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Biomedical subjects

K E Warner

Publications and source records attributed to K E Warner.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Cigarette advertising and magazine coverage of the hazards of smoking. A statistical analysis.

BACKGROUND: Health professionals have charged that magazines that depend on revenues from cigarette advertising are less likely to publish articles on the dangers of smoking for fear of offending cigarette manufacturers. Special concern has focused on magazines directed to women. Restricted coverage of smoking hazards could lead readers to underestimate the risks of smoking in relation to other health risks. METHODS: Using logistic-regression analysis of a sample of 99 U.S. magazines published during 25 years (1959 through 1969 and 1973 through 1986), we analyzed the probability that the magazines would publish articles on the risks of smoking in relation to whether they carried advertisements for cigarettes and in relation to the proportion of their advertising revenues derived from cigarette advertisements. We controlled for other factors that might influence coverage. RESULTS: The probability of publishing an article on the risks of smoking in a given year was 11.9 percent for magazines that did not carry cigarette advertisements, as compared with 8.3 percent for those that did publish such advertisements (adjusted odds ratio, 0.73; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.42 to 1.30). For women's magazines alone, the probabilities were 11.7 percent and 5.0 percent, respectively (adjusted odds ratio, 0.13; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.02 to 0.69). When the proportion of revenues derived from cigarette advertising was the independent variable, the probability of publishing an article on the risks of smoking in a given year was reduced by 38 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 18 percent to 55 percent) for magazines with the average proportion of total advertising revenues derived from cigarette advertising for the entire sample of magazines (6 percent) as compared with magazines with no cigarette advertising. This relation was particularly strong in the case of women's magazines. An increase of 1 percent in the share of advertising revenue derived from cigarette advertisements decreased the probability of covering the risks of smoking by three times as much as in other magazines. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides strong statistical evidence that cigarette advertising in magazines is associated with diminished coverage of the hazards of smoking. This is particularly true for magazines directed to women.

Advertising↗
PubMed1991

Tobacco industry scientific advisors: serving society or selling cigarettes?

According to industry documents, the tobacco industry has executed a "brilliantly conceived" strategy to "creat[e] doubt" in the public's mind about whether cigarette smoking is in fact a serious cause of disease. A component of this strategy has been the funding of scientific research "into the gaps in knowledge in the smoking controversy." Grant review and selection are performed by a group of independent scientists. Knowledgeable observers believe that the existence of this research funding program in general, and the Scientific Advisory Board in particular, is intended by the industry to reinforce doubts in the public mind about the severity of the hazards posed by smoking. Because the Advisory Board has never taken a public stance against the industry's position that the causal relationship between smoking and disease remains unproven, I polled these scientists to determine whether they believed that smoking is a cause of lung cancer. Despite repeated opportunities, only four of 13 board members responded, all affirmatively; two others have expressed their judgment that smoking causes lung cancer in their professional publications. Thus, over half of the Board members, and the Board as a whole, have not gone on record as rejecting the industry's "party line." It might be hoped that the American scientists would follow the lead of the members of a similar body of scientists in Australia who have taken a strong and public stand against the industry position that smoking is not an established cause of disease.

Advertising↗
PubMed1991

Legalizing drugs: lessons from (and about) economics.

Although applications of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to the problem of drug policy are few in number and relatively primitive, they illustrate both the potential and limitations of CBA to produce critical insights that might improve drug policy making. But even the ideal CBA of drug policy could never produce a definitive conclusion about the desirability of drug legalization. Another tool of economics, analysis of price elasticity of demand, holds the potential to generate understanding of the likely effects of policy changes in the monetary and psychological prices associated with policy reforms.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed1990

Licit and illicit drug policies: a typology.

To foster comparison of policy interventions across the various categories of licit and illicit drugs, we develop a typology of policies intended to address drug abuse problems. The principal dimensions of the typology are policy type and intervention channel. While the typology has important limitations, as a mechanism to organize information and stimulate thought it holds the potential to improve understanding of commonalities and distinctions among policies applying to widely discrepant drug problems, both within and across cultures. As such, it could contribute to the development of more effective approaches to grappling with a diverse set of drug policy issues.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1989

Issues in cost effectiveness in health care.

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is becoming increasingly popular as society moves toward rationalizing health costs. This review describes the applications and limitations of the technique. Conceptually simple though frequently complicated in application, CEA compares the cost of a procedure with its effectiveness, thus helping an administrator to judge whether the procedure is worth its cost. CEA also permits comparison of various interventions that result in a similar health outcome. A major benefit of CEA is that it forces decision makers to confront the tradeoffs implicit in all decisions regarding alternative approaches. Limitations of the CEA philosophy and technique also have to be understood if it is to be employed effectively; it is not an assessment of cost savings, nor is it a decision-making technique because it does not incorporate value judgments. A number of potential applications to dentistry are described.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed1989

Effects of the antismoking campaign: an update.

In the absence of the antismoking campaign, adult per capita cigarette consumption in 1987 would have been an estimated 79-89 per cent higher than the level actually experienced. The smoking prevalence of all birth cohorts of men and women born during this century is well below that which would have been expected in the absence of the campaign. As a consequence, in 1985 an estimated 56 million Americans were smokers; without the campaign, an estimated 91 million would have been smokers. As a result of campaign-induced decisions not to smoke, between 1964 and 1985 an estimated 789,200 Americans avoided or postponed smoking-related deaths and gained an average of 21 additional years of life expectancy each; collectively this represents more than 16 million person-years of additional life. The greatest health benefit lies in the future, however, as younger individuals reach the ages at which smoking claims its greatest toll, and as middle-aged former smokers realize relative reductions in smoking mortality risks as a result of long-term abstinence from smoking. For example, campaign-induced decisions not to smoke made prior to 1986 will result in the postponement or avoidance of an estimated 2.1 million smoking-related deaths between 1986 and the year 2000.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

The cigarette advertising broadcast ban and magazine coverage of smoking and health.

At the time of the cigarette broadcast advertising ban, which took effect in 1971, cigarette manufacturers rapidly shifted advertising expenditures from the broadcast media to the print media. In the last year of broadcast advertising and the first year of the ban, cigarette ad expenditures in a sample of major national magazines increased by 49 and then 131 percent in constant dollars. From an 11-year period preceding the ban to an 11-year period following it, these magazines decreased their coverage of smoking and health by 65 percent, an amount that is statistically significantly greater than decreases found in magazines that did not carry cigarette ads and in two major newspapers. This finding adds to evidence that media dependent on cigarette advertising have restricted their coverage of smoking and health. This may have significant implications for public health, as well as raising obvious concerns about the integrity of the profession of journalism.

Advertising↗
PubMed1989

Implications of a nicotine-free society.

Cigarette smoking causes more premature deaths than do all of the following together: AIDS, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, fire, automobile accidents, homicide, and suicide. A society freed of its addiction to nicotine would ultimately experience a life expectancy gain comparable to that that would be achieved by the elimination of all cancers not caused by tobacco use. In particular, each year, the 390,000 individuals who now succumb to tobacco-related deaths instead would realize a life expectancy gain of 15 years. The tobacco industry implies that the demise of tobacco consumption would wreak havoc with the economy. By contrast, some antitobacco activists suggest that the end of tobacco use would yield a multibillion dollar fiscal dividend. Each argument is fundamentally flawed. The economic impacts of a nicotine-free society would be modest and of far less consequence than the principal implication: a significantly enriched quality and quantity of life.

Cause of Death↗
PubMed1988

A cost-effectiveness analysis of exercise as a health promotion activity.

We used cost-effectiveness analysis to estimate the health and economic implications of exercise in preventing coronary heart disease (CHD). We assumed that nonexercisers have a relative risk of 2.0 for a CHD event. Two hypothetical cohorts (one with exercise and the other without exercise) of 1,000 35-year-old men were followed for 30 years to observe differences in the number of CHD events, life expectancy, and quality-adjusted life expectancy. We used jogging as an example to calculate cost, injury rates, adherence, and the value of time spent. Both direct and indirect costs associated with exercise, injury, and treating CHD were considered. We estimate that exercising regularly results in 78.1 fewer CHD events and 1,138.3 Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) gained over the 30-year study period. Under our base case assumptions, which include indirect costs such as time spent in exercise, exercise does not produce economic savings. However, the cost per QALY gained of $11,313 is favorable when compared with other preventive or therapeutic interventions for CHD. The value of time spent is a crucial factor, influencing whether exercise is a cost-saving activity. In an alternative model, where all members of the cohort exercise for one year, and then only those who like it or are neutral continue, exercise produces net economic savings as well as reducing morbidity.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Smoking by blacks and whites: socioeconomic and demographic differences.

Using data from the 1985 National Health Interview Survey for persons aged 25-64 years, we controlled simultaneously for socioeconomic status (SES), demographic factors, and race in multivariate logistic regression analyses. We found that the odds of ever smoking are not higher for Blacks compared with Whites, when the other variables are controlled. By contrast, the odds of heavy smoking for Blacks are far less than for Whites, while Blacks are significantly less likely than Whites to quit smoking regardless of SES or demographic factors. Smoking cessation and prevention programs must be planned with these behavioral, SES, and demographic differences in mind.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Economic implications of workplace health promotion programs: review of the literature.

The conventional wisdom holds that workplace health promotion (HP) programs yield financial dividends, often generating cost savings. To examine the intellectual and empirical basis for this belief, we reviewed the literature on the economics of workplace HP programs. In general, in the literature published through early 1986, the claims of HP programs' profitability are based on anecdotal evidence or analyses seriously flawed in terms of assumptions, data, or methodology. Furthermore, certain aspects of the economics of HP programs have been virtually ignored. The dearth of sound evidence on the economic merits of workplace HP should not be interpreted as a negative assessment of the potential of such programs, however. Rather, it recommends a healthy skepticism in reading the literature and development of a new research-based body of understanding.

Back Injuries↗