Background As of January 2022, the number of people infected with COVID-19 worldwide has exceeded 350 million. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, people are affected in a wide range of areas of life, which in turn causes numerous psychological problems. Depression is a serious problem for people who have suffered from COVID-19. Depression can worsen COVID-19 precautionary behavior compliance or the health behavior itself. In addition, these depressive symptoms may have different characteristics depending on the individual’s gender. Objective The aim of this study was to determine whether depression is a factor that may affect COVID-19 fear, precautionary behavior compliance, and health behavior, and how these characteristic trends differ by gender. Methods This was a secondary analysis of data from the 2020 Korea Community Health Survey (KCHS), a national cross-sectional survey conducted with complex sampling analysis. In 2020, the KCHS included COVID-19–related questions. For this study, we used the KCHS data from both the COVID-19–related questions and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scale. After weighting the data according to the KCHS guidelines, we calculated the distribution of men and women according to depression level. The data were collected using multiple-choice questions related to precautionary behavior compliance, COVID-19–related fears, and health behavior changes. Results Of the 204,787 participants, those who were clinically depressed had a greater tendency to not comply with precautionary behaviors. Regarding COVID-19, “fear” showed a decreasing trend in both men (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.72, 95% CI 0.61-0.83) and women (AOR 0.74, 95% CI 0.63-0.86) with clinically relevant depression. Moreover, for both men and women, health behaviors deteriorated as depression intensified; the AOR for sleep duration changes was 2.28 (95% CI 2.00-2.59) in men and was 2.15 (95% CI 1.96-2.36) in women. Notably, the responses of clinically depressed women revealed a doubled increase in both their drinking (AOR 2.25, 95% CI 1.88-2.70) and smoking (AOR 2.71, 95% CI 1.95-3.77) habits compared with those of nondepressed women. Conclusions Both men and women with more severe depression were more likely to violate precautionary health behaviors as their depression worsened. Health behaviors also deteriorated for both genders, but women tended to show a greater change. Therefore, additional studies and interventions for vulnerable groups such as severely depressed people are needed. More research is also necessary to develop interventions based on statistical comparisons of men and women.

Health-related quality of life Metabolic syndrome Background: Cancer survivors face an increased risk of non-cancer-related deaths, particularly associated with metabolic syndrome. With increased cancer survivors having metabolic syndrome, health-related quality of life beyond cancer diagnosis and treatment has assumed greater importance. Objective: This study evaluated the prevalence rate of metabolic syndrome in cancer survivors. It examined the correlation between healthrelated quality of life and influencing factors according to the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Methods: This is a cross-sectional national study using secondary data from the 2010-2018 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. We analyzed a final sample of 1293 cancer survivors using multiple regression. Results: The prevalence rate of metabolic syndrome in cancer survivors was measured at 32.1%. Cancer survivors with metabolic syndrome had a lower health-related quality of life than those without it. The difference was statistically significant. Compared with cancer survivors without metabolic syndrome, those with it experienced substantial negative effects from stress, reducing health-related quality of life. Walking and muscle-building workouts had a positive effect on stress and improved quality of life. Conclusions: Cancer survivors' metabolic syndrome should be monitored closely. Development of a customized intervention program including stress management and physical activities improves their health-related quality of life.Implications for Practice: Stress management and physical activities increase health-related quality of life among cancer survivors with metabolic syndrome; thus, healthcare providers should implement intervention programs that promote exercise engagement and stress management for this population.