The number of North Korean adolescent defectors entering South Korea has been increasing. The health behavior, including mental health-related behavior, and factors associated with depression in North Korean adolescent defectors residing in South Korea were investigated.
Data obtained from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey (2011–2014) dataset were utilized. In total, 206 North Korean adolescent defectors were selected, and for the control group, 618 matched South Korean adolescents were selected. Frequency analysis was used to determine the place of birth and nationality of the parents, chi-square tests were used to compare the general characteristics of the North and South Korean subjects, and multivariate logistic regressions were conducted to compare the health behavior of the two sets of subjects. To determine the factors associated with depression in the North Korean subjects, a logistic regression was performed.
The North Korean adolescents reported higher current smoking (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.48 to 4.35), current drinking (aOR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.15 to 2.99), and drug use rates (aOR, 10.99; 95% CI, 4.04 to 29.88) than did the South Korean adolescents. The factors associated with depression in the North Korean adolescents were current smoking (aOR, 6.99; 95% CI, 1.62 to 30.06), lifetime drinking experience (aOR, 5.32; 95% CI, 1.51 to 18.75), and perceived stress (aOR, 4.74; 95% CI, 1.74 to 12.90).
There were differences in health behavior between the North and South Korean adolescents. A specialized approach for North Korean adolescent defectors is required to promote proper health behavior and adaptation to South Korean society.
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Body mass index is widely regarded as an important predictor of mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between body mass index and mortality and to compare community-dwelling elderly people in South Korea according to sex.
Data were collected from the 2008 and 2011 Living Profiles of Older People Surveys, which comprised 10,613 community-living South Korean men and women aged 65 years or older. The participants were stratified into five groups according to body mass index as defined by the World Health Organization guidelines. The sociodemographic characteristics of participants and mortality rates were compared across the body mass index groups.
The highest survival rates were observed in men with a body mass index of 25.0–29.9 kg/m2. A similar trend was observed in women, but it was not statistically significant. After adjusting for covariates, this association was also found in men across all BMI index groups, but not in women.
This study supports previous findings that overweight or mild obesity is associated with the lowest mortality and suggests that the current categories of obesity require revision. Furthermore, the absence of statistically significant findings in the female cohort suggests that body mass index is not a suitable predictor of mortality in women and that an alternative is required.
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