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OBJECTIVES This study aimed to examine whether the regional density of tobacco outlets in Korea was associated with the likelihood of attempting to quit among smokers METHODS This study was designed as a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional study. Data from the 2015 Korean Community Health Survey and tobacco outlet registrations in 17 metropolitan cities and provinces with 254 communities in Korea were used for the analysis. In total, 41,013 current smokers (≥19 years of age) were included. Multi-level logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate regional differences associated with smokers’ attempts to quit and to evaluate the effects of individual and regional characteristics on quit attempts. RESULTS Higher tobacco outlet density was associated with lower odds of attempting to quit. Smokers who resided in districts with the highest tobacco outlet density were 18% less likely to attempt quitting (odds ratio, 0.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.70 to 0.98) than smokers who resided in the regions with the lowest tobacco outlet density (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.030). CONCLUSIONS This study showed that quit attempts were related to community-level factors, such as tobacco outlet density, as well as other individual factors. These findings support the implementation of national policies restricting the number of tobacco outlets within communities or zones and limiting tobacco marketing in tobacco outlets.

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Objectives: Tobacco marketing encourages smoking initiation of non-smokers, especially adolescents, and it hinders quit intention of those who smoke or who attempt to quit smoking. Article 13 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control(WHO FCTC) requests a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship(TAPS). Ratified the Convention in 2005, Korea has partially implemented the provisions. However, online marketing regulations are still insufficient. Methods: Based on relevant national and international regulations, this research designed monitoring mechanism for online tobacco marketing and studied 1,404 websites to identify current situation of online sales and advertisement of tobacco in Korea. Results: This study found that online trade of tobacco products are overtly conducted, while tobacco advertising with flavoring and misleading descriptors are also prevalent. Also, online tobacco marketing facilitate adolescents' access to tobacco product and that advertising and promotion activities lead to tobacco purchase without difficulties. Conclusions: Fundamental solution to prevent online tobacco advertisement and promotion is banning online sales of tobacco and conducting a regular monitoring for compliance. Korean government should consider establishing an official surveillance system for online tobacco advertisement, followed by a comprehensive ban on TAPS to fulfill its obligation as a Party to the FCTC. 76 보건교육건강증진학회지 제33권 제5호

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