Smoking cessation treatments cost-effective: study

By JULIE STEENHUYSEN, REUTERS

Last Updated: September 14, 2010 4:32pm

CHICAGO – Investing in smoking cessation treatments saves lives and it may be sound fiscal policy, U.S. researchers said Tuesday.

They said for every $1 spent on smoking cessation treatments, states will get back $1.26, amounting to a 26 % return on their investment.

The study, done by researchers at Penn State University, compared the costs of drug treatments and counseling programs aimed at helping people quit smoking with the cost of premature deaths, lost productivity and the health costs of smoking, which increases the risk of cancers and heart disease.

It was funded by a grant from Pfizer Inc, maker of the smoking cessation drug Chantix, known generically as varenicline.

“Smoking results in costs to the United States of more than $300 billion a year,” Paul Billings of the American Lung Association told reporters in a news briefing.

That includes $67.5 billion in lost workplace productivity; $117 billion from the cost of people dying prematurely; and $116 billion in direct medical expenditures.

“Sadly, smoking continues to kill 393,000 people in the United States each year,” Billings told the briefing.

Although the average cost of a pack of cigarettes nationwide is $5.61, the real cost in terms of lost lives and productivity is $18.05 per pack./.../