Estimates of the Prevalence, Intensity and the number of Workers Exposed to Cigarette Smoking across industries and occupations in South Korea

摘要

The use of tobacco is a major cause of preventable death worldwide. It affects the incidence and prognosis of various illnesses such as lung cancer, respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. As an effort to reduce carcinogen-induced cancer, we aimed to estimate the prevalence, intensity and the number of workers exposed to smoking, which would be specific to the occupational and industrial circumstances in Korea. We used the Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS) and Korea Census data. Smoking prevalence and intensity were estimated using KWCS data. The number of smokers was estimated by multiplying smoking prevalence with the number of workers in the occupation or industry. This results were estimated for major, sub-major, and minor group of occupation and industry. Given that the total labor force in 2010 was 22,290,398 workers, 32.47% (Male: female= 6,788,502: 502,331) of the workers were estimated to be current smokers. The average smoking prevalence in male workers (52.66%) was about 10 times higher than that in female workers (5.24%). The average amount of smoking in male workers was 15.42 cigarettes/day, and that of female workers was 11.29 cigarettes/day. For occupations, in total workers, "Craft and Related Trades Workers" showed the highest smoking prevalence (52.24%). "Managers" showed the largest amount of smoking (16.63 cigarettes/day) and "Equipment, Machine Operating and Assembling Workers" showed the largest number of estimated smokers (1,368,726 workers), respectively. For industries, in total workers, "Mining and quarrying" showed the highest smoking prevalence (69.27%). "Construction" showed the largest amount of smoking (17.16 cigarettes/day) and "Manufacturing" showed the largest number of estimated smokers (1,629,893 workers), respectively. We examined high-risk groups to smoking according to occupation and industry. Our results may help setting properties for prevention-related activities and assessing the impact of changing regulations. And, it can be used for epidemiological studies controlling for the effect of smoking.