The benefits of physical activity on physical and mental health are well known. The accessibility of sports facilities is reported to have considerable association with the amount of physical activity a person participates in. Therefore, we investigated the association between subjectively assessed accessibility of sports facilities and physical activity among Korean adults. We obtained data from the 2012 Community Health Survey. Physical activity was measured based on weekly metabolic equivalent task (MET) hours according to the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Sociodemographic, economic, and health variables were used as covariates in a logistic regression model. A total 201,723 participants were included in this study. Participants with easy access to sports facilities participated in physical activity more often than those without easy access (OR = 1.16, 95 % CI 1.13–1.20). More physical activity was generally observed if participants had a history of depression or if participants were among the white-collar or urban subgroups. Our results showed that the accessibility of sports facilities is associated with physical activity. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the accessibility of sports facilities when promoting an environment conducive to physical activity or designing programs for enhancing physical activity.

Thyroid hormones are known to have direct and indirect effects on metabolism. Individuals with metabolic syndrome, a disease that is growing in incidence at a rapid rate, are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. The aim of this study was to identify whether significant correlations exist between thyroid hormone levels and components of the metabolic syndrome in the general population of Korea. The data were collected from the sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 2013 to 2015. A total of 1423 participants were tested for thyroid function. The analysis of variance and multiple linear regression were performed to analyze the relationship between thyroid hormone level and components of the metabolic syndrome. A positive association between free thyroxine and fasting glucose level was observed in patients with high free thyroxine levels (≥1.70 ng/dL, β = 15.992, p = < 0.0001), when compared with patients with normal-middle free thyroxine levels. Moreover, a negative association was observed between free thyroxine and triglyceride levels in patients with normal-high free thyroxine levels (β = − 21.145, p = 0.0054) and those with high free thyroxine levels (β = − 49.713, p = 0.0404). Free thyroxine shows a partially positive association with fasting glucose and a partially negative association with triglycerides in the Korean population. In patients with abnormal thyroid function, follow up tests for glucose levels and lipid profiling during treatment for thyroid dysfunction would be beneficial in terms of overlooking metabolic syndrome and to prevent related diseases.

The aim of this study was to find the association between sleep duration and perceived stress in salaried workers according to occupational categories and which lifestyle factors affected those correlations in South Korea. This study used data from the 2015 Community Health Survey (CHS). The self-reported sleep duration was used as the dependent variable in this study. We explored sleep duration and stress awareness among salaried workers, as well as household income and educational level with multiple logistic regression analysis. Salaried workers who slept for five or less hours had a higher odds ratio for high-stress awareness (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.74–1.98). Stress awareness is associated with short sleep duration; specialized workers, office workers, those with above mid-high household income and graduate, university, or college level workers especially need to sleep adequately to manage stress.

Background: Psychiatric disorders are common in patients with cancer. The impact of both psychiatric disorders and psychiatric treatment on mortality in patients with cancer needs to be established.Materials and Methods: Nationwide claims data were analyzed. To investigate the association between psychiatric disorders and mortality, 6,292 male and 4,455 female patients with cancer who did not have a record of psychiatric disorders before cancer onset were included. To examine the association between psychiatric treatment and mortality, 1,467 male and 1,364 female patients with cancer were included. Incident psychiatric disorder and receipt of psychiatric treatment within 30 days from the onset of a psychiatric disorder were the main independent variables. Dependent variables were all-cause and cancer-related mortality. Cox proportional hazards regression with time-dependent covariates was used.Results: The onset of psychiatric disorders was associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality in both male (all-cause hazard ratio [HR]: 1.55; cancer-related HR: 1.47) and female patients with cancer (all-cause HR: 1.50; cancer-related HR: 1.44) compared with patients with cancer without psychiatric disorders. Both male and female patients who received psychiatric treatment within 30 days of diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder had a lower risk of cancer-related mortality (males, HR: 0.73; females, HR: 0.71) compared with patients with cancer with psychiatric disorders who did not receive psychiatric treatment.Conclusion: Patients with cancer with newly diagnosed psychiatric disorders had a higher mortality rate. Among these, those who received psychiatric treatment showed lower rates of mortality. Thus, early detection and early treatment of psychiatric disorders in patients with cancer is needed.

Background: Suicide is the leading cause of death among adolescents in South Korea. Negative influences of the abuse of energy drinks on mental health problems have emerged. Aims: This study aimed to analyze the relationship between energy drink consumption, depression and suicide ideation. Methods: We analyzed the data of 26,346 boys and 26,966 girls who participated in the 2015 Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey. The independent variable was the frequency of energy drink consumption per week. Experience of depression and suicide ideation were considered as the dependent variables. Multiple logistic regression was performed. Results: An association was found between energy drink intake per week and depressive mood. Moreover, the most frequent energy drink intake (three times or more per week) group showed the highest association with depressive mood (odds ratios (ORs); boys: ORs = 1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.25–1.56; girls: ORs = 1.61, 95% CI: 1.44–1.79) and suicide ideation (boys: ORs = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.27–1.69; girls: ORs = 1.36, 95% CI: 1.20–1.55). Conclusion: We observed that consumption of excessive amounts of energy drinks is associated with depression and suicide ideation. Therefore, appropriate regulation or education is needed to prevent adolescents from experiencing adverse outcomes.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical outcomes in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive patients with type 2 diabetes compared to those without diabetes in Korea.Methods: We extracted claims data for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from the National Health Insurance Service database in Korea from January 20, 2020 to March 31, 2020. We followed up this cohort until death from COVID-19 or discharge from hospital.Results: A total of 5,473 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were analyzed, including 495 with type 2 diabetes and 4,978 without diabetes. Patients with type 2 diabetes were more likely to be treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) (P<0.0001). The incidence of inhospital mortality was higher in patients with type 2 diabetes (P<0.0001). After adjustment for age, sex, insurance status, and comorbidities, odds of ICU admission (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.59; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02 to 2.49; P=0.0416) and in-hospital mortality (adjusted OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.13 to 3.21; P=0.0161) among patients with COVID-19 infection were significantly higher in those with type 2 diabetes. However, there was no significant difference between patients with and without type 2 diabetes in ventilator, oxygen therapy, antibiotics, antiviral drugs, antipyretics, and the incidence of pneumonia after adjustment.Conclusion: COVID-19 positive patients with type 2 diabetes had poorer clinical outcomes with higher risk of ICU admission and in-hospital mortality than those without diabetes. Therefore, medical providers need to consider this more serious clinical course when planning and delivering care to type 2 diabetes patients with COVID-19 infection.