Self-rated health may be a predictor for metabolic syndrome and high hs-CRP prevalences in healthy adults in South Korea: Based on the 2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Abstract

Self-rated health (SRH), affected by sociodemographic and health-related behavioral factors, is related to metabolic syndrome (MetS) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels. We hypothesized that SRH would have an independent effect on MetS and high hs-CRP incidence in healthy adults after adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related behavioral confounding factors. Data of 1545 healthy participants (aged 19-65 years; 654 men), selected from the 2015 Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey, were cross-sectionally analyzed. The SRH levels significantly increased with higher income (P < .05) and educational levels (P < .01) and were associated with sex, job, marital status, smoking, physical activity, perceived body image, and weight change (all P < .05). The percentage of participants with “very high or high” perceived stress were significantly lower in the “very healthy” group (18.5%) than in the “unhealthy” group (49.7%). Dietary protein, calcium, and phosphorus intakes were significantly higher with better SRH levels. MetS prevalence was related to sex, educational level, job, marital status, smoking, high-intensity exercise, and aerobic exercise (all P < .05), with a 2.776 times higher risk in the “unhealthy” than in the “very healthy” group after adjusting for these confounders. High hs-CRP levels were related to marital status, smoking, weekly walking, and aerobic exercise (all P < .05), with its risk being 2.093 times higher in the “unhealthy” than in the “very healthy” group after adjusting for these confounders. Thus, SRH may be an independent predictor of MetS and high hs-CRP levels and could be used for the development of a health promotion program in healthy adults.