Medical expenditures of men with hypertension and/or a smoking habit: a 10-year follow-up study of National Health Insurance in Shiga, Japan.
Hypertension and smoking are major causes of disability and death, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, where there is a high prevalence of a combination of these two risk factors. We attempted to measure the medical expenditures of a Japanese male population with hypertension and/or a smoking habit over a 10-year period of follow-up. A cohort study was conducted that investigated the medical expenditures due to a smoking habit and/or hypertension during the decade of the 1990s using existing data on physical status and medical expenditures. The participants included 1708 community-dwelling Japanese men, aged 40-69 years, who were classified into the following four categories: 'neither smoking habit nor hypertension', 'smoking habit alone', 'hypertension alone' or 'both smoking habit and hypertension.' Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure of > or =140 mm Hg, a diastolic blood pressure of > or =90 mm Hg or taking antihypertensive medications. In the study cohort, 24.9% had both a smoking habit and hypertension. During the 10-year follow-up period, participants with a smoking habit alone (18,444 Japanese yen per month), those with hypertension alone (21,252 yen per month) and those with both a smoking habit and hypertension (31,037 yen per month) had increased personal medical expenditures compared with those without a smoking habit and hypertension (17,418 yen per month). Similar differences were observed even after adjustment for other confounding factors (P<0.01). Japanese men with both a smoking habit and hypertension incurred higher medical expenditures compared with those without a smoking habit, hypertension or their combination.
Nakamura
Koshi
K
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Japan. knaka@kanazawa-med.ac.jp
Okamura
Tomonori
T
Hayakawa
Takehito
T
Kanda
Hideyuki
H
Okayama
Akira
A
Ueshima
Hirotsugu
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents