The association between depression and non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive behaviors in South Korean older adults stratified by sex.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the association between depression and non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive behaviors among community-dwelling South Korean older adults. METHODS: We utilized the 2020 Korean Community Health Survey-a community-based nationwide survey. A score of 10 points or higher on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 was defined as depression. Non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive behaviors was assessed on the following three behaviors: washing hands, wearing masks, and watching distance. We also included socio-demographic characteristics, health behaviors, and COVID-19-related characteristics as covariates. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed, and all statistical analyses were stratified by sex. RESULTS: The 70,693 participants included 29,736 men and 40,957 women. Notably, 2.3% of men and 4.2% of women had depression. Non-compliance with washing hands was significantly higher in men than women (1.3% vs. 0.9%), whereas no significant differences were observed in wearing masks and watching distance. The adjusted logistic regression analysis showed that depression was positively associated with non-compliance with washing hands and watching distance in both sexes. The association between depression and non-compliance with wearing masks was significant only in women. CONCLUSIONS: There was an association between depression and non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive behaviors in South Korean older adults. This signifies that health providers need to reduce depression to improve compliance with preventive behaviors in older adults.

Detection of environmentally hazardous hypochlorite in pure water with a novel fluorescent chemosensor: Application to water samples, commercial disinfectants, test strips, and zebrafish

With the increasing use of chlorinated disinfectants or bleaches such as sodium hypochlorite in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the effectual detection of toxic hypochlorite is very important. In this study, a novel hydrazide-based fluorescence chemosensor DHT-Cl ((E)-2-(2-(3,5-dichloro-2-hydroxybenzylidene)hydrazinyl)-N,N,N-trimethyl-2-oxoethan-1-aminium chloride) was synthesized. DHT-Cl could selectively detect environmentally hazardous hypochlorite in pure water through a fluorescence turn-off process. The detection limit for hypochlorite was determined to be 0.57 μM. DHT-Cl can monitor hypochlorite with little interference even in the presence of other analytes. Practically, DHT-Cl detected hypochlorite in water samples, commercial disinfectants, test strips, and living zebrafish. The hypochlorite detection mechanism through cleavage of the CN bond was illustrated by 1H NMR spectroscopy titration, ESI-mass spectrometry and quantum calculations.