Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Mar:108:41-46.
doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.12.028. Epub 2017 Dec 27.

Healthcare costs attributable to secondhand smoke exposure at home for U.S. adults

Tingting Yao  1 , Hai-Yen Sung  2 , Yingning Wang  2 , James Lightwood  3 , Wendy Max  2
Affiliations

Healthcare costs attributable to secondhand smoke exposure at home for U.S. adults

Tingting Yao et al. Prev Med. 2018 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: To estimate healthcare costs attributable to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure at home among nonsmoking adults (18+) in the U.S.

Methods: We analyzed data on nonsmoking adults (N=67,735) from the 2000, 2005, and 2010 (the latest available data on SHS exposure at home) U.S. National Health Interview Surveys. This study was conducted from 2015 to 2017. We examined hospital nights, home care visits, doctor visits, and emergency room (ER) visits. For each, we analyzed the association of SHS exposure at home with healthcare utilization with a Zero-Inflated Poisson regression model controlling for socio-demographic and other risk characteristics. Excess healthcare utilization attributable to SHS exposure at home was determined and multiplied by unit costs derived from the 2014 Medical Expenditures Panel Survey to determine annual SHS-attributable healthcare costs.

Results: SHS exposure at home was positively associated with hospital nights and ER visits, but was not statistically associated with home care visits and doctor visits. Exposed adults had 1.28 times more hospital nights and 1.16 times more ER visits than non-exposed adults. Annual SHS-attributable healthcare costs totaled $4.6 billion (including $3.8 billion for hospital nights and $0.8 billion for ER visits, 2014 dollars) in 2000, $2.1 billion (including $1.8 billion for hospital nights and $0.3 billion for ER visits) in 2005, and $1.9 billion (including $1.6 billion for hospital nights and $0.4 billion for ER visits) in 2010.

Conclusions: SHS-attributable costs remain high, but have fallen over time. Tobacco control efforts are needed to further reduce SHS exposure at home and associated healthcare costs.

Keywords: Healthcare costs; Nonsmoking adults; Secondhand smoke exposure at home; U.S..

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: None.

References

    1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2014.
    1. American Cancer Society. Health risks of secondhand smoke. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/secondhand-smoke Accessed on March 10, 2017.
    1. California Air Resources Board. Proposed identification of environmental tobacco smoke as a toxic air contaminant. Sacramento (CA): California Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment; 2005.
    1. Department of Health and Human Services (US) The health consequences of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke: a report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: HHS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2006. - PubMed
    1. Max W, Sung HY, Shi Y. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among children exposed to secondhand smoke: a logistic regression analysis of secondary data. Int J Nurs Stud. 2013;50:797–806. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances