The disproportionate cost of smoking for African Americans in California

W. Max, H.-Y. Sung, L.-Y. Tucker and B. Stark

American Journal of Public Health, 2010, vol. 100, issue 1, 152-158

Abstract: Objectives. We estimated the economic impact of smoking on African Americans in California in 2002, including smoking-attributable health care expenditures and productivity losses from smoking-caused mortality. Methods. We estimated econometric models of smoking-attributable ambulatory care, prescription drugs, inpatient care, and home health care using national and state survey data. We assessed smoking-attributable mortality using epidemiological models. Results. Adult smoking prevalence for African Americans was 19.3% compared with 15.4% for all Califomians. The health care cost of smoking was $626 million for the African American community. A total of 3013 African American Califomians died of smoking-attributable illness in 2002, representing a loss of over 49000 years of life and $784 million in productivity. The total cost of smoking for this community amounted to $1.4 billion, or $1.8 billion expressed in 2008 dollars. Conclusions. Although African Americans account for 6% of the California adult population, they account for over 8% of smoking-attributable expenditures and fully 13% of smoking-attributable mortality costs. Our findings confirm the need to tailor tobacco control programs to African Americans to mitigate the disproportionate burden of smoking for this community.

Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2008.149542_2

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.149542

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