A Cross-Sectional Study on Smoking and Tuberculosis Prevalence in Korea / 한국역학회지

ABSTRACT

In Korea, National Tuberculosis Prevalence surveys have been regularly carried out in every 5 years since 1965 and the 7th one was done on March 27-June 10, 1995. In this 7th survey, three variables related to smoking(smoking experience, number of cigarettes the smokers consume a day, and the age they started smoking) were included in the survey form. This study is a result of an analysis of data on smoking and tuberculosis prevalence for males aged 20 and over to see how the smoking is associated with tuberculosis prevalence of the Korean adult males. It was found that the smoking prevalence of Korean adult males aged 20 and over was 60.8% and the tuberculosis prevalence of Korean adult males was 2.2%. In univariate analysis, tuberculosis prevalence was higher among current and ex-smokers(2.4%) than non-smokers(2.0%), eventhough the difference was not statistically significant. However, in multivariate stratification analysis controlling for age and living place, smoking variables were significantly or marginally associated with tuberculosis prevalence in some strata.