• Gut and Liver
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.655-663
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• 2018

Background/Aims: The association between metabolic syndrome and colorectal cancer (CRC) has been suggested as one of causes for the increasing incidence of CRC, particularly in younger age groups. The present study examined whether the current age threshold (50 years) for CRC screening in Korea requires modification when considering increased metabolic syndrome. Methods: We analyzed data from the National Health Insurance Corporation database, which covers ~97% of the population in Korea. CRC risk was evaluated with stratification based on age and the presence/absence of relevant metabolic syndrome components (diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension). Results: A total of 51,612,316 subjects enrolled during 2014 to 2015 were analyzed. Among them, 19.3% had diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or some combination thereof. This population had a higher incidence of CRC than did those without these conditions, and this was more prominent in subjects <40 years of age. The optimal cutoff age for detecting CRC, based on the highest Youden index, was 45 years among individuals without diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Individuals with at least one of these components of metabolic syndrome had the highest Youden index at 62 years old, but the value was only 0.2. Resetting the cutoff age from 50 years to 45 years achieved a 6% increase in sensitivity for CRC detection among the total population. Conclusions: Starting CRC screening earlier, namely, at 45 rather than at 50 years of age, may improve secondary prevention of CRC in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.31-41
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• 2024

PURPOSE: This study examined the distribution dynamics and proposed determinants, including morphological measurements, clinical laboratory tests, and lifestyle factors among young Korean men aged 20 to 29 years with the coexistence of age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and obesity (CALSMO). METHODS: Six hundred and sixty-six participants were divided into two groups based on their skeletal muscle mass index, with 12 individuals categorized in the CALSMO group and the remaining 654 in the normal group. The proposed determinants variables consisted of three main components: morphological measurements, clinical laboratory tests, and lifestyle factors. The morphological measurement variables were height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and skeletal muscle mass index. The clinical laboratory tests were fasting glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol levels, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The lifestyle factors considered were alcohol consumption and tobacco use. Complex sampling analysis was performed for the evaluation. RESULTS: The distribution dynamics were determined to be 1.81(1.02-3.18) %. Morphological factors, such as height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and skeletal muscle mass index, showed significant differences (p < .05). The clinical laboratory test variables, specifically the fasting glucose, triglyceride, and total cholesterol levels, also exhibited significant differences (p < .05). The lifestyle factor, alcohol consumption, also showed a significance (p < .05). CONCLUSION: This study provides insights into the distribution dynamics. The proposed determinants in young Korean individuals with CALSMO are height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, skeletal muscle mass index, fasting glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol levels, and alcohol consumption.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.329-340
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• 2012

Hypertension is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have shown that changes in diet and lifestyle factors can prevent the development of hypertension, but the combined effects of these modifiable factors on hypertension are not well established. The objective of this study is to investigate associations of diet and lifestyle factors, evaluated both individually and in combination, with prevalent hypertension among Korean adults. We analyzed data obtained from the 2007-2008 Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey, a nationwide cross-sectional study using a stratified, multistage probability sampling design. The associations of 12 nutrient intakes and lifestyle factors with risk of hypertension were explored using restricted cubic spline regression and logistic regression models among 6,351 adults. Total energy and several nutrients and minerals, including, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, and sodium, showed non-linear relationships with the risk of prevalent hypertension. In multivariate logistic regression models, dietary score, obesity and alcohol intake were independently associated with the risk of prevalent hypertension, but smoking and physical activity were not. Overall, participants whose dietary habits and lifestyle factors were all in the low-risk group had 68% lower prevalence of hypertension (OR: 0.32, 95 CI: 0.14-0.74) compared to those who were at least one in the high-risk group of any dietary or lifestyle factors. The result suggests that combined optimal lifestyle habits are strongly associated with lower prevalence of hypertension among Korean adults.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and risk factors of suicidal ideation among middle class Korean. Methods: Cross sectional study was designed for secondary data analysis. From the 8th Korea Health Panel survey (2008~2013), a total of 6,037 data was drawn and analyzed by developmental stage using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, $x^2$ test, and logistic regression analysis. Results: Across all age groups, high physical-mental stress, frustration, anxiety about the future and low self-perceived health status or social class were found to be the risk factors of suicidal ideation. Peer-compared subjective health status and frustration significantly influenced the adolescents. The young adults'suicidal ideation was mainly influenced by physical and mental stress, frustration and absence of economic activity. For the middle-aged, physical and mental stress, frustration, future anxiety, low peer-compared subjective health status were found to be the major influencing factors. The predominant risk factors for the elderly were frustration and low peer-compared subjective health status. Conclusion: Making comparisons to others significantly influence suicidal ideation throughout all life cycles. Improvement of mental health and suicide prevention can be enhanced by avoiding negative comparison to others.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.63 no.8
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• pp.321-328
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• 2020

