• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.473-485
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• 2001

This cross-sectional design was to identify the age at menopause of Korean women and the levels of bothersome menopausal symptoms. In addition, examining relationships between the levels of bothersome menopausal symptoms and sociodemographic factors, body mass index, menopause-related factors, and life-style behavior factors including smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, and diet was done. Two thousand eight hundred seven naturally postmenopausal women aged between 41-65 years were recruited by self-selection from 7 metropolitans and 6 provinces in Korea from Dec. 20, 1998 to April 30, 1999. The age at menopause of Korean women was 49.2 years(mean) and 50.0 years (median). The menopausal age of Korean women has slightly increased compared to a previous study. Based on the demographic factors, residential area and socioeconomic status were associated with the bothersome levels of climacteric symptoms. In the case of the life-style behaviors analysis, only alcohol use and a preference for wheat were associated with the bothersome levels of climacteric symptoms, especially physical symptoms.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.254-264
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• 2015

This study was done for analyzing the effects of menopausal women's life stress on life satisfaction and depression. The subjects of this study were 425 menopausal women in Daejeon Metropolitan City and Chungnam Province. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe's test, Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression with the SPSS 19.0 program. Life stress differed according to marital status, income, climacteric symptoms level. Also the findings indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between life stress and life satisfaction. However, there is negative effect of life stress on depression. The results of this study offer basic data for the development of counseling and social support program to reduce depression and improve the life satisfaction for menopausal women. Also integrated programs and capacity-building programs were suggested to prepare the elderly life.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.401-410
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of childbirth, breastfeeding, and their interaction with breast cancer (BC) risk reduction, and to evaluate the heterogeneity in the BC risk reduction effects of these factors by menopause, hormone receptor (HR) status, and pathological subtype. Methods: BC patients aged 40+ from the Korean Breast Cancer Registry in 2004-2012 and controls from the Health Examinee cohort participants were included in this study after 1:1 matching (12 889 pairs) by age and enrollment year. BC risk according to childbirth, breast-feeding, and their interaction was calculated in logistic regression models using odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: BC risk decreased with childbirth (3+ childbirths relative to 1 childbirth: OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.56 to 0.78 and OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.95 in postmenopausal and premenopausal women, respectively); and the degree of risk reduction by the number of children was heterogeneous according to menopausal status (p-heterogeneity=0.04), HR status (p-heterogeneity<0.001), and pathological subtype (p-heterogeneity<0.001); whereas breastfeeding for 1-12 months showed a heterogeneous association with BC risk according to menopausal status, with risk reduction only in premenopausal women (p-heterogeneity<0.05). The combination of 2 more childbirths and breastfeeding for ${\geq}13$ months had a much stronger BC risk reduction of 49% (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.45 to 0.58). Conclusions: This study suggests that the combination of longer breastfeeding and more childbirths reduces BC risk more strongly, and that women who experience both 2 or more childbirths and breastfeed for ${\geq}13$ months can reduce their BC risk by about 50%.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.113-133
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• 2007

The present study was conducted to measure health-related utility for post-menopausal symptoms among Korean woman. A survey questionnaire was developed to measure utility based on visual analogue scale(VAS) and time trade-off method (TTO). From January 29 to February 3, 2007, a face-to-face interview was conducted with 274 women aged 45 to 60 to ask about their subjective utility for hypothetical health status of mild or severe post-menopausal symptoms. Among the participants, 160 were recruited from outpatient departments of 3 hospitals and 114 from 2 sports centers located in Seoul. For mild symptom, the average utility score of the respondents was $0.63{\pm}0.14$ based on VAS and $0.61{\pm}0.26$ based on ITO. For severe symptoms, the average utility was $0.39{\pm}0.16$(VAS) and $0.44{\pm}0.27$ (TTO). For severe symptom, a higher utility score was observed for TTO than for VAS, which is consistent with earlier studies and thus supports the validity of the utility measurement in this study. Overall, the severity of post-menopausal symptoms of the respondents themselves was not significantly associated with the utility score that the respondents answered for hypothetical health status. Multiple regression analysis results showed that the utility score was significantly higher among respondents with older age, higher education, higher family income, and from hospitals. It is expected that the utility score measured in this study will enhance the understanding of the quality of life of women after menopause and will be used to conduct cost-utility analysis of health care interventions to treat post-menopausal symptoms.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2579-2588
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between fatigue, family function and self-esteem among middle-aged women in menopausal periods. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaire survey form 133 middle-aged women. The data collection was done from March 2nd to April 10th, 2012. As a results, there were significant differences in fatigue by education level and menstrual status. And, there were significant differences in family function according to education level and marital status. Also, there were significant differences in self-esteem by education level, marital status and monthly income. Fatigue was negatively related to family function and self-esteem. And family function was positively related to self-esteem. These results suggest that nursing intervention should be developed to strengthen family function and self-esteem as a way to regulate fatigue for middle-aged women in menopausal periods. Especially, it is necessary to pay more attention to health management of middle-aged women belonging to menopausal transition, with low-income, low-education level.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1019-1024
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• 2015

