Estimated prevalence and trends in smoking among adolescents in South Korea, 2005-2021: a nationwide serial study

Hyoin Shin¹, Sangil Park², Hyunju Yon¹, Chae Yeon Ban¹, Stephen Turner³, Seong Ho Cho⁴, Youn Ho Shin⁵, Jung U Shin⁶, Ai Koyanagi^{7

8}, Louis Jacob^{7

9}, Lee Smith¹⁰, Chanyang Min¹¹, Young Joo Lee¹², So Young Kim¹³, Jinseok Lee¹⁴, Rosie Kwon^{11

15}, Min Ji Koo^{11

16}, Guillaume Fond^{17

18}, Laurent Boyer^{17

18}, Jong Woo Hahn¹⁹, Namwoo Kim²⁰, Sang Youl Rhee^{11

21}, Jae Il Shin²², Ho Geol Woo², Hyeowon Park¹¹, Hyeon Jin Kim¹¹, Yoonsung Lee¹, Man S Kim¹, Eléa Lefkir²³, Vlasta Hadalin²⁴, Jungwoo Choi¹, Seung Won Lee²⁵, Dong Keon Yon^{26

27}, Sunyoung Kim²⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
² Department of Neurology, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
³ Maternity and Child Health Division, NHS Grampian Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
⁴ Division of Allergy-Immunology, University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, FL, USA.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, CHA Gangnam Medical Center, CHA University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
⁶ Department of Dermatology, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University School of Medicine, Seongnam, South Korea.
⁷ Research and Development Unit, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Deu, CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain.
⁸ Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Pg. Lluis Companys, Barcelona, Spain.
⁹ Faculty of Medicine, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France.
¹⁰ Centre for Health, Performance and Wellbeing, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
¹¹ Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, 23 Kyungheedae-Ro, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea.
¹² Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
¹³ Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University School of Medicine, Seongnam, South Korea.
¹⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, South Korea.
¹⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Human Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹⁷ AP-HM, Aix-Marseille Univ., CEReSS-Health Service Research and Quality of Life Center, Marseille, France.
¹⁸ FondaMental Foundation, Creteil, France.
¹⁹ Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
²⁰ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
²¹ Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
²² Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
²³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Rennes 1, Rennes, France.
²⁴ Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
²⁵ Department of Precision Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea. lsw2920@gmail.com.
²⁶ Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, 23 Kyungheedae-Ro, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea. yonkkang@gmail.com.
²⁷ Department of Pediatrics, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, 23 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea. yonkkang@gmail.com.
²⁸ Department of Family Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, 23 Kyungheedae-Ro, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea. ggutsun@khu.ac.kr.

PMID: 36645642
PMCID: PMC9842213
DOI: 10.1007/s12519-022-00673-8

Estimated prevalence and trends in smoking among adolescents in South Korea, 2005-2021: a nationwide serial study

Hyoin Shin et al. World J Pediatr. 2023 Apr.

. 2023 Apr;19(4):366-377.

doi: 10.1007/s12519-022-00673-8. Epub 2023 Jan 16.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
² Department of Neurology, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
³ Maternity and Child Health Division, NHS Grampian Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
⁴ Division of Allergy-Immunology, University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, FL, USA.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, CHA Gangnam Medical Center, CHA University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
⁶ Department of Dermatology, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University School of Medicine, Seongnam, South Korea.
⁷ Research and Development Unit, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Deu, CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain.
⁸ Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Pg. Lluis Companys, Barcelona, Spain.
⁹ Faculty of Medicine, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France.
¹⁰ Centre for Health, Performance and Wellbeing, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
¹¹ Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, 23 Kyungheedae-Ro, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea.
¹² Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
¹³ Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University School of Medicine, Seongnam, South Korea.
¹⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, South Korea.
¹⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Human Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹⁷ AP-HM, Aix-Marseille Univ., CEReSS-Health Service Research and Quality of Life Center, Marseille, France.
¹⁸ FondaMental Foundation, Creteil, France.
¹⁹ Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
²⁰ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
²¹ Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
²² Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
²³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Rennes 1, Rennes, France.
²⁴ Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
²⁵ Department of Precision Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea. lsw2920@gmail.com.
²⁶ Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, 23 Kyungheedae-Ro, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea. yonkkang@gmail.com.
²⁷ Department of Pediatrics, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, 23 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea. yonkkang@gmail.com.
²⁸ Department of Family Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, 23 Kyungheedae-Ro, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea. ggutsun@khu.ac.kr.

PMID: 36645642
PMCID: PMC9842213
DOI: 10.1007/s12519-022-00673-8

Abstract

Background: Although smoking is classified as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 outcomes, there is a scarcity of studies on prevalence of smoking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, this study aims to analyze the trends of prevalence of smoking in adolescents over the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Methods: The present study used data from middle to high school adolescents between 2005 and 2021 who participated in the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBS). We evaluated the smoking prevalence (ever or daily) by year groups and estimated the slope in smoking prevalence before and during the pandemic.

Results: A total of 1,137,823 adolescents participated in the study [mean age, 15.04 years [95% confidence interval (CI) 15.03-15.06]; and male, 52.4% (95% CI 51.7-53.1)]. The prevalence of ever smokers was 27.7% (95% CI 27.3-28.1) between 2005 and 2008 but decreased to 9.8% (95% CI 9.3-10.3) in 2021. A consistent trend was found in daily smokers, as the estimates decreased from 5.4% (95% CI 5.2-5.6) between 2005 and 2008 to 2.3% (95% CI 2.1-2.5) in 2021. However, the downward slope in the overall prevalence of ever smokers and daily smokers became less pronounced in the COVID-19 pandemic period than in the pre-pandemic period. In the subgroup with substance use, the decreasing slope in daily smokers was significantly more pronounced during the pandemic than during the pre-pandemic period.

Conclusions: The proportion of ever smokers and daily smokers showed a less pronounced decreasing trend during the pandemic. The findings of our study provide an overall understanding of the pandemic's impact on smoking prevalence in adolescents. Supplementary file2 (MP4 64897 KB).

Keywords: Adolescent; COVID-19; Daily smokers; Ever smokers; Pandemic; Smoking.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No financial or non-financial benefits have been received or will be received from any party related directly or indirectly to the subject of the article.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
a The 17-year trend in adolescent ever smokers from 2005 to 2021; b the 17-year trend in adolescent daily smokers from 2005 to 2021

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Estimated prevalence and trends in smoking among adolescents in South Korea, 2005-2021: a nationwide serial study

Affiliations

Estimated prevalence and trends in smoking among adolescents in South Korea, 2005-2021: a nationwide serial study

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical