• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.52-61
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• 2009

Objectives : The aim of this study was to assess health-related quality of life and evaluate the risk factors affecting severity of menopausal symptoms in early and late postmenopausal women based on the stages of reproductive aging workshop(STRAW) paradigm. Methods : This cross-sectional study examined 497 Korean postmenopausal women aged 41-59 years in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. We divided subjects into early postmenopause group and late postmenopause group. Menopause Rating Scale(MRS) was used to measure the quality of life. MRS scores, sociodemographic variables, smoking, alcohol use, age at menopause, and risk factors such as attitude to menopause, depression, history of premenstrual dysphoric disorder were compared between early and late postmenopause groups. Multiple regression analysis was performed in each group to assess the independent contribution of several variables. Results : Early postmenopause group showed significantly higher MRS scores, more negative attitude toward menopause, higher scores of depressive symptoms than late postmenopause group. Moderate to very severe hot flush group showed significantly, more negative attitude toward menopause, higher score of depressive symptoms, and higher MRS scores than none to mild hot flush groups. Depressive symptoms and attitude toward menopause contributed to the severity of menopausal symptom in both early and late postmenopause groups. Chronological age, age at menopause, history of PMDD contributed to severity of menopausal symptoms in early postmenopause group while marital status and occupation contributed in late postmenopause group. Conclusion : Health-related quality of life in postmenopause women was significantly lower in early postmenopause group than the late. Attitude toward menopause and depressive symptoms contributed significantly to quality of life in both early and late postmenopause groups but other variables contributed differently in each group. Further studies on clinical samples of postmenopausal women in order to confirm quality of life and its risk factor are needed to be done.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.138-148
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• 2001

The focus of the research was on identifying the risk factors that may result in unprepared intercourse among the adolescent from an ecological systems prospective. A survey questionnaire was conducted from September through December 1999 to 2326 youths, ages from 13-18 years old. After eliminating thirty respondents from Unwed Mother's Home we found that 8.8% of the remaining respondents had experienced sexual intercourse. Of those, 5% of the female and 13.4% of male adolescents has had sexual intercourse, showing 2.7 times more for the male sample population. Broken down to age groups, 3.2% of the thirteen years old group and 19.2% of the eighteen years old group had experienced intercourse, an almost six fold increase in the older age group. To find out the differences between those who had and not had experienced intercourse the group was then divided into two comparative groups by same sex and age variables. Findings from comparative analysis identified five ecological system risk factors among the youth sample that had intercourse；First, individual factor：adolescents who thought less of themselves or didn't consider their potentials, those more exposed other risk behaviors such as drinking, smoking, drugs, runaway and come in contact with pornography, those who thought they knew more about sex and etc. Second, family factor：those who thought family was less important, had less supportive family, higher or lower income family and etc. Third, peer factor：Both groups thought friends were important and had their support. The group with intercourse experience seems to be think that more peers are experiencing other risk behavior. Fourth, school factor：Those in the group who had experienced intercourse seems to think school is less important and with lower academic achievements. Fifth, community factor：There were no statistical significant differences found between the two groups. The overall results from this study implies that if we want to prevent our youths from having unprepared intercourse during adolescence the significance of having meaningful emerging self, family relationship and school experience is important. This study identified the risk factors leading to adolescent sexual intercourse but further research is necessary in finding out about their predictability.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.518-525
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• 2010

The purpose of the study was to examine health-related behaviors and nutrient intake in relation to job stress level of police officers. Total of 166 police officers working in Jeonbuk area participated in the study. The study was conducted from February to March, 2009. Subjects were given self-administered questionnaire on their general health status, dietary and health-related habits. Nutrient intake was assessed by semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Subjects were divided into four groups (very low, low, high, very high) by their job stress level scores. Main concerns of job stress were from 'job demand', 'organizational system' and 'lack of reward'. More than 95% of the subjects were confident of their health status. Health habits, such as drinking, smoking and exercising, were better than that of average Korean men. There were significant differences in dietary habits in relation to job stress level. Lower job stress group showed lower rate of skipping breakfast (p<0.01), more affordable meal time (p<0.05) and better snacking habits (p<0.001). Sweet food preference was higher in lower job stress group (p<0.05). The average calorie intake was $2063\pm532.7$ (88.5% of EER) and there was no significant difference in nutrient intake among job stress levels. However, mean intake of calcium and vitamin $B_2$ was less than 75% of %DRI in higher job stress group. Therefore, further support in nutritional counseling programs to improve dietary behaviors and health habits and to reduce job concerned stress of the police officers will be necessary.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.9-19
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• 2002

