non-
smokers. It is possible that some older persons suffer from a variety
of chronic illnesses regardless of their smoking history, resulting in
slightly higher disability rates. Also, these rates increase with age for
smokers, and nonsmokers aged 65 and over tend to be older than
smokers in the same age group.
Morbidity and Medical Care Attributable Risks
The availability of morbidity and medical care utilization rates by
types of condition and smoking status enabled us to estimate for the
first time the proportion of the illness measure or type of medical
care used that can be attributed to smoking. We focused on the three
major diagnostic categories most clearly associated with smoking-
neoplasms, diseases of the circulatory system, and diseases of the
respiratory system. Thus, 30 percent of the men and 17 percent of
the women .17 years of age and over who suffer from these three major
conditions and who report they are unable to work or keep house
may be attributed to smoking (appendix table 1). Almost 3 out of
10 hospital days of care for them are estimated to be associated with
smoking and the proportion is higher for men and for those under
age 65. Almost I out of 5 visits by men and 1 out of 15 visits by
women to physicians outside of hospitals may be attributed to smoking,
while I out of 7 days lost from work is associated with smoking.
Direct Costs
Direct costs of smoking are the amounts spent for hospital care,
physician and other professional services, drugs, and nursing home
Tht Economic Goit.c of the Health Lffect.r of Smoking, 1984 51 1
TARI.E 2
Direct Costs: Total Personal Health Care Expenditures for Neoplasms and
Diseases of the Circulatory and Respiratory Systems, and Amount
Attributed to Smoking by Sex and Age: United States, 1980
Age Both sexes Males Females
TOTAL EXPENUITURESI (millions)
All ages $62,198 $27,675 $34,523
Under 65 years 32,631 15,830 16,801
65 years and over 29,568 11,845 17,722
AMOUNT A't'TR18lrr'F:1) TO SMOKING
(millions)
All ages
;14, 384
$8,220
$6,164
Under 65 years 8,734 5,366 3,368
65 years and over 5,650 2,854 2,796
PERCENTAGF, OF TOrAL A7TRIE-
UTEC) TO SMOKING
All ages 23.1% 29.7% 17.9%
Under 65 years 26.8 33.9 20.0
65 years and over 19.1 24.1 15.8
Notr. Numbers and percentages may not add to totals due to rounding.
1 From HodKson and Kopstein (1984).
care in behalf of current and former smokers. The data on attributable
risks for medical care services enabled us to estimate the direct costs
of smoking much more accurately than previous cost estimates. These
factors were applied to personal health care expenditures for these
three major diseases. Direct costs of smoking total $14.4 billion in
1980, accounting for almost one-fourth of the total expenditures for
personal health care for neoplasms and diseases of the circulatory and
respiratory systems (table 2). About $8.2 billion, or' 57 percent, are
the costs of smoking for men; $8.7 billion, or 61 percent, are for
persons under age 65 (figure 1).
Table 3 records the direct costs of smoking by type of care. Hospital
care accounts for the largest share--69 percent of the total. Professional
services and nursing home care each account for 13 percent of the
total, and 5 percent are for drugs.

SIZ
Neoptesms. dis.ases of
the circulatory end
r.spbefory systems.
$5.4
Under 66 66 years
years and over
Malet
1).1'. Rice el ul.
82.9
Under 65 66 years
years and over
Females
FIG. 1. Direct costs of smoking by age and sex, 1980 (in billions of dollars).
Morbidity Coru
Morbidity costs are the value of losses in output for people who are
ill and disabled and unable to work. We use average earnings by age
and sex and impute a value for housekeeping services for women who
are unable to keep house because of illness and disability. The attributable
risks shown in appendix table I were applied to person-years lost and'
to total morbidity costs for the three major diseases as described in
the methodology appendix. A total of 528,000 person-years are estimated
to be lost to productivity by current and former smokers, at a total
cost of $7.4 billion (table 4 and figure 2). Fifty-six percent of the
person-years lost and 72 percent of the morbidity smoking costs are
attributed to men. The distribution by age shows that 85 percent of
the person-years lost and 96 percent of the morbidity costs of smoking
are for persons under age 65, reflecting the higher attributable risks
for those under age 65, and their higher earnings.
Mortality Co.rt.r
As indicated earlier, previous studies of the economic costs of smoking
applied global proportions attributed to smoking to illness costs. For
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The Economic Co.uu of the Health Ejfect.r of Smoking, 1984
Sex
P.r.on- Morbldlty
y..r.lo.t co.tU
Penon-
y..rs toot
Age
Morbidity
cott.
FIG. 2. Morbidity costs of smoking for neoplasms and diseases
circulatory and respiratory systems, by sex and age, 1980.
515
of the
this article we refined the mortality costs by estimating the attributable
risks for .19 specific causes of death for males and females based on
weighted mortality ratios from 4 prospective studies on smoking as
described in the appendix. The attributable risks of cancer mortality
from smoking among men ranges from 81 percent for cancer of the
trachea, bronchus, and lung to 18 percent for stomach cancer; for
women the range is from 56 percent for cancer of the esophagus to
13 percent for kidney cancer (appendix table 4). Not surprisingly,
the attributable risks for emphysema and chronic bronchitis are very
high-$7 percent for males and 72 percent for females. The attributable
risks for aortic aneurysm are also high--66 percent for males and 49
percent for females.
As indicated earlier, for mortality the cost or value to society of
all deaths attributed to smoking is the product of the number of
deaths attributed to smoking and the expected values of an individual's
future earnings, with sex and age taken into account. This method
of derivation takes into consideration life expectancy for different age
and sex groups, changing patterns of earnings at successive ages,
varying labor-force participation rates, imputed values of housekeeping

D.l'. 12ice el ul.
'!'br liranontir uf Ihe lleul/h I fferl., r f,t'nnoking, 1984
517
services, and the appropriate discount rate to convert a stream of costs
or benefits into its present worth (Rice, Hodgson, and Kopstein 1985).
We used two discount rates: 4 and 6 percent. We also estimated the
person-years lost, based on the number of years remaining at the time
of death, from the 1980 life tables published by the National Center
for Health Statistics (1984).
Table 5 records the number of deaths and person-years lost to
productivity for all causes of death attributed to smoking by age and
cause of death., Mortality costs at 4 and 6 percent by age, and cause
of death are shown in table 6. (Similar data by sex are available from
the authors.) The following are highlights of our findings:
A total of 270,269 deaths in 1980 were due to smoking, resulting
in 3.9 million person-years lost;
Premature deaths from smoking cost the nation $16.8 billion in
1980;
About 69 percent of the premature deaths and person-years lost
arc attributable to smoking among men. Men account for 80
percent of the costs, reflecting the higher risks for men and their
higher earnings compared with women;
About 31 percent of the deaths attributed to smoking occur for
those aged 45 to 64; this age group accounted for almost half
of the person-years lost and 70 percent of the mortality costs
(figure 3);
More than half the premature deaths from smoking are caused
by diseases of the circulatory system. Almost two-fifths are deaths
due to malignant neoplasms. Smoking-related neoplasms, however,
represent a higher proportion of person-years lost (42 percent)
and of costs (46 percent), because smokers who die from cancer
are usually in the younger age groups;
Of the 1.5 million deaths for persons 20 years and over in 1980
due to neoplasms and diseases of the circulatory and respiratory
systems combined, 17 percent are attributed to smoking; 19
percent of the 20.9 million person-years lost and 22 percent of
total mortality costs are attributed to smoking (table 7).
