Introduction:

moking is a socioeconomic and modifiable risk factor. The economic inequity of health services it leads to, implies important differences when using available economic resources in the Public Health sector.

Objective:

formulate the economic inequity coefficient attributable to smoking for the Public Health sector.

Methods:

the theoretical methods used for this research were the comparative, to draw strengths and weaknesses of estimating the economic inequity coefficient attributable to smoking, and analysis-synthesis to study and formulate the economic inequity coefficient caused by this risk factor. Bibliographic review was used as empirical method. Microsoft Excel 2007 was used to graph the inequity coefficient proposed as a variable explained by the smoking economic burden and the probability of having an active smoker.

Results:

a new formulation was obtained to estimate the economic inequity coefficient attributable to smoking in Public Health services.

Conclusions:

the suggested indicator to measure the economic inequity caused by smoking in Public Health services is consistent with the particularities of the studied risk factor. Applying the new formulation will allow to estimate more accurately, from the practical and conceptual points of view, the impact of smoking over human health and the economy. Also, it is a theoretical and practical reference for similar studies of inequity attributable to smoking or other risk factor.

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