Background: Pediatric hypertension is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in pediatric populations. Purpose: To examine pediatric hypertension in a clinical setting, we used the percentile rank approach and defined hypertension as that above the 95th percentile. Methods: The present study was linked to the a national analytical cross-sectional community-based Iranian Children and Adolescents' Psychiatric Disorders (IRCAP) survey. The survey was nationwide and funded by the National Institute of Medical Research Development. The IRCAP survey included 31,000 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years in all 31 Iran provinces. The current study included 1,035 children and adolescents and linked the data of the risk factors of cardiovascular disease only in Yazd province via random cluster sampling. Results: Of the total participants, 456 (44.1%) were male and 579 (55.9%) were female. The mean age was 11.2±3.8 years (11.7±3.7 years for males, 11.0±3.6 years for females), while mean height was 146±20.0 cm overall, 147.2±22.0 cm for males, and 144.6±17.0 cm for females (P=0.009). The blood pressure distributions and percentiles were evaluated. Conclusion: Here we determined age- and height-specific 50th, 90th, 95th, and 99th percentiles of systolic and diastolic blood pressures in Yazd boys and girls using 10-cm height intervals.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.67-75
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• 2018

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of major chronic diseases related to daily oral water intake and to identify the physiological parameters related to dehydration in Korean elderly. Methods: The data were collected from the sixth Korea Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KHANES), which was a nationwide and cross-sectional survey in 2015. We analyzed 1,392 participants using t-test and logistic regression. All participants were divided into the adequate water intake (AWI) group and the non-adequate water intake (NAWI) group based on the dietary reference intakes for Koreans. Results: There was a significant difference in the water intake between the AWI (6.8 cups in a day) and NAWI (2.8 cups) groups (p< .001). There was no statistically significant association between the level of water intake and any of the major chronic diseases. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and BUN/Creatinine (Cr) ratio were significantly higher in the NAWI group. Especially, BUN/Cr ratio shows that the NAWI group reached dehydration status. Older age (adjusted odd ratio, OR= 1.07, 95% confidence interval, CI [1.04-1.10]), female gender (adjusted OR= 1.56, 95% CI [1.05-2.33]), lower body mass index (BMI) (adjusted OR = 1.00, 95% CI [0.92-1.00]), higher BUN (adjusted OR = 1.04, 95% CI [1.01-1.08]), and higher urine specific gravity (USG) (adjusted OR= 1.56, 95% CI [1.19-2.05]) were factors associated with the NAWI group. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the level of water intake needs to be considered in relation to age, gender, BMI, BUN, and USG. These are sensitive physiological parameters used for predicting dehydration of the elderly according to their daily oral water intake. It would be helpful to develop strategies to prevent dehydration in elderly individuals and enhance their water intake.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.60-70
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relation between health behavior and public health center utilization among lower income families who earned half of the average Korean family income. The cross-sectional descriptive survey research we conducted was a nationwide randomization sampling among lower income families. The data was collected from July 12 to August 7. 1999 and the total sample was 5.819 household members 1,735 households). There were, three major findings according to these studies. 1. In health behaviors, 26.5% of respondents had a health examination. Among them, 41.5% were in a poor condition of health. In health promotion behaviors, only 37.3% of respondents were doing activities for health maintenance or promotion. 2. In the results of the public health center utilization for the past year. 57.4% of respondents visited one or more times. In addition, 46.2% of respondents wanted to use a visiting nursing service. 3. In the results of multiple logistic regression, we found that less education, larger family size, and medicaid affects more utilization of public health center. In addition, older age, living without a spouse, less education, larger family size, lower family income. and public health center usage affects requests for the visiting nurse service.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.256-264
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• 2021