This study was conducted to compare the health behaviors of patient s before and after a stroke and propose health education program to reduce risk factors related to stroke recurrence. Data were collected from eighty- eight stroke patients registered at the Gyeongju-si Health Center between July 1, to August 30, 1999, by interviewing patients from a prepared structured questionnaire, which included questions on that patients ' general characteristics, health- related behaviors, family-related characteristics, and pre- and post - stroke health status. Smoking rate of 51.1% before stroke reduced to 25.0% after stroke; drinking rate of 52.3% before stroke reduced to 17.0% after stroke; daily smoking amount of 20.1 packs per day before stroke significantly reduced to 14.9 packs per day after stroke; and daily drinking amount of 92.4ml before stroke significantly reduced to 23.7ml after stroke. Smoking rate according to sex showed a marked decrease in the male subjects, but 31.6% still smoked even after their stroke. Among the female subjects, smoking rate of 16.1% before stroke reduced to 12.9% after stroke. Observation of the change in health- related behaviors of stroke patient s showed significant change in smoking rate, drinking rate and intake of regular meals etc. of patient s with a spouse and patients who received preventive health education. Health education on quitting smoking, temperance, low fat diet, exercise and regular meals for stroke patient s are needed, and public and private organizations can do their part in development and providing continuing health education programs and health education.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.106-113
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• 2013

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics and the psychosocial factors associated to the referral to psychiatric care in the suicide attempters visiting emergency center. Methods: We conducted a systematic chart review of 377 suicidal attempters visiting emergency center of the Korea University Ansan Hospital between January 2008 and December 2011. We gathered a data contain 20 items including psychosocial characteristics and factors related to suicide and factors related to psychiatric treatment. Multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to data to estimate the unique effects of sex, drunken status, companion, suicidal methods, place of suicide and current use of psychiatric medication on the referral to psychiatric care. Results: The female gender(OR=1.63, 95% CI=0.99-2.69), suicidal attempts at home(OR=3.40, 95% I= 1.21-9.56) and drunken state at visit(OR=2.34, 95% CI=1.10-5.01) are the factors that predict the risk of the non-referral of the patients to psychiatric intervention. Place of suicidal attempt was the most important factor do play a role in determining whether referral to psychiatric care will take place or not. Current use of psychiatric medication showed a trend toward significance(p=0.08, OR=1.67, 95% CI=0.95-2.95). Conclusions: These results suggest that when deciding whether to adapt or to refuse the referral to psychiatric care, the factors such as suicidal intent, lethality of suicide methods, familiar factors and alcohol may contribute onto the referral to psychiatric care. Additional research is required to investigate an association of these factors with referral to psychiatric care.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.64-73
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• 2017

Purpose: Excess sodium intake may contribute to the etiology of hypertension and cardiovascular disease risk. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a daily sodium intake of less than 2 g. The aim of this study was to estimate the association of sodium intake with obesity in Korean adults. Methods: This study used Dietary intake and Health data on 22,321 subjects aged 30 years and over from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2010~2014. Information on dietary intake was obtained by the one day 24-hour recall method in KNHANES, and sodium intake was classified into five groups (< 2,000 mg, 2,000~4,000 mg, 4,000~6,000 mg, 6,000~8,000 mg, ${\geq}8,000mg$). Obesity was defined as having a body mass index (BMI) higher than $25kg/m^2$. Intake of sodium and obesity status were analyzed by logistic regression with SPSS Statistics 23. Results: Men tended to have a higher sodium intake than women (p < 0.001). After adjusting for age, sex, year, daily energy intake, education level, smoking status, drinking status, physical activity, and chronic diseases and comparing the highest sodium intake group (${\geq}8,000mg$) with the lowest intake group (< 2,000 mg), the OR of obesity was 1.351 (95% CI: 1.032~1.767) in men. The OR of obesity in the sodium intake group (4,000~6,000 mg) was 1.232 (95% CI: 1.063~1.427) in women. Conclusion: Our findings suggest an independent relationship between sodium intake and as increased risk of obesity in Korean adults, implying the necessity for future research on low-sodium diet intervention in relation to obesity.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2018

