• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2011

Objectives : The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence and risk factors of metabolic syndrome (MS) among inpatients with schizophrenia, and to compare with general population. Methods : Nine hundreds seventy inpatients were included to assess the prevalence of MS from two mental hospitals in Yong-in city. Assessment of MS was performed based on modified American Heart Association criteria with abdominal obesity threshold of 90cm for men, 85cm for women. Comparative analysis was performed using age- and gender matched sample from Korea Health and Nutritional Examination Survey III. For evaluating risk factors, analysis included 766 inpatients taking consistent medications at least for 30 days. Results : The prevalence of MS of inpatients with schizophrenia was 26.2%, in females it was 33.2%, compared to 20.2% in males(p < 0.001). Compared to general population, the prevalence of MS was significantly lower in male and higher in female patients. In terms of criteria prevalence, who met abdominal circumference criterion were more prevalent in patient group(p < 0.001). After multivariate analysis, female gender and old age remained as risk factors of MS. Conclusions : The prevalence of MS of inpatients with schizophrenia was 26.2% and significantly low compared to general population. Female gender and old age were risk factors of MS.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.181-190
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• 2019

Objectives : Epidemiological studies in other countries show that a low intake of omega-3 fatty acids (FAs) increases the risk of depression or suicidality. However, no studies have investigated the associations of suicidality with omega-3 FAs in Korea. Hence, this cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the effects of omega FAs on suicidality in the general South Korean population. Methods : The data in this study were sourced from adults (n=215,860) who completed the Sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES VI), and the associations between omega FAs and suicidality were analyzed using multivariate logistic regressions. Results : Our results demonstrated that high omega-3 FA intake was associated with a decreased risk of suicide (OR=0.83, 95% CI : 0.71-0.98) and the high omega-6 to omega-3 FA ratio was associated with an increased risk of suicide (OR=1.25, 95% CI : 1.02-1.54). Additionally, a high intake of omega-3 FAs was associated with a decreased risk of suicide in men, but not in women (OR=0.72, 95% CI : 0.59-0.88). Conclusions : Overall, our findings suggest that a lower intake of omega-3 FA is associated with the increased risk of suicidality in the general Korean population, especially in men.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.393-404
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the associations between blood hemoglobin (Hgb) levels and the risk of death by specific causes. Methods: Using the National Health Insurance Services-National Health Screening Cohort (n=487 643), we classified serum Hgb levels into 6 sex-specific groups. Cox regression analysis was used to analyze the associations between Hgb levels and the risk of cause-specific death. Results: Hgb levels in male population showed a U-shaped, J-shaped, or inverse J-shaped association with the risk of death from ischemic heart disease, acute myocardial infarction, liver cancer, cirrhosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (all non-linear p<0.05; hazard ratio [HR]; 95% confidence interval [CI]) for the lowest and the highest Hgb levels for the risk of each cause of death in male population: HR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.34; HR, 2.87; 95% CI, 1.48 to 5.57; HR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.40; HR, 3.05; 95% CI, 1.44 to 6.48; HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.18 to 1.56; HR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.05 to 4.26; HR, 3.64; 95% CI, 2.49 to 5.33; HR, 5.97; 95% CI, 1.44 to 24.82; HR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.14 to 2.30; HR, 3.84; 95% CI, 1.22 to 12.13, respectively), while in female population, high Hgb levels were associated with a lower risk of death from hypertension and a higher risk of death from COPD (overall p<0.05; HR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.29 to 2.67 for the lowest Hgb levels for hypertension; overall p<0.01, HR, 6.60; 95% CI, 2.37 to 18.14 for the highest Hgb levels for COPD). For the risk of lung cancer death by Hgb levels, a linear negative association was found in male population (overall p<0.01; the lowest Hgb levels, HR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.33) but an inverse J-shaped association was found in female population (non-linear p=0.01; HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.63; HR, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.21 to 5.50). Conclusions: Both low and high Hgb levels were associated with an increased risk of death from various causes, and some diseases showed different patterns according to sex.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.165-172
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• 2013

A noncommunicable disease (NCD) is a medical condition or disease that is by definition non-infectious and non-transmissible among people. Currently, NCDs are the leading causes of death and disease burden worldwide. The four main types of NCDs, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, and diabetes, result in more than 30 million deaths annually. To reduce the burden of NCDs on global health, current public health actions stress the importance of preventing, detecting, and correcting modifiable risk factors; controlling major modifiable risk factors has been shown to effectively reduce NCD mortality. The World Health Organization's World Health Report 2002 identified tobacco use, alcohol consumption, overweight, physical inactivity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol as the most important risk factors for NCDs. Accordingly, the present report set out to review the prevalence and trends of these modifiable risk factors in the Korean population. Over the past few decades, we observed significant risk factor modifications of improved blood pressure control and decreased smoking rate. However, hypertension and cigarette smoking remained the most contributable factors of NCDs in the Korean population. Moreover, other major modifiable risk factors show no improvement or even worsened. The current status and trends in major modifiable risk factors reinforce the importance of prevention, detection, and treatment of risk factors in reducing the burden of NCDs on individuals and society.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.679-694
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• 2022

Mortality risk is a significant threat to individual life, and quantifying the risk is necessary for making a national population plan and is a traditionally fundamental task in the insurance and annuity businesses. Like other advanced countries, the sustainability of life pensions and the management of longevity risks are becoming important in Asian countries entering the era of aging society. In this study, mortality and pension value sustainability trends are compared and analyzed based on national population and mortality data, focusing on four Asian countries from 1990 to 2017. The result of analyzing the robustness and accuracy of generalized linear/nonlinear models reveals that the Cairns-Blake-Dowd model, the nonparametric Renshaw-Haberman model, and the Plat model show low stability. The Currie, CBD M5, M7, and M8 models have high stability against data periods. The M7 and M8 models demonstrate high accuracy. The longevity risk is found to be high in the order of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, which is in general inversely related to the population size.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.162-164
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• 2003

