Khang Young-Ho, Yun Sung-Cheol, Cho Hong-Jun, Jung-Choi Kyunghee
Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 388-1 Pungnap-2Dong Songpa-Gu, Seoul 138-736, Korea.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2009 Mar;11(3):262-9. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntn036. Epub 2009 Feb 27.
With enactment of the 1995 Health Promotion Act, the Korean government has developed numerous antismoking policies, including smoke-free buildings and zones, a public media campaign, and tobacco taxation. The present study examined whether governmental antismoking policy during the past decade was associated with reduced socioeconomic differentials in cigarette smoking in South Korea.
Data from 99,980 men and 105,193 women aged 25-64 years were analyzed from four rounds of Social Statistical Surveys of Korea between 1995 and 2006. Socioeconomic position (SEP) indicators were education, occupational class, employment status, and household income. Age-adjusted prevalence of smoking was calculated. Prevalence ratios and the relative index of inequality (RII) were estimated using log-binomial regression analysis.
Absolute socioeconomic differentials in age-adjusted prevalence of smoking increased between 1995 and 2006. Increases were found in both men and women. Prevalence ratios and RIIs also showed widening relative inequalities in smoking in all four SEP indicators in men. For women, increases in RIIs for education and income were statistically significant. The magnitude of change in prevalence ratios and RIIs by SEP indicators between 1999 and 2003 was statistically significant, whereas the difference between 2003 and 2006 was not.
Despite reducing overall cigarette smoking rates in males, the governmental antismoking policies of South Korea did not reduce socioeconomic inequalities in smoking in both genders. However, the recent tobacco taxation policy is likely to dampen the ever-increasing trends in smoking inequalities. More progressive antismoking policies to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in smoking are warranted in South Korea.
随着1995年《健康促进法》的颁布，韩国政府制定了众多反吸烟政策，包括无烟建筑和区域、公共媒体宣传活动以及烟草税。本研究调查了过去十年间韩国政府的反吸烟政策是否与吸烟方面社会经济差异的缩小相关。
分析了1995年至2006年间韩国四轮社会统计调查中99980名25至64岁男性和105193名女性的数据。社会经济地位（SEP）指标包括教育程度、职业阶层、就业状况和家庭收入。计算了年龄调整后的吸烟率。使用对数二项回归分析估计患病率比和不平等相对指数（RII）。
1995年至2006年间，年龄调整后的吸烟患病率的绝对社会经济差异有所增加。男性和女性均出现了这种增长。患病率比和RIIs还显示，男性在所有四个SEP指标中的吸烟相对不平等也在扩大。对于女性，教育程度和收入的RIIs增加具有统计学意义。1999年至2003年间，SEP指标的患病率比和RIIs变化幅度具有统计学意义，而2003年至2006年之间的差异则不具有统计学意义。
尽管韩国政府的反吸烟政策降低了男性总体吸烟率，但并未减少男女在吸烟方面的社会经济不平等。然而，最近的烟草税政策可能会抑制吸烟不平等不断增加的趋势。韩国有必要采取更具进步性的反吸烟政策，以减少吸烟方面的社会经济不平等。
