JAMA: Smokers suffered from approximately 14 million major medical conditions

CHICAGO — Adults in the United States suffered from approximately 14 million major medical conditions attributable to smoking, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine Monday. 

 

“The disease burden of cigarette smoking in the United States remains immense and updated estimates indicate that COPD may be substantially underreported in health survey data,” noted author Brian Rostron of the Center for Tobacco Products, U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

 

The authors used National Health Interview Survey data to estimate that 6.9 million U.S. adults had a combined 10.9 million self-reported smoking-attributable medical conditions. Then, the authors used chronic obstructive pulmonary disease prevalence estimates from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of self-reported and spirometry (a test of lung function) data to estimate that U.S. adults had had a combined 14 million smoking attributable-conditions in 2009. 

 

The largest cause of smoking-attributable illness in the United States was still COPD (emphysema) with an estimated 7.5 million cases attributable to smoking, but this number is 70% higher than the estimated cases based on self-reported prevalence data.

 

“The data from Rostron et al should serve to keep tobacco control and its 2-fold aims of preventing initiation and helping smokers quit as the most important clinical and public health priorities for the foreseeable future,” said Steven Schroeder of the University of California, San Francisco. “Tobacco control has been called one of the most important health triumphs of the past 50 years. Yet, although we have come a long way, there is still much more to be done, with the number of smokers worldwide now just short of 1 billion people. The article by Rostron et al is a stark reminder of that unfinished work.”