The multi-disciplinary research project Strengthening Local Authorities in Risk Management (SLARIM), initiated by ITC, includes three case study cities in Asia. An important question is: what are the essential data for risk management and how to access such data. The role of common sources (e.g. census data), data derived from remote sensing (high-resolution satellite imagery, aerial photos), and data from close sensing (field observation, including mobile GIS) to acquire essential risk management data will be discussed. Special attention is given to the question of the minimum area and to disaggregating population data. A few examples are given of Kathmandu / Lalitpur, Nepal.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.183-191
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• 2013

Objectives: In Korea, the proportion of deaths due to alcohol is estimated at 8.9%, far exceeding the global estimate of 3.8%. Therefore, this study was performed to examine the factors associated with low-risk, moderate-risk, and high-risk drinking patterns in Korean adults and to identify target populations for prevention and control of alcohol-related diseases and deaths. Methods: We analyzed data from 230 715 Korean adults aged 19 years and older who participated in the 2009 Korean Community Health Survey. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations between socio-demographic and health-related factors and patterns of alcohol use. Results: A substantially larger proportion of men than women engaged in high risk (21.2% vs. 3.4%) and moderate-risk alcohol use (15.5% vs. 8.2%). In both sexes, moderate- and high-risk uses were associated with younger age, higher income, being currently employed, smoking, being overweight/obese, and good self-rated health. Conclusions: Given the large proportion of the population that is engaging in moderate- and high-risk drinking and given the social norms that support this behavior, public health policies and campaigns to reduce alcohol consumption targeting the entire population are indicated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6691-6695
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• 2014

Background: A population-based cervical cancer screening program using visual inspection with acetic acid was launched in Maldives in 2014. Our study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of women in relation to risk factors of cervical cancer, early detection of the disease and its prevention. Materials and Methods: The questionnaire based survey was conducted among 20 to 50 year old women, systematically sampled to represent three regions of Maldives. Trained investigators interviewed a total of 2,845 women at home. Results: The prevalence of the risk factors of cervical cancer like early age at marriage and childbirth, multiple marriages, multiple marriages of the husbands, and multiple pregnancies was high. More women knew about breast cancer than cervical cancer. Even among the small number of women who knew of cervical cancer, only 34.6% had the knowledge of at least one early symptom. Very few women knew that the cancer could be prevented by any test. Only 6.2% of the women reported having ever undergone a Pap smear. Many women had the misconception that cervical cancer was infectious. In Maldives the younger women have high literacy rate due to the policy of universal free education and those with higher levels of education had improved knowledge of cervical cancer and its risk factors. The prevalence of risk factors also reduced with improved literacy. Conclusions: Awareness about risk factors and prevention of cervical cancer is limited among Maldivian women in spite of having high exposure to some of the risk factors. A universal literacy program in the country has helped to improve the knowledge of cervical cancer prevention and to reduce the exposure to various risk factors in the younger population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6005-6010
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• 2012

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is endemic in Southern Chinese and Southeast Asian populations. Geographical and ethnic clustering of the cancer is due to genetic, environmental, and lifestyle risk factors. This case-control study aimed to identify or confirm both genetic and non-genetic risk factors for NPC in one of the endemic countries, Malaysia. Materials and Methods: A panel of 768 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with various cancers and known non-genetic risk factors for NPC were selected and analyzed for their associations with NPC in a case-control study. Results: Statistical analysis identified 40 SNPs associated with NPC risk in our population, including 5 documented previously by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and other case-control studies; the associations of the remaining 35 SNPs with NPC were novel. In addition, consistent with previous studies, exposure to occupational hazards, overconsumption of salt-cured foods, red meat, as well as low intake of fruits and vegetables were also associated with NPC risk. Conclusions: In short, this study confirmed and/or identified genetic, environmental and dietary risk factors associated with NPC susceptibility in a Southeast Asian population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5767-5772
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• 2015

Background: Polymorphisms in the MDM2 309 (T>G) and TP53 72 (G>C) genes are reported to increase the susceptibility to head and neck cancer (HNC) in various populations. The risk for HNC is also strongly associated with etiologic habits such as smoking, alcohol consumption and/or chewing of betel quid (BQ). In a case-control study, we investigated the significance of the above polymorphisms alone, and upon interaction with one another as well as with various etiologic habits in determining HNC risk in a Northeast Indian population. Materials and Methods: Genotyping at 309 MDM2 and 72 TP53 in 122 HNC patients and 86 cancer free healthy controls was performed by PCR using allele specific primers, and the results were confirmed by DNA sequencing. Results: Individuals with the GG mutant allele of MDM2 showed a higher risk for HNC in comparison to those with the TT wild type allele (OR=1.9, 95%CI: 1.1-3.3) (p=0.022). The risk was further increased in females by ~4-fold (OR=4.6, 95% CI: 1.1-19.4) (P=0.04). TP53 polymorphism did not contribute to HNC risk alone; however, interaction between the TP53 GC and MDM2 GG genotypes resulted in significant risk (OR=4.9, 95% CI: 0.2-105.1) (p=0.04). Smokers, BQ- chewers and alcohol consumers showed statistically significant and dose-dependent increase in HNC risk, irrespective of the MDM2 genotype. Conclusions: MDM2 genotype could serve as an important predictive biomarker for HNC risk in the population of Northeast India.