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영어

Objectives : This study was conducted to examine the relationships between Korean adult’s daily hours of sleep, depression, and suicidal thoughts using data from the 7th National Health and Nutrition Survey. Methods : This study utilized a depression screening tool, the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), for the 6,355 participants of the health and mental health survey. T-tests, cross analysis, correlation analysis, and logistic regression analysis were used. Results : The results showed that sufficient hours of sleep decreased depression. The depression score for females (3.19) was significantly higher than for males (2.10; p<.001). The participants in the depression group slept less than 7 hours per day (p<.01). Conclusions : The study results showed a significant correlation between sleep duration and depression when health-related factors and social factors influencing sleep were controlled. The results also indicated that this correlation may vary based on gender. This study implies that further studies are necessary to identify the causal relationship between sleep duration and depression.