Prevalence of activity limitations in Korea’s population

[ Purpose ] Activity is essential for human life. However, humans are restricted in their activities for various reasons. By eliminating the reasons for restriction of human activity, the quality of human life can be improved. Therefore, it is necessary to know the reasons for which human activity is restricted. This study determined the prevalence of the various reasons for the limitation of activity among Korea’s population in the last 6 years. [Materials and methods ] Data were extracted from the 5 th to 6 th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. SPSS program (version 18.0) was used for analyzing on frequencies and percentages of the data . [ Results ] The prevalence rate of activity limitation among Korea’s population was 9.7%, 9.3%, 7.6%, 7.0%, 6.2% and 6.8% from 2010 to 2015, respectively. The prevalence rate of the reasons for activity limitation in Korea was highest for neck and back problems (2.2%), followed by arthritis and rheumatism (1.7%), and then emotional problems (including depression and anxiety) (0.6%). The prevalence rate of activity limitation was higher in women (8.6%) than in men (6.9%) and was found to increase after 60 years of age. [ Conclusion ] In conclusion, problems related to back and neck, regardless of age and sex, and musculoskeletal diseases such as arthritis and rheumatism in women 60 years and above could be significant risk factors for activity limitations. These findings could be useful as evidence-based data for the prevention and management of activity limitations in Korea.