Chungnam Sees Improvement in 10 out of 13 Health Indicators for Smoking and Drinking Reduction

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Last year, the smoking and drinking rates among residents in the Chungnam region were found to have decreased compared to the previous year.

Chungnam Province announced on the 2nd that in the ‘2020 Chungnam Community Health Survey’ conducted under the supervision of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, 10 out of 13 health indicators showed improvement compared to the previous year, including decreases in residents' smoking and drinking rates.

According to the province, the Community Health Survey was conducted based on 13 indicators: ▲current smoking rate ▲male current smoking rate ▲monthly drinking rate ▲high-risk drinking rate ▲tooth brushing practice rate ▲walking practice rate ▲obesity rate ▲hypertension treatment rate ▲experience of depression ▲stress perception rate ▲diabetes treatment rate ▲experience of hypertension diagnosis ▲experience of diabetes diagnosis.

The survey showed that Chungnam exhibited improved figures in 10 indicators compared to the previous year, except for three indicators: diabetes treatment rate, experience of hypertension diagnosis, and experience of diabetes diagnosis.

In particular, the decrease in residents' smoking and drinking rates stood out in the survey. First, the ‘current smoking rate,’ which is the proportion of people who currently smoke (daily or occasionally) among those who have smoked at least 5 packs (100 cigarettes) in their lifetime, recorded 20.2%, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points compared to the previous year. In contrast, the national average current smoking rate increased by 0.5 percentage points, showing a contrast with Chungnam.

Last year, the ‘resident drinking rate’ also decreased by 5.1 percentage points compared to the previous year. The resident drinking rate is an indicator representing the proportion of people who drank at least once a month in the past year. Last year, Chungnam recorded 53.7%, which was 1.0 percentage point lower than the national average of 54.7%.

Chungnam’s high-risk drinking rate also decreased by 2.5 percentage points compared to the previous year, totaling 12.1%.

On the other hand, the experience rates of chronic diseases such as hypertension diagnosis (20.5%) and diabetes diagnosis (8.8%) were confirmed to have increased by 0.2 percentage points each compared to the previous year.

Further detailed information regarding the Community Health Survey results can be found in the statistical reports published by each public health center.

Additionally, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency plans to release the raw data of the survey results on its website in June.

Previously, the province conducted the Community Health Survey from August to October last year, targeting 13,500 residents aged 19 and older in the area, at the request of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.