Do Hee Kim

Background: Dementia imposes a growing public health burden in Korea, with substantial implications for families living with affected members. Although prior Korean studies have suggested an association between dementia‐related household context and depressive symptoms, population‐based evidence on co‐residence with a family member with dementia remains limited. This study examined the association between co‐residence with a family member with dementia and depressive symptoms among Korean adults aged 50 years and older. Methods: We conducted a cross‐sectional analysis using data from the 2024 Korea Community Health Survey. Among 231,728 respondents, 120,029 adults aged ≥ 50 years living in non‐single‐person households were included. The exposure was co‐residence with a family member reported to have dementia, rather than a direct measure of caregiving status, intensity, or duration. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire‐9 (PHQ‐9), with a score ≥ 10 indicating clinically significant depressive symptoms. Survey‐weighted multiple logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results: Overall, 15.8% of individuals reported depressive symptoms. Living with a family member with dementia was highly associated with depressive symptoms (OR = 1.35; 95% CI: 1.29–1.42; p < 0.0001). Among men, significant lower associations showed with good health status (OR = 0.14; 95% CI: 0.13–0.16). Among women, similar patterns were observed, with high income (OR = 0.71; 95% CI: 0.63–0.80) and good health (OR = 0.14; 95% CI: 0.13–0.16) being strongly protective against depression. Conclusions: Co‐residence with a family member with dementia was associated with higher odds of depressive symptoms among Korean adults aged 50 years and older. These findings suggest the need to consider mental health screening and support strategies for families living with dementia, while acknowledging the cross‐sectional and self‐reported nature of the data.

Objectives: Assessing healthcare quality at the national level is essential for evaluating health system performance and identifying areas requiring improvement. This study examined long-term trends in healthcare quality in Korea from 2008 to 2023 using internationally comparable indicators.Methods: We conducted a trend analysis of healthcare quality in Korea using the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Health Care Quality and Outcomes framework and quality indicators. Indicators across multiple domains, including acute care, primary care, prescribing in primary care, mental healthcare, and patient experiences, were analyzed and compared with OECD averages.Results: Healthcare quality in Korea improved across several domains. Thirty-day mortality for acute myocardial infarction decreased from 14.2% in 2008 to 10.2% in 2023, while mortality for ischemic stroke declined from 8.7% to 5.5%. Avoidable hospitalizations decreased substantially, with hospitalizations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease declining by 59.7%. The proportion of patients with diabetes receiving cholesterol-lowering treatment increased from 44.1% to 82.5%. However, the proportion of broad-spectrum antibiotic prescriptions remained substantially higher than the OECD average (40.3 vs. 15.5%). In mental healthcare, excess mortality ratios increased from 4.3 in 2010 to 4.9 in 2023 for schizophrenia and from 3.5 to 4.3 for bipolar disorder, while post-discharge suicide rates showed little improvement. Patient experience indicators related to patient-physician communication improved and approached OECD averages.Conclusions: Healthcare quality in Korea improved substantially between 2008 and 2023, particularly in acute care outcomes and chronic disease management. However, persistent challenges remain in areas such as antibiotic use, polypharmacy, and mental healthcare. These findings provide internationally comparable evidence to inform future health policy and healthcare quality improvement efforts.

Background: Patient experience is increasingly being recognized as a core component of quality healthcare. It captures various dimensions of a patient’s interaction with healthcare providers that may influence patient satisfaction and ultimately impact the incidence of complaints or disputes. However, only limited research has investigated the financial implications of patient experience, particularly its association with medical dispute costs. This study sought to understand whether patient experience scores correlate with medical dispute costs and to provide insights into cost-effective strategies in patient-centred care. Methods: We used a dataset that included patient experience scores and medical dispute costs over a defined period. Descriptive analysis, frequency distribution of disputes, and odds ratios were calculated to examine the initial patterns. Logistic regression models were applied using both logged and ratio-based dispute-cost transformations to assess the relationship between patient experience and dispute costs. The models were stratified according to patient experience type. Results: The analysis revealed that higher patient experience scores were generally associated with reduced medical dispute costs, with significant relationships observed in specific models. In a cost-ratio model, doctor interactions showed a strong correlation with reduced dispute costs. For nurses, significant associations were observed in a logged cost model, suggesting that both nurses and doctors contributed uniquely to dispute costs. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that improving specific domains of patient experience, such as patient rights, may serve as a cost-effective strategy for reducing medical dispute costs. These findings emphasize the importance of fostering patient-centred care and addressing institutional and contextual factors. These insights provide a foundation for targeted strategies to enhance patient satisfaction while promoting financial and operational stability in healthcare institutions.

