Smoking will cost the Irish healthcare system more than €20.2 billion and result in the loss of 4.9 million years of life across the lifetime of the current smoking population, recent RSCI research found.

These findings come as Ireland approaches the deadline to reduce smoking prevalence to just 5%, with current rates stalled at 18%, according to the most recently available population data.

Using national census data, the ‘Healthy Ireland’ survey and modelling techniques that track outcomes by age, sex and smoking status, the ‘Health and Societal Burden of Tobacco Smoking in Ireland’ study assessed outcomes across four categories: daily smokers, occasional smokers, previous smokers and those who have never smoked, covering individuals aged 15-85.

A 20-year-old male daily smoker, for example, was projected to lose eight years of life and incur an additional €28,196 in healthcare costs compared to a non-smoking peer. Female smokers of the same age were expected to lose 6.4 years of life, with an even higher projected excess lifetime cost of €28,257.

Across the population, smoking is projected to result in nearly six million years lived with a smoking-related chronic disease, such as asthma, COPD, stroke, ischaemic heart disease and lung cancer. The burden of disease peaked among those aged 35-39 years, with the authors urging GPs to prioritise this age group in their smoking cessation efforts.

The study also looked at the economic drain of smoking. The authors suggested that productivity-adjusted life years (PALYs) are an increasingly useful measure for policymakers in balancing public health and economic outcomes, quantifying loss of productivity over a person’s lifetime. The study estimated the health service will lose approximately 2.5 million PALYs over the lifetime of Ireland’s current smoking population.

The authors called for stronger, time-bound policy actions, including regulation of nicotine content, availability to consumers and age restrictions.

“At a time when reductions in smoking prevalence have stalled and commitment to achieving the goal of a tobacco-free Ireland is at risk, this study highlights the substantial impact of tobacco smoking on health and productivity among the Irish population,” said Dr Gintare Valentelyte, postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Chronic Disease and Population Health Research, RCSI, and lead author of the study.

This research was funded by the HSE Tobacco Free Ireland Programme as part of a collaboration with RCSI’s School of Population Health. The research was also supported in part by a grant from Research Ireland.

The study is published in Public Health.