Assessing medical expenditures on 4 smoking-related diseases, 1996-2001

OBJECTIVE: To examine the current-period cost of treating 4 major smoking-related diseases: lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease. METHODS: Analyses are based on the MarketScan database, a medical claims database from large employers. RESULTS: We found that total expenditures to treat ischemic heart disease were highest, followed by those to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). When median expenditures per claim and disease severity were considered, lung cancer was the most expensive condition to treat and ischemic heart disease the least expensive. Median treatment expenditures increased as the severity of disease increased. CONCLUSION: Treating smoking-related diseases is costly in the current-period and over a lifetime.