• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2018

Objectives : This study aimed to investigate the level of distress using the distress thermometer (DT) and the factors associated with distress in postoperative breast cancer (BC) patients. Methods : DT and WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Abbreviated Version) along with sociodemographic variables were assessed in patients undergoing surgery for their first treatment of BC within one week postoperatively. The distress group consisted of participants with a DT score ${\geq}4$. The prevalence and associative factors of distress were examined by descriptive, univariable, and logistic regression analysis. Results : Three hundred seven women were recruited, and 264 subjects were finally analyzed. A total of 173 (65.5%) were classified into the distress group. The distress group showed significantly younger age (p=0.045), living without a spouse (p=0.032), and worse quality of life (QOL) as measured by overall QOL (p=0.009), general health (p=0.005), physical health domain (p<0.000), and psychological health domain (p=0.002). The logistic regression analysis showed that patients aged 40-49 years were more likely to experience distress than those aged ${\geq}60years$ (Odds ratios [OR]=2.992, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.241-7.215). Moreover, the WHOQOL-BREF physical health domain was a predictive factor of distress (OR=0.777, 95% CI 0.692-0.873). Conclusions : A substantial proportion of patients are experiencing significant distress after BC surgery. It would be expected that distress management, especially in the middle-aged patients and in the domain of physical QOL (e.g., pain, insomnia, fatigue), from the early BC treatment stage might reduce chronic distress.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.536-546
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• 2009

This study was done to investigate the effect of stress on appetite and eating habits, and other health-related behaviors. The subjects of this study consisted of 188 males and 224 females in Ulsan area. The results were as follows: When stressed, 56% (n = 231) of the subjects experienced a change in appetite and of these, 32% (n = 132) experienced an increased appetite. Stress-induced eating may be one factor contributing to the development of obesity. There was a gender-specific response to stress in which women are more likely to use food to deal with stress, whereas men are more likely to use alcohol consumption or smoking. It was found that types of stressors were individual (52.9%), social (50.7%), family relations (34.5%), work demands (34.2%) and physical environment (32.3%). Stress-induced symptoms of the subjects were anxiety (38.3%), headache (36.7%) and neck or shoulder aches (36.2%), and females experienced those symptoms more than males. Those older than 50 years had a higher eating habit score and lower stress score compared with younger subjects. There were significant differences between sex, age, occupation, family type, BMI, exercise, sleeping hours and eating habits or stress level. This study may be helpful in advancing findings in this area to better provide health professionals with appropriate counseling tools to improve the health of all individuals.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.139-150
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• 2012

Objectives : The puropse of this study was to report the availability of Hyeongsang diagnosis compensating for visceral pattern identification in applying Sa-am acupuncture therapy. Methods : Eight cases was presented to substantiate the above. Results : According to the characteristic diagnostic method of Hyeongsang medicine by feature such as face, ears, eyes, nose and mouth shape, There are 8 pattern differentiations, including essence family, Qi family, spirit family, blood family, fish type, bird type, beast(running) type and crust(crustacea) type which are correlated with essence deficiency, heat harassing the heart spirit, Qi stagnation, blood stasis, kidney essence deficiency, intense heart fire, liver blood deficiency and lung Qi deficiency in the established visceral pattern identification, respectively. Eight patients was diagnosed by the above Hyeongsang 8 pattern differentiations, of whom Sinjeonggyeok(kidney reinforcing prescription) was applied to a patient with fish type and essence family to nourish kidney essence, and Giul prescription(Qi stagnation prescription) was given to a patient with Qi family for regulating Qi, and Sanghwa priscription(ministerial fire prescription) was delivered to a patient with Spirit family to clear the heart fire and tranquilize, and Sojangjeonggyeok(small intestine reinforcing prescription) was used for a patient with blood family to nourish blood and remove blood stasis, and Sinjeonggyeok(kidney reinforcing prescription), Simhangyeok(heart heat clearing prescription), Ganjeonggyeok(liver reinforcing prescription) and Pyejeonggyeok(lung reinforcing prescription) were utilized for fish type, bird type, beast(running) type and crust(crustacea) type respectively to reinforce the relevant visceral function. Conclusions : It was suggested that characteristic diagnostic method of Hyeongsang medicine should be helpful for enhancing the accuracy of the established visceral pattern identification, applying Sa-am acupuncture therapy more appropriately.