OBJECTIVES: The US ranks ninth in obesity in the world, and approximately 7% of US adults experience major depressive disorder. Social isolation due to the stigma attached to obesity might trigger depression. METHODS: This paper examined the impact of obesity on depression. To overcome the endogeneity problem, we constructed pseudo-panel data using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from 1997 to 2008. RESULTS: The results were robust, and body mass index (BMI) was found to have a positive effect on depression days and the percentage of depressed individuals in the population. CONCLUSIONS: We attempted to overcome the endogeneity problem by using a pseudo-panel approach and found that increases in the BMI increased depression days (or being depressed) to a statistically significant extent, with a large effect size.
Adult ; Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ; Body Mass Index ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Humans ; Obesity* ; Social Isolation

OBJECTIVES: This study was to compare with health promoting Life styles of people between demonstrating and non-demonstrating health promotion services in rural community. METHODS: Objects of the study were 13,000 people by stratified sampling in rural community of H and J Gun in Korea. Data were collected from 1st December to 30th, 2005, using structured questionnaire. Research tool of this study were modified Korea BRFSS, Park's stress questionnaire and Nutritional evaluation tool suggested by ministry of health & welfare in Korea. RESULTS: People received demonstrating health promotion services were significantly more good health promoting life styles in related drinking, exercise and stress than that of non-demonstrating health promotion services. CONCLUSIONS: There were significantly higher health promoting Life styles of people received demonstrating health promotion services than that of non-demonstrating. Government supporting health promotion services was more effective than that of local government finance.
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ; Drinking ; Health Promotion ; Korea ; Life Style ; Local Government ; Rural Population ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare Preventive Health Behaviors (PHBs) in adults in Korea and the United States and identify factors influencing PHBs. METHODS: This was a secondary data analysis study using data from the 2008 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the 2008 USA Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The PHBs were predicted using multiple linear regression analysis. RESULTS: 1) The total score of PHBs was significantly higher in American males (5.11) than in Korean males (4.78). There was also a significant difference between Korean females' total score (6.57) and American females'(6.75). 2) Age, marriage, monthly income, subjective health status, and cardiovascular disease were significant factors of PHBs in Korean males (p<.001). However, age, marriage, education, monthly income, health insurance, subjective health status, and cardiovascular disease were significant factors in American males (p<.001). In Korean females, only age and education were significant predictors (p<.001). However, six variables(age, marriage, education, monthly income, health insurance, and subjective health status) were significant predictors in American females (p<.001). CONCLUSION: There were different variables in predicting PHBs between Koreans and Americans. Each country should focus on those significant predictors to promote the PHBs for adults.
Adult ; Aged ; Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Female ; Health Behavior ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Linear Models ; Male ; Marriage ; Nutrition Surveys ; Statistics as Topic ; United States

BACKGROUND: Most recent studies have suggested that beer is associated with high risk of mortality and morbidity. The purpose of this study was to investigate how beverage types affected high risk drinking for chronic harm. METHODS: We analyzed data from 1997 Korea's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey collected through telephone interview based on the multi-stage stratified random sampling (N=1,045). According to the WHOs guidelines, we categorized alcohol consumption per day into three risk levels for chronic harm and employed logistic regression analyses by adjusting for confounding factors including the number of beverages consumed, smoking, BMI, stress, and subjective health. RESULTS: Those who preferred soju were almost three to four times as likely to involve medium or high risk as those who preferred beer. In addition, compared to the beer-preferring drinkers, those who preferred spirits had more than five times of possibility in high risk drinking. However, both of those who preferred makkolli or wine and of those who preferred beer were exposed to high risk drinking to a similar degree. CONCLUSION: In Korea, preferred types of alcoholic beverage turned out to be very important factor of high risk drinking behavior. Therefore, we need to encourage drinkers to switch high alcohol to low alcohol content beverages.
Alcohol Drinking ; Alcoholic Beverages* ; Alcoholics* ; Alcoholism ; Alcohols ; Beer ; Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ; Beverages ; Drinking Behavior ; Drinking* ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Mortality ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Wine

OBJECTIVE: Studies have suggested that beer is associated with a high risk of mortality and morbidity. The purpose of this study was to investigate how types of alcoholic beverage are related to high risk acute harm. METHODS: Data from the 1997 Korea's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey, collected through telephone questionings, were analyzed based on multi-stage stratified random sampling (N=1, 045). Among those who had drunk at least one type of alcoholic beverage in the last month, one episode where the drinker had consumed the highest level of ethanol was selected, and the alcohol consumption per drinking day categorized into four risk levels of short-term, 'acute' harm, according to the WHO guidelines. Employing ordered logistic regression analyses, as the explanatory variables, types of alcoholic beverage, with and without socioeconomic characteristics, were considered. RESULTS: Spirits and soju were more than ten and three times, respectively, more likely than beer, while makkolli and wine were almost as likely as beer, to involve high risk drinking, irrespective of controlling for the socioeconomic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike most Western countries, in Korea, beer, rather than spirits or soju, is generally less likely to be associated with high risk drinking for acute harm. The influence of beverage types on high risk drinking for acute harm appears to vary between countries.
Alcohol Drinking ; Alcoholic Beverages* ; Alcoholics* ; Alcoholism ; Alcohols ; Beer ; Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ; Beverages ; Drinking* ; Ethanol ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Mortality ; Telephone ; Wine

