HEALTHCARE COSTS AND SMOKING

What are the costs to the healthcare system that result from smoking?

What are the costs to the healthcare system that result from smoking?

Introduction

This paper discusses the costs to the healthcare system that result from smoking. The current Western model of health relies heavily on biomedical models and typically separates the mind from the body. Health psychology recognizes the importance of anatomy and physiology in the diagnosis, understanding, and intervention of disease (Becker, 2006). However, health psychologists focus on psychological and social variables and recognize the reciprocal relationship among biological, psychological, and social influences on health and illness. A health psychologist considers the interaction of biological variables such as genetic predisposition or immune system response; psychological and behavioral variables such as perceptions of stressors, coping strategies, and lifestyle; and social variables such as interpersonal relationships, culture, and environment in theorizing about causes of wellness versus illness and for developing interventions (Bandura, 2007).

Cigarette smoking results in increased risks to many diseases including lung cancer and other cancers, emphysema, cardiovascular disease, among other health problems. Lung cancer, which was virtually unheard of in the 19th century, became the leading cause of cancer death among men and women by the end of the 20th century (Andrykowski, 2006). It is estimated that 100 million persons died from smoking-related disease worldwide in the 20th century—a number that is anticipated to increase to one billion in the 21st century unless urgent action is taken. Keys to success include helping smokers quit, preventing children from starting, and protecting nonsmokers from the dangers of secondhand smoke (Ajzen, 2006).

Achieving these goals is a complex task. There is no silver bullet, and comprehensive approaches are needed. These include altering the social norms that support tobacco use, treating dependence among tobacco users, and restraining the tobacco industry from marketing a highly addictive and lethal substance to young people (Ajzen, 2006).

Tobacco Use and Disease

Native Americans consumed a variety of tobacco products for thousands of years. However, their tobacco use was limited to ceremonial purposes to bond with deities. When Columbus's sailors returned to Spain, however, they brought tobacco with them, and it quickly became popular throughout the Old World. Dr. Jacques Nicot, the father of nicotine, was a physician who introduced tobacco use to the French Court in the treatment of migraines (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006). Use of tobacco thus switched from religious purposes to health reasons. Europeans smoked tobacco from pipes, inhaled dry snuff, and by the 18th century, smoked cigars.

The reason for tobacco use changed once again with the industrial age and the invention of the cigarette. Three new technologies made the modern cigarette possible. First was the discovery of “American” blended tobacco, which was a combination of flue-cured and burley tobacco. This blend lowered the smoke pH, allowing for deep inhalation—some-thing not possible with cigar or pipe smoking (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006). The invention of the cigarette rolling machine in 1886 allowed mass production of cigarettes for less than ...