dcher estimates of the number of deaths attributed to smoking are
higlici tliari otits (ltavenholt 1985). Our estimates are conservative
® 20,2, years
®
I6-61 years ~ 66.74 yars M 76 years or over
3% 7%
18%
31%
48%
70%
39i
FIG. 3. Mortality losses attributed to smoking: Distribution of deaths,
person-years lost, and costs, by age, 1980,
for several reasons: We have not taken into account the adverse effects
of passive smoking, risks of abortions, stillbirths and neonatal deaths,
or deaths under age 20 that might be associated with smoking. There
is a growing body of literature that has concluded that involuntary
exposure to tobacco smoke represents a significant public health problem
resulting in premarure deaths (Repace and Lowrey 1985; Garland et
al. 1985; , National Research Council 1986). The prospective studies
upon which the attributable risks were estimated were performed
several years ago and did not attempt to measure the adverse effects
of smoking on these additional health problems, or certain current
occupational and environmental hazards that greatly increase the risk
of death for smokers. The studies were based on old smoking habits.
For women, whose smoking habits have approached those of men
only in the past decades, the earlier epidemiologic data may well be
outdated. Women currently suffering from lung cancer, whose smoking
histories date back two or three decades, may have smoked more
intensively than women who were in the earlier prospective studies
upon whom the attributable risk estirriates were based.
I

TABLE 5
Mortality Losses: Deaths and Person-years Lost to Productivity for All Causes of Death Attributed to
Smoking by Age and Cause of
Death: United Stares, 1980
Number of deaths Person-yesrs lost (in thousands)
75
Aged Aged years
20 years 20-44 45-64 65-74 . 75 years 20 years 20-44 45-64 65-74 and
Cause of death and over years years years and over and over years years years over
To'r,u. 270,269 7,130 84,700 73,426 105,013 3.940 276 t,872 998 795
MALIGNANT NEOPLASMS 103,170 2,804 40,295 35,236 24,835 1,674 108 894 475 196
Trachea, bronchus, lung 74.705 1,787 30,195 26,462 16,261 1,215 66 665 354 129
Larynx 2,603 46 1,115 903 539 42 2 24 12 4
Lip, oral caviry, pharyn: 5,382 236 2,391 1,572 1,183 93 9 54 22 9
Esophagus 4,837 110 2,079 1.510 1,138 80 4 46 21 9
Bladder 3,612 23 613 1,146 1,830 43 1 13 15 14
Kidney 1,731 69 655 551 456 28 3 15 7 4
Pancreas 5,228 105 1,652 1,753 1,718 78 4 37 24 14
Stomach 3,142 98 805 921 1,318 47 4 19 13 11
Cervix 1.930 330 790 418 392 47 15 22 7 4
DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY '
SYSTEM 141.546 3,796 39,718 30,687 67,345 1,948 146 875 420 506
Ischemic heart disease 86,036 2,585 31,684 18.324 33,443 1,283 96 692 246 248
Cerebrovucular disease 22,637 444 2,551 4,411 15,231 262 19 61 64 118
Hypertension 5,425 151 1,119 1,326 2,829 73 6 26 19 22
Aortic aneurysm 8,612 1,140 1,522 2,957 3,993 107 6 32 39 31
Atherosclerosis 8,993 16 376 1,077 7,524 78 1 8 15 54
Cardiac arrest 9,843 460 2,466 2,592 4,325 144 19 56 36 33
DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY
SYSTEM 22.917 412 4,063 6,799 11,643 282 17 88 91 85
Emphysema, chronic bronchitis 14.098 112 2,989 5,230 5,767 184 4 64 71 44
InAuenu, pneumonia 8.819 300 1,071 1,569 5.876 98 13 24 21 40
OTHER CAUSES OF DEATH 2,636 118 624 704 1,190 37 5 14 10 9
Respiratory tuberculosis 536 35 182 150 169 8 1 4 2 1
Ulcer 2,100 83 442 554 1,021 29 3 10 8 8
tiate: Numbers may nor idd to rorals due to rounding.
