JKAN Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing J Korean Acad Nurs 2005-3673 2093-758X Korean Society of Nursing Science 10.4040/jkan.2012.42.7.992 jkan-42-992 Original Article Prevalence Rate and Factors Associated with Atopic Dermatitis among Korean Middle School Students OakJi Won1 LeeHea Shoon2 Department of Nursing, Tongmyong University, Busan, Korea Department of Nursing, Dongseo University, Busan, Korea Address reprint requests to : Lee, Hea Shoon Department of Nursing, Dongseo University, San 69-1 Jurye-2-dong, Sasang-gu, Busan 617-716, Korea Tel: +82-10-5399-0380 Fax: +82-51-320-2721 E-mail: lhs7878@hanmail.net 122012 12122012 42 7 992 1000 13062012 07072012 16112012 Copyright © 2012 Korean Society of Nursing Science 2012 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Purpose

The purpose of this study was to verify prevalence rates of atopic dermatitis (AD) in middle school students in Korea and to define AD and associated factors.

 Methods

This study was conducted using secondary analysis of raw data from the ‘The 6th Korean National Adolescent Health Behavior Survey, 2010’ conducted by the Korea Centers for Disease Control. The participants were 37,570 students. General characteristics and health behavior-related characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics, χ2-test and logistic regression analysis.

 Results

Results are as follows. 1. There were 8,494 middle school students (22.6%), who had been diagnosed with AD during the last 12 months. 2. Factors associated with AD in middle school students were gender (p< .001), grade level (p= .001), father’s education (p< .001), mother’s education (p= .032), regular dietary habits (breakfasts, p= .025; lunches; p= .003), stress (p< .001), recognition of subjective awareness of one’s health conditions (p< .001), hand washing before meals at school (p= .013), and cessation education for both smoking (p= .002) and alcohol (p= .031).

 Conclusion

Results of the study indicate that in order to alleviate AD symptoms in these students, there is a need to develop nursing interventions and education programs taking into consideration these variables and verifying the effects of interventions and programs.

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Differences in General Characteristics between Groups (N=37,570)

Characteristics Categories n (%) Atopic dermatitis (n=8,494)
 Non-atopic dermatitis (n=29,076)
 χ2 (p)
n (%) n (%)
Gender Male 19,956 (53.1) 3,826 (45.0) 1,6130 (55.5) 287.26 (<.001)
Female 17,614 (46.9) 4,668 (55.0) 1,2946 (44.5)
Grade level 1st 12,468 (33.2) 2,892 (33.0) 9,756 (32.9) 8.34 (.015)
2nd 12,499 (33.3) 2,861 (33.7) 9,638 (33.1)
3rd 12,603 (33.5) 2,741 (32.3) 9,862 (33.9)
Father's education ≤Middle school 1,763 (4.7) 319 (3.8) 1,444 (5.0) 86.46 (<.001)
level High school 20,674 (55.0) 4,405 (51.9) 16,269 (56.0)
≥College 15,133 (40.3) 3,770 (44.4) 11,363 (39.1)
Mother's education ≤Middle school 1,580 (4.2) 302 (3.6) 1,278 (4.4) 54.35 (<.001)
level High school 24,236 (64.5) 5,273 (62.1) 18,963 (65.1)
≥College 11,754 (31.3) 2,929 (34.4) 8,835 (30.4)
Economic High 12,643 (33.7) 2,917 (34.3) 9,726 (33.5) 2.80 (.247)
status Average 17,398 (46.3) 3,872 (45.6) 13,526 (46.5)
Low 7,529 (20.0) 1,705 (20.1) 5,824 (20.0)

