• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.1340-1345
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• 2002

Purpose : We studied the prevalence of snoring and its association with diseases, obesity and environmental factors, as well as sleep disturbance arising from snoring, in school-aged children. Methods : The survey was performed by a special questionnaire on 1,707 children at elementary schools from 1 to 30 July 2001 in Gwangju City. The prevalence of snoring, associated factors, and sleep disturbance were evaluated. Results : 266(16.5%) of the children snored at least once a week. 73(4.3%) of the children snored almost every day. Regarding the associated factors of snoring : There was a statistically significant difference between snoring and nonsnoring groups due to gender, obesity, sinusitis, tonsillar hypertrophy, bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis. Of them, male gender, tonsillar hypertrophy, and obesity were significant risk factors for development of snoring. Especially, the odds ratio increased to 1.048(CI, 1.004-1.659), 1.748(CI, 1.175-2.599), and 2.266(CI, 1.300-3.950) in children with an obesity index of 20-29%, 30-49%, ${\geq}50%$, respectively. There was a statistically significant association of snoring with decreased sleep duration, sleep talking, and drowsiness during the day as a result of sleep disturbance. Conclusion : 16.5% of school-aged children snored at least once a week. The association of snoring with tonsillar hypertrophy, obesity and gender as risk factors was demonstrated in this study.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.20-30
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• 2000

Objective : This study was designed to investigate the frequencies and the relation of stressful life events and health problems and evaluate the influence of stressful life events on the physical symptoms and anxiety in adolescents. Method : Newcomb's 39-item life-event questionnaire and Newcomb's 19-item health problems questionnaire were administered to 475 adolescents. The frequencies of stressful life events and health problems which had actually occurred to them during the previous 12 months were investigated. Items of stressful life events were classified in 8 dimensional scaling factors(Family/parents, Accident/Illness, Sexuality, Autonomy, Deviance, Relocation, Distress, Items not in scales) and items of health problems were classified in 5 health problems(General, Heart and Lung, Nervous system, Anxiety, Psychosomatic symptoms) and the correlation between them was analyzed. Result : 1) The average number of events occurring during the past year for the 475 adolescents is 3(7.7%). The most frequent item of stressful life events was 'Thought about suicide' and dimensional factors of "Distress" and "Autonomy" were the most frequent life events in multidimensional sacling analysis. There were more factors of "Family/Illness" and " Autonomy" in male, while there was more factor of "Distress" in female. There were more factors of "School violence" and "Deviance" in younger students, while there were more factors of "Sexuality" and "Autonomy" in older students. 2) The most frequent item of health problem was 'excessive fatigue' and "anxiety" was most frequent health problem in multidimensional scaling analysis. There were more health problems in female than those in male. The higher grades the students became, the more health problems they have reported. 3) There was significant relationship between 7 factors of stressful life events except one factor of "Relocation" and 5 health problems. Conclusions : These findings suggest that as adolescents grow older, they are engaging in more controllable behaviors related to autonomy and sexuality and at the same time are experiencing increased difficulty with distressful or discomforting events, and their stressful life events are significantly related to decreased health and psychological functiong.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.129-137
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• 2001

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of 38-hour sleep deprivation on fine motor performance. The Motor Performance Series (MPS) in the Vienna Test System (computerized neurocognitive function tests) was used in this study. Methods: Twenty four subjects participated in this study. Subjects had no past history of psychiatric disorders and physical illness. Subjects had normal sleep-waking cycle without current sleep disturbances and were all right-handed (Annett's Hand Preference Questionnaire: above +9 points). To minimize the learning effects, familiarization with the Vienna Test System was performed one day before the study. Subjects were to get up at 6:00 in the morning after getting enough sleep according to his or her usual sleep-wake cycle. After awakening, subjects remained awake for 38 hours under continuous surveillance. During two consecutive study days, the subjects tested MPS at 7 AM and 7 PM each day, which means the MPS was done four times in total. During the experiment, anything that could affect the subjects' sleep such as coffee, tea, alcohol, a nap, tiring sports, and all medications were prohibited. Results: In MPS, the fine motor functions of both hands decreased after 38 hours of sleep deprivation. The decrement in motor performance was prominent in the dominant right hand. In the right hand, the total number of tapping was reduced (p<.005), and the number of misses (p<.05) and the length of misses (p<.05) of line tracking, the total length of inserting a short pin (p<.01), the total length of inserting a long pin (p<.05), and the number of misses in aiming (p<.05) increased. Such performance decrement was distinct in the morning sessions. Conclusions: These results suggest that fine motor performance decrement during sleep deprivation is predominant in the right hand, which exerts maximal motor function. The finding of decrement in motor function in tapping during sleep deprivation also suggested that the time required for exhaustion of muscles is shortened during sleep deprivation. More deterioration of motor performance was shown in the morning, which could be explained as circadian rhythm effects.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2002