I&
TINLN 305895

TABLE 6
Mortality Costs: Discounted Productivity Losses for All Causes of Death Attributed to Smoking by
Discount Rate, Age and Cause of
Death: United States, 1980 (in millions)
Discounted at 4 percent Discounted at 6 percent
Aged
ears
20 20-44 65-74 75 years Aged
20 years 20-44 65-74 75 years
Cause of death y
and over yeus 45 -64 years years and over and over years 45 -6d years years and over
mrAr.. $16,814 $3,017 $11,811 $1,565 $420 $14,836 $2,439 $10,565 $1,435 $398
MALIGNANT :VEOPLASMS 7,687 1,131 5,684 753 118 6,803 919 5,082 691 110
Trachea, bronchus, and lung 5,631 733 4,261 559 78 4,999 599 3,813 513 73
Larynx 202 20 161 19 2 180 16 144 18 2
Lip, oral cavity, pharynx 502 103 359 35 5 441 83 321 32 5
Esophagus 382 47 297 33 5 339 38 265 31 5
Bladder 113 9 74 23 7 102 7 67 21 7
Kidney 140 30 96 12 2 123 24 85 11 2
Pancreas 316 44 226 38 8 281 35 202 35 8
Stomach 172 39 106 21 6 150 31 94 20 6
Cervix 227 108 105 12 3 189 85 90 11 2
DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY
SYSTEM
8,086
1,648
5,527
656
255
7,118
1,330
4,946
601
241
Ischernic heart disease 6,117 1,133 4,475 382 127 5,400 922 4,007 351 120
Cerebrovascular disease 667 177 328 102 60 580 140 290 93 56
Hypertension 258 63 153 31 12 225 50 136 28 li
Aortic aneurysm 325 65 183 60 17 288 52 165 55 16
Atherosclerosis 96 6. 44 23 23 87 5 40 21 21
Cardiac arrest 623 203 345 58 17 536 160 308 53 16
DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY
SYSTEM
878
185
508
142
43
775
149
455
130
41
Emphysema, chronic bronchitis 534 47 352 110 26 479 38 316 101 24
Influenza, pneumonia 344 138 156 32 18 296 111 139 29 17
OTFIER CAUSES OF DEATH 163 52 91 15 5 141 42 81 14 4
Respiratory tuberculosis 50 16 30 3 1 44 13 27 3 1
Ulcer 113 36 61 12 4 98 29 54 11 4
vote: Numbers may not add to totals 3ue to rounding
TIMN 305896

TABLE 7
Mortality Losses: Deaths, Person-years Lost to Productivity, and Mortality Costs for Neoplasms" and
Diseases of the Circulatory and
Respiratory Systems, and Amount Attributed to Smoking by Sex and Age: United States, 1980
Mortality costs (in millions)
Deaths' Person-years (in thousands) Discounted at 4 percent Discounted at 6 percent
Age
Both sexes
Males
Females Both
srxes
Males
Females Both
sexes
Males
Females Both
sexes
Males
Females
TOTAL
Aged
20 years
and over
1,535,184
806,485
728,699
20,918
10,700
10,218
$75,069
$48,738
$26,331
$65,470
$42,724
$22,746
20-64 years 376,464 235,062 141,402 9,449 5,387 4,062 63,017 43,064 19,953 54,367 37,466 16,901
65 years
and over
1,158,720
571,423
587,297
11,469
5,313
6,156
12,052
5,674
6,378
11,103
5,258
5,845
AMOUNT ATTRIBUTED TO SMOKING
Aged
20 years
and over
267,633
185,832
81,801
3,904
2,697
1,206
16,651
13,369
3,282
14,696
11,844
2,851
20-64 years 91,088 71,364 19,724 2,130 1,581 550 14,683 12,097 2,587 12,881 10,666 2,215
65 years
and over
176,545
114,468
62,077
1,773
1,117
656
1,967
1,272
694
1,814
1,179
635
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL ATTRIBUTED TO SMOKING
Aged
20 years
and over
17.4%
23.0%
11.2%
18.7%
25.2%
11.8%
22.2%
27.4%
12.5%
22.4%
27.7%
12.5%
20-64 years 24.2 30.4 13.9 22.5 29.3 13.5 23.3 28.1 13.0 23.7 28.5 13.1
65 years -
and over 15.2 20.0 10.6 15.5 21.0 10.7 16.3 22.4 10.9 - 16.3 22.4 10.9
Sose: Numbers and percentages may not add to totals due co rounding.
