Background: Smoking is by far the most important cause of cancer that can be modified at the individual level. Cancer incidence and mortality rates in Korea are the highest among all Asian countries, and smoking prevalence in Korean men is one of the highest in developed countries. The purpose of the current study was to perform a systematic review and provide an evidence-based assessment of the burden of tobacco smoking-related cancers in the Korean population. Methods: Sex- and cancer-specific population-attributable fractions (PAF) were estimated using the prevalence of ever-smoking and second-hand smoking in 1989 among Korean adults, respectively, and the relative risks were estimated from the meta-analysis of studies performed in the Korean population for ever-smoking and in the Asian population for passive smoking. National cancer incidence data from the Korea Central Cancer Registry and national cancer mortality data from Statistics Korea for the year 2009 were used to estimate the cancer cases and deaths attributable to tobacco smoking. Results: Tobacco smoking was responsible for 20,239 (20.9%) cancer incident cases and 14,377 (32.9%) cancer deaths among adult men and 1,930 (2.1%) cancer incident cases and 1,351 (5.2%) cancer deaths among adult women in 2009 in Korea. In men, 71% of lung cancer deaths, 55%–72% of upper aerodigestive tract (oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus and larynx) cancer deaths, 23% of liver, 32% of stomach, 27% of pancreas, 7% of kidney and 45% of bladder cancer deaths were attributable to tobacco smoking. In women the proportion of ever-smoking-attributable lung cancer was 8.1%, while that attributable to second-hand smoking among non-smoking women was 20.5%. Conclusions: Approximately one in three cancer deaths would be potentially preventable through appropriate control of tobacco smoking in Korean men at the population level and individual level. For Korean women, more lung cancer cases and deaths were attributable to second-hand than ever-smoking. Effective control programs against tobacco smoking should be further developed and implemented in Korea to reduce the smoking-related cancer burden.

Background: Self-management of lifestyle and cardiovascular disease risk factors is challenging in older patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). SMS text messaging could be a potential support tool for self-management and the most affordable and accessible method through a mobile phone. High-quality evidence had been lacking, and previous studies evaluated the effects of SMS text messaging on the subjective measures of short-term outcomes. Recently, a large-sized randomized controlled trial in Australia reported promising findings on the objective measures upon 6-month follow-up. However, an examination of the effectiveness of such interventions in an Asian population with unique demographic characteristics would be worthwhile. Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of a 1-way SMS text messaging program to modify the lifestyle and cardiovascular disease risk factors of patients who underwent the first percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: A parallel, single-blinded, 1:1 random allocation clinical trial was conducted with 879 patients treated through PCI. They were recruited during hospital admission from April 2017 to May 2020 at 2 university hospitals in the Republic of Korea. In addition to standard care, the intervention group received access to a supporting website and 4 SMS text messages per week for 6 months regarding a healthy diet, physical activity, smoking cessation, and cardiovascular health. Random allocation upon study enrollment and SMS text messaging after hospital discharge were performed automatically using a computer program. The coprimary outcomes were low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and BMI. The secondary outcomes were change in lifestyle and adherence to the recommended health behaviors. Results: Of the eligible population, 440 and 439 patients who underwent PCI were assigned to the intervention and control groups, respectively. The 1-way SMS text messaging program significantly enhanced physical activity (P=.02), healthy diet (P<.01), and medication adherence (P<.04) among patients with CHD. Hence, more people were likely to control their cardiovascular disease risk factors per the recommendations. The intervention group was more likely to control all 5 risk factors by 62% (relative risk 1.62, 95% CI 1.05-2.50) per the recommendations. On the other hand, physiological measures of the primary outcomes, including LDL-C levels, SBP, and BMI, were not significant. Most participants found the SMS text messaging program useful and helpful in motivating lifestyle changes. Conclusions: Lifestyle-focused SMS text messages were effective in the self-management of a healthy diet, exercise, and medication adherence, but their influence on the physiological measures was not significant. One-way SMS text messages can be used as an affordable adjuvant method for lifestyle modification to help prevent the recurrence of cardiovascular disease. Trial Registration: Clinical Research Information Service (CRiS) KCT0005087; https://cris.nih.go.kr/cris/search/detailSearch.do/19282

1) The subject of study was limited to children and adolescents under the age of 20.

The purpose of the present study was to describe the temporal trends in prevalence and management status of hypertension in Korea between 1998 and 2015. Data of adults who were aged 30 years or older were extracted from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationwide representative population-based survey. Hypertension was prevalent in 30.5% of Korean adults. The age and sex standardized prevalence showed little change between 1998 and 2015. The elderly population and men showed higher prevalence. The rates of awareness, treatment, and control showed substantial improvements among hypertensive subjects between 1998 and the time period of 2007‒2009 (awareness, from 23.5 to 66.3%; treatment, from 20.4 to 60.3%; and control, from 4.9 to 42.1%), after which the numbers reached a plateau and no significant changes were observed subsequently (67.3%, 63.6%, and 46.2%, respectively, between 2013 and 2015). The management status remained poor especially among the young population and in men. In conclusion, the hypertension prevalence remained stable at approximately 30% in Korea between 1998 and 2015. While awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension improved remarkably, the young population and particularly men showed a suboptimal management status.