• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.161-168
• /
• 2024

This study was conducted to identify the pollutants generated by the fuel complex and to determine the health effects of the surrounding residents. In addition, based on the results of epidemiological surveys and health impact surveys of local residents, we analyze the distribution of patient groups and exposure characteristics according to the distance from the fuel complex boundary. Samples were collected from the briquette plant within the fuel complex and analyzed by SEM-EDXA, X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer, and ICP. In addition, the distribution of patients and exposure characteristics were analyzed according to the distance from the fuel complex and yard boundaries. Analysis of briquette samples from the fuel complex showed that the average particle size was 10-30 ㎛, the shape was irregular, and SiO₂ accounted for more than 50%. It is believed that silica, which causes pneumoconiosis, may have been scattered into the air. In particular, there was a large distribution of 5 ㎛ particles that affect respiratory diseases. According to the analysis of the residential addresses and distribution of pneumoconiosis cases, many pneumoconiosis cases were located in the area between 200 and 500 meters from the boundary of the fuel complex. In addition, 28 pneumoconiosis cases were identified as a result of the epidemiological survey and health impact survey at the fuel complex. In detail, there were 8 cases of occupational pneumoconiosis, 6 cases of environmental pneumoconiosis, and 14 cases of occupational and environmental pneumoconiosis. The confirmed pneumoconiosis cases were located between 0.3 and 1.1 kilometers from the fuel complex. It was found that environmental pollutants generated by the fuel complex adversely affect the health of local residents. In particular, there are many cases of pneumoconiosis in the area between 200 and 500 meters from the boundary of the fuel complex, and this distance is considered to be the direct and indirect impact zone of the briquette plant.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.272-275
• /
• 2019

The 2018 National Guideline for Tuberculosis Control, which was published by the Korea Centers for Diseases Prevention and Control (KCDC), mandates conducting an epidemiological survey among close contacts of active tuberculosis patients at public institutions such as schools. In the procedure for these surveys, the tuberculin skin test (TST) is mandated as the screening test for latent tuberculosis infection in elementary school students. However, several guidelines recommend using the interferon-gamma releasing assay (IGRA) for contacts aged over 5 years with a Bacillus Calmette-$Gu{\acute{e}}rin$ vaccination history. The main reason for this is that IGRA has a higher specificity and lower false positive rate than TST. In addition, IGRA requires only a single visit to draw blood and the results are available within 24 hours. These advantages could promote cooperation from both parents and students in conducting these surveys. Thus, these findings regarding the benefits of IGRA for surveys of close contacts at elementary schools should be incorporated into the KCDC guideline.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.3-44
• /
• 2022

As a result of a close review focusing on the case of obstruction of epidemiological investigation by a religious group A in Daegu, which was a problem when the pandemic of Covid-19 infection began in Korea around February 2, 2020, when an epidemiological investigator requested a specific group to submit a list, While there have been cases where an act of not responding or submitting an edited omission list was sentenced to the effect that the act did not fall under an epidemiological investigation, in the case of non-submission of the visitor list for the B Center, even though a 'list of visitors' was requested. Regarding the fact of refusal without a justifiable reason, 'providing a list of persons entering the building is a key factual act that forms a link between epidemiological investigations accompanying an epidemiological investigation, and refusing to do so is also an act of refusal and obstruction of an epidemiological investigation. There are cases where it is possible to demand criminal punishment. Regardless of whether the request for submission of the membership list falls under the epidemiological investigation, there are cases in which the someones' actions correspond to the refusal or obstruction of the epidemiological investigation. A lower court ruling that if an epidemiological investigation is rejected or obstructed as a result of interfering with factual acts accompanying an epidemiological investigation, comprehensively considering whether or not the list has been diverted for purposes other than epidemiological investigation, the logic is persuasive. Epidemiological investigations such as surveys and human specimen collection and testing are conducted for each infectious disease patient or contact confirmed as a result of the epidemiological investigation, but epidemiological investigations conducted on individual individuals cannot exist independently of each other, and the This is because the process of identification and tracking is essential to an epidemiological investigation, and if someone intentionally interferes with or rejects the process of confirming this link, it will result in direct, realistic, and widespread interference with the epidemiological investigation. In this article, ① there are differences between an epidemiological investigation and a request for information provision under the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, but there are areas that fall under the epidemiological investigation even in the case of a request for information, ② Considering the medical characteristics of COVID-19 and the continuity of the epidemiological investigation, the epidemiological investigator the fact that the act of requesting a list may fall under the epidemiological investigation, ③ that the offense of obstructing the epidemiological investigation in certain cases may constitute 'obstruction of Performance of Official Duties by Fraudulent Means', and ④ rejecting the request for information provision under the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act from September 29, 2020 In this case, it is intended to be helpful in the application of the Infectious Disease control and Prevention Act and the practical operation of epidemiological investigations in the future by pointing out the fact that a new punishment regulation of imprisonment or fine is being implemented.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.71-84
• /
• 2016

