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KMID : 0365220180550010013
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Korean Journal of Public Health
2018 Volume.55 No. 1 p.13 ~ p.32
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Costs of environmental tobacco smoke in Korea
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Bishop Thomas
Pak Irina
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Abstract
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Objectives: To estimate the number of cases of lung cancer, cervical cancer, coronary heart disease/acute myocardial infarction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma from self-reported exposure to environment tobacco smoke (ETS) and the cost of treating these estimated cases, given responses about exposure to ETS at home and at work in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Methods : We related responses from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey about active smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), known as second hand smoke, to the risks of contracting 5 diseases associated with tobacco smoke. We estimated the number of the cases attributable to active smoking and ETS and the costs of treating them. We estimated the risks for active smokers, non-smokers currently exposed to ETS and non-smokers not currently exposed to ETS.
Results : The risks facing non-smokers not currently exposed to ETS were similar between sexes, even though smoking behavior between the sexes in Korea was very different. The most expensive disease for both male and female smokers and those exposed to ETS was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) because of the large number of cases, especially among males. The estimated total cost of treatment was about 30 billion won (about US$30 million) per year for male smokers, about 9 billion won per year for males exposed to ETS, about 5 billion won per year for females exposed to ETS and about 3 billion won per year for the relatively small number of female smokers. Coronary heart disease and asthma were the next most costly diseases in this study, for male and female smokers and for those exposed to ETS. These diseases were also widespread, although the risks of contracting them are not as high as the risk of contracting COPD for smokers and those exposed to ETS.
Conclusions : Korean men have higher self-reported exposure to ETS at work and have higher estimated treatment costs for COPD and coronary heart disease than women. In general, among the 5 diseases studied, estimated treatment costs are highest for COPD and coronary heart disease because of the large number of estimated cases among those exposed to ETS. For comparison, active smokers are also estimated to have a large number of cases of these diseases and large treatment costs.
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KEYWORD
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environmental tobacco smoke, second hand smoke, medical costs, insurance costs, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, acute myocardial infarction, asthma, lung cancer, cervical cancer
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