According to a study published in Annals of Family Medicine, a single annual session of tobacco counseling could prevent more than 110,000 deaths annually by reducing the average frequency of smoking cigarettes.
The researchers reported that if counseling against initiation were provided to all youth, prevalence would peak at 15.5%. Youth counseling would increase QALYs by 756,601 over the lifetime of the cohort and avoid 42,686 smoking-attributable fatalities.
If cessation counseling were provided to all adults, prevalence would peak at 16.8%. Adult counseling would increase quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) by 1,044,392 over the lifetime of the cohort and avoid 69,901 smoking-attributable fatalities.
Youth counseling would result in net savings of $225 per youth and $580 per adult over their respective lifetimes.
