Smoking-attributable mortality in South America: A systematic review

Dating from the 1920s and linked to the increase in mortality among smokers, tobacco has become one of the most studied health risk factors. Tobacco-use series, whether for the general population or for specific groups, are unavailable for most South American countries, something that hinders the characterisation of this risk factor.

To identify and analyse studies that estimate smoking-attributable mortality (SAM) in South America and provide an overview of the impact of smoking habit on mortality in the region.

Systematic review using PubMed, Embase, LILACS, Biblioteca Virtual en Salud, Google Scholar and Google, and including all papers published until June 2020 reporting studies in which SAM was estimated.

The search yielded 140 papers, 17 of which fulfilled the inclusion criteria. There were SAM estimates for all South American countries, with Argentina having the most. The first estimate covered 1981 and the latest, 2013. The method most used was prevalence-based. Regardless of the country and point in time covered by the estimate, the highest figures were recorded for men in all cases. The burden of attributable vs observed mortality varied among countries, reaching a figure of 20.3% in Argentina in 1986. The highest SAM burden was registered for the group of cardiovascular diseases.

SAM estimates are available for all South American countries but the respective study periods differ and the frequency of the estimates is unclear. For 4 countries, the only estimates available are drawn from reports, something that does not allow for a detailed assessment of the estimates obtained. To help with decision-making targeted at evaluating and enhancing the impact of smoking control policies, further studies are needed in order to update the impact of smoking on all countries across South America.