Economic Evaluation of Pharmaco- and Behavioral Therapies for Smoking Cessation: A Critical and Systematic Review of Empirical Research

28 Pages Posted: 1 Apr 2010 Last revised: 21 Feb 2012

See all articles by Christina M. Lazar

Christina M. Lazar

Yale University

Jennifer Prah Ruger

University of Pennsylvania - School of Social Policy & Practice; University of Pennsylvania - Perelman School of Medicine

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Date Written: February 20, 2012

Abstract

Economic evaluations are an important tool to improve our understanding of the costs and effects of health care services and to create sustainable health care systems. This article critically assesses empirical evidence from economic evaluations of pharmaco- and behavioral therapies for smoking cessation. A comprehensive literature review of PubMed and the British National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database was conducted. The search identified 15 articles on nicotinebased pharmacotherapies, 12 articles on nonnicotine based pharmacotherapies, no articles on selegiline, and 10 articles on brief counseling for smoking cessation treatment. Results show that both pharmaco- and behavioral therapies for smoking cessation are cost-effective or even cost-saving. The review highlights several shortcomings in methodology and a lack of standardization of current economic evaluations. Efforts to improve methodology will help make future studies more comparable and increase the evidence base so that such evaluations can be more useful to public health practitioners and policy makers.

Keywords: economic evaluation, cost-effectiveness, cost-saving,pharmacotherapy, behavioral therapy, smoking cessation

JEL Classification: I18, I1, I01

Suggested Citation

Lazar, Christina M. and Prah Ruger, Jennifer, Economic Evaluation of Pharmaco- and Behavioral Therapies for Smoking Cessation: A Critical and Systematic Review of Empirical Research (February 20, 2012). Annual Review of Public Health, Vol. 33, pp. 279-305, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1581541 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1581541

Christina M. Lazar

Yale University ( email )

493 College St
New Haven, CT CT 06520
United States

Jennifer Prah Ruger (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania - School of Social Policy & Practice ( email )

3701 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6214
United States

University of Pennsylvania - Perelman School of Medicine

423 Guardian Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

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