Objectives: Cigarette smoking has been widely recognized as a major risk factor for lung cancer and other diseases in Western countries. In Korea, male cigarette smoking prevalence was among the world’s highest between 1980 and 1990 and smoking has also become a strong risk factor for lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The objective of the study was to calculate the smoking-attributable mortality in 2012 in Korea. Methods: Number of smoking-attributable deaths were calculated by applying the percentages of population attributable risks (PARs) to the estimated number of deaths by diseases in 2012. In this study, PARs were obtained by using relative risks from the Korean Cancer Prevention Study and the Metabolic Syndrome Mortality Study, and population smoking prevalence surveyed in 1985 conducted by Korean Institute of Tuberculosis. Results: The smoking-attributable mortality was 58,155 death in 2012. Among adult male, the smokingattributable mortality (49,704) represents 34.7% of total 2012 mortality, whereas the smoking-attributable mortality (8,451) for adult females was 7.2%. Smoking was supposed to be responsible for 41.1% of all male cancer and 33.4% of all male cardiovascular diseases, whereas smoking for 5.1% of all female cancer and 5.4% of all female cardiovascular diseases in Korea. Conclusions: Smoking actually represents a remarkable burden of avoidable deaths in Korea. Smokingattributable mortality appears to continue increasing by the next 10 to 20 years.

Objectives: Cigarette smoking has been widely recognized as a major risk factor for lung cancer andother diseases in Western countries. In Korea, male cigarette smoking prevalence was among the world’shighest between 1980 and 1990 and smoking has also become a strong risk factor for lung cancer andcardiovascular diseases. The objective of the study was to calculate the smoking-attributable mortality in2012 in Korea. Methods: Number of smoking-attributable deaths were calculated by applying the percentages of populationattributable risks (PARs) to the estimated number of deaths by diseases in 2012. In this study,PARs were obtained by using relative risks from the Korean Cancer Prevention Study and the MetabolicSyndrome Mortality Study, and population smoking prevalence surveyed in 1985 conducted by KoreanInstitute of Tuberculosis. Results: The smoking-attributable mortality was 58,155 death in 2012. Among adult male, the smokingattributablemortality (49,704) represents 34.7% of total 2012 mortality, whereas the smoking-attributablemortality (8,451) for adult females was 7.2%. Smoking was supposed to be responsible for 41.1% ofall male cancer and 33.4% of all male cardiovascular diseases, whereas smoking for 5.1% of all femalecancer and 5.4% of all female cardiovascular diseases in Korea. Conclusions: Smoking actually represents a remarkable burden of avoidable deaths in Korea. Smokingattributablemortality appears to continue increasing by the next 10 to 20 years.