Purpose: This study investigated the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on women's health nursing clinical practicums in undergraduate nursing schools in Korea during the spring 2020 semester. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey on clinical practicum teaching experiences in the spring 2020 semester was distributed to members of the Korean Society of Women Health Nursing (KSWHN) who taught undergraduate nursing. One faculty member from each of 203 institutions was requested to respond and there were no duplicate participants. Seventy-nine participants (38.9%) responded and 74 responses were analyzed. Descriptive statistics were presented for all survey items. Results: Fifty-two faculty members (70.3%) belonged to universities and 22 (29.7%) taught at colleges. Thirty-eight (51.4%) answered that their institutions had affiliated teaching hospitals. More than half (52.7%) conducted hospital-based clinical practicums either entirely (n=20) or partially (n=19), whereas the rest of them (47.3%) conducted clinical practicums at school or home via online teaching. The typical teaching methods for offline or online education were case conferences, tests or quizzes, scenario studies, nursing skill practicums, (virtual) nursing simulations, and simulated patient education. Most of faculties (93.2%) supported the development of an educational platform to share educational materials and resources, such as case scenarios. Conclusion: Nursing faculty members utilized various teaching methods to enhance clinical skills and mitigate limited clinical exposure during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The KSWHN should move forward to develop an education platform and modalities for members who face many challenges related to the accessibility and quality of nursing education contents.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.217-225
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess socio-demographic, disaster-related, physical health-related, psychological, and social factors that may adversely affect disaster victims' QoL (Quality of Life). Methods: A cross sectional study was designed by using the secondary data. From the 3rd Disaster Victims Panel Survey (2012~2017), a total of 1,659 data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, t-test, ANOVA, and multivariate linear regression. Results: Older people with lower health status lacking financial resources prior to a disaster were more at risk of low levels of QoL. Lower levels of perceived health status, resilience, and QoL were reported by disaster exposed individuals, while their depression was higher than the depression in the control group of disaster unexposed ones. Resilience, social and material supports were positively associated with QoL whereas depression and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders) were negatively associated. Conclusion: These findings suggest that psychological symptoms and loss due to disasters can have adverse impacts on the QoL of disaster victims in accordance with their prior socio-demographic background. They also indicate that targeted post-disaster community nursing intervention should be considered a means of increased social support as well as physical and mental health care for disaster victims.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2022

Global efforts to identify groups at high risk for schistosomiasis have mainly concentrated on identifying their geographical distribution. Investigations on the socioeconomic characteristics of high-risk groups are relatively scarce. This study aimed to explore the associations between schistosomiasis among students and their parents' occupations. A nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted targeting 105,167 students in 1,772 primary schools across Sudan in 2017. From these students, 100,726 urine and 96,634 stool samples were collected to test for Schistosoma haematobium and S. mansoni infection. A multi-level mixed effect analysis was used with age and sex as fixed factors, and school as a random factor. The odd ratios (ORs) of practicing open defecation among farmers' children were almost 5 times higher than their counterparts whose parents were government officials (OR=4.97, 95% confidence intervals (CIs): 4.57-5.42, P<0.001). The ORs of contacting water bodies for watering livestock among farmers' children were more than 4 times higher than those of children whose parents were government officials (OR=4.59, 95% CIs: 4.02-5.24, P<0.001). This study shows that schistosomiasis represents a disease of poverty and that farmers' children constituted a high-risk group.