Objectives: Exposure assessment using questionnaires is effective in large-scale epidemiological studies. However, a limited number of studies have evaluated the questionnaires used in epidemiologic studies in terms of occupational and environmental exposure. The purpose of this study was to summarize and evaluate questionnaire items included in major epidemiological studies conducted in Korea with regard to occupational and environmental exposure. Methods: A total of 12 studies (four cohort studies, six large-scale cross-sectional surveys, and two panel studies) were selected for this study. Various questionnaire items related with occupational and environmental items were collected and summarized into tables. Results: Although job type and address were included in almost all of the studies, the information on occupational or environmental exposure to specific risk factors was collected in a limited number of studies. Moreover, questionnaire items were not standardized, warranting a continuous effort to develop questionnaires and evaluate their validity. Conclusion: Our results suggest that validated questionnaire items focusing on occupational and environmental exposure need to be developed in order to enhance the availability of the information collected from questions in epidemiological studies.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.159-165
• /
• 2010

Objectives: We evaluated the reliability of the possible covariates of the baseline survey data collected for the Epidemiological Investigation on Cancer Risk Among Residents Who Reside Near the Nuclear Power Plants in Korea. Methods: Follow-up surveys were conducted for 477 participants of the cohort at less than 1 year after the initial survey. The mean interval between the initial and follow-up surveys was 282.5 days. Possible covariates were identified by analyzing the correlations with the exposure variable and associations with the outcome variables for all the variables. Logistic regression analysis with stepwise selection was further conducted among the possible covariates to select variables that have covariance with other variables. We considered that these variables can be representing other variables. Seven variables for the males and 3 variables for the females, which had covariance with other possible covariates, were selected as representative variables. The Kappa index of each variable was calculated. Results: For the males, the Kappa indexes were as follow; family history of cancer was 0.64, family history of liver diseases in parents and siblings was 0.56, family history of hypertension in parents and siblings was 0.51, family history of liver diseases was 0.50, family history of hypertension was 0.44, a history of chronic liver diseases was 0.53 and history of pulmonary tuberculosis was 0.36. For females, the Kappa indexes were as follow; family history of cancer was 0.58, family history of hypertension in parents and siblings was 0.56 and family history of hypertension was 0.47. Conclusions: Most of the possible covariates showed good to moderate agreement.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.82 no.2
• /
• pp.91-93
• /
• 2019

Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Globally, there were an estimated 1.8 million new cases and 1.59 million deaths in 2012. In Korea, the incidence of lung cancer is increasing and 24,267 (47.6/100,000) patients with lung cancer were registered at the Korea Central Cancer Registry in 2015. Previous nationwide surveys of lung cancer were performed in 1998 by the Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases and in 2007 by the Korean Association for Lung Cancer (KALC), but the studies faced difficulties in maintaining lung cancer registry because of limitations regarding the Private Information Protection Act. To produce unbiased and reliable epidemiological data, the KALC and Korean Central Cancer Registry developed a detailed lung cancer registry (KALC-R) data structure. Following a pilot survey of 489 lung cancer cases in 2013, about 10% of the sampled lung cancer cases from the Korean Central Cancer Registry are surveyed each year. With the analysis of detailed data from the KALC-R, an important epidemiological background for scientific research or policy development is expected to be generated.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.163-169
• /
• 2005

