• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.123-128
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• 2002

Objective : To examine the relationship between cigarette smoking, alcohol and cancer mortality in men in the Kangwha cohort after 12 years and 10 months of follow up. Methods : The subjects consisted of 2,681 men in the Kangwha cohort aged over 55 in 1985. Number of deaths and the time to death front all cancers and other cause were measured and the data for the smoking and drinking habits were obtained from the baseline survey data in 1985. All subjects were categorized into four groups according to their smoking habits: non-smokers, ex-smokers, mode(ate-smokers (1-19 cigarettes per day), heavy-smokers ($\geq$20 cigarettes per day). In addition, they were also categorized according to their drinking habits: non-drinkers, light-drinkers ($\leq$1 drink per week), moderate-drinkers (<3 drinks per day), heavy-drinkers ($\geq$3 drinks per day). The cancer specific death rates were calculated according to their smoking and drinking status. The adjusted risk ratio for all cancer deaths according to their smoking and drinking status were estimated using the Cox's proportional hazard regression model. Results : Using nonsmokers as the reference category, the adjusted risk ratio for all cancer deaths were 1.573(95% CI=1.003-2.468) for heavy-smokers. For lung cancer deaths, the adjusted risk ratios were 3.540(95% CI=1.251-10.018) for moderate-smoker and 4.114(95% CI=1.275-13.271) for heavy-smokers. Compared to non-drinkers, the adjusted risk ratio for stomach cancer was 2.204(95% CI=1.114-4.361) for light-drinkers. Conclusion : Smoking is the most significant risk factor for cancer deaths particularly lung cancer.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.323-330
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• 2001

Objective : To examine the association between age at menopause and mortality in a population-based sample of women in Kangwha, Korea. Methods : From the Kangwha Cohort, followed-up from 1985 to 1999, the data of the over 55 year old female group(n=3,596) was used in this study to examine the association between age at menopause and mortality. We calculated the all causes mortality risk ratio and the cancer mortality risk ratio by age at menopause grouping using the Cox Proportional Hazards Model with adjustments for age, BMI, smoking, education, chronic disease, self-rated health status, alcohol consumption and age at first birth. Result and conclusion : Compared to women who had menopause at 45-49 years, the all causes mortality risk ratio was 1.24 for women with menopause at less than 40 years(95% CI=1.01-1.53) and 1.05 for women with menopause at over 50 years(95% CI=0.92-1.20). Also, compared to women who had menopause at 45-49 years, the cancer mortality risk ratio was 1.53 for women with menopause at less than 40 years(95% CI=0.78-2.98) and 1.17 for women with menopause at over 50 years(95% CI=0.77-1.80).

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.305-312
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• 2002

Objectives : The reproductive history of women has been suggested to have a possible influence on the risk of osteoporotic fractures. The purpose of this study was to assess the association between reproductive history and hip fractures in the elderly women. Methods : The study subjects were drawn from women members of the Korean Elderly Pharmacoepidemiologic Cohort (KEPEC), aged 65 years or over, whose reproductive histories were available, and who were beneficiaries of the Korea Medical Insurance Corporation (KMIC) in 1993 and lived in Busan city, Korea. The information on reproductive histories, and possible confounders, were collected from mailed questionnaires. Potential hip fracture cases were collected from the claims data obtained between 1993 and 1998, with a hospital survey conducted to confirm the final diagnoses. Rate ratios and their 95% confidence intervals, were calculated using a Cox's proportional hazard model. Results : Following up 5,215 women for 6 years, 51 cases were confirmed with hip fractures. When adjusted for age, weight and physical activity, the rate ratio of hip fractures in women who had given birth three or more times was 0.56 (95% CI: 0.25-1.25), compared with those who had given birth two or less times. When adjusted for age, number of births, weight and physical activity, the rate ratio in women who first gave birth when younger than 22 years was 0.60 (95% CI: 0.34-1.08) compared with those who had giving birth at 22 years or older. Conclusions : According to these findings, an early age when first giving birth might decrease the risk of hip fractures in elderly Korean women.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2805-2810
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• 2016

