Background
As one of harm reduction strategies, tobacco manufacturers have begun to introduce lower-yield cigarettes. Lower-yield cigarettes, so called light cigarettes, have been perceived as less hazardous by some smokers. However, there have been very few studies concerning smoking lower yield products the lead to lower nicotine absorption. We evaluated the association between brand nicotine yield of cigarettes and actual nicotine intake by measuring urinary cotinine. Methods: Four hundred sixty four male smokers aged 18 or over who participated in health check-ups in a hospital from May to October 2007 fi lled out a self-administered smoking questionnaire. Urinary cotinine concentration was measured at the time of participation. The subjects were divided into three groups (ultralight [nicotine: 0.05 mg], light [0.1 mg], and regular [> 0.1 mg] group) according to the level of brand nicotine yield of cigarettes which they smoked. Results: The median urinary cotinine concentrations of ultralight (N = 62), light (N = 216), and regular (N = 186) groups were 735.5 ng/mL (interquartile range, 320 to 1,300 ng/mL), 956.0 ng/mL (429 to 1,491 ng/mL), and 1,067.5 ng/mL (615 to 1,613 ng/mL), respectively. There was a signifi cant difference in urinary cotinine between the regular and the other groups (P = 0.015). However, multiple logistic regression analysis to evaluate the risk of being in the highest quartile of urinary cotinine concentration (≥ 1,532 ng/mL) after adjusting for possible confounding variables showed that the odds ratios were 0.84 (95% CI, 0.52 to 1.37) in the light nicotine group and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.38 to1.72) in the ultralight nicotine group compared to the regular nicotine group. Conclusion: There was no significant difference in the risk of elevated urinary cotinine concentrations in male adult smokers according to brand nicotine yield of cigarettes groups.

Background: Depression increases the risk of cardiovascular risk factors in adults. However, the association between depression and cardiovascular risk factors was not well evaluated in South Korea. Our study was done to evaluate the association between depression and cardiovascular risk factors in workers. Methods: The study population was selected among adults working in several industries that had more than 50 employees. They had received their medical examinations at the Health Promotion Center of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital between March and November 2005. We estimated the odds ratio to determine whether depression (Korean Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale score ≥21) was associated with each cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity). Results: The prevalence of depression was 15.5%. Depression was significantly associated with hypertension (P＜0.001), obesity (P=0.03) and hypercholesterolemia (P=0.004). The adjusted odds ratio for hypertension and hypercholesterolemia were 1.41 (95% CI 1.04∼1.91) and 1.59 (95% CI 1.05∼2.40), respectively. The association between depression and obesity was eliminated after adjustment (1.25, 95% CI: 0.97∼1.61). Conclusion: Depression was significantly associated with hypertension and hypercholesterolemia in workers. Further long-term study on the association of depression with cardiovascular risk factors is necessary. (J Korean Acad Fam Med 2008;29:645-650)