Health and economic burden of major cancers due to smoking in Korea.
Cigarette smoking is one of the most important public health concerns in Korea and worldwide. A number of studies have been conducted to measure the health and economic burden of smoking, but these did not reflect recent changes such as the decrease in smoking rate and the increase in the incidence of cancer. The purpose of this study was to provide up-to-date estimates of the health and economic burden of cancer caused by smoking and to compare the results with those of previous studies. Cancer-related burden was assessed with nationally representative data such as claims data from the National Health Insurance Corporation, and cause of death records from the National Statistical Office and the Korea Health Panel. We determined the smoking-attributable burden by multiplying the smoking-attributable fraction by the total burden. As a result, the burden of major cancers due to smoking was found to be substantial despite a recent sharp decrease in smoking by the Korean population. The total economic cost reaches $2,234.0 million in males and $870.0 million in females. Also, the health burden of cancers due to smoking is 2,038.9 disability adjusted life years (DALYs) per 100,000 individuals in men and 732.2 DALYs per 100,000 individuals in women. Among all cancers, cancers of the trachea, lungs and bronchus are the leading causes of health and economic burden. The huge burden caused by cancers linked to smoking makes it imperative that adequate policies to decrease the prevalence of smoking be developed, particularly considering the recent increase in smoking rate among women.
Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
In-Hwan
IH
Oh
Seok-Jun
SJ
Yoon
Tai-Young
TY
Yoon
Joong-Myung
JM
Choi
Bong-Keun
BK
Choe
Eun-Jung
EJ
Kim
Young Ae
YA
Kim
Hye-Young
HY
Seo
Yoon Hyung
YH
Park
D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000191:economics* / Q000209:etiology*; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics*