• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.160-167
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• 2021

This study was conducted to empirically analyze the prevalence and risk of chronic diseases in the family history of chronic diseases using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2019. Based on 5,691 people, after controlling for socio-demographic variables that were related to family history of chronic diseases, logistic regression analysis was performed to verify the odds ratio, which was the risk of family history of chronic diseases for the prevalence of chronic diseases. The main results were founded that Odds ratio, which was the risk of chronic diseases in groups with a family history compared to those without a family history, was statistically significant at hypertension(2.623), dyslipidemia(1.868), diabetes(1.964), and arthritis(1.435) when gender, age, income status, education level and residence were controlled. These results suggest that it is not only necessary to develop a standardization tool for family history tests, but also a health and disease management system for members with a family history in terms of preventive medicine in health care. This study is significant in that it proposed a practical plan in terms of health care by controlling variables that affect the prevalence of chronic diseases and empirically identifying the risk of family history of chronic diseases.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.86 no.4
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• pp.264-271
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• 2023

Chronic cough is a common problem that can be refractory to medical treatment. Nonpharmaceutical management of chronic cough has an important role in well selected patients. This review article outlines the history of chronic cough management, current approaches to speech pathology management of the condition and new modalities of nonpharmaceutical treatment. There is a need for further research into nonpharmaceutical options with well described randomised control trials.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2877-2881
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• 2016

Background: Lung cancer is one of the most common causes of death that is rising in many countries including Iran. This study aimed to determine the impact of factors on survival of lung cancer patients at a referral center of lung diseases in Tehran, Iran. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on adult lung cancer cases admitted to a referral center for lung diseases from 2011 to 2015. Multivariate analysis was performed to determine the risk factors for all-cause mortality. Results: Of a total 933 patients with lung cancer, 53.4% died, 49.3% of them at the hospital. Overall median follow-up time was 7 months. The most common histological type of cancer was adenocarcinoma with a 13 month median survival time. Age ${\geq}55$ and smoking remained significant for all-cause mortality on Cox analysis, whereas gender was not. Conclusions: The survival of lung cancer patients is poor and the patients with history of smoking and age${\geq}55$ are at increased risk of death. Having a large hospital-based registry provides a good measurement of prognostic statistics for lung cancer. Further investigations are necessary to establish reasons for mortality.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.76 no.5
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• pp.226-232
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• 2014

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by airflow limitation and results from environmental factors and genetic factors. Although cigarette smoking is a major risk factor, other environmental exposures can influence COPD. The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics of COPD according to the history of environmental exposure. Methods: The study population comprised of 347 subjects with COPD who were recruited from the pulmonary clinics of 14 hospitals within the Korean Obstructive Lung Disease Study Group. We classified environmental exposures according to history of living near factory, and direct exposure history to firewood or briquette. According to living environmental exposures, we compared the frequency of respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function, quality of life, exercise capacity, and computed tomography phenotypes. Results: Thirty-one subjects (8.9%) had history of living near factory, 271 (78.3%) had exposure history to briquette, and 184 (53.3%) had exposure history to firewood. Patients with history of living near a factory had a significantly longer duration of sputum, while patients with exposure to firewood tended to have lower forced expiratory volume in one second, and patients with exposure to briquette tended to have lower six minute walk distance. Conclusion: COPD subjects with the history of living near factory had more frequent respiratory symptoms such as sputum. Our data suggest that environmental exposure may influence clinical phenotype of COPD.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.83 no.3
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• pp.185-194
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• 2020

Blood eosinophil counts have emerged as a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biomarker that predict the effects of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in clinical practice. Post-hoc and prospective analysis of randomized control trials have shown that higher blood eosinophil counts at the start of the study predict a greater response to ICS. COPD patients with frequent exacerbations (2 or more moderate exacerbations/yr) or a history of hospitalization have a greater response to ICS. Ex-smokers also appear to have a greater ICS response. Blood eosinophil counts can be combined with clinical information such as exacerbation history and smoking status to enable a precision medicine approach to the use of ICS. Higher blood eosinophil counts are associated with increased eosinophilic lung inflammation, and other biological features that may contribute to the increased ICS response observed. Emerging data indicates that lower blood eosinophil counts are associated with an increased risk of bacterial infection, suggesting complex relationships between eosinophils, ICS response, and the airway microbiome.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.116-124
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• 2018

Background: We aimed to investigate the prevalence of unrecognized depression in patients with chronic pain, but with no history of psychiatric diseases. Methods: Patients with chronic pain who did not have a history of psychiatric disease were selected for this study. The Beck Depression Index (BDI) was used to evaluate depression. Participants' socio-demographic characteristics and pain-related characteristics were also recorded. Results: The study included 94 consecutive patients with chronic pain (28 men and 66 women). Based on the BDI scores, 33/94 (35.1%) patients with chronic pain had comorbid depression. The prevalence of depression was significantly higher in our cohort than it was in the general population (P < 0.001). The standardized incidence ratio, adjusted for age and sex, was 2.77 in men and 2.60 in women. Patients who were unmarried (odds ratio [OR] = 3.714, P = 0.044), and who had subjective sleep disturbance (OR = 8.885, P < 0.001), were more likely to have moderate to severe depression. Patients with high education levels (OR = 0.244, P = 0.016), and who were economically active (OR = 0.284, P = 0.023), were less likely to have moderate to severe depression. Conclusions: Our results indicate that unrecognized depression in patients with chronic pain is common. Therefore, pain physicians should actively seek to identify these problems rather than relying on the patient to volunteer such information.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.81-86
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• 2004

