Structural and Cognitive Social Capital of Older Korean Adults and Their Relationship with Depression Trajectories: Latent Class and Growth Curve Analyses.

This study examined whether the identified latent classes of structural and cognitive social capital are differently associated with depression trajectories in older Korean adults. From the five waves (2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018) of the Korean Welfare Panel Study, 3,606 participants aged ≥65 were analyzed. The latent class analysis identifies structural and cognitive social capital subgroups. Latent growth curve analysis examined the latent classes' effect on depression trajectories. Three classes were identified: medium-structural and high-cognitive (Class 1), high-structural and cognitive (Class 2), and low-structural and cognitive (Class 3). Classes 1 and 2 showed lower depression at baseline; however, the trajectory change rate was opposite than Class 3. Compared to Classes 1 and 2, depression was highest at baseline but with a slower change rate in Class 3. Therefore, it is important to identify older adults' structural and cognitive social capital classes to depression trajectories.

Association between dry eye symptoms and suicidal ideation in a Korean adult population.

PURPOSE: This study assessed the association of dry eyes with depression and suicidal ideation in a Korean adult population. METHODS: Data from 16408 participants (6972 men and 9436 women) aged ≥ 19 years included in the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted from 2010-2012, were analyzed. For dry eyes, surveys of previous diagnosis of dry eye disease (DED) by an ophthalmologist and experience of subjective dry eye symptoms were separately used. Diagnosis of depression and suicidal ideation were obtained via responses to an interviewer-assisted questionnaire, and questions were asked in a closed-ended response format. Logistic regression was used to examine the associations between dry eyes, depression, and suicidal ideation. RESULTS: DED diagnosis exhibited an odds ratio (OR) of 1.32 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-1.57) for depression and 1.24 (95% CI 1.05-1.48) for suicidal ideation compared to those without DED, after adjusting for sex, age, education, occupation, household income, body mass index, smoking behavior, alcohol consumption, physical activity, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, thyroid diseases, major cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Similarly, the adjusted OR (95% CI) of dry eye symptoms was 1.50 (95% CI 1.30-1.73) for depression and 1.47 (95% CI 1.27-1.70) for suicidal ideation. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that dry eyes (either DED diagnosis or dry eye symptoms) may be associated with the prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation in the Korean adult population.

Metropolitan urban hotspots of chronic sleep deprivation: evidence from a community health survey in Gyeongbuk Province, South Korea.

The geographic concentration of chronic sleep deprivation (CSD) remains largely unexplored. This paper examined the community-specific spatial pattern of the prevalence of CSD and the presence of clustered spatial hotspots among the Korean elderly population in Gyeongbuk Province, South Korea, revealing CSD hotspots and underscoring the importance of geography-focused prevention strategies. The study analysed cross-sectional data collected from 9847 elderly individuals aged 60 years and older who participated in a Korean Community Health Survey conducted in 2012. To assess the level of spatial dependence, an exploratory spatial data analysis was conducted using Global Moran's I statistic and the local indicator of spatial association. The results revealed marked geographic variations in CSD prevalence ranging from 33.4 to 73.4%, with higher values in the metropolitan urban areas and lower in the rural areas. Almost half of the community residents [both men (44.1%) and women (53.5%)] slept 6 h or less per 24 h. The average CSD prevalence (53.6% men and 65.1% women) in the hotspots was about 13.0% higher than that in other areas (42.6% for men and 51.1% for women). To our knowledge, this is the first study to generate a CSD hotspot map that includes data on sleep deprivation across metropolitan district levels. This study demonstrates that not only is sleep deprivation distributed differentially across communities but these differences may be explained by urbanisation.

Spatial epidemiology of dry eye disease: findings from South Korea.

BACKGROUND: DED rate maps from diverse regions may allow us to understand world-wide spreading pattern of the disease. Only few studies compared the prevalence of DED between geographical regions in non-spatial context. Therefore, we examined the spatial epidemiological pattern of DED prevalence in South Korea using a nationally representative sample. METHODS: We analyzed 16,431 Korean adults aged 30 years or older of the 5th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. DED was defined as previously diagnosed by an ophthalmologist as well as symptoms experienced. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to assess the spatial pattern in the prevalence of DED, and effects of environmental factors. RESULTS: Among seven metropolitan cities and nine provinces, three metropolitan cities located in the southeast of Korea revealed the highest prevalence of DED. After adjusting for sex, age and survey year, people living in urban areas had higher risk of having DED. Adjusted odds ratio for having previously diagnosed DED was 1.677 (95% CI 1.299-2.166) for metropolitan cities and 1.580 (95% CI 1.215-2.055) for other cities compared to rural areas. Corresponding odds ratio for presenting DED symptoms was 1.388 (95% CI 1.090-1.766) for metropolitan cities and 1.271 (95% CI 0.999-1.617) for other cities. Lower humidity and longer sunshine duration were significantly associated with DED. Among air pollutants, SO2 was associated with DED, while NO2, O3, CO, and PM10 were not. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that prevalence of DED can be affected by the degree of urbanization and environmental factors such as humidity and sunshine duration.