BackgroundTo discover the association between eating alone and diet quality among Korean adults who eat alone measured by the mean adequacy ratio (MAR),MethodsThe cross-sectional study in diet quality which was measured by nutrient intakes, indicated as MAR and nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR) with the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) VI 2013–2015 data. Study population was 8523 Korean adults. Multiple linear regression was performed to identify the association between eating behaviour and MAR and further study analysed how socioeconomic factors influence the diet quality of those who eat alone.ResultsWe found that the diet quality of people who eat alone was lower than that of people who eat together in both male (β: − 0.110, p = 0.002) and female participants (β: − 0.069, p = 0.005). Among who eats alone, the socioeconomic factors that negatively influenced MAR with the living arrangement, education level, income levels, and various occupation classifications.ConclusionsPeople who eat alone have nutrition intake below the recommended amount. This could lead to serious health problems not only to those who are socially disadvantaged but also those who are in a higher social stratum. Policy-makers should develop strategies to enhance diet quality to prevent potential risk factors.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12937-018-0424-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Background: South Korea is an aged society that continues to age rapidly. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association between changes in lifestyle and cognitive functions in the South Korean elderly using a nationally representative survey. Methods: We analyzed data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) 2006-2016, a biannual panel survey. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed with repeated measurements data to examine the association between lifestyle change and cognitive functions over 2 years. Lifestyle combined the scores of four factors (smoking status, alcohol drinking status, body weight, and exercise), and then categorized them into four groups (Good→Good, Bad→Good, Good→Bad, and Bad→Bad) according to the two-year change. Cognitive functions were set according to the scores measured through the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE). Results: Among females, the K-MMSE score was the highest in the Bad→Good group compared to the reference group, Bad→Bad (β = 0.914; SD = 3.744; p < .0001). The next highest scores were in the Good→Good group (β = 0.813; SD = 4.654; p = 0.0005) and the Good→Bad group (β = 0.475; SD = 4.542; p = 0.0481). Among males, only the K-MMSE of the Good→Good group was statistically significant (β = 0.509; SD = 3.245; p = 0.0077). The results of subgroup analysis showed that the K-MMSE scores of females who did not participate in any social activities were more affected by their lifestyle (Good-Good: β = 1.614; SD = 4.270; p = 0.0017, Bad-Good: β = 1.817; SD = 3.945; p < .0001). Subgroup analysis showed that females who started drinking more than a moderate amount of alcohol had lower K-MMSE scores (Good-Bad: β = − 2.636; SD = 2.915; p = 0.0011). Additionally, in both sexes, exercising, among the four lifestyle options, had a strong and significant association with higher K-MMSE scores. Conclusions: Following a healthy lifestyle or improving an unhealthy lifestyle can help people prevent or slow down cognitive decline. Regularly engaging in an adequate amount of exercise can help the cognitive function of the elderly. Females, specifically, can experience positive effects on their cognitive function if they participate in social activities while maintaining healthy lifestyles, in particular not drinking too much alcohol.

Background Cigarette smoking is a major health risk, particularly in male South Koreans. Smoking cessation can benefit health; however, the process of quitting smoking is difficult to some smokers and shows its relationship to their stress level. The hypothesis of this study is that who has failed attempts to stop smoking induce more stress than habitual smoking. Methods To test this, the analysis on the association between smoking cessation attempts and stress levels in smokers was performed. The Korean Community Health Survey (2011–2016) data with the total of 488,417 participants’ data were used for this study. Survey data were analyzed using the chi-square test and logistic regression. As the dependent variable, self-reported level of stress was selected. Results Of the subject population, 78.3% (63.3% males, 81.4% females) felt stressed. Among participants who successfully stopped smoking, 73.0% (72.6% males, 78.1% females) reported feeling stressed. In contrast, of those who failed to stop smoking, 83.3% (83.6% males, 86.3% females) reported high stress levels. Among those who did not attempt smoking cessation, 81.1% (81.2% males, 80.3% females) responded that they experienced stress. Those who failed to stop smoking had higher odds of stress than those who did not attempt smoking cessation [odds ratio (OR) 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09–1.14, p < 0.001]. Those who successfully stopped smoking had lower odds of stress than those who did not attempt smoking cessation (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.86–0.89, p < 0.001). Conclusion The study found an association between unsuccessful smoking cessation and stress level. As the result, people who failed smoking cessation showed higher stress. These data should be considered in health policy recommendations for smokers. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-6592-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.