National Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey in South Korea

Background: Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) conducted national Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBWS) annually during september since 2005. Aim of this survey is to monitor 14 categories of priority health-risk behaviors among middle and high school students in South Korea.

Methods: In the representative 800 schools in the 16cities, approximately 80,000 middle and high school students (7th-12th grade) completed anonymous self-administered web-based questionnaire.

Results: In 2008, 13.0% of adolescent smoked cigarettes on one or more days, 24.5% had at least one drink of alcohol on one or more of the past 30 days before survey. The prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥95th or ≥25 kg/m2) based on self-reported data was 9.8%. During 7 days before survey, 32.1% of adolescent had vigorous physical activities more than 3 days per a week, 25.9% had skipped breakfast. 52.2% of adolescent had never or rarely worn a seat belt when riding in a car or other vehicle driven by someone else. 5.2% of adolescent ever had sexual intercourse. During 12 months before survey, 43.9% of adolescent had felt sad or hopeless almost every day for weeks or more in a row, 4.7% had attempted suicide one or more times during 12 months before survey.

Conclusion: The national KYRBWS data are used by KCDC and other federal agencies to monitor progress toward achieving Health Plan 2010 and to evaluate the contribution of chronic disease prevention efforts in schools toward helping the reduction of health-risk behaviors among youth.