Contrasting income-based inequalities in incidence and mortality of breast cancer in Korea, 2006-2015.

Objectives: Breast cancer incidence and mortality rates in Korea are increasing. This study analyzed income-based inequalities in the incidence and mortality of women breast cancer from 2006 to 2015, using national data that covered all Korean women.

Methods: We used the National Health Information Database from 2006 to 2015.

Changes in Adolescent Health Behavior and the Exacerbation of Economic Hardship During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study From the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Objectives: This study investigated the association between exacerbated economic hardship during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and changes in the health behaviors of Korean adolescents.

Methods: We analyzed data from the 2021 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey and included 44 908 students (22 823 boys and 22 085 girls) as study subjects. The dependent variables included changes in health behaviors (breakfast habits, physical activity, and alcohol use) that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Area-Level Socioeconomic Inequalities in Intracranial Injury-Related Hospitalization in Korea: A Retrospective Analysis of Data From Korea National Hospital Discharge Survey 2008-2015.

Background: Although inequality in traumatic brain injury (TBI) by individual socioeconomic status (SES) exists, interventions to modify individual SES are difficult. However, as interventions for area-based SES can affect the individual SES, monitoring or public health intervention can be planned. We analyzed the effect of area-based SES on hospitalization for TBI and revealed yearly inequality trends to provide a basis for health intervention.

Maternal socioeconomic position and inequity in child deaths: An analysis of 2012 South Korean birth cohort of 466,636 children.

Background: Inequalities in child mortality occur via interactions between socio-environmental factors and their constituents. Through childhood developmental stages, we can observe changing patterns of mortality. By investigating these patterns and social inequalities by cause and developmental stage, we aim to gain insights into health policies to reduce and equalize childhood mortality.

Cause-specific mortality in Korea during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the trends in total mortality between 1998 and 2020 and to compare the changes in a wide range of detailed causes of death between 2020 (i.e., during the coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19] pandemic) and the previous year in Korea.

Workplace Violence in Workers with Multi-Party Employment Arrangements: Results from the Korean National Representative Survey.

Background: Despite a growing number of investigations exploring the health problems in precarious workers, there is still a paucity of studies investigating workplace violence in workers with multi-party employment arrangements (WMPEAs). This study was aimed at comparing the prevalence of workplace violence between non-WMPEA and WMPEA.

Methods: The 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey data were used.

Smoking, drinking, and physical activity among Korean adults before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a special report of the 2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Objectives: This study aimed to describe trends in health behaviours between 2011 and 2020 and compare the changes in these behaviours between the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and previous periods according to socio-demographic variables.

Methods: This study used data from the 2011 to 2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Current cigarette smoking, high-risk drinking, and inadequate physical activity levels were used as health behaviour indicators.

Area-based inequalities and distribution of healthcare resources for managing diabetes in South Korea: a cross-sectional multilevel analysis.

Objectives: We aimed to identify area-based socioeconomic inequalities in diabetes management and to examine whether the distribution of healthcare resources could explain area-based inequalities in diabetes management.

Design: Cross-sectional multilevel analysis from national survey data.

Setting And Participants: Data were derived from the 2018 Korean Community Health Survey.

Household decision-making and the mental well-being of marriage-based immigrant women in South Korea.

Objective: We assessed the association between household decision-making and mental well-being among Asian immigrant women residing in Korea. We also investigated if the impact varies by the regional origin and examined potential factors for joint decision-making.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using the Korean National Survey of Multicultural Families 2015 and logistic regression.

Employment status and mortality among Korean men over a 13-year period.

Objectives: This study explored the effect of employment status on mortality over a 13-year period in Korean men.

Methods: Data were used from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study from 1999 to 2012. This study started with 2,737 subjects and included employed men in good health, aged 30-69 years.

A national pilot program for chronic diseases and health inequalities in South Korea.

Background: To achieve the health equity, it is important to reduce socioeconomic inequalities when managing chronic diseases. In South Korea, a pilot program for chronic diseases was implemented at the national level. This study aimed to examine its effect on socioeconomic inequalities in chronic disease management at the individual and regional levels.

The Contribution of Avoidable Mortality to the Life Expectancy Gains in Korea between 1998 and 2017.

This study evaluated the contribution of avoidable causes of death to gains in life expectancy between 1998 and 2017 in Korea. This is a multi-year, cross-sectional study using national data. Death certificate data from 1998 to 2017 were obtained from Statistics Korea.

A publicly well-accepted measure versus an academically desirable measure of health inequality: cross-sectional comparison of the difference between income quintiles with the slope index of inequality.

