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. 2024 May 22:22.
doi: 10.18332/tid/187077. eCollection 2024.

Poly-tobacco use and mental health in South Korean adolescents

Min Kwon  1 , Eunjeong Nam  2 , Jinhwa Lee  3
Affiliations

Poly-tobacco use and mental health in South Korean adolescents

Min Kwon et al. Tob Induc Dis. .

Abstract

Introduction: With the advent of new tobacco products, poly-tobacco use among adolescents is increasing. Smoking among adolescents negatively impacts both their physical and mental health. This study aimed to determine poly-tobacco use among adolescents in South Korea and to identify the mental health problems caused by single-, dual-, and poly-tobacco use.

Methods: Data from 54948 adolescents in the 2020 Korea Youth Behavior Web-based Survey were included. Mental health variables of our primary outcome were loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Descriptive statistics, Rao-Scott χ2 test and complex sample multivariable logistic regression analysis were conducted to determine the association between the type of tobacco product use and mental health.

Results: Among the subjects, 95.2% were non-tobacco users, followed by single (3.0%), dual (1.1%), and poly users (0.7%). The subjects with poly-tobacco use had significantly higher rates of loneliness (33.2%, p<0.001), anxiety (22.3%, p<0.001), and depression (49.9%, p<0.001) than those who used fewer tobacco products. Subjects who used poly-tobacco products were 2.13 (95% CI: 1.61-2.83) times more likely to report loneliness, 1.52 (95% CI: 1.12-2.07) times more likely to report anxiety, and 2.18 (95% CI: 1.68-2.82) times more likely to report depression than non-tobacco users.

Conclusions: Among adolescents, poly-tobacco use is associated with symptoms of loneliness, depression, and anxiety, which are internalized mental health problems. Poly-tobacco use warrants early assessment of high-risk groups, education on the need for tobacco-use cessation, and active intervention for the psychological difficulties that these high-risk groups experience.

Keywords: adolescents; mental health; poly-tobacco use; smoking; tobacco use.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have each completed and submitted an ICMJE form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. The authors declare that they have no competing interests, financial or otherwise, related to the current work. J. Lee reports that since the initial planning of the work, this study was supported by the University of Ulsan (J. Lee belongs to the University of Ulsan).

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Adjusted odds ratios for loneliness, anxiety, and depression, according to tobacco use compared to no tobacco use
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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