Prevalence of depression and correlates of depressive symptoms for residents in the urban part of Jeju Island, Korea.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the prevalence of depression and depressive symptoms, and the correlates of depressive symptoms, and proposes some methods for reducing risk of depression in residents of the urban part of Jeju Island in Korea.


METHODS
In all, 1050 residents were selected using multiphasic cluster sampling to represent each district. Of the 981 respondents, 413 were men and 568 were women. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to evaluate depression (CES-D score over 25) and depressive symptoms (CES-D score over 21). Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed for comparisons.


RESULTS
The prevalence of depression in males and females was comparable, at 9.47 and 11.36%, respectively. The prevalence of depressive symptoms in men was 15.01%, while in women the level rose to 18.37%. Those with high self-assessed level of stress scores were significantly more likely to have depressive symptoms than those with low self-assessed level of stress scores (odds ratio (OR) = 5.73 (95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.29-25.36)). Residents at high risk of problem drinking (CAGE score over 3) were significantly more likely to have depressive symptoms than those with a CAGE score under 1 (OR = 3.43 95% CI, 1.77-6.66). Respondents who slept poorly had more depressive symptoms than respondents who slept well (OR = 2.11 95% CI, 1.37-3.23). Females were significantly more likely to have more depressive symptoms than males (OR = 1.70 95% CI, 1.08-2.68).


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of depression and depressive symptoms in urban Jeju Island is similar to that in a nation-wide sample. By providing intensive mental health services to those who have high stress levels, problem drinking, and poor health behavior, early detection of depressive symptoms in the community will be important for improving general health status.
Kim
Moon-Doo
MD
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Cheju National University, Jeju, Korea. mdkim66@cheju.ac.kr
Hong
Seong-Chul
SC
Lee
Chang-In
CI
Kwak
Young-Sook
YS
Shin
Tae-Kyun
TK
Jang
Yun-Hee
YH
Oh
Eun-Hee
EH
Lee
Ji-Woong
JW
Jeon
Bong-Hee
BH
Hwang
Seo-Eun
SE
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*