Association Between Cigarette Smoking and Metabolic Syndrome
The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
- Sang Woo Oh, MD, PHD1,
- Yeong Sook Yoon, MD1,
- Eon Sook Lee, MD, PHD1,
- Woo Kyung Kim, MD2,
- Cheolyoung Park, MD, PHD3,
- Sangyeoup Lee, MD, PHD4,
- Eun-Kyeong Jeong, MD, PHD5 and
- Taiwoo Yoo, MD, PHD6
- 1Department of Family Medicine and Center for Health Promotion, Ilsan-Paik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, Gyeonggi-Do, Korea
- 2Department of Internal Medicine, Ilsan-Paik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, Gyeonggi-Do, Korea
- 3Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Gyeonggi-Do, Korea
- 4Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Pusan National University, Busan, Korea
- 5Division of Chronic Disease Surveillance, Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Seoul, Korea
- 6Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Taiwoo Yoo, MD, PhD, Department of Family Medicine, Seoul National University, College of Medicine, 28 Yeongon-Dong, Chongno-Gu, 110-744, Seoul, Korea (South). E-mail: tyoo{at}snu.ac.kr
Metabolic syndrome is highly prevalent in the U.S. (age-adjusted prevalence of 23.7%) (1) and in Korea (20.8% for men and 26.9% for women) (2). This syndrome is well documented to increase the risk for developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and is associated with an all-cause mortality (3–5). Physical inactivity, excessive weight gain, high alcohol intake, and certain dietary factors have been identified as important modifiable risk factors for metabolic syndrome and its consequences (2,6,7).
Smoking is also a strong risk factor for atherosclerosis and CVD, with a dose-dependent relationship (8). Smokers have abnormalities in lipoprotein metabolism (9) and endothelial function (10). Moreover, there is some evidence that smokers are at greater risk than nonsmokers of becoming insulin resistant and hyperinsulinemic (11,12). Thus, based on these findings, smoking may be considered as an important modifiable risk factor for metabolic syndrome. However, this relationship has not been clarified, and reports on this issue are also scarce. The aim of this study was to search for associations between smoking and metabolic syndrome with a representative population-based sample in Korea.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
This study was based on the 1998 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Selection methods for a nationwide representative sample of Koreans and other survey methods were detailed elsewhere (2 …
