A Study on Factors Related to Smoking Experience by Sex: Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES IV-VII, 2007-2018)

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to identify factors related to smoking experience among Korean adults according to gender.Methods: The analysis used the data collected from 19,974 who had a smoking experience from The Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey (2007-2018). Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, Logistic regression.Results: The number of smoking experiences was 77.70% for men and 14.17% for women. Both men and women were more likely to have smoked experiences as the number of drinking, and second-hand smoke experiences in the home, increased. Owning a home, the higher the income, the higher the education, the lower the smoking experience. On the other hand, the relationship between education level and smoking experience according to gender showed a negative response-dose relationship for men and a positive-response-dose relationship for women.Conclusions: The study results showed that smoking-related factors are divided into factors in which men and women have the same tendency and those in which men and women have the opposite direction. This study revealed the distinct smoking experience-related characteristics according to gender in Korea. These characteristics suggest the need for a new approach to reduce the smoking rate by introducing differentiated smoking prevention education, smoking cessation education, and treatment projects by gender to the National Non-smoking Support Project, which was focused on smoking cessation education and treatment.