Socioeconomic Differences in Current Smoking Changes After the 2015 Tobacco Price Increase in Korea

Background: Tobacco tax increases are effective population-level tobacco control measures, but their effects may vary across socioeconomic groups.The present study evaluated changes in current smoking before and after the 2015 tobacco price increase in Korea according to household income, education, and occupation.Methods: The 2013-2016 Korea Community Health Survey data from 897,046 adults aged ≥19 years were analyzed.The pre-and post-policy periods were defined as 2013-2014 and 2015-2016, respectively.Current smoking was defined as having smoked ≥100 cigarettes during one's lifetime and currently smoking daily or occasionally.Weighted prevalence was estimated, and survey logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios and interactions between policy period and socioeconomic indicators, adjusting for sex, age group, marital status, and residential area.Results: Current smoking prevalence decreased from 22.9% before the policy to 21.0% after the policy.The adjusted odds of current smoking were lower after the policy than before (adjusted odds ratio, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.85-0.88).The interaction between policy period and household income was not significant (global interaction P=0.144), whereas interactions were significant for education (global interaction P=0.002) and occupation (global interaction P=0.0004).Reductions were smaller among high school graduates, service workers, and elementary workers than among their reference groups.Conclusion: Current smoking decreased after the 2015 tobacco price increase in Korea, although reductions varied across socioeconomic indicators, with smaller declines in certain education and occupation groups.Tobacco price policies should be accompanied by targeted cessation support for groups with smaller reductions to improve equity.