Am J Epidemiol 2002; 156:188.
Copyright © 2002 by the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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From the Editor
Although this column is dedicated to issues relevant to books and epidemiology, occasionally your Editor encounters an article that seems to demand the attention of Journal readers. Such an article appeared in the April 12th issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report under the title, "Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost and Economic Costs—United States, 1995–1999" (1). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) periodically reviews the impact of smoking on mortality, most recently, before the current review, in 1997 for the years 1990–1994 (2).
Here are some highlights from the recent review:
Estimated total deaths annually attributed to smoking were a little more than 440,000, of which about 264,000 (60 percent) were among males. Lung cancer, ischemic heart disease, and chronic airways obstruction accounted for about 61 percent of all smoking-related deaths.
Compared with the years 1990–1994, among males, deaths from cancer attributable to smoking and cardiovascular disease decreased slightly, while among females cancer and respiratory disease deaths increased and cardiovascular deaths decreased during the years 1995–1999. Unfortunately, the data are presented as counts rather than rates, thereby obscuring their true impact.
Annual direct medical costs for smoking-attributable mortality were estimated by CDC as $75.5 billion! For every pack of cigarettes sold in the United States, CDC estimates an expenditure of $3.45 for medical care of smoking-related mortality. An additional $82 billion were estimated for "productivity" losses.
Based on total life expectancy, the estimate for "years of potential life lost" was a little over 3.6 million.
Since cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of premature death in the United States, it behooves us, as epidemiologists, to keep abreast of the current "state of affairs" regarding its impact. This report contributes importantly to this objective.
REFERENCES
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual smoking-attributable mortality, years of potential life lost, and economic costs—United States, 1995–1999. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2002;51:300–3.[Medline]
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking-attributable mortality and years of potential life lost—United States, 1994. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1997;46:444–51.[Medline]
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