The burden of continuous smoking in COPD smoking patients.

COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; QALY, quality adjusted life-years; ICER, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio: additional cost (positive values) or savings (negative values) per unit of QALY gained.The average age in the initial cohorts “All Stages combined”, GOLD 1, GOLD 2, GOLD 3 and GOLD 4, was 60, 57, 60.5, 64.6 and 64.6, respectively.*Cumulative value at the horizon of a patient's remaining lifetime.†Direct costs accounted for 40% of the total costs shown in the Table.‡Sustained quitter values are reported as incremental values compared to continuous smoker. A positive number denotes an increase of sustained quitter value above continuous smoker value and a negative number a decrease of value.