Excludes deaths for which age is not available.
TIMN 305897

524
1).P. Knr er a!.
Total Economic Costs of the FI ealth Effects of Smoking
The total economic costs of smoking amount to $38.6 billion in
1980. Direct costs account for 37 percent, morbidity costs for 19
percent and mortality costs 44 percent (table 8). Not surprisingly,
the economic costs of smoking for men are considerably higher than
for women-$27 billion and $11.6 billion, respectively. For men
mortality costs are highest-50 percent of the total; for women, direct
costs are highest---53 percent of the total economic costs.
Smoking clearly has severe consequences for the nation, amounting
to 8.5 percent of the total economic costs of all illnesses in 1980.
Direct costs of smoking account for 6.8 percent of the total direct
costs, and indirect costs represent almost 10 percent of the total
indirect costs for all illnesses. It is evident that people who smoke
die earlier, and their productivity losses are very high.
We updated our figures to 1984 and the costs are even more
staggering-S53-7 billion in 1984 (figure 4). To obtain 1984 values,
direct costs were adjusted by the percentage change in total personal
health care expenditures as reported by the Health Care Financing
Administration. Indirect costs were adjusted by the percentage change
in average weekly earnings as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Direct costs represent a larger share of the total-43 percent compared
with 37 percent in 1980 because medical care costs have been rising
faster than earnings that are the basis for estimating indirect costs.
Again, mortality costs are relatively higher for males and direct costs
are highest for females.
Comparison with Other Cost-of-smoking Studies
The studies by Luce and Schweitzer (1978) and the Office of Technology
Assessment (1985).(OTA) also estimate medical care expenditures and
the value of lost productivity from morbidity and premature mortality
from smoking-induced disease. Their methodology is similar to that
of the study reported in this article. Each of the three studies estimated
costs of smoking by applying attributable risks to direct and indirect
costs of neoplasms and circulatory and respiratory diseases. The costs
of neoplasms and circulatory and respiratory diseases from which the
costs of smoking are derived are consistent. Luce and Schweitzer
inflated Cooper and Rice's (1976) estimates of costs in 1972 to 1976;
'/'he licononiic Coiti o/ the Flea/th F,ffects of ,Smoking, 1984 525
0 Direct costs
$53.7 Billion
All persons
Q Morbidity costs ® Mortality costs
$36.5 Billion
Males
$17.2 Billion
Fetnales
FIG. 4. Economic costs of smoking, by type of cost and sex, 1984.
OTA inflated HodKson and Kopstein (1984) and Rice, Hodgson, and
Kopstein's (1985) estimates of 1980 costs to 1985; and this article
utilized Hodgson and Kopstein (1984) and Rice, Hodgson, and Kopstein
(1985) cost estimates. The principal sources of variation among the
studies are the estimates of attributable risks.
Luce and Schweitzer used attributable risks for three major diagnostic
groups of diceases---neoplasms and circulatory and respiratory diseastsr--
from Boden's (1976) study of the economic impact of environmental
disease on health care delivery. For each major diagnostic group, the
attributable risk was applied to total direct and indirect costs for that
disease to estimate the amount due to smoking. Boden does not
indicate how these attributable risks were derived. OTA improved
upon this method by attributing costs of smoking according to the
estimated proportion of smoking-related deaths for each disease by
age and sex. By this method OTA accounted for the influence of
declining attributable risks, declining per capita indirect costs, and
increasing per capita health expenditures with increasing age. For our
estimates, we introduce an additional refinement by estimating health
care costs and indirect morbidity losses related to smoking from
differences in medical care use and time lost from productive activity
between smokers and nonsmokers observed in the National Health
Interview Survey, rather than by differences in mortality which is
characteristic of earlier studies.
I
