ArticleJAMA network open2022
Assessing Mental Illness Risk Among North Korean Refugees and Immigrants Resettled in South Korea.
Article in JAMA network open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Incidence and Prognostic Implications of Mental Disorders Among Patients With a Permanent Pacemaker: A Nationwide Cohort Study.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Article
- Resting-State Functional Connectivity Changes Associated With Post-Traumatic Stress and Anxiety Symptoms in North Korean Refugees.Psychiatry investigation · 2026Article
- Mental Health Status of North Korean Refugee Adolescents Living in South Korea: A Comparative Study with South Korean Adolescents.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Psychiatric Health Risks in North Korean Refugee Youths Resettled in South Korea.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- North Korean defectors with PTSD and complex PTSD show alterations in default mode network resting-state functional connectivity.BJPsych open · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Importance: The global increase in the numbers of refugees and immigrants has made mental health a major public concern. Although they are divided, North and South Korea share a common ethnic heritage. Objective: To investigate mental illness risk among North Korean immigrants living in South Korea and compare it with that of the general South Korean population. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective, population-based cohort study was based on National Health Insurance claims data from 2007 to 2019, and North Korean immigrants and refugees (NKIRs) and age-matched and sex-matched members of the general population (GP) were included with a 1:3 ratio. Data were analyzed from March 2022 to August 2022. Exposure: Emigration from North Korea to South Korea. Main Outcomes and Measures: Mental illness incidence and risk through a Cox proportional risk model adjusted for sex, age, disability, region, Charlson Comorbidity Index score, and insurance premium percentile. Results: A total of 37 209 NKIRs and 111 627 members of the GP were enrolled. The final analysis examined 112 851 individuals (73 238 [64.9%] female, median [IQR] age 34 [19-47] years), with 90 235 (80.0%) in the GP and 22 616 (20.0%) in the NKIR group. The propensity score-matching population numbered 24 532 in total, with 12 266 each in the NKIR and GP groups. NKIR patients had a higher mental illness risk than the GP (hazard ratio [HR], 2.12; 95% CI, 2.04-2.21). The multivariable adjusted HRs (95% CI) for developing mental disorders were 4.91 (3.59-6.71) for posttraumatic stress disorder, 3.10 (2.90-3.30) for major depressive disorder, 2.27 (2.11-2.44) for anxiety and panic disorder, 2.03 (1.58-2.60) for bipolar affective disorder, 1.85 (1.53-2.24) for alcohol use disorder, and 1.89 (1.46-2.45) for schizophrenia. Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, NKIR individuals showed a significantly higher risk of developing most mental disorders. Interventional strategies can prevent psychiatric morbidity and ensure adequate care for this population.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.