Effect of Drinking status on Lifestyle and Health Status in Korean and Japanese Nursing Students

The purpose of this study was to survey the general characteristics, lifestyle include health habits, subjective health problems include physical, psychological and overall health complaints that occurring among Korean and Japanese nursing students. Data collected with the self-administered Okayama Medical Index Health Questionnaire(devised Cornell Medical Index) from 466 Korean and 688 Japanese Nursing Students were analyzed. The subjects were 18 to 24 years old in their 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year-class of nursing department. The total O.M.I. score(section A-R) ranged from 1 to 110 with an average of 22.3(SD=11.5) in Korean nursing students and 18.3(SD=10.1) in Japanese nursing students. A statistically significant inverse correlation was observed between Korean nursing student and Japanese nursing students for the overall health complaints. Korean nursing students have more health problems than Japanese nursing students in terms of physical and overall health complaints excluding psychological problems. About of Korean nursing students were current smokers and of Korean nursing students were drinker. Korean nursing students in the drinker's group were more likely to eat fatty foods(p