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SMOKING AMONG MIDDLE-AGED MEN IN KOREA: A COSTLY PROBLEM SEOUL, KOREA Smoking among middle-aged men in Korea is becoming a costly problem, a recent study claims. Researchers at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs found that the economic burden of diseases due to smoking is about 52.8 percent in males and 9.5 percent in females of smoking-related diseases while accounted for 18.8 percent of all diseases in males and 2.3 percent among females, ages 40-69 in Korea. The estimated economic cost of diseases due to smoking in Korea in 2001 was a total of $3.92 billion; $3.72 billion for males and $.20 billion for females. Researchers estimated at 40~69 age group, the socioeconomic cost of diseases due to smoking and to compare with that of all and smoking-related diseases in Korea. "Our estimated cost include medical products and services, patient transportation and caregivers' cost and the lost workdays due to illness and lost earnings due to premature death.?added Young-Ho Jung Ph.D., Head of Health Economics Research Team at Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. The cost of malignant tumors caused by smoking was $1.86 billion and cardiovascular disease accounted for $1.55 billion. Respiratory disease accounted for the lowest costs at $.51 billion. Among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, Korea has the highest percentage of males, ages 15 and over, that are daily smokers (Korea: 69.9 percent, Australia: 21.4 percent, Canada: 20.2 percent, France: 32.0 percent, Japan: 52.0 percent, UK: 28.0 percent, US: 20.2 percent). This study and others were presented at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) 9th Annual International Meeting held from May 16-19, 2004 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia. ISPOR is a nonprofit, international organization that strives to translate pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research into practice to ensure that society allocates scarce health care resources wisely, fairly, and efficiently. For more information: www.ispor.org http://www.kihasa.re.kr Contact ISPOR @ info@ispor.org ⓒ2004 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.