Objective: This study was designed to investigate clinical features of chronic urticaria and assess Korean traditional medical therapy on that. Methods: The ratio of male and female, duration of symptoms, personal history and family history of allergic diseases, serum IgE level, and suspected causes and provocation factors were investigated in 41 patients with chronic urticaria. And frequency of wheals, duration of wheals, number of wheals, itch severity, and antihistamine counts of 6-point(0-5) score was assessed in 26 patients. The change of total scores between baseline and follow up were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test(p〈0.05). Results: 1. The ratio of male and female was 1:1.28 and the mean duration of symptoms was 26.0 months. 2. The frequency of personal history and family history of allergic diseases was each 53.7$\%$ and 48.8$\%$ and 30.6$\%$ had over 200 IU／mL serum IgE level. 3. The suspected causes were none(43.9$\%$), foods(29.3$\%$), drugs(9.8$\%$) and stress(7.3$\%$). 4. The suspected provocation factors were foods(39.0$\%$), none(19.5$\%$), fatigue(17.0$\%$), heat and sweating(l4.6$\%$), pressure(12.2$\%$) and stress(9.8). 5. The total scores between baseline and follow up of 26 patients was lowered from 14.85${\pm}$3.80 to 7.65${\pm}$4.31 and it was significant statistically. Conclusions: Korean traditional medical therapy was proved to be effective on the chronic urticaria and we need to consider foods as important factor in both treatment and patient education of urticaria.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.109-120
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was to examine the associations between obesity level and major chronic diseases in older population in Korea, using different obesity indicators. Methods: Data was from the 2008 KloSA Biomarker pilot, a nationwide sample of 514 non-institutionalized subjects (age $63.6{\pm}9.8$ years; women 57.2%). Anthropometric information was collected by home visiting nurses. Portable bioimpedence devices(Omran HBF359) were used for measuring fat mass. Obesity cut-offs used the Asian criteria of $BMI{\geq}25$, $WC{\geq}90/85cm$, and $fat%{\geq}25/35$ for men and women. Chronic disease prevalence was defined by physician-diagnosed history of 8 specified diseases. Results: Prevalence of chronic diseases significantly increased with increment of obesity level by BMI, WC and fat %. Odds ratios of acquiring chronic diseases remained significant in the obese group (BMI OR 2.76, 95%CI 1.82-4.19; WC OR 2.73, 95%CI 1.81-4.11; Fat OR 1.87 95%CI 1.26-2.78), after adjusting for age, sex, marital status, education, work participation, household income, smoking, drinking, and exercise. Conclusions: Obesity measured by all three indicators, BMI, WC, and fat mass cannot be disregarded, accentuating the significant effect on increases in disease risks among older population. BMI and WC measure appeared better to assess the risks of chronic diseases.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.77 no.4
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• pp.155-160
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• 2014

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by a diverse array of pulmonary and nonpulmonary manifestations, but our understanding of COPD pathogenesis and the factors that influence its heterogeneity in disease presentation is poor. Despite this heterogeneity, treatment algorithms are primarily driven by a single measurement, forced expiratory volume in 1 second ($FEV_1$) as a percentage of its predicted value ($FEV_1%$). In 2011, a major shift in Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) treatment recommendations was proposed that stratifies patients with COPD on the basis of symptoms and exacerbation history. This article reviews the work reported in 2013 that enlightens our understanding of COPD with respect to COPD classification systems, phenotype, biomarker, exacerbation, and management for patients with COPD.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 2004

This study was undertaken to investigate the severity of depression and to analyze various factors related to depression in chronic back pain patients in urban-rural areas. In this study, 30 patients who suffered from back pain more than 6 months, and 30 normal subjects who had similar demographic characteristics as the patient group were evaluated using the Back Depression Inventory(BDI). Various factors such as age, sex, causes of back pain, vocational history, pain continuity, visual analogue scale(VAS), duration of pain, type of management, and urban or rural residence were recorded for the study group. The results are 1) The study group revealed higher BDI scores than the control group(p＜0.05). 2) The patients who were older and had higher VAS, longer duration of pain, or previous history of surgical management for back pain, and an urban 033residence revealed higher BDI scores(p<0.05). 3) The BDI scores were not significantly influenced by the subjects' sex, causes of back pain, pain continuity, and vocational history in the study group(p>0.05). From this study, we concluded that a Psychosocial approach is required for the management of chronic back pain patients. Also, it is necessary to assess the factors, which are making depression worse in other chronic diseases for comprehensive rehabilitation.