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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Office on Smoking and Health
Tel: 1-800-CDC-INFO
(1-800-232-4636)
TTY: 1-888-232-6348
E-mail: tobaccoinfo@cdc.gov
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Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (MMWRs)
Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Economic Costs—United States, 1995–1999
April 12, 2002 / Vol. 51 / No. 14
MMWR Highlights
- Cigarette smoking continues to be a leading cause of death in the
Unites States, and imposes substantial measurable costs to society. From
1995–1999, smoking killed over 440,000 people in the United States each
year.
- Each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States costs the nation an
estimated $7.18 in medical care costs and lost productivity.
- Estimates show that smoking caused over $150 billion in annual
health-related economic losses from 1995 to 1999 including $81.9 billion
in mortality-related productivity losses (average for 1995–1999) and
$75.5 billion in excess medical expenditures in 1998.
- The economic costs of smoking are estimated to be about $3,391 per
smoker per year.
- Smoking caused an estimated 264,087 male and 178, 311 female deaths in
the United States each year from 1995 to 1999.
- Among adults, the study estimates that most deaths were from lung
cancer (124,813), ischemic heart disease (81,976) and chronic airway
obstruction (64,735).
- Excluding adult deaths from exposure to secondhand smoke, adult males
and females lost an average of 13.2 and 14.5 years of life respectively,
because they smoked.
- Smoking during pregnancy resulted in an estimated 599 male infant and
408 female infant deaths annually.
- For men, the average number of annual smoking-attributable cancer and
cardiovascular disease deaths in 1995–1999 fell while the number of
respiratory disease deaths remained stable.
- For women, the average number of annual smoking-attributable cancer
and respiratory disease deaths in 1995–1999 rose while the number of
cardiovascular deaths fell.
- Smoking–attributable neonatal expenditures were estimated at $366
million in 1996 or $704 per maternal smoker.
Page last reviewed 02/28/2007
Page last modified 02/28/2007