Objectives: Pedestrian traffic injuries have been an important cause of childhood mortality and morbidity for decades. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological characteristics of child pedestrian traffic injuries that occurred during 2000 in one metropolitan city and its school-zones, and to determine the factors associated with those accidents. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 2001. Police records were used to identify the cases of pedestrian injury. Children aged between 6 and 15 years, injured during road walking, were included in this study. A direct survey of the environmental factors within the school-zones in study area (n=116) was also performed. Self-administered questionnaires, via mail and telephone surveys, were used to assess the safety education programmes. The schools were divided into two groups according to the occurrence of pedestrian traffic injuries in their school-zone. Results: Pedestrian injuries (n=597) were found to account for 3.2% of all traffic injuries in the subject area. The epidemiological characteristics were not significantly different between genders. There were some significant risk factors within the environmental factors, such as local road (OR: 2.3, 95% CI=1.05-5.35), heavy traffic volume (OR: 2.2, 95% CI=1.00-5.04), poor visibility of speed-limit signs (OR: 2.8, 95% CI=1.25-6.42), no separation of pedestrian routes from cars (OR: 2.6, 95% CI=1.02-6.75) and barriers on the pedestrian routes (OR: 2.2, 95% CI=1.01-5.08). Only one factor, that of education in a safety-park (OR: 0.3, 95% CI=0.09-0.96), was significantly associated in the traffic and pedestrian safety education factors. Conclusion: Significant associations with pedestrian injury risk were identified in some of the modifiable environmental factors than in the educational factors.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.44 no.2
• /
• pp.45-59
• /
• 2023

Objectives: This study investigated the role of Korean medicine doctors in the national quarantine system and the status of their duties through questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews with Korean medicine staff who participated in COVID-19 work. Methods: We developed a questionnaire survey to investigate the status and perception of Korean medicine doctors' participation in responding to infectious diseases, and the results were derived by conducting frequency analysis and T-test using SPSS program. The measurement variables of this study were the status of COVID-19 related work participation and perception of Korean medicine doctors' role in infectious diseases, and the maximum significance level was 0.05. Results: There were 300 respondents to the survey, and as for the COVID-19 related work, Korean medicine treatment for COVID-19 patients accounted for the most(52.7%), and various preventive and treatment tasks such as epidemiological investigations and specimen collection were conducted. Conclusion: According to this study, it was confirmed that there are sufficient legal and administrative grounds for Korean medicine doctors to perform specimen collection and epidemiological investigations. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare a policy framework to solidify the status of Korean medicine doctors in national infectious diseases in the future.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.2451-2454
• /
• 2005

In recent years, the importance of the characterization of fall for a fracture prevention system keeps increasing since fracture from a fall can lead to serious health problems. Fall is one of the major sources which increase morbidity in elderly people. In terms of the cost and the influence to the quality of life, the most serious injury with hip fractures is caused by falls. The traditional methods in characterizing fall patterns have been mainly by the epidemiological surveys. With surveys, the exact data of fall patterns can not been acquired. In this paper, we measured and analyzed with the parameters related to fall pattern such as velocities and accelerations during the motion of falls using 3D motion capture program. We acquired the parameters of the fall pattern of intentional and unexpected fall. The result showed that the variation of velocity and acceleration during fall was very important in characterizing fall pattern, which of vital importance for the development of a fracture prevention system and for the safety of the elderly.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.203-215
• /
• 2010

This study is an overview of toxicities and measurement techniques of ultrafine particles (UFPs), and their exposure controls. UFPs are ubiquitous in many working situations. Exposure to UFPs is possibly causing adverse health symptoms including cardio-respiratory disease to humans. In order to measure exposure levels of airborne UFPs, there are current available measurement guidelines, instruments and other techniques (i.e. contour mapping, control banding). However, these risk assessment techniques including measurement techniques, controls and guidelines are dependent on background levels, metrics (e.g. size, mass, number, surface area, composition), environmental conditions and controls. There are no standardized measurement methods available and no generic and specific occupational exposure standards for UFPs. It is thought that there needs to be more effort to develop Regulations and Exposure Standards for generic UFPs should be based on more exposure data, health surveys, toxicological data and epidemiological data. A carefully considered hierarchy of controls can also reduce the maximum amount of airborne UFPs being emitted from diverse sources in industries.