보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Smoking increases the chance of getting lung and larynx cancer by 2.9 to 6.5 times

- Results of the largest ever research in Asia which tracked 1.3 million Koreans for 19 years were presented -

 

▶ A seminar was held under the theme of the analysis on how smoking affects health and raises medical costs based on a massive health insurance data set. 

- Compared to non-smoking males, males who do smoke have an increased risk of getting cancer in the larynx, lungs, and esophagus by 6.5, 4.6, and 3.6 fold, respectively.

- Female smokers, compared to non-smokers, have an increased risk of getting cancer in the larynx, pancreas, and colon by 5.5, 3.6, and 2.9 fold, respectively.

 

▶ Medical fees spent on diseases caused by smoking are estimated to be 1.6914 trillion won as of 2011.

- accounting for 3.7% of all health insurance medical fees (46 trillion won) spent that year.

 

▶ Due to the high smoking rates in the 1980s and 1990s, health-related issues and medical charges are expected to increase.

 

The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS, President Kim Jong-dae) held a seminar in its main auditorium on 27^th under the theme of the analysis on how smoking affects health and raises medical charges based on a massive health insurance data set.

 

During the seminar, research results from a joint project between the NHIS and Yonsei University were presented, and opinions from various circles were shared regarding the NHIS’s role in enhancing public health and reducing medical fees.

 

Professor Jee Sun-ha at the Yonsei University Graduate School of Public Health, who was a part of the joint research, gave a presentation on the risk of smokers developing a disease. 

 

More presenters including Professor Cho Sung-il (Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University), Director Park Soon-woo (the Korean Association of Smoking and Health), Lawyer Jung Mi-hwa (legal firm Lim, Chung & Suh) and Deputy director Song Myeong-jun (Division of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health and Welfare) shared a variety of opinions on the theme.

 

The NHIS and Yonsei University have conducted the joint research since 2001 to indentify risk factors that cause cancer and to prevent cancer in Koreans. 

 

Their study is the largest scaled dynamic research in the history of Asia, and is based on a massive health insurance data set which tracked 1.3 million public servants, employees at private schools, and their dependents who had received medical examinations between 1992 and 1995, and their outbreaks of diseases for the past 19 years until December of 2011.

 

Among them, 146,835 people got cancer and 182,013 people got some type of cardiac disorder or cerebrovascular disease during the 19 years of tracking.

 

According to the research results, male smokers tended to get cancer of the larynx, lungs, and esophagus by 6.5, 4.6 and 3.6 fold, respectively, than non-smokers, while female smokers tended to get cancer of the larynx, pancreas, and colon by 5.5, 3.6 and 2.9 fold than non-smokers did.

 

[Risk of disease for Korean non-smokers compared to smokers]

     (unit: fold)

 

Male		Larynx cancer	Lung cancer	Esophagus cancer	Ischemic heart disease	Bladder cancer	Stroke	Pancreas cancer	Diabetes
	Non-smoker	1.0	1,0	1,0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
	Smoker	6.5	4.6	3.6	2.2	1.9	1.8	1.7	1.5
Female		Larynx cancer	Pancreas cancer	Colon cancer	Lung cancer	Bladder cancer	Uterine cancer	Stroke	Ischemic heart disease
	Non-smoker	1.0	1,0	1,0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
	smoker	5.5	3.6	2.9	2.0	2.1	1.7	1.7	1.5

 

Research results on the risk of diseases caused by smoking revealed that, in the case of males, 79 percent of larynx cancer patients, 71 percent of lung cancer patients, and 63.9 percent of esophagus cancer patients were smokers.

 

[Risk of diseases from smoking in Koreans]

(unit: %)

 

Male	Larynx cancer	Lung cancer	Esophagus cancer	Ischemic heart disease	Bladder cancer	Stroke	Pancreas cancer	Diabetes
	79.0	71.7	63.9	45.0	38.6	35.3	32.3	25.4
Female	Larynx cancer	Pancreas cancer	Colon cancer	Lung cancer	Bladder cancer	Uterine cancer	Stroke	Ischemic heart disease
	23.3	14.6	11.4	9.1	6.6	4.5	4.5	3.4

 

In order to investigate the long-term benefits of quitting smoking, the joint research also collected personal histories of the durations of non-smoking for 157,903 male smokers between 1992 and 2000, and analyzed the chances of getting a disease by the period of non-smoking.

 

- The analysis showed that as the period of non-smoking got longer, the risk of lung cancer and ischemic heart diseases sharply decreased. The rate of getting lung cancer for non-smokers who stopped smoking for longer than six years was reduced to almost half of that of smokers.

 

 

[Chances of getting lung cancer during the period of non-smoking]

[Chances of getting ischemic heart disease during the period of non-smoking]

 

* The period of non-smoking was tracked for 11 years between 2001 and 2011 after initial surveys were conducted between 1992 and 2000. For example, a non-smoker for eight years would have stopped smoking for a minimum of eight years, and up to 19 years.

 

As of 2011, medical fees from health insurance spent to cure diseases caused by smoking totaled 1.691 trillion won, which accounted for 3.7 percent of all medical fees paid by health insurance (46 trillion won) in that year.

 

As smoking seemed to have contributed to five diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, ischemic heart diseases, diabetes, lung cancer, and high blood pressure, more than 1 trillion won was spent on medical fees for these diseases.

 

[Estimated total medical fees to treat the five diseases caused by smoking in 2011]

(unit: 1,000 won)

 

Classification	Disease	Male	Female	Total
1	Cerebrovascular disease	312,854,440	39,964,823	352,819,264
2	Ischemic heart disease	220,420,384	16,121,422	236,541,805
3	Diabetes	189,548,318	21,247,688	210,796,006
4	Lung cancer	161,120,856	21,290,132	182,410,989
5	High blood pressure	89,105,346	17,467,769	106,573,114
	Total	973,049,344	116,091,834	1,089,141,178

 

Professor Jee from Yonsei University said that since the results on how smoking affects health tend to appear for a long period of time, such as 20 to 30 years, high smoking rates between the 1980s and 1990s will potentially show more negative effects on health in smokers in the near future.

 

“The research for the 19 years shows how smoking affects personal health in a bad way, and leverages increased medical charges with detailed figures, which is very meaningful,” said NHIS President Kim. “Smoking causes diseases and financial burdens for individuals, and increased medical fees burden the national health insurance. Therefore, all national health insurance subscribers have to pay extra premiums due to smoking.”

 

“In order to promote health and reduce financial burdens for subscribers, the NHIS needs to think of its role in solving the smoking issue in more diversified ways,” he added.

 

The President also said, “The joint research is an illustrative example of utilizing the massive health insurance data set. We will offer support to utilize the massive data set to help prevent diseases, and lay down the foundation for more customized health care services.”

 

 ※ Inquiries for the research results:

Professor Jee Sun-ha (Yonsei University Graduate School of Public Health: 02-2228-1523)