• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.59-68
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the intention of smoking cessation according to the level of cigarette price increase among adolescent smokers and to suggest a reasonable cigarette price to effectively reduce smoking prevalence. Methods: In 2007, subjects were selected from middle and high school students except twelfth graders using a complex sampling design which employs a two-stage cluster sampling method. In total, 1,001 current smokers were included in the study. To investigate the intention of smoking cessation according to the level of cigarette price increase, cumulative percentages of smoking cessation of every smoking-related subgroup were presented under the assumption that cigarette prices increased to 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 or 10,000 won. Non-parametric statistical methods were used to compare the prices at which the subjects intended to quit smoking among the subgroups. Results: More than 50 percent of current smokers intended to quit smoking under the assumption that cigarette prices were doubled to 5,000 won. However, the effect of cigarette prices on smoking cessation was less sensitive when the prices exceeded 5,000 won. In addition, the median of cigarette prices at which the subjects intended to quit smoking was 5,000 won, excluding the subjects who smoked less than a cigarette a day. Conclusion: This study suggests that 5,000 won for one pack of cigarettes is a reasonable price to effectively encourage smoking cessation, considering the price elasticity. Therefore, this finding may be helpful in establishing a new cigarette price policy for anti-smoking.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.125-137
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• 2011

Objectives: This paper estimates willingness to quit smoking(WQS) cigarette price among Korean adults and examines the factors related to WQS price. Methods: Data on 799 participants in a random dial telephone survey with questions designed based on Contingent Valuation Method were analyzed by conducting t-test, ${\chi}^2$ test, and OLS. Results: The median and the mean of the distribution of WQS prices were 3,000 won and 3,862 won, respectively. Age, household income, the amount of smoking, and the length of smoking period were related to WQS prices. Conclusions: The results show that increase in cigarette price could be an effective policy tool to make smokers quit smoking when the increase in cigarette prices is substantial enough to be over WQS prices. This implies that with its effect on low-income smokers to consider quitting smoking or reducing the amount of smoking, increase in cigarette price can be income-progressive in the long run by reducing the amount of expenditure spent on cigarette purchase.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.136-146
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• 2008

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to estimate the willingness to quit cigarette price among Korean male adults, and to examine the factors affecting the willingness to quit cigarette price. Methods : The data was collected by a random digit dial telephone survey. 702 samples were analyzed by using t-tests, ANOVA and OLS regression analysis. To estimate the willingness to quit cigarette price, smokers were asked dichotomous questions with open-ended follow-up and the starting point of the price was randomized by one of 5 bid prices elicited from a pilot study. Results : The mean of the willingness to quit cigarette price was 4,287 Won per package, which was about 2,000 Won higher than the mean of the actual price the smokers now paid. About 41% of respondents were willing to quit smoking if the price of cigarette would be increased by 3,000 Won, and if the price would be increased by 20,000 Won, all respondents were willing to quit smoking. The factors associated with the willingness to quit cigarette price were the place of residence, the amount of smoking and the degree of exposure to smoking through the mass media. Conclusions : The results showed that to get people to quit smoking, increasing the cigarette price would obviously be effective and much higher prices have a greater effect. Furthermore, to enlarge the effect of increased cigarette prices, providing more cessation programs to small towns, reducing the amount of smoking and decreasing or prohibiting advertisements of cigarettes and smoking in the mass media will be efficient.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5531-5536
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• 2015

Background: Increased pricing of cigarettes might be one of the most effective approaches for reducing the prevalence of smoking. This study aimed to investigate the effects of increasing cigarette prices through taxation by a tobacco intervention policy on the changes in smoking prevalence in Korean university students. Materials and Methods: The participants in this study were 23,047 healthy university students aged 18-29 years from a health examination in 2011-2015. We investigated the adjusted prevalence of daily and occasional smoking before and after increasing cigarette prices through taxation. Results: The prevalence of occasional smoking was significantly decreased in 2015 from 2014 in both male (from 10.7% in 2014 to 5.4%) and female (from 3.6% to 1.1%) students, but the prevalence of daily smoking did not decrease significantly. The frequency of individuals who had attempted smoking cessation during the past year was significantly higher among occasional smokers in male students (90.2%) compared with daily smokers (64.9%). For female students, there were no differences in experience of smoking cessation, willingness for smoking cessation, or E-cigarette experience between daily and occasional smokers. Conclusions: We found that a policy of increasing cigarette prices through taxation is associated with decreases in the prevalence of occasional smokers, who have relatively lower nicotine dependence compared with individuals who smoke daily. The results of our study suggest that social support and direct intervention for smoking cessation at the community level are needed for university students alongside the pricing policy.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.83 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2020

Background: In January 2015, South Korea's government raised the cigarette tax, and the retail price of cigarettes abruptly increased by 80% compared to the previous year. This research aimed to determine the effect of this increase on smoking cessation among South Korean smokers. Methods: We analyzed data collected by the 2013-2015 South Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 15,203 South Koreans over 19 years old using regression analysis. We examined the recent non-smoking period of nonsmoking people, prepared according to the survey, and analyzed the recent smoking cessation ratio. Results: Among smokers, from 2013 to 2014, the smoking cessation rate was 7.2%, and it increased to 9.9% in 2015 after the increase in the cigarette tax. In 2015, the recent smoking cessation rate was higher among people over the age of 60 (odds ratio [OR], 2.67) compared to those between the ages of 40 and 49. The recent smoking cessation rate was higher among people with below elementary education (OR, 2.28) and above university education (OR, 1.94) compared to high school, higher for those with apartments (OR, 1.74) compared to general type residences, and higher among those with a household income in the low-middle quartile (Q2) (OR, 2.32) compared to the highest quartile (Q4). Conclusion: This innovative policy including increase in cigarette prices affected smoking cessation, and its impact varied by sub-group of smokers in South Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.371-380
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• 2007