Background: Survival of breast cancer patients depends on a number of factors which are not only prognostic but are also predictive. A number of studies have been carried out worldwide to find out prognostic and predictive significance of different clinicopathological and molecular variables in breast cancer. This study was carried out at Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI), Islamabad, to find out the impact of different factors on overall survival of breast cancer patients coming from Northern Pakistan. Materials and Methods: This observational retrospective study was carried out in the Oncology Department of NORI Hospital. A total of 2,666 patients were included. Data were entered into SPSS 20. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to determine associations of different variables with overall survival. P values <0.05 were considered significant. Results: The mean age of the patients was 47.6 years, 49.5% being postmenopausal. Some 1,708 were ER positive and 1,615 were PR positive, while Her 2 neu oncogene positivity was found in 683. A total of 1,237 presented with skin involvement and 426 had chest wall involvement. Some 1,663 had > 5cm tumors. Lymph node involvement was detected in 2,131. Overall survival was less than 5 years in 669 patients, only 324 surviving for more than 10 years, and in the remainder overall survival was in the range of 5-10 years. Conclusions: Tumor size, lymph node metastases, receptor status, her 2 neu positivity, skin involvement, and chest wall involvement have significant effects whereas age and menopausal status have no significant effect on overall survival of breast cancer patients in Pakistan.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2179-2184
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• 2012

Introduction and aim: To compare reproductive factor influence on patients with pathological diagnosed malignant and benign tumor in the Breast Department, The First Peoples' Hospital of Kunming in Yunnan province, China. Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted on 263 breast cancer (BC) cases and 457 non-breast cancer controls from 2009 to 2011. The cases and controls information on demographics, medical history, and reproductive characteristics variables were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and routine medical records. Histology of breast cancer tissue and benign breast lesion were documented by pathology reports. Since some variables in data analysis had zero count in at least one category, binomial-response GLM using the bias-reduction method was applied to estimate OR's and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). To adjust for age and menopause status, a compound variable comprising age and menopausal status was retained in the statistical models. Results: multivariate model analysis revealed significant independent positive associations of BC with short menstrual cycle, old age at first live birth, never breastfeeding, history of oral contraception experience, increased number of abortion, postmenopausal status, and nulliparity. Categorised by age and menopausal status, perimenopausal women had about 3-fold and postmenopausal women had more than 5-fold increased risk of BC compared to premenopausal women. Discussion and Conclusion: This study has confirmed the significant association of BC and estrogen related risk factors of breast cancer including longer menstrual cycle, older age of first live birth, never breastfeeding, nulliparity, and number of abortions more than one. The findings suggest that female hormonal factors, especially the trend of menopause status play a significant role in the development of BC in Yunnan women.

• Proceedings of the KSCN Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.144-144
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• 2005

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.34.1-34.1
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• 2004

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.275-286
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• 2016

Purpose: This study explored influencing factors on quality of life (QoL) above middle-aged women in relation to demographic factors, health-related factors, menopausal status, metabolic syndrome (MS) and its risk factors. Methods: This study was secondary data analysis from the Sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013~2015 that utilized a complex, multi-stage probability sample design. Study sample of 2,310 was inclusive of (28.8%) of women who were over 40. To evaluate the factors that would influence an impaired quality of life, $x^2$ test, GLM, and logistic regression analysis were done. Results: Level of quality of life was lower in women with late post-menopause(over 10 years since menopause) than women with pre-menopause. Factors influencing impaired QoL were as follows: graduated middle school and elementary school or less (OR=2.43, 4.42, respectively, p<.05), no job (OR=1.92, p<.001), stress (OR=1.92, p=.001), depression (OR=1.93, p=.001), insufficient sleep (OR=1.64, p=.003), late post-menopause (OR=2.61, p=.044) and over 85cm of waist circumference (OR=1.76, p=.01). Conclusion: These results suggest that late post-menopause may be an independent factor influencing an impaired QoL. To promote post-menopausal womens' health, a nursing strategy is required to teach women how to manage levels of stress, depression, insufficient sleep, and abdominal obesity through health education, nutritional counselling, and physical activity program.