An investigation of health and economic benefit of smoking cessation programmes in Europe

Abstract: A large volume of international research show that smoking cessation interventions are both effective and cost-effective but these results should be regarded as valid only for the specific study populations involved in the studies. Cultural and other differences mean that it cannot be assumed that smokers in others countries would necessary respond in exactly same way they did in the countries of observation. We considered a range of potential achievable smoking reductions (3%, 15% and 35%) based on a study commissioned by the NICE. An epidemiological model, PREVENT was then used to estimate long term impact of smoking cessation on health benefit, in terms of reduction in disease rates and lives saved, and health services cost savings for 10 European countries. Local investigators collected data relating to several smoking related diseases. Health and economic results for different countries varied significantly for the same reduction in smoking. This suggests that it could be misleading for policy makers assuming that evidence from one country will produce similar health and economic benefits if the same level of smoking cessation achieved in another country. My talk will cover the main findings and challenges from our pan-European study, which was recently published in the BMC Public Health.