Interactions of Behavioral Changes in Smoking, High-risk Drinking, and Weight Gain in a Population of 7.2 Million in Korea

• Main Authors: Yeon-Yong Kim (Author), Hee-Jin Kang (Author), Seongjun Ha (Author), Jong Heon Park (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Korean Society for Preventive Medicine, 2019-07-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 1975-8375; 2233-4521; 10.3961/jpmph.18.290
• Keywords: Lifestyle; Smoking; Alcohol drinking; Overweight; Health risk behaviors; Medicine; R; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Vol 52, Iss 4, Pp 234-241 (2019)

Objectives To identify simultaneous behavioral changes in alcohol consumption, smoking, and weight using a fixed-effect model and to characterize their associations with disease status. Methods This study included 7 000 529 individuals who participated in the national biennial health-screening program every 2 years from 2009 to 2016 and were aged 40 or more. We reconstructed the data into an individual-level panel dataset with 4 waves. We used a fixed-effect model for smoking, heavy alcohol drinking, and overweight. The independent variables were sex, age, lifestyle factors, insurance contribution, employment status, and disease status. Results Becoming a high-risk drinker and losing weight were associated with initiation or resumption of smoking. Initiation or resumption of smoking and weight gain were associated with non-high-risk drinkers becoming high-risk drinkers. Smoking cessation and becoming a high-risk drinker were associated with normal-weight participants becoming overweight. Participants with newly acquired diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, stroke, and cancer tended to stop smoking, discontinue high-risk drinking, and return to a normal weight. Conclusions These results obtained using a large-scale population-based database documented interactions among lifestyle factors over time.