Background: Differentiated thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy with a generally good prognosis. Knowing long-term outcomes of each patient helps management planning. The study was conducted to develop and validate a clinical prognostic score for predicting disease remission in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer based on patient, tumor and treatment factors. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study of 1,217 differentiated thyroid cancer patients from two tertiary-care hospitals in the Northeast of Thailand was performed. Associations between potential clinical prognostic factors and remission were tested by Cox proportional-hazards analysis in 852 patients (development cohort). The prediction score was created by summation of score points weighted from regression coefficients of independent prognostic factors. Risks of disease remission were estimated and the derived score was then validated in the remaining 365 patients (validation cohort). Results: During the median follow-up time of 58 months, 648 (76.1%) patients in the development cohort had disease remission. Five independent prognostic factors were identified with corresponding score points: duration from thyroid surgery to $^{131}I$ treatment (0.721), distant metastasis at initial diagnosis (0.801), postoperative serum thyroglobulin level (0.535), anti-thyroglobulin antibodies positivity (0.546), and adequacy of serum TSH suppression (0.293). The total risk score for each patient was calculated and three categories of remission probability were proposed: ${\leq}1.628$ points (low risk, 83% remission), 1.629-1.816 points (intermediate risk, 87% remission), and ${\geq}1.817$ points (high risk, 93% remission). The concordance (C-index) was 0.761 (95% CI 0.754-0.767). Conclusions: The clinical prognostic scoring model developed to quantify the probability of disease remission can serve as a useful tool in personalized decision making regarding treatment in differentiated thyroid cancer patients.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.390-395
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• 2021

Background: Health-care providers typically undergo shift work and are subjected to increased stress. Night shift work may induce disturbed sleep cycles and circadian rhythm. The objective of this study was to explore if night shift workers (NSWs) show an increased risk of abnormal thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 574 employees without thyroid disease and abnormal TSH at baseline who underwent annual check-ups between 2007 and 2016 in a medical center. NSWs were defined as those with working time schedules other than daytime hours. We calculated the incidence rate and estimated the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for incident abnormal TSH and subclinical hypothyroidism compared with non-NSWs using a Cox regression model. Results: A total of 56 incident abnormal TSH cases and 39 subclinical hypothyroidism cases in NSWs were identified during 3000 person-years of follow-up. In models adjusted for age, sex, obesity, and working departments, we found no increased relative risk for incident abnormal TSH (HR: 0.72, 95% confidence interval: 0.33-1.60) or subclinical hypothyroidism (HR: 0.52, 95% confidence interval: 0.19-1.45) when comparing NSWs to non-NSWs; nor were incidence rates significantly different among exclusively medical employees after excluding administrative staff. Conclusion: In this hospital-based nine-year follow-up retrospective cohort study, NSWs were not associated with increased relative risk of incident abnormal TSH and subclinical hypothyroidism, in contrast to previous cross-sectional studies.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.429-437
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• 2019

This study examined diverse capital dynamics and the effect of the dynamics on the quality of life of Korean baby boomers living in Jeonju. Also this study investigated the moderating effect of birth cohort. A structural equation modeling conducted with 303 baby boomers for verification. The results are as follows: First, the human capital of baby boomer directly or indirectly affected psychological, economic, social capital, and quality of life. Second, economic capital directly or indirectly affected psychological, social capital, and quality of life. Third, psychological capital directly or indirectly affected social capital and quality of life. Fourth, social capital affected the quality of life. Fifth, the birth cohort moderated the impacts of economic capital on psychological capital and quality of life. The results provided an understanding of the quality of life of baby boomer and the direction of intervention.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2019

Background: Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (nCRT) has become the standard of care for esophageal cancer patients prior to esophagectomy. However, the optimal timing for surgery after completion of nCRT remains unclear. Methods: A retrospective review was performed of patients who underwent esophagectomy with cervical anastomosis for esophageal cancer at a single institution between January 2000 and June 2015. Patients were categorized into 3 cohorts: those who did not receive nCRT prior to esophagectomy (no nCRT), those who underwent esophagectomy within 35 days after nCRT (${\leq}35d$), and those who underwent esophagectomy more than 35 days after nCRT (>35d). Results: A total of 366 esophagectomies were performed during the study period, and 348 patients met the inclusion criteria. Anastomotic leaks occurred in 11.8% of all patients included in the study (41 of 348). Within each cohort, anastomotic leaks were detected in 14.7% of patients (17 of 116) in the no nCRT cohort, 7.3% (13 of 177) in the ${\leq}35d$ cohort, and 20.0% (11 of 55) in the >35d cohort (p=0.020). Significant differences in the occurrence of anastomotic leaks were observed between the no nCRT and ${\leq}35d$ cohorts (p=0.044), and between the ${\leq}35d$ and >35d cohorts (p=0.007). Conclusion: Esophagectomy with cervical anastomosis within 35 days of nCRT resulted in a lower percentage of anastomotic leaks.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.156-162
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• 2018

