• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.163-173
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• 2013

Objectives: There has been an increase in the use of mind-body therapies to control cardiovascular risk factors recently. This trial was designed to determine whether the 'jeol'(Korean Buddhists' prostration) meditation program, as a new mind-body intervention, was effective in managing stress, depression and controlling cardiovascular risk factors in women working at a geriatric hospital. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether the 'jeol' meditation program could improve stress, anxiety, depression, and cardiovascular risk factors in women. We randomly assigned 57 participants to the intervention(29 participants) or control(28 participants) group. The subjects in the intervention group participated in a group Jeol meditation program once weekly, and practiced at home. The following variables were assessed: stress(Psychosocial Wellbeing Index), depression(Beck's Depression Inventory), body mass index(BMI), waist circumference, hemoglobin A1c(HbA1c), homeostasis model assessment(HOMA), low-density lipoprotein(LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein(HDL) cholesterol, and triglyceride were assessed. Results: After the 8-week program, 2 participants from the intervention group and 1 from the control group dropped out. The subjects in the intervention group exhibited decreased scores for stress(t=5.102, p<0.01), depression(t=5.259, p<0.01), BMI(t=2.942, p=0.007), and waist circumference(t=2.582, p=0.016); however these scores did not demonstrate a significant decrease in participants of the control group. The other variables showed no significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: The 'jeol' meditation program evidently reduced stress, anxiety, depression, body weight, and waist circumference in women, which suggests that this program could be employed as a mind-body therapies.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2012

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has become a global epidemic. In particular, it is known that there is a dramatic increase in the prevalence of MetS among women during the postmenopausal period. Recently, accumulating studies have suggested that vitamin D deficiency may be inversely associated with the risk factors regarding MetS. However, evidence from postmenopausal women is limited. In this study, we examined the association between the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and the MetS in Korean adult women aged 20-69 years (n = 2,618) by using the 2007-2008 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. The geometric mean of plasma 25(OH)D were $17.16{\pm}6.28\;ng$/mL and $20.20{\pm}7.69\;ng$/mL for premenopausal and postmenopausal women, respectively. The percentages of vitamin D deficiency [25(OH)D < 12 ng/mL] were 22.5% and 14.4%, respectively. MetS was more prevalent in postmenopausal women (43.0%) compared with premenopausal women (11.2%). When serum concentrations of 25(OH)D were categorized in quintiles, there was no relationship in the prevalence of MetS in both premonopausal and postmenopausal women. However, in premenopausal women, compared with the lowest 25(OH)D quintile, the odds ratio for hypertriglyceridemia in the highest quintile was 0.57 (95% CI 0.34-0.95, $P_{trend}$ = 0.041) and for low serum HDL cholesterol 0.60 (95% CI 0.42-0.85, $P_{trend}$ = 0.014) after adjusting for all potential confounders. On the other hand, we observed the tendency of an inverse relationship for 25(OH)D regarding low serum HDL cholesterol (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.50-1.22, $P_{trend}$ = 0.029) and a direct relationship with abdominal obesity (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.01, 3.74, $P_{trend}$ = 0.049) in postmenopausal women. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings in other research settings.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.625-636
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• 2017

Dyslipidemia, hypertension, and diabetes are well-established risk factors for cardio-cerebrovascular disease (CVD). Although the prevalence of dyslipidemia among Korean adults is very high, its management is known to be poor. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control rates of dyslipidemia among adults aged 30 years and older in Gangwon-do, Korea. Analysis included 58,121 adults (29,123 males and 28,998 females) participating in the 2013-2014 Korea National Health Screening Program (KNHSP). Dyslipidemia was defined according to the treatment criteria rather than the diagnostic criteria in Korea. Therefore, high-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL)-cholesterolemia was deemed present in individuals with LDL-cholesterol levels that exceeded the appropriate risk-based threshold. The age-standardized prevalence was highest in dyslipidemia (32.5%), followed by hypertension (25.1%), and diabetes (9.4%). The awareness rate was 76.7% for hypertension and 74.7% for diabetes, but only 10.6% for dyslipidemia. The lowest patient treatment was found for dyslipidemia (9.4%). The control rate among those undergoing treatment was highest for hypertension (75.8), followed by dyslipidemia (63.3%), and diabetes (43.9%). The higher CVD-risk categories showed lower control rates of hyper-LDL-cholesterolemia. The prevalence of dyslipidemia was higher than hypertension and diabetes, but awareness and treatment rates were lower. Our findings indicate there is a wide gap between the prevalence of dyslipidemia and subsequent treatment, which suggests that effective strategies are required to improve dyslipidemia management. It would be worthwhile to strengthen the follow-up management of patients with dyslipidemia in the KNHSP, especially for the high risk group of CVD.