Body Mass Index, Subjective Body Shape, and Suicidal Ideation Among Community-Dwelling Korean Adults

Abstract

Background: Studies examining the combination of objective and subjective body shape and its association with suicidal ideation have not been well investigated among different age groups. Therefore, this study was aimed to examine the above association among Korean adults, stratified by developmental stages. Methods: Using a nationally representative data from the 2017 Korean Community Health Survey, 222,037 participants aged 19 or over were included in this study. A dependent variable was measured as having a suicidal ideation or not (1=yes, 0=no). With body mass index (BMI) and subjective body shape measures, seven categories were created (1=underweight-skinny, 2=underweight-normal/fat, 3=healthyweight-skinny, 4=healthyweight-normal, 5=healthyweight-fat, 6=overweight-skinny/normal, 7=overweight-fat). A multivariate logistic regression was conducted in each age group. Results: Adjusted for covariates, overweight-fat (OR=1.183, p<.01) young-aged adults, underweight-skinny (OR=1.322, p<.05) middle-aged adults, and healthyweight-fat (OR=1.193, p<.05) older adults were more likely to have suicidal ideation than healthyweight-normal counterparts. Conclusions: Results suggest that the association between the combination of objective and subjective body shape and suicidal ideation is different by developmental stages. Therefore, this difference should be considered when developing suicide prevention interventions by developmental stages.