2024 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code Z72.0

Tobacco use

ICD-10-CM Code:
Z72.0
ICD-10 Code for:
Tobacco use
Is Billable?
Yes - Valid for Submission
Code Navigator:

Code Classification

  • Factors influencing health status and contact with health services
    (Z00–Z99)
    • Persons encountering health services in other circumstances
      (Z69-Z76)
      • Problems related to lifestyle
        (Z72)

Z72.0 is a billable diagnosis code used to specify a medical diagnosis of tobacco use. The code is valid during the current fiscal year for the submission of HIPAA-covered transactions from October 01, 2023 through September 30, 2024. The code is exempt from present on admission (POA) reporting for inpatient admissions to general acute care hospitals.

This code describes a circumstance which influences the patient's health status but not a current illness or injury. The code is unacceptable as a principal diagnosis.

Approximate Synonyms

The following clinical terms are approximate synonyms or lay terms that might be used to identify the correct diagnosis code:

  • Admitted tobacco consumption possibly untrue
  • At increased risk from fire
  • Chain smoker
  • Chews fine cut tobacco
  • Chews loose leaf tobacco
  • Chews plug tobacco
  • Chews products containing tobacco
  • Chews tobacco
  • Chews twist tobacco
  • Cigar smoker
  • Cigarette smoker
  • Cigarette smoker
  • Failed attempt to stop smoking
  • Finding relating to moist tobacco use
  • Finding relating to moist tobacco use
  • Finding relating to moist tobacco use
  • Finding relating to tobacco chewing
  • Finding relating to tobacco chewing
  • Finding relating to tobacco chewing
  • Finding relating to tobacco chewing
  • Finding relating to tobacco chewing
  • Finding relating to tobacco chewing
  • Harmful pattern of use of nicotine
  • Heavy cigarette smoker
  • Heavy cigarette smoker
  • Heavy smoker
  • Heavy tobacco smoker
  • Hookah pipe smoker
  • Keeps trying to stop smoking
  • Light cigarette smoker
  • Light tobacco smoker
  • Nicotine user
  • Nondependent abuse of tobacco
  • Not interested in stopping smoking
  • Occasional cigarette smoker
  • Occasional tobacco smoker
  • Pipe smoker
  • Ready to stop smoking
  • Rolls own cigarettes
  • Smoked before confirmation of pregnancy
  • Smokeless tobacco keratosis
  • Smoker's respiratory syndrome
  • Smokes in bed
  • Smokes tobacco daily
  • Smoking reduced
  • Smoking restarted
  • Smoking started
  • Smoking started
  • Snuff use - finding
  • Snuff user
  • Thinking about stopping smoking
  • Tobacco user
  • Trivial cigarette smoker
  • Trying to give up smoking
  • User of moist powdered tobacco
  • User of smokeless tobacco
  • Uses moist tobacco daily
  • Uses moist tobacco occasionally
  • Very heavy cigarette smoker
  • Very heavy cigarette smoker
  • Very heavy cigarette smoker

Clinical Classification

Clinical Information

  • Tobacco Use

    use of tobacco (nicotiana tabacum l) and tobacco products.
  • Tobacco Use Cessation

    ending the tobacco habits of smoking, chewing, or snuff use.
  • Tobacco Use Cessation Devices

    devices or delivery systems used to aid in ending a tobacco habit.
  • Tobacco Use Disorder

    tobacco used to the detriment of a person's health or social functioning. tobacco dependence is included.
  • Tobacco

    a plant genus of the family solanaceae. members contain nicotine and other biologically active chemicals; its dried leaves are used for smoking.
  • Cigarette Smoker

    an individual who currently, or recently, smokes cigarettes regularly.

Index to Diseases and Injuries References

The following annotation back-references for this diagnosis code are found in the injuries and diseases index. The Index to Diseases and Injuries is an alphabetical listing of medical terms, with each term mapped to one or more ICD-10-CM code(s).

Code Edits

The Medicare Code Editor (MCE) detects and reports errors in the coding of claims data. The following ICD-10-CM Code Edits are applicable to this code:

  • Unacceptable principal diagnosis - There are selected codes that describe a circumstance which influences an individual's health status but not a current illness or injury, or codes that are not specific manifestations but may be due to an underlying cause. These codes are considered unacceptable as a principal diagnosis.

Present on Admission (POA)

Z72.0 is exempt from POA reporting - The Present on Admission (POA) indicator is used for diagnosis codes included in claims involving inpatient admissions to general acute care hospitals. POA indicators must be reported to CMS on each claim to facilitate the grouping of diagnoses codes into the proper Diagnostic Related Groups (DRG). CMS publishes a listing of specific diagnosis codes that are exempt from the POA reporting requirement. Review other POA exempt codes here.

