A Contingent Valuation Assessment of Willingness to Pay (WTP) for Tobacco Cessation
Author(s)
PANKAJ BHARDWAJ, MD1, Nitin Kumar Joshi, PhD2, Yogesh Kumar Jain, PhD2.
1School of Public Health, AIIMS JODHPUR, JODHPUR, India, 2School of Public Health, AIIMS Jodhpur, Jodhpur, India.
1School of Public Health, AIIMS JODHPUR, JODHPUR, India, 2School of Public Health, AIIMS Jodhpur, Jodhpur, India.
OBJECTIVES: Tobacco causes over 7 million annual deaths globally with 270 million users in India. Although willingness to quit amongst tobacco users high (55.4%), the actual quit rates translate to less than 20%. The economic principle of commitment and consistency states that paying a nominal fee can drive a public commitment and motivation to decrease dropout rates amongst those committed to quitting. This study uses contingent valuation assessment to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) values for an effective tobacco cessation service across individuals with different socio-demographic characteristics.
METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study with multistage cluster sampling in Rajasthan was conducted to recruit 360 active tobacco users from 8 districts. Q-Q plots for data distribution, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests for statistical differences were used, considering p-value<0.05 to be statistically significant.
RESULTS: The majority of participants were males (57.78%) aged between 26 and 35 years (40.28%), married (82.50%), and with children (65.83%), having annual income between USD 7500-10,000 (23.61%) and graduate-level education (40.56%). Exclusive smokers formed the majority of the cohort (48.06%), and 50.83% were willing to quit as well as willing to pay for cessation. Median WTP values were maximum for males (USD 54.05; p<0.05), age group 26-35 years (USD 54.05; p<0.05), post-graduates (USD 81.08; p<0.05), and annual income above USD 20,000 (USD 121.62; p<0.05). Weak positive and significant correlations were observed between WTP and annual spending on tobacco, annual spending on health, and annual income.
CONCLUSIONS: Study emphasizes importance of early-age interventions for effective tobacco cessation prior to transitioning into dependency, resulting in reduced financial parity for availing health services. These are first WTP estimates from the Southeast Asian region, tailored for different population subsets, specifically for tobacco cessation. Our findings contribute to the growing body of evidence to support innovative approaches to enhance tobacco cessation efforts through financial commitments.
METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study with multistage cluster sampling in Rajasthan was conducted to recruit 360 active tobacco users from 8 districts. Q-Q plots for data distribution, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests for statistical differences were used, considering p-value<0.05 to be statistically significant.
RESULTS: The majority of participants were males (57.78%) aged between 26 and 35 years (40.28%), married (82.50%), and with children (65.83%), having annual income between USD 7500-10,000 (23.61%) and graduate-level education (40.56%). Exclusive smokers formed the majority of the cohort (48.06%), and 50.83% were willing to quit as well as willing to pay for cessation. Median WTP values were maximum for males (USD 54.05; p<0.05), age group 26-35 years (USD 54.05; p<0.05), post-graduates (USD 81.08; p<0.05), and annual income above USD 20,000 (USD 121.62; p<0.05). Weak positive and significant correlations were observed between WTP and annual spending on tobacco, annual spending on health, and annual income.
CONCLUSIONS: Study emphasizes importance of early-age interventions for effective tobacco cessation prior to transitioning into dependency, resulting in reduced financial parity for availing health services. These are first WTP estimates from the Southeast Asian region, tailored for different population subsets, specifically for tobacco cessation. Our findings contribute to the growing body of evidence to support innovative approaches to enhance tobacco cessation efforts through financial commitments.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2025-09, ISPOR Real-World Evidence Summit 2025, Tokyo, Japan
Value in Health Regional, Volume 49S (September 2025)
Code
RWD316
Topic Subcategory
Reproducibility & Replicability
Disease
SDC: Respiratory-Related Disorders (Allergy, Asthma, Smoking, Other Respiratory)