ArticlePharmacoEconomics2008
Cost-utility analysis of varenicline versus existing smoking cessation strategies using the BENESCO Simulation model: application to a population of US adult smokers.
Article in PharmacoEconomics, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Motivational support intervention to reduce smoking and increase physical activity in smokers not ready to quit: the TARS RCT.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Smoking Cessation Interventions in the United Kingdom Accounting for Major Neuropsychiatric Adverse Events.Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research · 2021Pooled it
- Model-based economic evaluations in smoking cessation and their transferability to new contexts: a systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2017Pooled it
- Medical costs and quality-adjusted life years associated with smoking: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2016Pooled it
- Economic evaluation of smoking-cessation therapies: a critical and systematic review of simulation models.PharmacoEconomics · 2012Pooled it
- Economic evaluation of pharmaco- and behavioral therapies for smoking cessation: a critical and systematic review of empirical research.Annual review of public health · 2012Pooled it
- Cost-Effectiveness of Integrating Tobacco Cessation Into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2016Trial
- Cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation treatment initiated during psychiatric hospitalization: analysis from a randomized, controlled trial.The Journal of clinical psychiatry · 2015Trial
- Cost-effectiveness of extended cessation treatment for older smokers.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2014Trial
- Cost-utility analysis of varenicline, an oral smoking-cessation drug, in Japan.PharmacoEconomics · 2009Trial
- Economic and health impact of integrating smoking cessation services into NHS cancer care pathways in England: a modelling study.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2026Article
- A gender perspective of smoking cessation's health and economic value in Jordanian women: using cost effectiveness model.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2025Article
- Cost-Effectiveness of Smoking Cessation Interventions in Patients With Ischemic Stroke and Transient Ischemic Attack.Stroke · 2023Article
- A Bibliometric Analysis of Comorbidity of COPD and Lung Cancer: Research Status and Future Directions.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2023Article
- Association Between Smoking Cessation Treatment and Healthcare Costs in a Single-Payer Public Healthcare System.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2023Article
- The Cost-Effectiveness of Nicotine Replacement Therapy Sampling in Primary Care: a Markov Cohort Simulation Model.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Article
- Cost Effectiveness of the Tips From Former Smokers® Campaign-U.S., 2012-2018.American journal of preventive medicine · 2021Article
- Initiating Pharmacologic Treatment in Tobacco-Dependent Adults. An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2020Article
- Using cost-effectiveness analysis to support policy change: varenicline and nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation in Jordan.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2020Article
- Tobacco Use Prevalence and Smoking Cessation Pharmacotherapy Prescription Patterns Among Hospitalized Patients by Medical Specialty.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOf 1 346 700 total deaths each year in the US, an estimated 440 100 are smoking related, making it the leading preventable cause of premature death in the US. Despite the health and economic benefits of smoking cessation being well documented, reimbursement coverage for smoking cessation therapies is generally limited in the US and elsewhere.
objectivesTo evaluate the cost effectiveness of varenicline, an alpha 4 beta 2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist, recently approved to aid smoking cessation.
methodsA Markov model, the Benefits of Smoking Cessation on Outcomes (BENESCO) model, was developed to simulate the lifetime direct costs and consequences of a hypothetical cohort of US adult smokers who make a one-time attempt to quit smoking. The smoking cessation strategies compared were varenicline, bupropion, nicotine replacement therapy and unaided quitting. The model used the hazard ratios from the Cancer Prevention Study (CPS)-II study for the mortality of smoking-related diseases as a proxy to calculate the relative risks of the incidence and prevalence of these diseases, following previously developed methodology. The costs (year 2005 values) and utilities for the included smoking-related diseases (lung cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease [COPD], coronary heart disease [CHD], stroke and asthma exacerbations), and the efficacies of the smoking cessation strategies, were sourced from the published literature. Costs and benefits were discounted at 3% pa. Probabilistic and univariate sensitivity analyses were conducted.
resultsVarenicline was found to dominate all other smoking cessation strategies that were investigated for both the 20-year and lifetime timeframe. Furthermore, if 25% of the current population of US smokers made a one-time attempt to quit using varenicline compared with unaided cessation, almost 144 000 smoking-related deaths and over 261 000 cases of asthma exacerbations, COPD, CHD, stroke and lung cancer could be avoided compared with an unaided smoking cessation strategy.
conclusionsVarenicline, a recently approved therapy for smoking cessation, is likely to be a cost-effective alternative compared with currently available options.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.