James Lightwood, PhD

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Associate Adjunct Professor.

Research program involves estimating the changes in direct healthcare costs due to changes in smoking behavior in large populations, and changes in exposure to passive smoking and health care cost and utilization attributable to adoption of smoke-free laws. Dr. Lightwood has done research in cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis of disease prevention and management programs, cost savings attributable to smoking cessation, and the economics of infectious disease control.

Analysis of California State Tobacco Control Policy

In this project, we forecast changes in California smoking behavior and health care costs due to state tobacco control policies. The goals of this project include estimating and forecasting changes in statewide California smoking behavior and health care costs. These changes are due to state tobacco control policies and changes in the state cigarette tax and funding for tobacco control education programs. The project goals also include analysis and reconciliation of different methods of estimating the effect of California tobacco control programs and the health care cost of smoking behavior.

Education:

University of Southern California, Los Angeles Ph.D. 1994 Economics

University of Southern California1, Los Angeles M.A. 1989 Economics

University of California, Los Angeles B.A. 1979 Economics

Publications:

1. Lightwood J and SA Glantz. Short run economic and health benefits of smoking cessation: myocardial infarction and stroke. Circulation 1997. 96(4): 1089-1096.

2. Fox BJ Glantz SA and Lightwood J. Tobacco litigation: issues for public health and public policy. JAMA 1997. 277(9): 751-753.

3. Lightwood J, Phibbs CS, and Glantz SA. Short run economic and health benefits of smoking cessation: low birth weight. Pediatrics 1999. 104(6): 1312-1320.

4. Lightwood J. The economics of smoking and cardiovascular disease. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases 2003 46(1): 39-78.

5. Hall, S.M., Lightwood, J. Humfleet, G.L., Bostrom, A., Reus, V.I., Munoz, R. Cost-effectiveness of bupropion, nortriptyline and psychological intervention in smoking cessation. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research 2005 Oct-Dec;32(4):381-92.

6. Lightwood J, Coxson PG, Bibbins-Domingo K, Williams LW, Goldman L. The Burden of Coronary Heart Disease Attributable to Passive Smoking in the United States. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2008. 36 (1): 13-20.

7. Lightwood J, Dinno A, Glantz SA. Effect of the California tobacco control program on personal health care expenditures. PLoS Med. 2008 Aug 26;5(8):e178.

8. Lightwood J, Glantz SA. Declines in Acute Myocardial Infarction following Smokefree Laws and Individual Risk Attributable to Secondhand Smoke. Circulation 2009 Oct 6;120(14):1373-9. Epub 2009 Sep 21

Additional recent publications of importance to the field (in chronological order)

9. Wilson L and Lightwood J. Pancreatic Cancer: total costs and utilization of health services. Journal of Surgical Oncology 1999. 71: 171-181.

10. Wilson L and Lightwood J. Polyp growth model estimates of colorectal cancer rates by year of surveillance. Journal of Medical Screening 2001. 8(4): 187-196.

11. Goldman SM and Lightwood J. Cost Optimization in the SIS model of infectious disease with treatment. Berkeley Electronic Press: Topics in Economic Analysis & Policy 2002 2(1) Article 4.

12. Spalding JR, Lightwood J, Yuen C. Cost-savings of an IV to PO acyclovir switch in a standardized HSV prophylaxis protocol on BMT unit. Value in Health 2003; 6(3): 264-265.

13. Bibbins-Domingo K, Coxson P, Pletcher MJ, Lightwood J, Goldman L. Adolescent overweight and future adult coronary heart disease. New Eng J Med. 2007 Dec 6;357(23):2371-9.

14. Lightwood J, Bibbins-Domingo K, Coxson P, Wang YC, Williams L, Goldman L. Forecasting the future economic burden of current adolescent overweight: an estimate of the Coronary Heart Disease Policy Model. American Journal of Public Health. 2009. In press

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