Direct and indirect costs of smoking in Vietnam

Abstract

ObjectiveTo estimate the direct and indirect costs of active smoking in Vietnam.MethodA prevalence-based disease-specific cost of illness approach was utilised to calculate the costs related to five smoking-related diseases: lung cancer, cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischaemic heart disease and stroke. Data on healthcare came from an original survey, hospital records and official government statistics. Morbidity and mortality due to smoking combined with the average per capita income were used to calculate the indirect costs of smoking by applying the human capital approach. The smoking-attributable fraction was calculated using the adjusted relative risk values from phase II of the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study (CPS-II). Costs were classified as personal, governmental and health insurance costs.ResultsThe total economic cost of smoking in 2011 was estimated at 24 679.9 billion Vietnamese dong (VND), equivalent to US$1173.2 million or approximately 0.97% of the 2011 gross domestic product. The direct costs of inpatient and outpatient care reached 9896.2 billion VND (US$470.4 million) and 2567.2 billion VND (US$122.0 million), respectively. The government’s contribution to these costs was 4534.3 billion VND (US$215.5 million), which was equivalent to 5.76% of its 2011 healthcare budget. The indirect costs (productivity loss) due to morbidity and mortality were 2652.9 billion VND (US$126.1 million) and 9563.5 billion VND (US$454.6 million), respectively. These indirect costs represent about 49.5% of the total costs of smoking.ConclusionsTobacco consumption has large negative consequences on the Vietnamese economy.

Economic burden from smoking-related diseases in Thailand

“…In China, direct medical cost due to smoking contributed 21–25% of the total cost 21. The healthcare cost in Vietnam was much higher, about 51.5% 22. Such differences are likely to be a result of differences in healthcare costing approaches.…”

Smoking and sickness absence: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Several studies have estimated the costs of smoking at the workplace, based on empirical research of the association between smoking and work productivity (58,(74)(75)(76)(77)(78)(79). These studies all conclude that smoking places a large economic burden on society.…”

Hollywood raising awareness of smoking-related diseases: can it proactively counteract the impact of smoking in movies?—the final mission of Star Trek’s Mr Spock

“…3 When chronic airway diseases got attention in movies, scenes mostly featured people suffering from asthma, 7 a disease that is already widely known by the general audience but only partly related to smoking. Contrasting to the major worldwide health and economic impact of smoking-related diseases, 8,9 a PubMed search (performed on 28 March 2016 by JFMvB) on the keywords COPD+movies yielded a mere nine hits, of which zero were considered relevant after reading the title and the abstract. Similarly, searches on lung cancer+movies or cardiovascular disease+movies returned few relevant hits.…”