The relationship between economics and health has been of great interest throughout the years. The accumulated data is not sufficient enough to carry out long-term studies from the viewpoint of morbidity, although Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) was carried out yearly since 1998 in Korea. Thus, we investigated the effect of the 2008 global economic crisis on health indicators of Korea.

Health indicators were selected by paired t-test based on 2007 and 2009 KNHANES data. Age, gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking, drinking, exercise, education, income, working status, and stress were used as confounding factors, which were analyzed with logistic and probit analyses. Validation was done by comparing gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates and probit analyses results of 2007-2012 KNHANES data.

Among several health indicators, the prevalence of hypertension and stress perception was higher after the economic crisis. Factors related with higher hypertension prevalence include older age, male gender, higher BMI, no current tobacco use, recent drinking, lower education levels, and stress perception. Factors related with more stress perception were younger age, female gender, current smoking, lower education levels, and lower income. GDP growth rates, a macroeconomic indicator, are inversely associated with hypertension prevalence with a one-year lag, and also inversely associated with stress perception without time lag.

The economic crisis increased the prevalence of hypertension and stress perception. In the case of GDP growth rate change, hypertension was an inversely lagging indicator and stress perception was an inversely-related coincident indicator.

Recent studies suggest that neighborhood environments influence levels of health and disease in individuals. Evidence suggests that green environments have positive effects on physical and psychological health. In this study, we examined the association between public park per person (PPP) and physical activity in 7 large Korean cities with a population of over 1 million.

We obtained data from the third Korea National Health and Nutritional Survey and data on the area of PPP from the Korean national statistics office.

Physical activity and adjusted mean of physical activity increased significantly with PPP. When stratified by family income, physical activity increased significantly in all groups in a PPP-dependent manner. Physical activity significantly increased as PPP increased (coefficient, 16.025; 95% confidence interval, 12.392 to 19.658) before and after adjustment for age, sex, and family income. Physical activity increased in all income groups including the low income group.

These results show that green park spaces independently promote physical activity and influence healthy lifestyles. Therefore, the importance of PPP for physical activity and health should be emphasized in urban planning.