Differences in Health Behavior-related Characteristics between Groups

Characteristics Categories n (%) Atopic dermatitis (n=8,494)
 Non-atopic dermatitis (n=29,076)
 χ2 (p)
n (%) n (%)
Smoking status No 29,649 (78.9) 6,829 (80.4) 22,820 (78.5) 14.47 (<.001)
Yes 7,921 (21.1) 1,665 (19.6) 6,256 (21.5)
BMI Under-weight 12,662 (33.7) 2,705 (32.9) 9,957 (35.4) 18.83 (<.001)
Normal 21,013 (55.9) 4,894 (59.5) 16,119 (57.4)
Over-weight 2,541 (6.8) 604 (7.3) 1,937 (6.9)
Obese 99 (0.3) 21(0.3) 78 (0.3)
Regular dietary habit Number of breakfasts none 3,511 (9.3) 735 (8.7) 2,776 (9.5) 25.71 (<.001)
(days/week) 1~2 5,665 (15.1) 1,174 (13.8) 4,491 (15.4)
3~5 6,868 (18.3) 1,646 (19.4) 5,221 (18.0)
6~7 21,526 (57.3) 4,939 (58.1) 16,587 (57.0)
Number of lunches none 840 (2.2) 147 (1.7) 691 (2.3) 51.98 (<.001)
(days/week) 1~2 2,881 (7.7) 523 (6.2) 2,358 (8.1)
3~5 3,749 (10.0) 834 (9.8) 2,915 (10.0)
6~7 30,100 (80.1) 6,990 (82.3) 23,110 (79.5)
Number of dinners none 881 (2.3) 152 (1.8) 729 (2.5) 30.93 (<.001)
(days/week) 1~2 3,519 (9.4) 728 (8.6) 2,791 (9.6)
3~5 6,808 (18.1) 1,643 (19.3) 5,165 (17.8)
6~7 26,362 (70.2) 5,971 (70.3) 20,391 (70.1)
Number of times of none 4,521 (12.0) 1,133 (13.3) 3,388 (11.7) 21.83 (<.001)
to drink milk (times/week) 1~2 6,415 (17.1) 1,488 (17.5) 4,927 (16.9)
3~4 7,721 (20.6) 1,696 (20.0) 6,025 (20.7)
5~6 6,201 (16.5) 1,383 (16.3) 4,818 (16.6)
≥7 12,712 (33.8) 2,794 (32.9) 9,918 (34.1)
Mental health Stress High 15,392 (41.0) 3,824 (45.0) 11,568 (39.8) 83.04 (<.001)
Normal 15,329 (40.8) 3,312 (39.0) 12,017 (41.3)
Low 6,849 (18.2) 1,358 (16.0) 5,491 (18.9)
Depression No 24,633 (65.6) 5,354 (63.0) 19,279 (66.3) 31.19 (<.001)
Yes 12,937 (34.4) 3,140 (37.0) 9,797 (33.7)
Subjective awareness of one's health conditions Healthy 24,631 (65.6) 5,164 (60.8) 19,467 (67.0) 190.21 (<.001)
Normal 10,414 (27.7) 2,547 (30.0) 7,867 (27.1)
Unhealthy 2,525 (6.7) 783 (9.2) 1,742 (6.0)
Washing hands before meals Never 2,619 (7.0) 663 (7.8) 1,956 (6.7) 41.20 (<.001)
(at school) Sometimes 11,281 (30.0) 2,714 (32.0) 8,568 (29.5)
Often 12,517 (33.3) 2,766 (32.6) 9,751 (33.5)
Always 11,152 (29.7) 2,351 (27.7) 8,801 (30.3)
After a restroom visit (at home) Never 609 (1.6) 140 (1.6) 469 (1.6) 13.21 (.004)
Sometimes 3,217 (8.6) 761 (9.0) 2,456 (8.4)
Often 8,190 (21.8) 1,734 (20.4) 6,456 (22.2)
Always 25,554 (68.0) 5,859 (69.0) 19,695 (67.7)
Status of receiving health Smoking cessation No 13,049 (34.7) 2,715 (32.0) 10,334 (35.5) 37.12 (<.001)
education Yes 24,521 (65.3) 5,779 (68.0) 18,742 (64.5)
Alcohol cessation No 20,245 (53.9) 4,381 (51.6) 15,864 (54.6) 23.54 (<.001)
Yes 17,325 (46.1) 4,113 (48.4) 13,212 (45.4)
Personal hygiene No 21,332 (56.8) 4,679 (55.1) 16,653 (57.3) 12.83 (<.001)
Yes 16,238 (43.2) 3,815 (44.9) 12,423 (42.7)

BMI=Body mass index.

Factors that Affect the Occurrence of Atopic Dermatitis (N=37,570)

Variables Categories ß SE Wald p Odds ratio 95% CI*
Lower Upper
Gender (male) Female .41 .02 285.27 <.001 1.52 1.45 1.59
Grade level (1st) 2nd .10 .03 10.21 .001 1.10 1.04 1.18
3rd .07 .03 5.07 .024 1.07 1.01 1.14
School record (high) Medium .15 .03 23.49 <.001 1.16 1.09 1.24
Low .06 .03 3.79 .052 1.07 1.00 1.14
Father's education level High school −.31 .07 17.69 <.001 0.73 0.63 0.85
(≤Middle school) ≥College −.14 .03 20.29 <.001 0.87 0.82 0.92
Mother's education level High school −.22 .07 8.11 .004 0.80 0.69 0.93
(≤Middle school) ≥College −.06 .03 4.57 .032 0.93 0.88 0.99
Number of breakfasts (none) (days/week) 1-2 −.03 .04 0.60 .436 0.96 0.87 1.05
3-5 −.03 .04 0.88 .346 0.96 0.88 1.04
6-7 −.07 .03 5.03 .025 0.83 0.77 0.96
Number of lunches (none) 1-2 −.20 .10 4.38 .036 0.81 0.66 0.98
(days/week) 3-5 −.16 .05 8.61 .003 0.84 0.75 0.94
6-7 −.06 .04 1.98 .159 0.94 0.86 1.02
Stress (high) Normal −.18 .02 45.09 <.001 0.83 0.79 0.87
Low −.29 .03 66.47 <.001 0.74 0.69 0.80
Subjective awareness of one's health conditions Normal .18 .02 45.86 <.001 1.20 1.14 1.27
Unhealthy .51 .04 124.22 <.001 1.66 1.52 1.82
Washing hands before meals (at school) Sometimes −.10 .05 1.25 .262 0.94 0.85 1.04
(never washed) Often −.02 .05 3.66 .056 0.90 0.81 1.00
Always −.04 .05 6.19 .013 0.87 0.78 0.97
Smoking cessation education status (no) Yes −.09 .03 9,65 .002 0.90 0.85 0.96
Alcohol cessation education status (no) Yes −.06 .03 4.64 .031 0.94 0.88 0.99

CI=Confidence interval.