Principal Investigator(s): Wendy B. Max

Funding Mechanism: National Institutes of Health – TCORS Grant

ID number: 9-U54HL147127-06

Award Date: 8/29/18

Institution: University of California, San Francisco

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Many factors contribute to tobacco-attributable healthcare costs, including changing tobacco product use patterns, sociodemographic characteristics, health status, and socioeconomic status (SES). The goal of this project is to develop economic models that analyze the impact of new patterns of tobacco product use on healthcare costs for different populations, including vulnerable populations. Study aims are: (1) to develop microeconomic models to estimate the healthcare costs attributable to e-cigarette use; (2) to estimate healthcare costs attributable to cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use for vulnerable populations (people with low SES, rural populations, people with medical co-morbidities, and youth); (3) to develop microeconomic models to estimate the healthcare costs attributable to the most common combinations of tobacco product use (i.e., dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes; dual use of cigarettes and cigars; and poly-use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and other tobacco products); and (4) to analyze potential scenarios to determine the likely impact of regulatory changes on healthcare costs. Tobacco-attributable healthcare costs will be estimated using econometric models and an approach in which costs among product users are compared with costs among people assumed to be never tobacco users or sole cigarette smokers (depending on the relevant comparison group). The healthcare cost estimates from this project will be useful metrics for measuring the impact of tobacco use on public health, allowing a comparison of the relative magnitude of health effects of different tobacco products on specific populations.

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UCSF TCORS: Health, Behavioral and Economic Research on Tobacco Products: Related Resources

• UCSF TCORS: Integrated Health, Behavioral and Economic Research on Current and Emerging Tobacco Products
• UCSF TCORS Project 1: Impact of Different E-Cigarette Characteristics on Acute Lung Injury
• UCSF TCORS Project 2: Short-Term Cardiovascular Effects of E-Cigarettes: Influence of Device Power and E-Liquid pH and How E-Cigarettes Compare with Heat-Not-Burn Products
• UCSF TCORS Project 3: Cardiovascular Health Effects of Emerging Heat-Not-Burn Tobacco Products
• UCSF TCORS Project 4: Current and Emerging Tobacco Products in a Rural Context: Influences of Product Characteristics on Perceptions, Behaviors, and Biologic Exposures
• The original scientific abstract and other project information can be found on the NIH website.