Source: www.pe.com
Author: Lora Hines

The number of smokers nationwide dropped last year, but the amount of money they rack up in health care and financial losses is on the rise, according to federal health officials. In 2007, more than 43 million people smoked, compared to an estimated 45 million smokers in 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite the decrease, average annual smoking-related costs reached nearly $100 billion between 2001 and 2004, compared to $75 billion in 1998, the agency found. Smoking’s total annual economic burden comes close to $195 billion, which includes lost productivity.

The CDC released the information as the American Cancer Society today marks its 32nd Great American Smokeout, the organization’s annual campaign to encourage people to quit smoking.

Tobacco use still is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States, according to the society. Smoking causes an estimated 438,000 people to die prematurely every year. That includes 38,000 deaths of nonsmokers because of secondhand smoke. Half of all people who keep smoking will die from smoking-related diseases, the organization says.

“Quitting smoking is the most important step smokers can take to improve their health and protect the health of nonsmoking family members,” said Janet Collins, director of the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

State Program Praised

Meanwhile, UC San Francisco researchers earlier this year concluded that the California Tobacco Control Program saved the state $86 billion in health-care costs between 1998 and 2004. The program, which originated in 1989 and is funded by tobacco product taxes, was created to reduce smoking and improve people’s health. Researchers determined that the state saved the money because the program stopped people from smoking more than 3.5 billion packs of cigarettes.

Consuela Edmond, program director at the Riverside County Department of Public Health, said smoking-cessation programs and laws regulating tobacco sales to children and secondhand smoke exposure, might be helping to reduce smoking rates.

Information collected by the California Cancer Registry shows that tobacco-related cancers continued to decline between 1988 and 2005 statewide. But 14 percent of adult Californians still smoked in 2007.

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the state, and smoking is one of the key factors for cancer and other diseases, including heart and lung disease and diabetes, according to the registry. Every year, a third of the state’s estimated 50,000 cancer deaths are smoking-related, including 10,000 attributed to lung cancer.

Dr. Steven Kim, medical oncologist at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, said most people associate smoking with lung cancer. But it also causes others, including in the head and neck, stomach, bladder and pancreas, he said.

By the time some cancers, especially lung cancer, are diagnosed, it’s too late, Kim said. Patients often don’t feel sick until the disease is in advanced stages.

“We can maybe improve survival rates,” he said. “But a cure is really unrealistic. It’s a very tough disease. It’s one of the worst diseases to have.”

Adding Up Costs

Costs associated with the disease can include doctor appointments, chemotherapy, radiation, tests and screenings and medicines, which have gotten better, but more expensive, Kim said. Some medicines can cost several thousand dollars per dose, he said, adding that a particular lung cancer drug costs $4,000 per month. Even with insurance, patients have to pay a share of the cost, Kim said.

“Cancer doesn’t just affect the patient. It affects the family,” he said. “Families could lose potentially two incomes because of caregiving needs and doctor’s appointments. A family really goes through their savings.”

Dr. Mohammad Aslam, a cardiologist at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, treats smoking-related conditions, including heart attacks and strokes, which also are costly for patients and taxpayers. The medical center is the county hospital, which treats residents regardless of income.

“The direct and indirect costs can reach into several billions of dollars,” Aslam said.

A smoker’s health immediately begins to improve after quitting, he said. But Aslam warned that smoking is so destructive that it still can take someone’s body many years to heal.

“It takes 15 years to reach the point where they have similar risk of disease as someone who has never smoked,” he said.