[Health care costs attributable to tobacco consumption on a national level in the Mexican Social Security Institute].

Objective: To estimate the cost of medical care for the major diseases attributable to tobacco consumption at the IMSS.

Material And Methods: A cost of illness (COI) analysis was carried out from the perspective of the health provider. A random sample of clinical files (n= 1,596) was reviewed to estimate the human resources and medical supplies's utilization according to the health care facilities. The smoking attributable fraction (SAF) by disease was used to derive costs attributable to tobacco consumption. The unitary cost was valuated in 2004 Mexican pesos (MP).

Results: The estimated annual total cost of medical care was 7114 million MP for acute myocardial infarction (AMI); 3424 million MP for Cerebrovascular Disease, 1469 million MP for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 102 million MP for lung cancer (LC). The annual total cost of medical care for IMSS was 12100 million MP. The total annual cost of medical care attributable to tobacco consumption corresponds to 7100 million MP, which is equivalent to 4.3% of the annual expenditures of the IMSS during 2004.

Conclusions: These results confirm the high medical costs associated with smoking. This information would be used to reinforce the tobacco control preventive actions at IMSS and support decision-makers in strengthening public policies to control tobacco use in Mexico.