Objectives: The difference between income quintiles in health is relatively well accepted by the general public as a measure of health inequality. However, the slope index of inequality (SII) in health reflects the patterns of all social groups, including the middle 60%, and it could therefore be considered more academically desirable. If these two measures are closely correlated, the widespread use of the difference between income quintiles in health would be better supported.

Employment Status and Self-Reported Unmet Healthcare Needs among South Korean Employees.

We aimed to examine the association between employment status and self-reported unmet healthcare needs and to identify factors influencing self-reported unmet healthcare needs by employment status. Nationally representative data from the 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used. Participants were classified by employment status as either permanent or precarious workers.

Neo-Marxian social class inequalities in oral health among the South Korean population.

Aim: The aims of this study were to examine inequalities in periodontitis and tooth loss among South Korean adults using the Wright's Neo-Marxian social class (NMSC) indicator and to assess the impact of material, psychosocial, health behavioural and workplace environmental factors in the association of social class with oral health.

Methods: This study used the data from the 4th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with 6710 participants aged 19-54 years old. Participants were classified into 12 social class positions based on the Wright's social class map.

The Change of Self-Rated Health According to Working Hours for Two Years by Gender.

Objective: The aim of this study was to confirm the association between working hours and self-rated health, and to find the degree of changes in health level by working hours according to gender.

Methods: This study was based on the 929 workers (571 men and 358 women) from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study during 2004⁻2006. To minimize the healthy worker effects, the study subjects included only those who did not have any chronic diseases, and who answered their health status as "moderate" or above in the baseline.

Working hours and depressive symptoms: the role of job stress factors.

Background: South Korea is one of the countries with the longest working hours in the OECD countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of working hours on depressive symptoms and the role of job stress factors between the two variables among employees in South Korea.

Methods: This study used data from the Korea Working Conditions Survey in 2014.

Toxic Effects of Methanol among Illegally Dispatched Workers at Aluminum CNC Cutting Process in Small-Scale, Third-Tier Subcontractor Factories of Smartphone Manufacturers in the Republic of Korea.

An outbreak of occupational methanol poisoning occurred in small-scale, third-tier factories of large-scale smartphone manufacturers in the Republic of Korea in 2016. To investigate the working environment and the health effects of methanol exposure among co-workers in the methanol poisoning cases, we performed a cross-sectional study on 155 workers at five aluminum Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) cutting factories. Gas chromatography measured air and urinary methanol concentration.

The Combined Effect of Long Working Hours and Low Job Control on Self-Rated Health: An Interaction Analysis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the combined effects of long working hours and low job control on self-rated health.

Methods: We analyzed employees' data obtained from the third Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS). Multiple survey logistic analysis and postestimation commands were employed to estimate the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI).

Associations of Shift Work and Its Duration with Work-Related Injury among Electronics Factory Workers in South Korea.

This study aimed to explore the association between shift work and work-related injuries. We collected data on workers from an electronics factory. This cross-sectional study included 13,610 subjects, who were assessed based on a self-reported questionnaire about their shift work experiences, work-related injuries, and other covariates.

Neo-Marxian social class inequalities in self-rated health among the employed in South Korea: the role of material, behavioral, psychosocial, and workplace environmental factors.

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the pattern of social inequality in self-rated health among the employed using the Wright's social class location indicator, and to assess the roles of material, behavioral, psychosocial, and workplace environmental factors as mediating factors in explaining the social class inequality in self-rated health in South Korea.

Methods: This study used data from the 4th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2009. Study subjects included the employed population of 4392 men and 3309 women aged 19-64 years.

Increased breast cancer mortality only in the lower education group: age-period-cohort effect in breast cancer mortality by educational level in South Korea, 1983-2012.

Background: A steadily increasing pattern of breast cancer mortality has been reported in South Korea since the late 1980s. This paper explored the trends of educational inequalities of female breast cancer mortality between 1983 and 2012 in Korea, and conducted age-period-cohort (APC) analysis by educational level.

Methods: Age-standardized mortality rates of breast cancer per 100,000 person-years were calculated.

Life course indices for social determinants of self-rated health trajectory in Korean elderly.

Objectives: This study investigated the self-rated health trajectories of the Korean older population and revealed life-course factors that affect the trajectories over the life course.

Methods: Around 1000 older adults were randomly allocated by stratified multi-stage sampling based on the population census, and underwent face-to-face interviews. Self-rated health status, socioeconomic variables over the life course, and demographic variables were included in the analysis.