Smoking and drinking, once declining, are rising again... Depression indicators worsen

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Smoking and drinking, which had been declining due to COVID-19, have increased again with the advent of the endemic era. Despite the return to normal life, indicators of depression continue to worsen.

On the 25th, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced statistics on the main results of the '2022 Community Health Survey.' Last year, the survey investigated and analyzed health behavior status such as smoking, drinking, and physical activity among 231,785 adults aged 19 and older nationwide.

According to the survey results, the smoking rate had been steadily decreasing but rose by 0.2 percentage points to 19.3% last year compared to the previous year. The smoking rate, which reached 26.1% in 2008, hit a record low of 19.1% in 2021, the second year of COVID-19. While the male smoking rate decreased from 19.6% to 19.3%, the female smoking rate increased from 2.7% to 3.4%. The usage rate of electronic cigarettes, including liquid-type and heated tobacco products, rose by 0.3 percentage points and 0.7 percentage points to 2.3% and 4.3%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Drinking, which had been declining due to social distancing measures since the early days of COVID-19, is also showing an increasing trend. The monthly drinking rate increased by 4.0 percentage points to 57.7% compared to the previous year. The high-risk drinking rate and monthly binge drinking rate rose by 1.6 percentage points and 3.5 percentage points to 12.6% and 34.1%, respectively.

Physical activity is showing improvement. Notably, the walking practice rate increased by 6.8 percentage points to 47.1% compared to the previous year. The rate of moderate or higher physical activity (vigorous exercise for more than 20 minutes at least three times a week in the past week) also rose from 19.7% to 23.5%. The obesity rate increased slightly from 32.2% in 2021 to 32.5% last year.

Depression shows no signs of improvement. The rate of experiencing depression severe enough to interfere with daily life for two or more weeks in the past year increased for four consecutive years from 5.0% in 2018 to 6.8% last year. However, the perceived stress rate decreased by 2.3 percentage points from 26.2% to 23.9%.

The rate of hypertension diagnosis experience among those aged 30 and older slightly decreased from 20.0% in 2021 to 19.8% last year. The awareness rates of blood pressure and blood sugar levels increased by 1.3 percentage points and 2.1 percentage points to 62.9% and 28.4%, respectively, compared to the previous year. The awareness rates of early symptoms of stroke and myocardial infarction were 57.5% and 47.1%, respectively, last year, rising by 3.3 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous year.

The awareness and training experience rates for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which have recently become increasingly important, have rather decreased. The CPR awareness and training experience rates were 94.8% and 26.4%, respectively, last year, down by 0.1 percentage points and 3.8 percentage points compared to 2020.

The KDCA explained, “2022 was a year of gradual recovery of daily life after the COVID-19 outbreak, and it is presumed that the impact is reflected in the survey results.” They added, “We plan to conduct an in-depth analysis of related factors, including the causes of indicators that had been improving but are now worsening.”

For this year, the KDCA plans to start the Community Health Survey three months earlier than usual, beginning in mid-August, and announce the results in December. The KDCA stated, “This is to enhance the timeliness of local governments’ utilization of Community Health Survey results.”

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