Objectives: Previous studies have shown that periodic limb movements in sleep (PLMS) could be one of risk factors for cardiovascular morbidity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between PLMS and blood pressure changes during sleep. Methods: We analyzed data from 358 adults (176 men and 182 women) aged 18 years and older who were free from sleep apnea syndrome (Respiratory Disturbance Index < 5) and sleep disorders such as REM sleep behavior disorder or narcolepsy. Demographic characteristics, polysomnography records, and clinical variable data including blood pressure, body mass index, alcohol, smoking, and current medications were collected. In addition, self-report questionnaires including the Beck Depression Index, Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were completed. Blood pressure change from bedtime to awakening was compared between the two periodic limb movement index (PLMI) groups [low PLMI ($PLMI{\leq}15$) and high PLMI (PLMI > 15)]. Blood pressure change patterns were compared using repeated measures analysis of variance. Results: Systolic blood pressure in the high PLMI group was lower than that in the low PLMI group (p = 0.036). These results were also significant when adjusted for gender and age, but were not statistically significant when adjusted for BMI, alcohol, smoking, anti-hypertension medication use and sleep efficiency (p = 0.098). Systolic blood pressure dropped by 9.7 mm Hg in the low PLMI group, and systolic blood pressure in the high PLMI group dropped by 2.9 mm Hg. There was a significant difference in delta systolic blood pressure after sleep between the two groups in women when adjusted for age, BMI, alcohol, smoking, antihypertensive medication use and sleep efficiency (p = 0.023). Conclusion: PLMS was significantly associated with a decreasing pattern in nocturnal BP during sleep, and this association remained significant in women when adjusted for age, BMI, alcohol, smoking, antihypertension medication use and sleep efficiency related to blood pressure. We suggest that PLMS may be associated with cardiovascular morbidity.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.39C no.10
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• pp.887-895
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• 2014

Drowsy driving is a large proportion of the total car accidents. For this reason, drowsiness detection and warning system for drivers has recently become a very important issue. Monitoring physiological signals provides the possibility of detecting features of drowsiness and fatigue of drivers. Many researches have been published that to measure electroencephalogram(EEG) signals is the effective way in order to be aware of fatigue and drowsiness of drivers. The aim of this study is to extract drowsiness-related features from a set of EEG signals and to classify the features into three states: alertness, transition, and drowsiness. This paper proposes a drowsiness detection system using errors-in-variables(EIV) for extraction of feature vectors and multilayer perceptron (MLP) for classification. The proposed method evaluates robustness for noise and compares to the previous one using linear predictive coding (LPC) combined with MLP. From evaluation results, we conclude that the proposed scheme outperforms the previous one in the low signal-to-noise ratio regime.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.4634-4643
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of LED safety block using the government database. To evaluate these effects, the night accident data was obtained from 2007 to 2011 from the database. At the LED-installed area, compared to the uninstalled area, the number of night traffic accidents, injured and mortality had decreased by 26.2%, 21.2% and 38.3%, respectively. The LED-installed intersections are safer than the LED-uninstalled roads from a traffic accidents perspective. In conclusion, a LED safety block is quite effective in decreasing the number of traffic accidents. Although this study was conducted using the data from Changwon city, where LED safety blocks have been installed so far, these results can provide valuable data to other cities considering the implementation of these LED safety blocks.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.3368-3373
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to analyze the risk factors of self-reported voice problem. Data were from the Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 2008. Subjects were 3,600 persons (1,501 men, 2,099 women) aged 19 years and older. A prediction model was developed by the use of a exhaustive CHAID (Chi Squared Automatic Interaction Detection) algorism of decision tree model. In the decision tree analysis, pain and discomfort during the last 2 weeks, age, the longest occupation and thyroid disorders was significantly associated with self-reported voice problem. The findings of associated factors suggest potential ways of targeting counseling and prevention efforts to control self-reported voice problem.