Korea Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, Seoul 06136, Korea.
Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, Institute for Health Promotion, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr 20;19(9):5000. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095000.
This study aimed to describe the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the Korean government's response to the pandemic on tobacco consumption and national smoking cessation services among the Korean population. We obtained tobacco sale data from the Ministry of Finance and analysed the data on smokers' visits to national smoking cessation clinics during the pandemic from a member of the National Assembly. We also conducted an online search to understand smokers' thoughts about their tobacco use during the pandemic. We found that after the emergence of COVID-19 in 2020, the sale of conventional cigarettes increased from 3063.70 to 3209.70 million packs (4.77%). The number of smokers who visited clinics sharply decreased in the first half of 2020. The six-month quit rate decreased from 38.5% in 2017 to 22.3% in early 2020. We also found that smokers increased their consumption and began to switch from conventional cigarettes to heated tobacco products. The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened tobacco control policies and programs in Korea in the last two years; however, based on our experience during this period and considering the WHO recommendation, we should sustain and reinforce tobacco control policies and national smoking cessation services today and in the future.
本研究旨在描述 COVID-19 大流行以及韩国政府对大流行的应对措施对韩国人口的烟草消费和国家戒烟服务的影响。我们从财政部获得了烟草销售数据，并从一名国会议员那里分析了大流行期间全国戒烟诊所吸烟者就诊的数据。我们还进行了在线搜索，以了解吸烟者在大流行期间对其烟草使用的想法。我们发现，2020 年 COVID-19 出现后，传统香烟的销量从 3.0637 亿包增加到 3.2097 亿包（4.77%）。2020 年上半年，前往诊所的吸烟者人数急剧下降。六个月的戒烟率从 2017 年的 38.5%下降到 2020 年初的 22.3%。我们还发现，吸烟者增加了吸烟量，并开始从传统香烟转向加热烟草产品。在过去的两年里，COVID-19 大流行威胁到了韩国的烟草控制政策和计划；然而，根据我们在此期间的经验，并考虑到世界卫生组织的建议，我们今天和未来都应该坚持和加强烟草控制政策和国家戒烟服务。
