title: Association of Cigarette Prices with the Prevalence of Smoking in Korean University Students: Analysis of Effects of the Tobacco Control Policy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increased pricing of cigarettes might be one of the most effective approaches for reducing the prevalence of smoking. This study aimed to investigate the effects of increasing cigarette prices through taxation by a tobacco intervention policy on the changes in smoking prevalence in Korean university students.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants in this study were 23,047 healthy university students aged 18-29 years from a health examination in 2011-2015. We investigated the adjusted prevalence of daily and occasional smoking before and after increasing cigarette prices through taxation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of occasional smoking was significantly decreased in 2015 from 2014 in both male (from 10.7% in 2014 to 5.4%) and female (from 3.6% to 1.1%) students, but the prevalence of daily smoking did not decrease significantly. The frequency of individuals who had attempted smoking cessation during the past year was significantly higher among occasional smokers in male students (90.2%) compared with daily smokers (64.9%). For female students, there were no differences in experience of smoking cessation, willingness for smoking cessation, or E-cigarette experience between daily and occasional smokers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that a policy of increasing cigarette prices through taxation is associated with decreases in the prevalence of occasional smokers, who have relatively lower nicotine dependence compared with individuals who smoke daily. The results of our study suggest that social support and direct intervention for smoking cessation at the community level are needed for university students alongside the pricing policy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Gachon University College of Medicine, Sungnam, Republic of Korea E-mail : yklim@gachon.ac.kr and jsodk@gachon.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jin-Ok
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Jeong-Soo
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Im
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yim
authors.forename: Yoon-Hyeong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Kwang-Pil
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Junghoon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hee Gerl
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yunhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.forename: Young-Khi
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Dae-Kyu
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Oh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D066300:Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics* / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000191:economics* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult