Economic Evaluation of Combining Pharmaco- and Behavioral Therapies for Smoking Cessation in an Occupational Medicine Setting.

OBJECTIVE:To estimate the budget impact (BI) of funding pharmaco+behavioral therapies for smoking cessation from an employer perspective. METHODS:A hybrid economic model was applied to estimate the BI, which considered up to four cessation attempts over a 3-year horizon. The model estimated the costs of funding a cessation programme, and the mean savings due to avoided loss of productivity and absenteeism because of smoking cessation. RESULTS:53.8% of smokers quit smoking. The programme, which costs &OV0556;394,468, would generate earnings of &OV0556;1,342,133; with &OV0556;644,974 in incremental net savings. These mean &OV0556;1.64 in return per each euro invested. Results show net benefits from two cigarettes smoked while working every day. CONCLUSIONS:Considering the avoided costs of loss of productivity and absenteeism, funding a smoking cessation programme of pharmaco+behavioral therapies would produce substantial savings for the employer.