OBJECTIVES: Depression is a common disabling psychiatric illness in the workplace and is associated with high burden to both employer and employee. Little is known about the awareness, attitude, and impact of depression in the Korean workplace. This study investigates how workers perceive the symptomatology, disability, and management of depression. METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional web-based survey of 1000 workers recruited from online sites. Selected panel members were invited to participate in the survey through Ipsos MORI (www.ipsos-mori.com/) between 10th and 19th February 2014. The participants were Korean workers, aged 16-64, who are either currently working or had worked within the past year. Subjects were encouraged to respond to a 13-item questionnaire on the awareness, attitude, and impact of depression. RESULTS: According to the results, 7.4% of the subjects responded that they had ever been diagnosed as having depression from medical professionals. One third of workers with depression who had taken time off from work did not provide the actual reason to their employers, and the mean number of days off work was 9.8 days. The most common symptoms were depressed mood (76.7%), loss of interests (71.5%), sleep problem (69.8%), and cognitive dysfunction (47.0%). Cognitive symptoms (72.2%) were prominent among the workers who continued to work under the influence of depression. CONCLUSION: Korean workers reported a low rate of depression. Those who have been diagnosed with depression reported shorter number of days taken off from work compared to other countries. These results suggest that depression is poorly recognized and disclosed to employers in the Korean workplace. Presenteeism rather than absenteeism may be a major loss of productivity in Korea. An employee assistance program for depressed workers and new therapeutic strategies for treatment of cognitive symptoms of depression should be provided in Korea.
Absenteeism ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder ; Efficiency ; Korea ; Neurobehavioral Manifestations ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: A recent study conducted by the Korea National Statistical Office (KNSO) reported that the suicide rate in Korea decreased in 2012. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the decrease in suicide rate and media reporting of suicide events. METHODS: Data on suicide rates were obtained from the KNSO. Correlation between suicide rate and celebrity suicide events, number of media reports on suicide, and suicide searches was compared. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The number of celebrity suicide events and recognition of celebrity decreased in 2012. Pearson's correlation test showed a significant positive correlation between the monthly number of media reports on suicide and the suicide rate (daily newspaper r=0.619, p<0.001 ; broadcast r=0.393, p<0.001). The number of suicide searches showed association with celebrity suicide events. CONCLUSION: The suicide rate may be influenced by the number of media reports on suicide events. Establishing guidelines for media reporting on these events could help to decrease the suicide rates.
Korea ; Periodicals ; Suicide*

OBJECTIVES: This study examined feasibility and reliability of a mobile application to measure depression in breast cancer patients. METHODS: Forty-two breast cancer patients from the Department of Surgery at Asan Medical Center were included in the study. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), EuroQol Five Dimensional Questionnaire, and EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale were assessed at baseline and twice after surgery at regular intervals. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was delivered by as a push notification via mobile application every two weeks for 12 months. Feasibility was calculated using number of respondents and total number of PHQ-9 completed. Reliability was calculated from the relationship between PHQ-9 and BDI scores obtained within each two week period. Agreement between PHQ-9 and BDI scores in the diagnosis of depression was evaluated by kappa statistic and McNemar's test. RESULTS: One thousand and ninety-two notifications for PHQ-9 were sent, and 622 responses were reported (compliance rate=57%). The compliance rate was not related to demographic factors except for the date of the first use of the application. Pearson's r between PHQ-9 and BDI scores was 0.599 (p<0.001), and kappa analysis demonstrated moderate level of agreement in diagnosis of depression (κ=0.431). CONCLUSION: The compliance rate for patients reporting their symptoms by mobile application is high and the scores of PHQ-9 and BDI are correlated, which suggests that the mobile data measuring depression is reliable. However, this is a preliminary study and further study is needed to determine other factors that influence compliance rate.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Compliance ; Demography ; Depression* ; Diagnosis ; Feasibility Studies ; Humans ; Mobile Applications* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

In November 2021, 14 international travel-related severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) B.1.1.529 (omicron) variant of concern (VOC) patients were detected in South Korea. Epidemiologic investigation revealed community transmission of the omicron VOC. A total of 80 SARS-CoV-2 omicron VOC-positive patients were identified until December 10, 2021 and 66 of them reported no relation to the international travel.There may be more transmissions with this VOC in Korea than reported.