1.Depressive Symptoms of the Population Aged 19 and Over due to Regional Gaps in Sports Facilities
Hyung-Seop SIM ; Bom-Gyeol KIM ; Do-Hee KIM ; Tae-Hyun KIM
Health Policy and Management 2022;32(1):63-72
Background:
Depression is a common disease around the world. Many studies are showing that mental health can be improved through physical activity, and daily regular exercise can reduce the negative effects of depression or depressive symptoms. In order to promote individual physical activity, a physical activity-friendly environment must precede. Therefore, this study attempted to confirm whether the number of sports facilities for all affects individual depression.
Methods:
Among the respondents to the 2018 Community Health Survey, data from 181,086 people excluding missing value were used. Descriptive and chi-square tests were performed to understanding the general characteristics of individual level variables. A multilevel logistic regression was conducted to confirm the effect of individual and regional level variables on depressive symptoms.
Results:
As a result of confirming the effect of individual characteristics on depressive symptoms, it was confirmed that both socioeconomic and health behavior factors had an effect. Similar results were shown in a model that considered regional level variables, and in the case of the number of sports facilities per population, people who belongs to smaller areas were more likely to have depressive symptoms (odds ratio, 0.98; 95% confidence interval, 0.97–0.99).
Conclusion
As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that both individual level and regional level variables had a significant effect on depressive symptoms. This suggests that not only individual level approaches but also regional level approaches are needed to improve individual depressive symptoms In particular, it may be possible to consider to increase the number of sports facilities in areas where the prevalence of depressive symptoms is high and the number of sports facilities is insufficient.