Objectives: To determine the impact of cigarette prices on the decision to initiate and quit smoking by taking into account the interdependence of smoking and other behavioral risk factors. Methods: The study population consisted of 3,000 male Koreans aged ${\ge}20$. A survey by telephone interview was undertaken to collect information on cigarette price, smoking and other behavioral risk factors. A two-part model was used to examine separately the effect of price on the decision to be a smoker, and on the amount of cigarettes smoked. Results: The overall price elasticity of cigarettes was estimated at -0.66, with a price elasticity of -0.02 for smoking participation and -0.64 for the amount of cigarettes consumed by smokers. The inclusion of other behavioral risk factors reduced the estimated price elasticity for smoking participation substantially, but had no effect on the conditional price elasticity for the quantity of cigarettes smoked. Conclusions: From the public health and financial perspectives, an increase in cigarette price would significantly reduce smoking prevalence as well as cigarette consumption by smokers in Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.129-135
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• 2014

Tobacco use is the most important preventable risk factor for premature death. The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first international public health treaty, came into force in 2005. This paper reviews the present status of tobacco control policies in Korea according to the WHO FCTC recommendations. In Korea, cigarette use is high among adult males (48.2% in 2010), and cigarette prices are the lowest among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries with no tax increases since 2004. Smoke-free policies have shown incremental progress since 1995, but smoking is still permitted in many indoor public places. More than 30% of non-smoking adults and adolescents are exposed to second-hand smoke. Public education on the harmful effects of tobacco is currently insufficient and the current policies have not been adequately evaluated. There is no comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion, or sponsorship in Korea. Cigarette packages have text health warnings on only 30% of the main packaging area, and misleading terms such as "mild" and "light" are permitted. There are nationwide smoking cessation clinics and a Quitline service, but cessation services are not covered by public insurance schemes and there are no national treatment guidelines. The sale of tobacco to minors is prohibited by law, but is poorly enforced. The socioeconomic inequality of smoking prevalence has widened, although the government considers inequality reduction to be a national goal. The tobacco control policies in Korea have faltered recently and priority should be given to the development of comprehensive tobacco control policies.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the raise of cigarette prices by KRW 2,000 at the beginning of 2015 on the change in smoking behavior among male office workers, and to analyze the correlation of various factors including their work behaviors and socio-economic factors with their smoking rate. Methods: In this research, a follow-up observation panel was constituted with 420 smokers as targets from among male office workers at a bank located in Daegu, South Korea. A cross-analysis and ANOVA analysis were carried out in order to examine whether changes in smoking status, amount of smoking, stop-smoking motivation, and reasons for smoking cessation failure after the passage of time since the cigarette price hike were statistically significant. The level of statistical significance was P < 0.05. Results: After the cigarette price hike, among the 420 smokers who were the target of the panel the rate of smoking cessation declined at the time-point of the survey to 15.5%, 12.4%, 8.5%, and 5.7% after one month, three months, six months, and 12 months, respectively. As a result of a follow-up observation of 65 smokers who stopped smoking immediately after the price hike, the actual non-smoking rate declined to 15.5%, 8.3%, 4.4%, and 3.1% after one month, three months, six months, and 12 months, respectively. One (1) year after the cigarette price hike, the non-smoking rate among the 420 smokers reached as low as 3.1% (13 persons). The most important reason for the failure of the attempts to quit smoking was stress for more than 60% of the smokers who attempted to stop. Conclusions: It seems that a powerful anti-smoking policy by the state targeting the nation's workers is necessary. For companies, mediation for workers' job stress can become a strategy for the success of non-smoking attempts. The government seems to require a practical policy to reduce the smoking rate by actively carrying out social, economic, and scientific research to come up with a reduction method for the cigarette hazard, an effective price hike policy, and other non-price policies.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.1047-1059
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• 2015

This study will predict risk factors associated with cigarettes in Korea by analyzing the social big data collected from the internet such as blogs, cafes, and SNSes in Korea, using data mining techniques. The key analysis results are as follows. First, when "raising cigarette price"is mentioned online, the negative group (i.e., the proportion of people holding negative views about smoking) increased from 58.6% to 74.8%, and when "lung cancer" is mentioned, it increased to 73.1%. Second, with regard to cigarettes in general, the positive group (i.e., the proportion of people holding positive views about smoking) decreased by 5.6% after the raising of cigarette prices, while the negative group increased by 6.1%. Third, when policies related to "FCTC, raising cigarette price, non-smoking laws, smoking regulations, non-smoking ads, and nonsmoking business" are more frequently mentioned online, the positive group tended to decrease. Finally, when "non-smoking drugs, non-smoking patches, and non-smoking gums" are more frequently mentioned online, the positive group tended to decrease. However, when "electronic cigarettes and supplements" are more frequently mentioned online, the positive group increased.