Abstract
BackgroundCigarette smoking is an established cause of preventable death and often initiated during adolescence. We estimated the short- and long-term costs of cigarette smoking among currently smoking adolescents in Nigeria.MethodsA cross-sectional survey among adolescents in Oyo state, Nigeria and a review of mortality records of patients managed for lung cancer in a tertiary facility in Ibadan, Nigeria were conducted. Short-term costs estimated were: (a) average weekly costs of purchasing cigarettes by currently smoking adolescents, and (b) costs of managing at least an episode of chronic cough occurring within 12 months of the survey. Long-term costs were limited to: (a) life-time expenditure on purchasing cigarettes, and (b) direct medical and non-medical (transportation) costs of managing lung cancer. Long-term costs were first projected to the approximate year when the adolescents (mean age:16.0 ± 1.8 years) might be diagnosed with lung cancer based on the average age at presentation with symptoms of lung cancer obtained from the records (59.8 years), and then discounted to 2020 prices. This was estimated as 44 years from the base year (2020). Costs were reported in 2020 prices in Nigerian Naira (NGN) and US dollar (USD) equivalent using the Central Bank of Nigeria, June 2020 exchange rate of USD 1: NGN 360.50.ResultsApproximately 3.8% of the adolescents were current cigarette smokers. Average weekly expenditure on cigarettes was NGN 306.82 ± 5.74 (USD 0.85 ± 0.02). About 26% had experienced at least an episode of chronic cough which cost them an average of NGN 1226.81 ± 6.18 (USD 3.40 ± 0.02) to manage. Total future costs of cigarette smoking in 2020 prices for the 43 adolescents who were current smokers in the event that they develop lung cancer were approximately NGN 175.7 million (USD 487.3 thousand), NGN 871.8 million (USD 2.4 million) and NGN 4.6 trillion (USD 12.7 million) at assumed annual inflation rates of 10%, 15%, and 20% respectively and discount rate of 4.25%.ConclusionThe estimated economic costs of smoking were very high. Efforts to prevent smoking initiation among adolescents in our study area should be intensified. Interventions to subsidize the medical cost of health-related consequences of cigarette smoking are also required, especially as treatment costs are currently largely borne out-of-pocket.
Highlights
Cigarette smoking is an established cause of preventable death and often initiated during adolescence
Whatever financial benefits are hoped to be made from cigarette sales can not be compared to the astronomical short- and long-term economic costs associated with cigarette smoking among adolescents who represent the future of a nation
It should be noted that these costs are conservative and do not take into consideration the indirect costs from inability to work or death which if included would give much higher estimates
Summary
Cigarette smoking is an established cause of preventable death and often initiated during adolescence. Long-term costs were first projected to the approximate year when the adolescents (mean age:16.0 ± 1.8 years) might be diagnosed with lung cancer based on the average age at presentation with symptoms of lung cancer obtained from the records (59.8 years), and discounted to 2020 prices This was estimated as 44 years from the base year (2020). In addition to the health implications of cigarette smoking, there are significant cost implications from managing smoking-related illnesses and loss of income from sickness, absenteeism, and premature death (Rice et al 1991; French and Martin 1996; Szucs et al 2001; Cawley and Ruhm 2011) These economic losses affect individuals, families, societies, and nations (Cawley and Ruhm 2011; WHO 2014;) and estimates of economic losses reveal the immense burden attributable to smoking
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