Purpose: Constipation in childhood is a significant problem, however, understanding of its epidemiology has been limited in Korea. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of constipation in school-aged children, helping to manage and prevent it. Methods: This cross-sectional, descripsive observational prevalence study included children (2grade, 1st and 6th grade) who were attending two elementary schools in Gwangju. The prevalence of constipation, associated symptoms, and risk factors were evaluated by questionnaire. A child was considered to be constipated when he or she defecated two or less times per week. Results: The prevalence of constipation was 15.4%. There is no significant difference between both sexes and grades. Of the causes of constipation, there was statistically significant difference in exercise deficiency, frequent intake of convenience food, long-time watching TV, unbalanced diet and enuresis history between constipation and normal group. Especially, long-time watching TV, exercise deficiency, and enuresis history were risk factors for development of constipation. Only 27.1% of children with constipation were treated by laxative and enema. Conclusion: Even though the prevalence of constipation was high, more than half of them was not treated at all. We should endeavor to educate the children and their parents to prevent constipation by evaluating the feeding and behavioral habit completely, and treating them properly.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.4-13
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• 2001

Purpose : Since the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized in the United States in the summer of 1981, the number of these patients has been increasing in the world. But do not find out a cure and a vaccine for ARS (5). And so, the best treatment for AIDS is the prevention. People can find out accurate knowledge about AIDS, and they can prevent themselves from AIDS approximately 100%. In this study, we investigate with AIDS knowledge and attitudes in unmarried young men (<24 age) and suggest accurate preventive education for AIDS and good sexual behaviors. Methods : Un-married young soldiers and college students who were not diagnosed as AIDS until June 30, 2000 were included in the study. The study included a total of 923 men. A self evaluation questionnaire, included questions on 36 items(the part of demographic data - 9; the part of knowledge - 20; the part of attitudes - 8), was drawn up by three physicians. The demographic data, AIDS knowledge and attitudes were analyzed by chi-square analysis, and the total score of AIDS knowledge - comparison according to demographic factors and attitudewere analyzed by one-way ANOVA test. Results : In demographic characteristics, as for the first recognized time of AIDS, most of men knew it when they were in their middle school, as for sources of information on AIDS, most of them knew it through the TV-media, and as for the educational need about AIDS, most of them agreed with it. In AIDS knowledge, mean scores were $14.0{\pm}1.8$ (70.3%). Items of the misconceptions concerning AIDS, reported as less than 50% correct answers, were 6 among 20 items (30%). In AIDS attitudes, as for the item about that if I will be an AIDS patient, I will have an AIDS treatment, it showed that the number of men agreed with 759 (82.2%), and as for the item about that I will help for AIDS patient even though I don't know him, it showed that the number of them agreed with 412 (45.8%). In correlation of AIDS knowledge and demographic factors, the mean scores of knowledge of men with higher than college degree were higher than them of others. The mean scores of knowledge of men with total income of family with more than US$1667 were higher than them of others. The mean scores of knowledge of men with sources of information on AIDS through the TV-media were higher than them of others. And the mean scores of knowledge of men with past medical history of STD(sexually transmitted disease) were higher than them of others. Conclusions : The higher the knowledge he has, the lower the possibility of risk and the more positive the attitude he has. And then we think that the education program for AIDS will be included as a regular part of the curriculum in high school, and young men must be effectively educated by it.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.128-135
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• 1998

Purpose : This study was intended to measure seropositivities and the level of mumps- and rubella-specific IgG of MMR vaccinees from 12 to 17 years of age in Korea. Materials and Methods : From May 1996 to July 1996 we obtained sera from students of 1 middle and 2 high schools in Seoul, who were MMR vaccinees from 12 to 17 years of age and had no evidence of immunodeficiency. These 216 study population include 110 males and 106 females. Mumps- and rubella-specific IgG antibody levels were measured by ELISA. Cut-off values for seropositivity were 20 U(Gamma Unit) in mumps and over 0.17 in rubella. Results : 1) As age increased, seropositivities to mumps increased, being 68.4% in 12 year, 79.3% in 13 year, 72.2% in 14 year, 82.0% in 15 year, 87.5% in 16 year, 87.0% in 17 year, which however has no statistical significance. 2) As age increased, the level of mumps-specific IgG antibody(mean+standard deviation, GU) increased, being $52.0{\pm}49.2$ in 12 year, $65.9{\pm}51.4$ in 13 year, $71.1{\pm}66.0$ in 14 year, $67.8{\pm}53.6$ in 15 year, $82.8{\pm}67.8$ in 16 year, $92.0{\pm}68.9$ in 17 year, which however has no statistical significance. 3) As age increased, seropositivities of rubella-specific IgG increased significantly, being 26.3% in 12 year, 20.7% in 13 year, 50.0% in 14 year, 67.2% in 15 year, 66.7% in 16 year, 65.2% in 17 year(P<0.001). 4) As age increased, rubella-specific IgG increased significantly, being $0.13{\pm}0.145$ in 12 year, $0.087{\pm}0.101$ in 13 year, $0.194{\pm}0.168$ in 14 year, $0.260{\pm}0.187$ in 15 year, $0.305{\pm}0.213$ in 16 year, $0.325{\pm}0.221$ in 17 year(P<0.001). There was positive correlation between age and rubella-specific IgG titer(rubella-specific $IgG=0.0517{\times}age-0.5586$, r=0.3752, P<0.001). Conclusion : In adolescent, seropositivities and the level of mumps-specific IgG remained relatively high, but approximately 20% of study population showed seronegativity. Seropositivities and the level of rubella-specific IgG showed the lowest level at 13 years of age and were increased with age after 14 years of age. Further evaluation may be needed to elucidate the cause of these changes of rubella-specific IgG.