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; prevention & control ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ; China ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Dangerous Behavior ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Sex Work ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to examine the socio-demographic disparities in obesity among US adults across 130 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas. METHODS: This study used data from the 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and Selected Metropolitan/Micropolitan Area Risk Trend of 159,827 US adults aged 18 years and older. Data were analyzed using the multilevel linear regression models. RESULTS: According to individual level analyses, socio-demographic disparities in obesity exist in the United States. Individuals with low socioeconomic status were associated with a higher body mass index. The participants from the Midwest United States tend to have higher body mass index than those who from the South. According to metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area level analyses, secondly, there were significant differences in obesity status between different areas and the relation of obesity with 5 socio-demographic factors varied across different areas. According to geospatial mapping analyses, even though obesity status by metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area level has improved overtime, differences in body mass index between United States regions are increasing from 2007 to 2015. CONCLUSION: Socio-demographic and regional disparities in obesity status persist among US adults. Hence, these findings underscore the need to take socio-environmental factors into account when planning obesity prevention on vulnerable populations and areas.
Adult ; Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ; Body Mass Index ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Multilevel Analysis ; Obesity ; Social Class ; United States ; Vulnerable Populations

The rapid rise in the incidence of obesity has emerged as one of the most pressing global public health issues in recent years. The underlying etiological causes of obesity, whether behavioral, environmental, genetic, or a combination of several of them, have not been completely elucidated. The obesity epidemic has been attributed to the ready availability, abundance, and overconsumption of high-energy content food. We determined here by Pearson's correlation the relationship between food type consumption and rising obesity using the loss-adjusted food availability data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Services (ERS) as well as the obesity prevalence data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Our analysis showed that total calorie intake and consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) did not correlate with rising obesity trends. Intake of other major food types, including chicken, dairy fats, salad and cooking oils, and cheese also did not correlate with obesity trends. However, our results surprisingly revealed that consumption of corn products correlated with rising obesity and was independent of gender and race/ethnicity among population dynamics in the U.S. Therefore, we were able to demonstrate a novel link between the consumption of corn products and rising obesity trends that has not been previously attributed to the obesity epidemic. This correlation coincides with the introduction of bioengineered corns into the human food chain, thus raising a new hypothesis that should be tested in molecular and animal models of obesity.
Aluminum Hydroxide ; Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ; Callosities ; Carbonates ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Cheese ; Chickens ; Cooking ; Fats ; Food Chain ; Fructose ; Humans ; Incidence ; Models, Animal ; Nutrition Surveys ; Obesity ; Oils ; Population Dynamics ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; United States Department of Agriculture ; Zea mays

OBJECTIVES: This study describes trends in the socioeconomic disparities in breast cancer screening among US women aged 40 or over, from 2000 to 2005. We assessed 1) the disparities in each socioeconomic dimension; 2) the changes in screening mammography rates over time according to income, education, and race; and 3) the sizes and trends of the disparities over time. METHODS: Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from 2000 to 2005, we calculated the age-adjusted screening rate according to relative household income, education level, health insurance, and race. Odds ratios and the relative inequality index (RII) were also calculated, controlling for age. RESULTS: Women in their 40s and those with lower relative incomes were less likely to undergo screening mammography. The disparity based on relative income was greater than that based on education or race (the RII among low-income women across the survey years was 3.00 to 3.48). The overall participation rate and absolute differences among socioeconomic groups changed little or decreased slightly across the survey years. However, the degree of each socioeconomic disparity and the relative inequality among socioeconomic positions remained quite consistent. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the trend of the disparity in breast cancer screening varied by socioeconomic dimension. ontinued differences in breast cancer screening rates related to income level should be considered in future efforts to decrease the disparities in breast cancer among socioeconomic groups. More focused interventions, as well as the monitoring of trends in cancer screening participation by income and education, are needed in different social settings.
Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ; Breast Neoplasms/*radiography ; Female ; *Healthcare Disparities ; Humans ; Mammography/*utilization ; Mass Screening/*trends ; Middle Aged ; *Social Class ; Socioeconomic Factors ; United States

OBJECTIVES: To identify factors responsible for potentially clinically unnecessary cervical cancer screenings in women with prior hysterectomy. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). This study targeted adult women and examined whether they received a both a Papanicolaou (Pap) test and undergone a hysterectomy in the last three years. We conducted multivariate analyses, including weighted proportions and odds ratios (ORs), based on the modified BRFSS weighting method (raking). The inclusion criteria were adult women (>18 years old) who reported having received a Pap test within the last 3 years. RESULTS: Of all women (n=252 391), 72 366 had received a Pap test, and 32 935 of those women (45%, or 12.5 million, weighted) had a prior hysterectomy. We found that age, race/ethnicity, marital status, family income, health status, time since last routine checkup, and health insurance coverage were all significant predictors. Black, non-Hispanic women were 2.23 times more likely to receive Pap testing after a hysterectomy than white women (OR, 2.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.99 to 2.50). Similarly, the odds for Hispanic women were 2.34 times higher (OR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.97 to 2.80). The odds were also higher for those who were married (OR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.27), healthier (OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.35), and had health insurance (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.28 to 1.84), after controlling for confounders. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that women may potentially receive Pap tests even if they are not at risk for cervical cancer, and may not be adequately informed about the need for screenings. We recommend strategies to disseminate recommendations and information to patients, their families, and care providers.
Adult ; Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Hispanic Americans ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Insurance, Health ; Marital Status ; Mass Screening* ; Methods ; Multivariate Analysis ; Odds Ratio ; Papanicolaou Test ; Retrospective Studies ; United States ; Unnecessary Procedures ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*