CMS POA Indicator Options and Definitions

POA IndicatorReason for CodeCMS will pay the CC/MCC DRG?
YDiagnosis was present at time of inpatient admission.YES
NDiagnosis was not present at time of inpatient admission.NO
UDocumentation insufficient to determine if the condition was present at the time of inpatient admission.NO
WClinically undetermined - unable to clinically determine whether the condition was present at the time of inpatient admission.YES
1Unreported/Not used - Exempt from POA reporting. NO

Convert Z72.0 to ICD-9-CM

  • ICD-9-CM Code: V69.8 - Oth prblms rltd lfstyle
    Approximate Flag - The approximate mapping means there is not an exact match between the ICD-10 and ICD-9 codes and the mapped code is not a precise representation of the original code.

Patient Education


Smokeless Tobacco

Many people who chew tobacco or dip snuff think it's safer than smoking. But you don't have to smoke tobacco for it to be dangerous. Chewing or dipping carries risks like:

  • Cancer of the mouth
  • Decay of exposed tooth roots
  • Pulling away of the gums from the teeth
  • White patches or red sores in the mouth that can turn to cancer

Recent research shows the dangers of smokeless tobacco may go beyond the mouth. It might also play a role in other cancers, heart disease and stroke.

Smokeless tobacco contains more nicotine than cigarettes. Nicotine is a highly addictive drug that makes it hard to stop using tobacco once you start. Having a quit date and a quitting plan can help you stop successfully.

NIH: National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research


[Learn More in MedlinePlus]

Smoking

What are the health effects of smoking?

There's no way around it; smoking is bad for your health. It harms nearly every organ of the body, some that you would not expect. Cigarette smoking causes nearly one in five deaths in the United States. It can also cause many other cancers and health problems. These include:

  • Cancers, including lung and oral cancers
  • Lung diseases, such as COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  • Damage to and thickening of blood vessels, which causes high blood pressure
  • Blood clots and stroke
  • Vision problems, such as cataracts and macular degeneration (AMD)

Women who smoke while pregnant have a greater chance of certain pregnancy problems. Their babies are also at higher risk of dying of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Smoking also causes addiction to nicotine, a stimulant drug that is in tobacco. Nicotine addiction makes it much harder for people to quit smoking.

What are the health risks of secondhand smoke?

Your smoke is also bad for other people - they breathe in your smoke secondhand and can get many of the same problems as smokers do. This includes heart disease and lung cancer. Children exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher risk of ear infections, colds, pneumonia, bronchitis, and more severe asthma. Mothers who breathe secondhand smoke while pregnant are more likely to have preterm labor and babies with low birth weight.

Are other forms of tobacco also dangerous?

Besides cigarettes, there are several other forms of tobacco. Some people smoke tobacco in cigars and water pipes (hookahs). These forms of tobacco also contain harmful chemicals and nicotine. Some cigars contain as much tobacco as an entire pack of cigarettes.

E-cigarettes often look like cigarettes, but they work differently. They are battery-operated smoking devices. Using an e-cigarette is called vaping. Not much is known about the health risks of using them. We do know they contain nicotine, the same addictive substance in tobacco cigarettes. E-cigarettes also expose non-smokers to secondhand aerosols (rather than secondhand smoke), which contain harmful chemicals.

Smokeless tobacco, such as chewing tobacco and snuff, is also bad for your health. Smokeless tobacco can cause certain cancers, including oral cancer. It also increases your risk of getting heart disease, gum disease, and oral lesions.

Why should I quit?

Remember, there is no safe level of tobacco use. Smoking even just one cigarette per day over a lifetime can cause smoking-related cancers and premature death. Quitting smoking can reduce your risk of health problems. The earlier you quit, the greater the benefit. Some immediate benefits of quitting include:

  • Lower heart rate and blood pressure
  • Less carbon monoxide in the blood (carbon monoxide reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen)
  • Better circulation
  • Less coughing and wheezing

NIH National Cancer Institute


[Learn More in MedlinePlus]

Code History

  • FY 2024 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2023 through 9/30/2024
  • FY 2023 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2022 through 9/30/2023
  • FY 2022 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2021 through 9/30/2022
  • FY 2021 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2020 through 9/30/2021
  • FY 2020 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2019 through 9/30/2020
  • FY 2019 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2018 through 9/30/2019
  • FY 2018 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2017 through 9/30/2018
  • FY 2017 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2016 through 9/30/2017
  • FY 2016 - New Code, effective from 10/1/2015 through 9/30/2016. This was the first year ICD-10-CM was implemented into the HIPAA code set.