• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.15-26
• /
• 2013

Objectives: To present the bases for health education on electronic cigarettes, we analyze the present state of electronic cigarettes. Methods: We applied descriptive study, reviewing the literature from domestic and foreign electronic databases such as National Discovery for Science Leaders and PubMed. Results: Electronic cigarette has been the subject of much controversy but very little study. I reviewed and summed up the definitions, device safety, health risk, smoking cessation effects, addiction, second hand smoke, and regulations of electronic cigarettes. Conclusion: Finally,I presented the evidence-based contents and desirable direction for health education about electronic cigarettes. The results suggested that the health educators focus on the potential addiction to electronic cigarettes, instead of the cessation effects.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.7
• /
• pp.3029-3034
• /
• 2015

Background: While the perinatal outcomes of active maternal smoking are well documented, results of the effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure during pregnancy are inconsistent. We aimed to examine the effect of ETS exposure, assessed by maternal hair nicotine levels at $35^{th}$ week of gestation, on birth weight and the risk of small for gestational age (SGA) and low birth weight (LBW). Materials and Methods: A total of 871 non-smoking healthy pregnant women were recruited by one Korean hospital between 1 October 2006 and 31 July 2007. Hair samples were collected and anthropometric questionnaires administered at $35^{th}$ week of gestation. The primary outcome was birth weight and secondary outcomes were the risk of babies being SGA and LBW. Results: Log-transformed hair nicotine concentrations were inversely related with birth weight after adjusting for confounding variables (${\beta}=-0.077$, p=0.037). After stratifying hair nicotine levels by tertiles (T1, low [0.0-0.28 ng/mg]; T2, medium [0.29-0.62 ng/mg]; and T3, high [0.63-5.99 ng/mg]), the mean birth weight in each groups were 3,342g (T1) 3,296g (T2) and 3,290 g (T3), respectively. However the difference between groups was not statistically significant by analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) adjusting for covariates (p=0.062). In logistic regression analysis, the risk of SGA was higher in the T3 (OR=1.59, 95%CI 1.05-2.42) than in the reference group (T1), after controlling for confounding variables. The risk of low birth weight (<2,500g, LBW) was not significantly higher (OR=1.44, 95%CI 0.95-2.19), but the risk of babies being below 3,000g birth weight was increased in the T3 group (OR=1.53, 95%CI 1.00-2.36) compared with that in the T1 group. Conclusions: Maternal ETS exposure during pregnancy was inversely related with birth weight. The risk of SGA increased in the highest ETS exposure group compared with in the low exposure group. To prevent ETS exposure during pregnancy, more comprehensive tobacco control policies are needed.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.123-131
• /
• 2014

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) or second hand smoke or passive smoking has become a well-known risk factor for various health hazards in nonsmoking adults as well as active smokers. In Korea, there have been few studies concerning about the impact of ETS on periodontal health. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between exposure to passive smoking and prevalence of periodontitis using Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) in 2008 and 2009. The Fourth KNHANES data was employed from 2008~2009. The final sample size was 4,669 adults aged over 18 years, who were never-smoker and had the information about ETS both at home and in the workplace, urine analysis and periodontal examination by Community Periodontal Index (CPI). Periodontitis was defined as CPI codes ${\geq}3$. Data were analyzed using PASW Statistics 18.0. The sociodemographic and behavioral factors were adjusted as confounders. Overall, 17.1% (male 16.4%, female 83.6%) of the participants were exposed to ETS. The mean concentration of cotinine in those exposed ETS was significantly higher than that in unexposed people ($46.92{\mu}g/ml$ versus $19.34{\mu}g/ml$, p<0.001). Participants exposed to ETS were more likely to have periodontitis than those unexposed after adjusting for potential confounding variables. ETS is associated with the prevalence of periodontitis in Korean adults. This may suggest that patients with periodontitis or periodontal surgery should be protected from smokers or smoking places.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.77-95
• /
• 2005

