Mortality and economic burden of Krasnoyarsk region, Russia, caused by regular tobacco usage

BACKGROUND: This study assesses mortality and economic burden due to the regular tobacco usage among the population of the Krasnoyarsk region of the Russian Federation. This territory was chosen for the analysis because of two factors: high smoking prevalence in the Krasnoyarsk region (46% among the adult population) and premature mortality of the working-age population, which leads to a significant burden to the federal budget of the Russian Federation. DATA SOURCES: In our work, three main causes of smoking-related deaths were considered: cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and COPD. The working-age population was investigated (20–72 years old). The databases of mortality and population size of the territorial body of state statistics of the Krasnoyarsk region (data for 2013) were used as the information sources. METHODS: Joint application of population-attributable risk and disability-adjusted life years method allowed us to estimate medico-demographic and economic burden due to the tobacco-attributable premature mortality in the investigated population. RESULTS: We found that tobacco use-related economic burden is at least equal to 2% of the gross regional product of the Krasnoyarsk region in 2013. CONCLUSION: An assessment of economic tobacco use-related burden is important for determining the volume of necessary funding for development of smoking prevention programs, proper estimation of tobacco companies’ taxation, and other measures for controlling tobacco use. Smoking cessation is a priority for prevention of the tobacco-related diseases and reduction of their burden on local economy.