Psychosocial, physical, and autonomic correlates of depression in korean adults: results from a county-based depression screening study.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to investigate the prevalence and psychosocial and neurophysiological correlates of depression in a large county-based cohort of Korean adults.


METHODS
We recruited 2355 adults from a rural county-based health promotion program. The following psychometric scales were used: the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) was used to assess depression, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was used to evaluate stress, and the Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS) was used to determine perceived social support. Heart rate variability (HRV) was used to assess neurophysiological properties. The psychosocial and neurophysiological variables of adults with depression (CES-D score ≥25) and without depression (CES-D score <25) were statistically compared. A logistic regression model was constructed to identify factors independently associated with depression.


RESULTS
We estimated that 17.7% of the subjects had depression, which was associated with old age, being female, being single, less religious affiliation, high education, low body mass index (BMI), low levels of aerobic exercise, low social support, and a low HRV triangular index. The explanatory factors of depression included high education, less religious affiliation, low levels of current aerobic exercise, low BMI, and low social support.


CONCLUSIONS
Given the relatively high prevalence of overall depression, subsyndromal depression should also be regarded as an important issue in screening. The independent factors associated with depression suggest that practical psychosocial intervention, including brief psychotherapy, aerobic exercise, and other self-help methods should be considered. In addition, the HRV results suggest that further depression screening accompanied by neurophysiological features would require fine methodological modifications with proactive efforts to prevent depressive symptoms.
Department of Psychiatry, Yong-In Mental Hospital, Yongin, Republic of Korea.
Ki Won
KW
Kim
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. ; Institute of Mental Health, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Seok Hyeon
SH
Kim
Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Jin Ho
JH
Shin
Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Bo Yul
BY
Choi
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Jung Hyun
JH
Nam
Department of Psychiatry, Yong-In Mental Hospital, Yongin, Republic of Korea. ; Institute of Mental Health, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Seon-Cheol
SC
Park
Depression; Psychosocial intervention; Screening; Self-report questionnaire; Subsyndromal depression