Objectives: This study measured the extent of local legislators' support for tobacco control policies and identified the predictors of that. Methods: Local legislators, from 21 Gu in Seoul Metropolitan City, underwent a self-administrated questionaire during the 6-week period from December 1, 2004 to January 15, 2005. Multiple linear regression model was used to assess relationships between five groups of variables(political factors including political ideology, personal characteristics, tobacco experiences, tobacco knowledge, contact with local health officers) and support for tobacco control policies based on an 11-item scale. Results: The rates of support for 'penalizing merchants who sell cigarettes to minors' and 'instituting a law mandating that parents should not smoke in a car when children are present' were highest as 87.5% and 82.0% respectively, and those for 'increasing price of cigarettes' and 'regulating stores that sell cigarettes' were lowest as 52.2% and 51.7% respectively. Support was higher among local legislators who thought government had a duty to promote healthy life styles, knew second-hand smoke could cause lung cancer, knew tobacco caused more deaths than alcohol. Support among ex-smokers and nonsmokers was higher than current smokers. Conclusions: The findings indicate that local legislators who oppose tobacco control measures may not be opposed to tobacco control per se, but are more generally opposed to a government role in health promotion, Thus, Tobacco control advocates need to be more attentive to the way tobacco control issues are framed for particular legislators. Further, they could work to increase tobacco knowledge among local legislators.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.85-106
• /
• 2023

Background: The Korean government has established Health Plan and reinforced tobacco control policies step by step according to Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This study aims to investigate yearly smoking and secondhand smoking (SHS) exposure rates adjusted by demographic and socioeconomic factors. Methods: Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted about the smoking experience, current smoking, and exposure to SHS at home, at work, and in public places using data from the 6th to 8th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2015-2020). Results: Comparing 2015 with other years, smoking experience rates significantly decreased from 2015 to 2018 in men and significantly increased from 2018 to 2020 in women. Compared to 2015, current smoking rates significantly decreased only in 2020 for men and significantly increased in 2018 and 2019 for women. The rate of exposure to SHS at home significantly decreased until 2018. Rates of exposure to SHS in the workplace and public places were significant all year. Conclusion: There were a slowly decreasing trend in men and an increasing trend in women at current smoking rates. It was found that there were significant decreasing trends at exposure to SHS. There is a need to set policies that reduce current smoking rates and especially to set a customized program to lower women's smoking rates.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.40 no.6
• /
• pp.492-501
• /
• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of self-reported cigarette smoking status and investigate factors associated with the accuracy self-reported and measured urinary cotinine in Korean adults. Methods: We used data from the $1^{st}$ Korean National Environmental Health Survey (2009-2011) among adults aged ${\geq}19$ years (N=6,246). The survey examined self-reported smoking status, and urinary cotinine was regarded as the biomarker of exposure to tobacco smoke. Urinary cotinine was analyzed using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS version 20.0, which uses the sample weight and calculates variance estimates to adjust for the unequal probability of selection into the survey. Results: We calculated a cut-off point (53.3 ug/L) by using a ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curve. The smoking prevalence was 24.6% based on self-reported data and 28.2% based on urinary cotinine concentrations. When we assessed the agreement between self-reported and urinary cotinine, we found an average agreement of 97.7% among self-reported smokers and 94.5% among self-reported non-smokers. Among self-reported smokers, factors affected the discrepancy were age, household economic status and average number of cigarettes smoked per day. On the other hand, gender, former smoking experience, and exposure to SHS (second hand smoke) were associated with discrepancies among self-reported non-smokers. Conclusion: These results suggest that self-reported data on smoking status provide a valid estimate of actual smoking status. In future research, we will conduct a continuous monitoring study for reliability verification of the data to reduce potential interpretation errors.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.14
• /
• pp.5715-5719
• /
• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy of women in the world. The disease is caused by infectious and non-infectious, environmental and lifestyle factors. Tobacco smoke has been one of the most widely studied environmental factors wiith possible relevance to breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of tobacco smoking in breast cancer patients in a hospital based cohort and to establish prognostic implications if any. Materials and Methods: A retrospective audit of 100 women with pathological diagnosis of invasive breast cancer was included in this study. The verbal questionnaire elicited information on current and previous history of exposure to smoking in addition to active smoking. All analyses were adjusted for potential confounders, including stage at presentation, alcohol intake, hormonal replacement therapy, oral contraceptive intake, obesity and menopausal status. Results: The mean age at presentation of breast cancer was $51.4{\pm}10.86$ years. Mean age of presentation was $53.1{\pm}11.5$ and $45.7{\pm}11.9$ years in never smokers and passive smokers, respectively. Age at presentation varied widely in patients exposed to tobacco smoke for >10 years in childhood from $40.3{\pm}12.0$ years to $47.7{\pm}13.9$ in patients exposed for > 20years as adults. Among passive smokers, 60.9% were premenopausal and 39.1% of patients were postmenopausal. In never smokers, 71.4% were post menopausal. Expression of receptors in non-smokers vs passive smokers was comparable with no significant differences. Metastatic potential in lung parenchyma was slightlyelevated in passive smokers as compared to never smokers although statistically non-significant. Conclusions: An inverse relationship exists between the intensity and duration of smoking and the age at presentation and poor prognostic factors. The results strongly suggest efforts should be taken to prevent smoking, encourage quitting and restrict exposure to second hand smoke in India.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.275-280
• /
• 2016

