Men struggle to quit smoking, women to maintain weight: cancer prevention survey

To prevent cancer, it is necessary to practice a healthy lifestyle, such as not drinking alcohol, not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, and eating a balanced diet.

However, it is difficult for men to stop drinking and smoking and for women to maintain a healthy weight and eat a balanced diet, a survey showed.

The survey found that although people know the 10 “National Cancer Prevention Rules” that the government has promoted since 2006, they are not practicing them. While 80 percent of Koreans were aware of the prevention rules, only 40 percent practiced them, and the gap was more notable among men than women.

On Thursday, the National Cancer Center (NCC) announced the study's results after surveying 4,000 people in 2023 on their awareness and practice of the top 10 national cancer prevention tips. The NCC has monitored the public's awareness and practice of cancer prevention tips every two or three years based on the Cancer Control Act since 2007.

The study's results showed that the awareness rate was high, at 79.4 percent for men and 81.2 percent for women, thanks to various publicity and awareness-raising efforts. However, the practice rate was only half as high, at 43.1 percent for men and 48.9 percent for women.

Notably, men were less likely than women to take action.

Men and women also differed in which behaviors were more difficult to fulfill. Women reported difficulty with “maintaining a healthy weight” and “eating a balanced diet with plenty of vegetables and fruits,” while men reported difficulty with “avoiding even one or two small drinks a day” and “not smoking and avoiding smoke from others.

These differences were reflected in changes in behavior, with the most significant differences between men and women for “Don't smoke and avoid smoke from others” and “Don't drink more than one or two small drinks a day to prevent cancer. In the case of quitting smoking, women were significantly more likely to do so but only half as likely as men.

When analyzing long-term trends, men's quit rates decreased by 2.4 percent annually from 2007 to 2014 before steadily increasing to 2.6 percent from 2014 to 2023. This is attributed to the government's policy of raising the price of cigarettes by 2,000 won to 4,500 won ($3) per pack in the same year, expanding indoor smoking bans, and introducing warning pictures on cigarette packs.

The researchers interpreted that the government's strong anti-tobacco policies have positively impacted reversing the declining quit rate.

However, the rate of abstinence from alcohol, which is a major cancer risk factor along with tobacco, continued to decline for both men and women.

The researchers pointed to Korea's culture of tolerance for alcohol, the influence of alcohol marketing, and the lack of alcohol regulations as the leading causes, emphasizing the need for social awareness and policy intervention.

The researchers pointed out that many overseas countries, including Europe, Singapore, and New Zealand, are already actively implementing strong regulatory policies against alcohol.

“It is already well known that there is a difference between men and women in terms of health behaviors, but the important point is that men are less likely to practice cancer-preventive lifestyle habits compared to women, even though they are well aware of them,” said Kim Byung-mi, head of the Cancer Prevention Division at the NCC.

The World Health Organization has stated that 30 to 50 percent of cancer cases can be prevented through a healthy lifestyle, so it is urgent to create a social atmosphere and try to induce healthy lifestyle practices, Kim added.

The findings were published in the latest issue of Epidemiology and Health, an SCIE-ranked journal in epidemiology.