Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To calculate the contribution of tobacco consumption to mortality in Castilla y León, and its effect on premature mortality in this community. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Community. PARTICIPANTS: Population of Castilla y León. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The source of information used were the life statistics from the National Institute of Statistics for 1995. The proportion and number of deaths attributed to tobacco were calculated by working out aetiological population fractions. 9.37% of the total deaths occurring were attributed to tobacco consumption. Mortality was higher in men (7.22%) than in women (2.27%). The diagnostic categories contributing most to these figures were tracheal-bronchial-lung cancer (36.9%) and ischaemic heart disease (22%). CONCLUSIONS: The study shows the importance of tobacco dependency as a public health problem in Castilla y León, and its major contribution to premature death.