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International Journal of Public Health

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01-01-2017 | Original article

Military service and smoking in a cohort of northern Vietnamese older adults

Authors: Kim Korinek, Peter Loebach, Ha Ngoc Trinh

Published in: International Journal of Public Health | Issue 1/2017

Abstract

Objectives

Wide-ranging scholarship demonstrates war’s impacts on US veterans’ health. We ask whether, among Vietnamese men of a certain age, wartime experiences contributed to initiating smoking, and thus shaped one behavioral pathway linking war exposure and older adult health.

Methods

We analyze the Vietnam Health and Aging Pilot Study (VHAPS), a survey of adults ages 55 and older (N = 405) conducted in one commune of northern Vietnam. We implement Cox discrete-time proportional hazards models to discern the effects of military service upon the initiation of smoking.

Results

Military service results in a heightened risk of initiating smoking within this cohort (HR 2.13, [CI 1.36, 3.35]). Smoking initiation is also significantly gendered and age graded. Socioeconomic position and social capital variables in the models are statistically insignificant.

Conclusions

This study finds that, among older northern Vietnamese men whose early adulthood coincided with mass mobilization in the Vietnam War, involvement in formal military service significantly increased the risk of initiating smoking. Military-induced smoking emerges where tobacco products were not provided by the military institution, but where social availability of tobacco was widespread.

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Title: Military service and smoking in a cohort of northern Vietnamese older adults
Authors: Kim Korinek
Peter Loebach
Ha Ngoc Trinh
Publication date: 01-01-2017
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Published in: International Journal of Public Health / Issue 1/2017
Print ISSN: 1661-8556
Electronic ISSN: 1661-8564
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-016-0841-9

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Military service and smoking in a cohort of northern Vietnamese older adults

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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Acknowledgement to Reviewers 2016