Smoking took an $18.1 billion toll in California ā $487 for each resident ā and was responsible for more than one in seven deaths in the state, more than from AIDS, influenza, diabetes or many other causes, according to the first comprehensive analysis in more than a decade on the financial and health impacts of tobacco.
While the number of smokers in California declined from a decade ago, and fewer cigarettes were smoked on a daily basis, nearly four million people still smoked, including an estimated 146,000 adolescents, reported the new UC San Francisco study.
The research was conducted at the UCSF School of Nursing's Institute for Health & Aging. The project was supported by a grant from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program of the University of California's Office of the President.
The study, a snapshot of tobacco use throughout the state, was based on data from 2009, the most recent available when the study began. Similar statewide studies were conducted by the same investigators in 1999 and 1989.
"Studying the economic impact of smoking helps us to better understand how tobacco use affects the entire state and allows us to track changes that have occurred over time," said principal investigator Wendy Max, PhD, professor of health economics at the UCSF School of Nursing and director of the UCSF Institute for Health & Aging.
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