IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i11p6008-d568173.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Infectious Respiratory Diseases Decreased during the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Da Hae Kim

    (Department of Integrative Bioscience & Biotechnology, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05006, Korea)

  • Thi Mai Nguyen

    (Department of Integrative Bioscience & Biotechnology, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05006, Korea)

  • Jin Hee Kim

    (Department of Integrative Bioscience & Biotechnology, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05006, Korea)

Abstract

Infectious respiratory diseases are highly contagious and very common, and thus can be considered as one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. We followed up the incidence rates (IRs) of eight infectious respiratory diseases, including chickenpox, measles, pertussis, mumps, invasive pneumococcal disease, scarlet fever, rubella, and meningococcal disease, after COVID-19 mitigation measures were implemented in South Korea, and then compared those with the IRs in the corresponding periods in the previous 3 years. Overall, the IRs of these diseases before and after age- or sex-standardization significantly decreased in the intervention period compared with the pre-intervention periods ( p < 0.05 for all eight diseases). However, the difference in the IRs of all eight diseases between the IRs before and after age-standardization was significant ( p < 0.05 for all periods), while it was not significant with regard to sex-standardization. The incidence rate ratios for eight diseases in the pre-intervention period compared with the intervention period ranged from 3.1 to 4.1. These results showed the positive effects of the mitigation measures on preventing the development of respiratory infectious diseases, regardless of age or sex, but we need to consider the age-structure of the population to calculate the effect size. In the future, some of these measures could be applied nationwide to prevent the occurrence or to reduce the transmission during outbreaks of these infections. This study provides evidence for strengthening the infectious disease management policies in South Korea.

Suggested Citation

  • Da Hae Kim & Thi Mai Nguyen & Jin Hee Kim, 2021. "Infectious Respiratory Diseases Decreased during the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-16, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:6008-:d:568173
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/6008/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/6008/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer L. Scheid & Shannon P. Lupien & Gregory S. Ford & Sarah L. West, 2020. "Commentary: Physiological and Psychological Impact of Face Mask Usage during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-12, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Silvia Chiera & Alessandro Cristoforetti & Luca Benedetti & Giandomenico Nollo & Luca Borro & Lorenzo Mazzei & Francesco Tessarolo, 2022. "A Simple Method to Quantify Outward Leakage of Medical Face Masks and Barrier Face Coverings: Implication for the Overall Filtration Efficiency," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-20, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Natalia Maja Józefacka & Robert Podstawski & Małgorzata Barbara Płoszaj & Elżbieta Szpakiewicz & Mateusz Franciszek Kołek & Andrzej Pomianowski & Gabriela Kania & Anna Niedźwiecka & Dominika Łabno & A, 2022. "Masquerade of Polish Society—Psychological Determinants of COVID-19 Precautionary Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Abdul-Salam Sulemana & Sumeet Lal & Trinh Xuan Thi Nguyen & Mostafa Saidur Rahim Khan & Yoshihiko Kadoya, 2023. "Pandemic Fatigue in Japan: Factors Affecting the Declining COVID-19 Preventive Measures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Le Shi & Zheng-An Lu & Jian-Yu Que & Xiao-Lin Huang & Qing-Dong Lu & Lin Liu & Yong-Bo Zheng & Wei-Jian Liu & Mao-Sheng Ran & Kai Yuan & Wei Yan & Yan-Kun Sun & Si-Wei Sun & Jie Shi & Thomas Kosten & , 2021. "Long-Term Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health among the General Public: A Nationwide Longitudinal Study in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-18, August.
    4. Ekaterina A. Shashina & Valentina V. Makarova & Denis V. Shcherbakov & Tatiana S. Isiutina-Fedotkova & Nadezhda N. Zabroda & Nina A. Ermakova & Anton Yu. Skopin & Oleg V. Mitrokhin, 2021. "Use of Respiratory Protection Devices by Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-12, May.
    5. Che-Yu Su & Chiung-Yu Peng & Hsin-Liang Liu & I-Jeng Yeh & Chi-Wei Lee, 2021. "Comparison of Effects of N95 Respirators and Surgical Masks to Physiological and Psychological Health among Healthcare Workers: A Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Simone Donati & Gianluca Viola & Ferdinando Toscano & Salvatore Zappalà, 2021. "Not All Remote Workers Are Similar: Technology Acceptance, Remote Work Beliefs, and Wellbeing of Remote Workers during the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-19, November.
    7. Elpidio Maria Garzillo & Arcangelo Cioffi & Angela Carta & Maria Grazia Lourdes Monaco, 2022. "Returning to Work after the COVID-19 Pandemic Earthquake: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-37, April.
    8. Rains, Stephen A. & Colombo, Paulina M. & Quick, Brian L. & Kriss, Lauren A., 2022. "State mask mandates and psychological reactance theory: The role of political partisanship and COVID-19 risk in mask adoption and resistance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    9. Simone Trevas & Kathleen Manuel & Raja Malkani & Deanna Hoelscher, 2023. "Mask Adherence and Social Distancing in Houston, TX from January to April 2021," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-8, February.
    10. Lai-Yin Qin, 2023. "A Comparison of the Effect of Facemasks on Perceived Breathability and Air Quality during Daily Activities and Indoor Exercises," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-10, February.
    11. Jennifer L. Scheid & Corinne Edwards & Michael Seils & Sarah L. West, 2022. "Perceived Exertion during Moderate and Vigorous Physical Activity While Mask Wearing: A Quantitative and Qualitative Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-14, May.
    12. Wioletta Mędrzycka-Dąbrowska & Daniel Ślęzak & Marlena Robakowska & Przemysław Żuratyński & Kamil Krzyżanowski & Anna Małecka-Dubiela & Sebastian Dąbrowski & Katarzyna Zorena & Katarzyna Lewandowska &, 2021. "Evaluation of Capillary Blood Gases in Medical Personnel Caring for Patients Isolated Due to SARS-CoV-2 in Intensive Care Units before and after Using Enhanced Filtration Masks: A Prospective Cohort S," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-10, September.
    13. Ekaterina A. Shashina & Ekaterina A. Sannikova & Denis V. Shcherbakov & Yury V. Zhernov & Valentina V. Makarova & Tatiana S. Isiutina-Fedotkova & Nadezhda N. Zabroda & Elena V. Belova & Nina A. Ermako, 2022. "Analysis of the Face Mask Use by Public Transport Passengers and Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-13, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:6008-:d:568173. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.