Association between depression and perceived health status in Korean adult women: a nationwide cross-sectional study

Abstract

Abstract Background Perceived health status (PHS) can be influenced by mental health. A negative correlation between high levels of depression and self-evaluation of health has been reported, but research focusing on depression as a risk factor for poor PHS has been limited in Asia. This study aimed to analyse the association between depression and PHS in Korean adult women and explore the degree of depression’s association on poor PHS. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study for adult women in Korea using data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022. Depression was assessed using the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire, and PHS was evaluated through a self-report questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the association between depression and PHS after adjusting for various covariates. Results A total of 15,082 Korean adult women were included. A significant inverse relationship was found between depression and PHS across all adjusted models, with an odds ratio of 3.18 (95% confidence interval 2.37–4.27; P < 0.01). Poor PHS had a stronger association with depression than with chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. Conclusions Depression was strongly associated with poor PHS among Korean adult women. These findings highlight the importance of the implementation of mental health policies and programs to improve PHS. Future longitudinal studies are required to further validate these findings and explore causal relationships.

Keywords

• Depression
• Perceived health status
• Korea
• Adult women
• Cross-sectional study