Association between Smoking and Unintentional Injuries among Korean Adults

Using a cross-sectional representative national survey, we evaluated the relationship between cigarette smoking and unintentional injuries among Korean adults. We used data from the 2009 Korean Community Health Survey. Smoking status was defined as never smokers, ex-smokers, and current smokers. Current smokers were categorized into light daily smokers (1-10 cigarettes/day), moderate daily smokers (11-20 cigarettes/day), or heavy daily smokers (≥21 cigarettes/day). We used the Poisson regression model with a robust variance estimation to estimate prevalence rate ratios (PRR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI). After adjusting for demographic characteristics, socioeconomic variables, lifestyle variables, and health status variables, former smokers (PRR, 1.19, 95% CI 1.11-1.28), light daily smokers (PRR 1.22, 95% CI 1.13-1.32), moderate daily smokers (PRR 1.33, 95% CI 1.24-1.42), and heavy daily smokers (PRR 1.40, 95% CI 1.25-1.57) had an increased risk for unintentional injuries compared with non-smokers. In conclusion, cigarette smoking is associated with unintentional injuries in a dose-response manner in Korean adults. The findings suggest that community smoking cessation programs may reduce morbidity and mortality from unintentional injuries.