Prevalence of Suicidal Ideation and related Risk Factors among Korean Adults.

Park,  Eunok; Choi,  Su Jung

doi:2013.22.2.88

J Korean Acad Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs > Volume 22(2); 2013 > Article

Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 2013;22(2):88-96.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12934/jkpmhn.2013.22.2.88 Published online June 30, 2013.

Prevalence of Suicidal Ideation and related Risk Factors among Korean Adults.

Eunok Park, Su Jung Choi

¹College of Nursing, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea.
²Department of Nursing, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. sujungchoi@hanmail.net

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was done to investigate the prevalence of suicidal ideation and associated factors in Korean adults. METHODS: From the database of the 5th Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey conducted in 2010, cross-sectional data for 6,283 adults (> or =20 years) were used in this analysis. RESULTS: One-year prevalence of suicidal ideation was 14.8%. Higher suicidal ideation was found for women, elders, adults who were divorced or separated, who were in the lower socio-economic class, were alcohol dependent, had a short sleep time, and had higher perceived stress and depression. On stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis, depression (odds ratio 6.89 [95% confidence interval 5.18~9.16]), perceived stress(3.52 [2.66~4.65]), being woman (1.72 [1.32~2.26]), being an elder (> or =65 yrs) (1.78 [1.07~2.96]), low education(3.52 [2.66~4.62]) and not married (1.48 [1.04~2.12]) were associated with suicidal ideation in Korean adults. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that suicidal ideation is highly prevalent in Korean adults, especially in people with depression or high perceived stress. Identification of high-risk group and suicide prevention programs are warranted to reduce the prevalence of suicidal ideation.

Key Words: Suicidal ideation; Adult; Prevalence; Risk factor