Huge rise in admissions caused by smoking

Smoking-related hospital admissions in people over 35 have risen by more than a fifth in the past decade, show the latest figures from The Health and Social Care Information Centre.
In the year 1997/8 there were fewer than 1.2 million admissions in England for smoking-attributable diseases in this age group, but in 2007/8 there were more than 1.4 million admissions for the same diseases – a rise of 22 per cent. The figures, published in Statistics on Smoking, England, 2009, equate to more than 4000 admissions per day. They exclude private patients in private hospitals, but include both NHS and private patients in NHS hospitals.
Circulatory diseases were responsible for the greatest overall number of smoking-related admissions, at almost 687,000; cancers came second, at almost 323,000. In men, 35 per cent of admissions for kidney cancer were estimated to be caused by smoking, compared with 9 per cent in women.
Of all 8.8 million admissions in 2007/8, about 440,900 – five per cent – were for smoking-related illness. However, more than 80 per cent of all admissions for cancer of the trachea, lung, bronchus or larynx were attributable to smoking, and 86 per cent of those for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
About 83,900 people died as a result of smoking – 18 per cent of all deaths in England for adults aged 35 or over. Smoking was estimated to be responsible for 23 per cent of deaths in men over 35, and 14 per cent of women.
The total expenditure on NHS Stop Smoking services in England in 2008/9 excluding drug treatments was almost £74 million – £219 per quitter – an increase of 26 per cent since 2007/8. The net ingredient cost of all stop-smoking prescription items – nicotine replacement therapy, varenicline (Champix) and bupropion (Zyban) – fell slightly from £61.5 million in 2007/8 to £57.5 million in 2008/9 but was a large increase on the £15.5 million these items cost in 2000/1.