Association between chronotype, tobacco use or alcohol use, and high-risk drinking by age group: The Seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (VII: 2016-2017)

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze the association between chronotype, tobacco use or alcohol use, and high-risk drinking by age group and examine the differences across groups.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was adopted. Data from 12,189 participants aged ≥ 12 years from 2016 to 2017, excluding shift workers, were gathered from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's Seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A general linear model was used to determine the aforementioned associations and differences across age groups. Chronotype was measured using the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire. It was divided into quintiles. We used current tobacco use, monthly alcohol use, and high-risk drinking as indexes of tobacco use and alcohol use. These data were extracted from the national representative data.

Results: Among adolescents and adults, both tobacco use and alcohol use showed a linear increasing trend, although it was greatest among adolescents. In older adults, tobacco use showed a linear increasing trend with delayed chronotype. When the chronotypes of all age groups were aggregated, high-risk drinking was higher in both extreme types, Quintiles 1 and 5.

Conclusions: Tobacco use and alcohol use were mostly associated with delayed chronotype. Therefore, interventions to address delayed chronotype at all ages are needed. As the trend of increase in tobacco use and alcohol use in adolescents was higher than in other age groups, a special strategy is required aimed at this population. Moreover, both extreme chronotypes should be considered risk factors for high-risk drinking.

Keywords: Age groups; Alcohol use; Chronotypes; High-risk drinking; Tobacco use.