[Study] Countrymen are more stressed than urban dwellers

[Study] Countrymen are more stressed than urban dwellers. July. 12, 2016 07:50. by 김호경기자 kimhk@donga.com.

A recent study found that country-dwellers tend to be under higher stress and weigh more than their urban counterparts. This implies that the socioeconomic gap between cities and rural areas may affect individual health.

The article “Inequalities in health between regions and social determinants of health” was released in the journal “Health and Social Affairs Research” issued by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs on July 11, suggesting that the average stress level felt by residents of urban areas (residential, commercial, industrial areas) was 2.86 out of 4 points. On the other hand, non-urban residents showed a stress index of 2.9, 0.04 points higher than the figure of urban dwellers.

This result was based on a survey on health status of local communities conducted by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention of 196,995 adults nationwide in 2010. The level of stress was measured on a 4-point scale, from "almost no stressed (1 point)" to "seriously stressed (4 points)."

Such a gap was also found in the Body Mass Index (BMI), defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height, used for calculating body fat. The average BMI for city-dwellers was 22.88, while that for non-city-dwellers was higher at 23.08. Normally those showing BMI of 23 or higher are categorized "overweight," and 25 or higher "obese."

Stress and obesity were also highly relevant to the number of population. The stress level felt by residents of a region with 500,000 or more people was the lowest at 2.84, followed by 2.86 in a region with a population between 300,000 and 500,000, 2.88 populated by 100,000 to 300,000 residents, and 2.97 in areas with less than 100,000 people. Average BMIs were also higher in less populated areas.

The preval‎ence of 10 major diseases including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, myocardial infraction, angina, and depression showed difference between regions as well. The preval‎ence rate of such diseases in urban areas (0.65) was lower than the rate in country sides (0.74). Experts attribute this to the relatively higher portion of elderly citizens in non-urban areas. “The socioeconomic level of municipal governments and their public health policies may cause inequalities in individual health of residents among regions,” said Ms. Lee Jin-hee, the author and Ph.D candidate at the Florida State University.