title: Self-rated health and its determinants in Japan and South Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare self-rated health and its determinants between Japanese and South Koreans.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted on 2496 and 1576 adults (aged ≥20 years) in Japan and Korea, respectively, who completed the 2010 East Asian Social Survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ordinal logistic regression was conducted to identify significant factors for self-rated health in the two nations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Japan has a lower level, and a smaller variance, of self-rated health than Korea. This study confirmed traditional results by finding that socio-economic status, daily activity and physical exercise had positive effects on self-rated health; and chronic disease, overweight/obesity and smoking had negative effects on self-rated health. In addition, this study found that: middle-aged (40s/50s) Japanese have lower self-rated health than younger (20s/30s) Japanese; living with a spouse has a negative impact on self-related health in both Japanese and Koreans in their 20s/30s; and mental factors (i.e. happiness, hopelessness and mental health problems) have a greater impact on self-rated health in Japanese than in Koreans, whereas the reverse is true for physical health problems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study found that many health dynamics depend on the unique context of each nation. Moreover, this study may help to inform the direction of future research on self-rated health and its determinants in other Asian nations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive and Social Medicine and Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Comparative analysis; Japan; Korea; Self-rated health