Table 2.

Sensitivity analysis—comparing estimates of quality-adjusted life expectancy loss due to smoking from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)

Year	Sex	QALE loss to smoking				Population QALE loss
		MEPS	BRFSS	Bias	Bias (%)	MEPS	BRFSS	Bias	Bias (%)
2000	All	9.50	9.40	−0.10	−1.0	2.05	1.95	−0.10	−5.1
2001	All	9.74	9.67	−0.07	−0.7	2.09	1.97	−0.12	−5.6
2002	All	10.08	9.77	−0.31	−3.1	2.17	2.01	−0.17	−7.6
2003	All	10.24	9.95	−0.29	−2.8	2.16	2.00	−0.16	−7.5
2000	Male	9.91	9.85	−0.05	−0.6	2.39	2.26	−0.13	−5.4
2001	Male	10.11	9.98	−0.13	−1.3	2.41	2.26	−0.15	−6.0
2002	Male	10.49	10.08	−0.40	−3.9	2.53	2.33	−0.20	−8.0
2003	Male	10.79	10.27	−0.52	−4.8	2.53	2.31	−0.22	−8.6
2000	Female	9.19	8.73	−0.46	−5.0	1.76	1.62	−0.13	−7.5
2001	Female	9.42	9.20	−0.23	−2.4	1.80	1.68	−0.13	−7.1
2002	Female	9.69	9.33	−0.35	−3.7	1.86	1.70	−0.16	−8.7
2003	Female	9.63	9.55	−0.08	−0.8	1.82	1.69	−0.13	−7.2
	Mean	9.90	9.65	−0.25	−2.5	2.13	1.98	−0.15	−7.0
	RMSE	0.522				0.090
	MAD	0.451				0.076

RMSE root of mean square error; MAD mean absolute difference