Determinants of Poor Self-rated Health in Korean Adults With Diabetes

OBJECTIVES: Self-rated health is a measure of perceived health widely used in epidemiological studies. Our study investigated the determinants of poor self-rated health in middle-aged Korean adults with diabetes. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted based on the Health Examinees Study. A total of 9759 adults aged 40 to 69 years who reported having physician-diagnosed diabetes were analyzed with regard to a range of health determinants, including sociodemographic, lifestyle, psychosocial, and physical variables, in association with self-rated health status using multivariate logistic regression models. A p-value <0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance. RESULTS: We found that negative psychosocial conditions, including frequent stress events and severe distress according to the psychosocial well-being index, were most strongly associated with poor self-rated health (odds ratio [OR](Frequent stress events), 5.40; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.63 to 6.29; OR(Severe distress), 11.08; 95% CI, 8.77 to 14.00). Moreover, younger age and being underweight or obese were shown to be associated with poor self-rated health. Physical factors relating to participants’ medical history of diabetes, such as a younger age at diagnosis, a longer duration of diabetes, insulin therapy, hemoglobin A(1c)levels of 6.5% or more, and comorbidities, were other correlates of poor reported health. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that, in addition to medical variables, unfavorable socioeconomic factors, and adverse lifestyle behaviors, younger age, being underweight or obese, and psychosocial stress could be distinc factors in predicting negative perceived health status in Korean adults with diabetes.