Cost-effectiveness of tobacco control policies and programmes targeting adolescents: A systematic review

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2018

Authors

Leão, T (Author) FMUP; Kunst, AE (Author) Other; Perelman, J (Author) Other

Journal

Title: European Journal of Public Health

Vol. 28 No. 4

Pages: 39-43

ISSN: 1101-1262

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 1 Citation

Scopus - 12 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00N-KPW

DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckx215

Abstract (EN): Background Consistent evidence shows the importance of preventing smoking at young ages, when health behaviours are formed, with long-term consequences on health and survival. Although tobacco control policies and programmes targeting adolescents are widely promoted, the cost-effectiveness of such interventions has not been systematically documented. We performed a systematic review on the cost-effectiveness of policies and programmes preventing tobacco consumption targeting adolescents. Methods We systematically reviewed literature on the (i) cost and effectiveness of (ii) prevention policies targeting (iii) smoking by (iv) adolescents. PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, CEA-TUFTS, Health Economic Evaluations, Wiley Online Library, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination Database, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and Google Scholar databases were used, and Google search engine was used for other grey literature review. Results We obtained 793 full-text papers and 19 grey literature documents, from which 16 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these, only one was published in the last 5 years, and 15 were performed in high-income countries. Eight analyzed the cost-effectiveness of school-based programmes, five focused on media campaigns and three on legal bans. Policies and programmes were found to be cost-effective in all studies, and both effective and cost-saving in about half of the studies. Conclusions Evidence is scarce and relatively obsolete, and rarely focused on the evaluation of legal bans. Moreover, no comparisons have been made between different interventions or across different contexts and implementation levels. However, all studies conclude that smoking prevention policies and programmes amongst adolescents are greatly worth their costs. © 2015 The Author.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Dissemination