Background and Purpose: Previous studies have reported conflicting results about the prevalence of seizures in Alzheimer's disease (AD). There are few epidemiological studies on this topic in Asia. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine demographic and clinical characteristics as well as incidence for seizures in AD patients compared to non-AD patients in a prospective, longitudinal, community-based cohort with a long follow-up. Methods: Data were collected from National Health Insurance Service-National Elderly Cohort (NHIS-elderly) Database to define patients with AD from 2004-2006 using Korean Classification Diseases codes G30 and F00. We performed a 1:5 case-control propensity score matching based on age, sex, and household income. We conducted Cox proportional hazards regression analysis to estimate the risk of epilepsy in AD patients. Results: In the cohort study, patients with AD had higher risk for epilepsy than those without AD, with hazard ratio of 2.773 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.515-3.057). This study also showed that male gender and comorbidities such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease increased the risk of developing epilepsy. Patients with AD had 1.527 (95% CI, 1.375-1.695) times higher mortality rate than those in the control group. Conclusions: AD patients have significantly higher risk of developing epilepsy than non-AD patients.

• The Journal of Health Technology Assessment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.142-147
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Robot-Assisted Brain Stereotactic Surgery with a systematic review. Methods: Electronic literature was searched using KoreaMed, Ovid-MEDLINE, Ovid-EMBASE, and Cochrane Library on 6th April 2017. Two authors screened 1218 citations. Duplicated articles of 456 excluded, the remaining 762 articles were reviewed with title and abstract. Results: A total of 8 studies were selected in this review. The device used in all studies was $ROSA^{TM}$. In one cohort study comparing the intervention ($ROSA^{TM}$) with the control (conventional stereotactic surgery), hematoma was reported no significant difference between groups. In six descriptive studies, one study reported hematoma 10% (10/100) and temporary nerve impairment 6% (6/100) using the ROSA; while five descriptive study did not report any complications. In one cohort, the localization precision were 1.2 mm in the intervention group and 1.1 mm in the control group; the localization success rate as 78.2% in the intervention group and 76.2% in the control group in one cohort; and the average time for surgery as 130 min for the intervention group and 352 min for the control group in one cohort. Four studies reported the localization success rate as 100%; two out of three articles reported the overall time for surgery as 56 min and 90 min, while one article reported the time as less than one hour in 50% of patients (50/100); two articles reported in epilepsy patients, the condition after the surgery was Engel level I in 66.2%, 75% patients, Engel level II-III in 25%, 26.5% patients, and Engel level 4 in 7.3% patients. Conclusion: Robot-Assisted Brain Stereotactic Surgery is a safe and accurate technique that can significantly reduce the time for the brain stereotactic surgery. However, further studies are needed to generalize the results.

• Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.183-190
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• 2018

Background: As the number of big-cohort studies increases, validation becomes increasingly more important. We aimed to validate administrative database categorized as colorectal cancer (CRC) by the International Classification of Disease (ICD) 10th code. Methods: Big-cohort was collected from Clinical Data Warehouse using ICD 10th codes from May 1, 2003 to November 30, 2016 at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. The patients in the study group had been diagnosed with cancer and were recorded in the ICD 10th code of CRC by the National Health Insurance Service. Subjects with codes of inflammatory bowel disease or tuberculosis colitis were selected for the control group. For the accuracy of registered CRC codes (C18-21), the chart, imaging results, and pathologic findings were examined by two reviewers. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) for CRC were calculated. Results: A total of 6,780 subjects with CRC and 1,899 control subjects were enrolled. Of these patients, 22 subjects did not have evidence of CRC by colonoscopy, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or positron emission tomography. The sensitivity and specificity of hospitalization data for identifying CRC were 100.00% and 98.86%, respectively. PPV and NPV were 99.68% and 100.00%, respectively. Conclusions: The big-cohort database using the ICD 10th code for CRC appears to be accurate.