The Pattern of Smoking Habit in Soldiers Who Visited a Military Hospital and Effects of Anti-tobacco Smoking Campaign on It

Jang, Myung Sook; Jun, Tae Hee; Lee, Young Sun; Ko, Eun Jung

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Despite the direct and indirect harmfulness of tobacco smoking, its consumption increases after joining the army, which is a national duty in Korea. Therefore, a study was done on soldiers, who visited a military hospital for a certain period of time in order to reduce the amount of smoking, by investigating the pattern of tobacco smoking after joining the army and the influence of anti-tobacco education on smoking.
METHODS
Self-administered questionnaires were performed on 800 soldiers who visited an army hospital in Seoul, Korea, from March to May 2002. This questionnaire asked information concerning general characteristics of population, smoking status, smoking amount, anti-tobacco education and sociodemographic characteristics. Excluding 26 of them, who answered insincerely, the data collected from 774 soldiers were analyzed using SPSS/PC.
RESULTS
The subjects were total 774 soldiers and the distribution of age in 20 to 22 year-olds accounted for 88%. Among the total 540 (69.7%) have answered that they smoke at present. Among them, 53.6% have stated that they had started smoking in the high school years, 12.2% while in college and 7.2% after joining the army. For the motive of smoking curiosity accounted for 52.7%. Interestingly, 39 (15%) out of 252 non-smokers before enlistment had started smoking after joining the army and 21 (4%) out of 522 smokers before enlistment had quit it. In comparison of smoking amount before and after enlistment, increment was shown in 52.1%, reduction in 12% and no change in 35.9%. The most common reason for the increase in smoking amount was stress in 82.1% and that for reduction was caring for health in 65%. Among the subjects 68.6% have answered that they have had anti-tobacco education after joining the army, and among them 59.3% received it during recruit training and 39.5% after the troop disposition.
CONCLUSION
The smoking rate of soldiers who visited a military hospital was high as 69.7%. It was found out that the number of smokers and daily smoking amount increased after enlistment. Therefore, specific measures such as anti-tobacco education or stress management schemes are necessary to induce the reduction of smoking rate in the army.