[Deaths attributable to tobacco consumption in Spain].

Spain is one of the European countries with greater prevalence of tobacco consumption among general population. In order to encourage the implementation of tobacco consumption reduction programmes, the number of deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases and chief cancer localizations attributable to tobacco consumption in Spain were calculated by epidemiologic methods. Estimates suggest that, in 1983, 39.816 tobacco related deaths occurred, which accounted for 13% of total deaths reported during that year. The four tobacco related diseases producing the greatest number of deaths were ischemic cardiopathy (10.821 deaths), bronchopulmonary cancer (8.337 deaths), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (7.473 deaths), and acute cerebrovascular accident (6.636 deaths). These results suggest that tobacco consumption is the isolated cause responsible of the greatest number of deaths in Spain, whose control must become a priority objective in our health policy.