Economic burden of smoking crossed Rs190b in 2018

Islamabad : Pakistan endured an economic burden to the tune of Rs192 billion ($13 billion) on account of smoking related illnesses during 2018, states a recent study published as preprint on Medrix—a webpage for scientific articles.

Titled ‘Estimates of economic burden due to smoking attributed illnesses,’ the study provides an opportunity to assess the overall impact of smoking on the economy and generate evidence for public health policy interventions for tobacco control. The study was conducted from 2017 to 2018, with the analysis having been completed in 2020.

The study estimates out-of-pocket expenditures on tobacco attributed illnesses and smoking attributable burden in Pakistan, using a prevalence-based disease-specific cost approach by including three major tobacco attributed illnesses namely, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and coronary artery diseases.

According to the study, smoking-attributable expenditure on cardiovascular disease was Rs123 billion ($0.9 billion), which was 69% of the total economic cost of tobacco attributed illnesses in Pakistan. The economic cost in males was nearly three times higher than females.

The analysis included out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures including direct and indirect costs which were estimated by interviewing patients of selected illnesses.

Dr. Muhammad Arif Nadeem Saqib from the Pakistan Health Research Council is the lead author of the study. One of the co-authors of the study Dr. Ziauddin Islam, who is a health economist and technical head of the Tobacco Control Cell housed within the Ministry of National Health Services said, “The study shows a significant economic burden due to tobacco attributed illnesses in Pakistan, which can be prevented by implementing tobacco control policies effectively.”