[Cost-benefit of medical advice for quitting smoking in the Region of Murcia].

OBJECTIVE: To perform a cost-benefit analysis of brief medical advice to quit smoking in the Region of Murcia.

DESIGN: A cost-benefit analysis is performed on brief medical advice to quit smoking versus non-intervention. A Markov model is used to estimate the costs (€ in 2014), under the perspective of the National Health System, and health outcomes. These are measured in quality-adjusted life years (QALY). The time horizon of the analysis is 20years, and costs and health outcomes were discounted at 3%. A univariate and multivariate deterministic sensitivity analysis is performed.

LOCATION: Region of Murcia.

PARTICIPANTS: Smokers in the Region of Murcia.

INTERVENTIONS: Brief advice to quit smoking.

KEY MEASURES: Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs).

RESULTS: With a time horizon of 5years (2018), the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) would be €172,400 per QALY gained; at 10years (2023) the ICER was €30,300 per QALY gained; and, for the maximum horizon considered by the model, the ICER was €7,260 per QALY gained.

CONCLUSIONS: Brief advice intervention is more efficient in the long-term than in the short-term and, depending on the Spanish cost-benefit threshold, public funding for this intervention would be recommended.