Background: A tobacco-free workplace policy is identified as an effective means to reduce tobacco use and protect people from second-hand smoke; however, the number of tobacco-free policies (TFP) remains very low in workplaces in Malaysia. This study explored the factors affecting support for a tobacco-free policy on two healthcare campuses in Malaysia, prior to the implementation of TFP. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 286 non-smokers from two healthcare training centres and two nearby colleges in Malaysia from January 2015 to April 2015. A standardized questionnaire was administered via staff and student emails. The questionnaire collected information on sociodemographic characteristics, support for a tobacco-free policy and perceived respiratory and sensory symptoms due to tobacco exposure. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the independent effects of supporting a tobacco-free campus. Results: The percentage of individuals supporting completely tobacco-free facilities was 83.2% (N=238), as opposed to 16.7% (N=48) in support of partially tobacco-free facilities. Compared to the supporters of partially tobacco-free facilities, non-smokers who supported completely tobacco-free health facilities were more likely to be female, have higher education levels, to be very concerned about the effects of other people smoking on their health and to perceive a tobacco-free policy as very important. In addition, they perceived that tobacco smoke bothered them at work by causing headaches and coughs and, in the past 4 weeks, had experienced difficulty breathing. In the multivariate model, after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and other factors, only experiencing coughs and headaches increased the odds of supporting a completely tobacco-free campus, up to 2.5- and 1.9-fold, respectively. Conclusions: Coughs and headaches due to other people smoking at work enhances support for a completely tobacco-free campus among non-smokers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.7
• /
• pp.2697-2700
• /
• 2015

Background: The aim of this study was to assess cancer awareness among medical students in Saudi Arabia toward tobacco and alcohol use as risk factors. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey from October to December 2014, covering 1200 medical students, was performed. Results: Of the total, 975 (81.25%) responded. The male to female ratio was 1.00:7.125. 96/975 (9.8%) had smoked tobacco in their lifetime, and 51/975 (5.23%) were alcoholic beverage consumers. On asking them whether tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption can cause cancer, only 4/975 (0.4%) and 14/975 (1.43%) answered no for smoking and alcohol, respectively. Conclusions: The prevalence of smoking and alcohol use is very low among medical students, which might be due to high female contribution besides social stigma. The prevalence of second-hand smoke (SHS) was found to be very high in Hail region.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.43-61
• /
• 2004

The purpose of this study was to verify the usefulness of kinetic House- Tree- Person drawing as a diagnostic measure for the degree of self-differentiation, which is an essential part of college students' development. Participants for the study were four hundred thirty five(272 male and 163 female) university freshmen enrolled in 4-year colleges located in Pusan. The Participants completed a scale of self-differentiation and a Kinetic House- Tree-Person drawings test. The evaluation system for kinetic House-Tree-Person drawings was established based on the indexes of Buck(1948) and Bums(1972) and used exiting literatures as reference. The data were analyzed using means, standard deviations, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Scheffe's test. The results obtained from the study are as follows: First, the mean level of college students' self-differentiation was 2.81, which is about average. Some significant gender differences were found in the areas of self-intergration, family projection, and emotional separation. Male students scored higher on self-intergration, whereas female students score higher on family projection and emotional separation. Second. self-differentiation was higher when the student drew a house with smoke coming out of the chimney, a single-story house with flat roof, or with detailed description of curtains, roof and roof tiles. Third, self-differentiation seemed to be higher when branches and fruits were included, when there was no expression of roots, when large crowns and branch openings were presented, and when no slant lines or base lines appeared. Forth, self-differentiation showed ㅁ higher level when the portrait shows eyes, mouth and neck without omission, when it included the whole body instead of face only, and when there was no person with just a profile, a back, or with a stiff posture, and when there was no weak and thin lines. Individuality also marked higher if a person was in motion and than one person was added. Finally, self-differentiation showed significant difference according to the overall harmony of the drawing, ordering of contents, hand pressure, the kind and shape of tree, and presence of other persons. The more harmonious the picture was, and the more family members are added, the higher the level of self-differentiation was.