| Abstract: | By use of data on smoking induced death in Americans it has been estimated that current levels of cigarette smoking in Australia caused some 10,434 premature deaths in 1978. These deaths represented a total loss of about 156,730 person years of life, of which about 70,005 were lost before the age of 70 years. By way of comparison, in the same year, road crashes caused some 3,728 premature deaths with loss of about 152,211 person years of life in total, or about 123,062 before the age of 70 years. These results illustrate one method of setting priorities for action in preventive medicine. |