Objective: A growing number of Korean adolescents consume energy drinks, which may increase the risk of obesity, anxiety and insomnia. We examined whether poor sleep was associated with energy drink consumption among study participants.Design: We used a cross-sectional design.Setting: The Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey data from 2019.Participants: To determine the association between sleep and energy drink consumption, we compared the independent variables for 50,455 adolescents in Korea (aged 14–19 years) using multivariate logistic regression and sensitivity analyses.Results: In Korea, 69·5 % adolescents consumed energy drinks, 17·1 % slept for less than 5 h, 22·4 % slept for 5–6 h, 23·8 % slept for 6–7 h, 19·9 % slept for 7–8 h and 16·7 % slept for 8 h or more. Regarding sleep satisfaction, 21·0 % reported sufficient, 32·6 % reported just enough and 46·5 % reported insufficient. Regarding sleep duration, it was found that less than 5 h (OR, 2·36; 95 % CI (2·14, 2·60)) and lower sleep satisfaction (OR, 1·12; 95 % CI (1·03, 1·21)) were highly associated with energy drink consumption, with statistical significance at P < 0·05. Adolescents with lower sleep duration (adjusted OR (aOR), 6·37; 95 % CI (4·72, 8·61)) and a lack of sleep satisfaction (aOR, 1·44; 95 % CI (1·16, 1·78)) reported drinking a high amount of energy drinks, that is, at least once a day.Conclusion: In addition to efforts to decrease the amount of energy drinks consumed, sleep hygiene education needs to be strengthened.

Health providers are striving to create a more positive, patient-centred experience. However, existing scholarly research about the association between determinants of patient choice of provider and patient-reported experience remains insufficient to effectively promote patient-centredness in healthcare systems. This study used a sample from the nationally representative 2020 Healthcare Experience Survey. Among the respondents (n = 12 133), 6809 who used outpatient services were selected for analysis. The variable of interest was the determinant of the patient choice of provider, and the dependent variables were patient-reported experiences (e.g. general satisfaction, experience with doctors, and experience with health providers and nurses). Data were analyzed using a multivariable logistic regression model by correcting for covariates. General satisfaction was positively associated with providers’ expertise factors and public image factors (providers’ expertise factors: OR, 2.96; 95% CI, 2.44–3.59; public image factors: OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.02–1.55) satisfied more general satisfaction. Similar results were found for experience with doctors (providers’ expertise factors: OR, 4.50; 95% CI, 2.77–7.32; other factors: OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.16–0.81) and experience with health providers and nurses (providers’ expertise factors: OR, 2.66; 95% CI, 1.99–3.57; image factors: OR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.09–2.14). Our study’s findings suggest that to improve patient-reported experience, health providers must better manage providers’ expertise factors and public image factors. Health providers can improve patient-reported experience by increasing communication skills and proper information about the nature is important. Moreover, health providers must manage public image factors comprehensively and continuously by maintaining good quality of care continuously and to brand patients.

Objective This study aimed to investigate the association of sleep with mental health among Korean adolescents during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.Methods Using data from the 16th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey (2020) of 46,475 adolescents, we examined sleep duration and satisfaction and examined mental health for depressive symptoms, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. The data were analyzed using complex sample descriptive statistics and a multiple logistic regression model.Results In 2020, the average sleep duration was 6.3 hours, and the sleep satisfaction rate was 30.8%. Depressive symptom and suicidal ideation rates were 24.2 and 10.3, respectively. These values are slightly better than those previously reported, before COVID-19. However, poor sleep was still associated with mental health. The likelihood of mental health problems was higher among those who slept for six hours or less than for those who slept for eight hours or more (p<0.05). Additionally, the results showed that the lower the sleep satisfaction, the higher the likelihood of mental health problems (p<0.05).Conclusion Even after the COVID-19 outbreak, poor sleep associated with mental health problems remained as high as before the outbreak of COVID-19.