• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.20
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• pp.8607-8612
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• 2014

Background: Breast cancer patients experience a variety of altered appearance - such as loss or disfigurement of breasts, discolored skin, and hair loss - which result in psychological distress that affect their quality of life. This study aims to evaluate the impact of socioeconomic status on the altered appearance distress, body image, and quality of life among Korean breast cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at advocacy events held at 16 different hospitals in Korea. Subjects were eligible to participate if they were 18 years of age or older, had a histologically confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer, had no evidence of recurrence or metastasis, and had no psychological problems at the time of the survey. Employment status, marital status, education, and income were assessed for patient socioeconomic status. Altered appearance distress was measured using the NCI's cancer treatment side effects scale; body image and quality of life were measured by the EORTC QLC-C30 and BR23. Means and standard deviations of each outcome were compared by socioeconomic status and multivariate linear regression models for evaluating the association between socioeconomic status and altered appearance distress, body image, and quality of life. Results: A total of 126 breast cancer patients participated in the study; the mean age of participants was 47.7 (SD=8.4). Of the total, 83.2% were married, 85.6% received more than high school education, 35.2% were employed, and 41% had more than $3000 in monthly household income. About 46% had mastectomy, and over 30% were receiving either chemotherapy or radiation therapy at the time of the survey. With fully adjusted models, the employed patients had significantly higher altered appearance distress (1.80 vs 1.48; p<0.05) and poorer body image (36.63 vs 51.69; p<0.05) compared to the patients who were unemployed. Higher education (10.58, standard error (SE)=7.63) and family income (12.88, SE=5.08) was positively associated with better body image after adjusting for age, disease stage at diagnosis, current treatment status, and breast surgery type. Similarly, patients who were married and who had higher education had better quality of life were statistically significant in the multivariate models. Conclusions: Socioeconomic status is significantly associated with altered appearance distress, body image, and quality of life in Korean women with breast cancer. Patients who suffer from altered appearance distress or lower body image are much more likely to experience psychosocial, physical, and functional problems than women who do not, therefore health care providers should be aware of the changes and distresses that these breast cancer patients go through and provide specific information and psychosocial support to socioeconomically more vulnerable patients.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.4234-4243
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• 2010

Dementia such as poor concentration, anxiety and tension makes it hard to continue exercise in reality. For this, intermediate exercise is suggested in this study. And the study investigates the effects on senior fitness, cognitive function(MMSE-K) and daily living activity(ADL) by continuous exercise and intermittent exercise, which helps to provide proper exercise treatment to them. For this, female elderly patients at A dementia hospital in B Metropolitan city are selected and they have been diagnosed with possible Alzheimer's disease according to DSM-IV. Among them, six(6) are grouped for continuous exercise and five(5) for intermediate exercise, total 11 people are finally tested. They are given hand&foot exercise, Korean folk dance and band exercise three times a week for the total 12 weeks. The continuous exercise group does their exercise one time of 30 minutes a day while the intermediate exercise group for three times of each 10 minute a day. For the result, SPSS Ver. 18.0 is used to get mean value(M) and standard deviation(SD) and in order to verify the interaction effect between exercise group and time, two-way repeated ANOVA is applied and statistical significance level is set at .05. The result shows that there is significant difference in time between senior fitness and cognitive function. But there is no significant difference in group and time${\times}$group. And there is no significant difference in time, group and time${\times}$group for daily living activity. Continuous exercise group and intermediate exercise group both have the similar effects. That does not mean that intermediate exercise is the best for all people with dementia, but in terms of exercise time, intermittent exercise may be effective for patients of light dementia.