Smoking-related behaviour changes among Korean men after the 2015 tobacco price increase: assessing the implications for the tobacco endgame using a reconstructed retrospective cohort study

ObjectivesTo examine the effect of Korea’s 2015 tax policy, discuss its effectiveness and limitations and present future directions for tax policy in the context of the tobacco endgame.DesignA retrospectively reconstructed cohort study.SettingKorea, August 2014–October 2015.ParticipantsThe study examined 41,605 male smokers aged 19 years and older who participated in the 2015 Korea Community Health Survey.Measures and analysisBinary and multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the impact of the tax policy on smoking-related behaviour. We adjusted for demographic and health-related variables.ResultsAmong 41,605 men who were smokers in 2014, 15,499 (35.85%, weighted) reported being affected by the price increase. Of all smokers, 1,772 (3.96%, weighted) reported quitting smoking because of the tobacco price increase. Others reduced their smoking amount (n=9,714, 22.48%, weighted) or made other changes such as switching brands (n=4,013, 9.41%, weighted). An additional 2,401 smokers (5.72%, weighted) quit smoking for reasons other than the tobacco price increase. Compared with those in the highest quintile of household income, the odds that those in the lowest quintile quit smoking due to the price increase were almost twice as high (OR=1.98, 95% CI 1.54 to 2.54).ConclusionsKorea’s 2015 tobacco price increase affected a significant number of smokers within a year, especially in the lowest income group, inducing some to quit or reduce their smoking amount. However, more smokers quit for reasons independent of the price change. Tax policy can effectively reduce smoking, but needs to be combined with other policies for optimal results.

Smoking in Malaysia: Main issues and ways to overcome

Smoking is a public health problem worldwide and in Malaysia. According to serial Malaysian data, the age of initiation of smoking are at a younger age and the prevalence of smoking in Malaysia among adults and adolescents have not reduced much over the years. Smoking has a detrimental heath effect to smokers as well as those passively smoking. Younger age of smoking is linked to increased dependence of nicotine and many other high-risk behaviours. The two main issues which is addressed here is younger age of initiation of smoking and smoking bans in Malaysia. The factors which contribute to younger age of smoking initiation is tobacco factors, school factors, family factors and social factors. Challenges to smoking bans in Malaysia includes poor enforcement and innovation of tobacco products in Malaysia. A comprehensive approach including the mPOWER strategy should be carried out to address this problem towards achieving Tobacco Endgame.