This photo, from Sept. 14, 2020, shows office workers out for lunch in the central Seoul ward of Jongno. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Depression has spread among men in their 30s and 40s following the pandemic, particularly among those with lower educational attainment, without a spouse and those who smoke, the public health agency said Tuesday.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency analyzed the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which showed that the odds ratio of men developing depression was 2.87 between 2018 and 2021 among men in their 30s and 2.32 among those in their 40s.
The risk is higher when the odds ratio exceeds a value of 1.
Sorted by educational background, the odds ratio jumped to 2.71 among men who had graduated from middle school or lower, compared to 2.05 among those who had graduated from high school.
Among those who had graduated from college or higher, the odds ratio was relatively lower at 1.45.
Sorted by income level, the odds ratio was higher among the lower 40 percent (2.39) and the lower 60 percent (2.62). Sorted by marital status, the odds ratio was higher among those without a spouse (2.20) than those with a spouse (1.42).
While the overall level of “thinking about committing suicide” has decreased compared to the period prior to the pandemic, the level has gone up for both men (2.69) and women (2.59) in their 30s.
In particular, the odds ratio of “planning to commit suicide” has jumped to 5.98 among men in their 30s, an indication of a serious social problem.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
