• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.2163-2171
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• 2011

This study evaluated the complaint rates of musculoskeletal symptoms and investigated the related factors of musculoskeletal symptoms among nurses in a university hospital. For 249 nurses working at the ward, we used the self-administered questionnaires to examine sociodemographic, health related factors, job-related, subjective musculoskeletal symptoms designed by NIOSH. during the period from Aug. 1st to Aug. 31st, 2010. As a results, one and more of musculoskeletal symptoms was 66.3%, and two and more of that was 45.8%. The complaint rates of musculoskeletal symptoms were 44.2% in the shoulders, 33.7% in the low back, 33.3% in the legs/feet, 29.7% in the neck, 14.9% in the hands/wrists/fingers, 4.8% in the arms/elbows. For the age adjusted odds ratio for the musculoskeletal symptoms of neck, shoulders, low back and legs/feet, the groups who are shift work, staff nurse, who reported that their subjective health status are not good, and whose physical burden of works are hard were increased than their respective counterparts. In conclusion, the complaint rates of musculoskeletal symptoms was differently revealed by variable factors such as sociodemographic, health related factors and job-related factors.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.207-218
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• 2016

Background: This study was performed to identify factors associated with the utilization of tests for diabetes complication and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) among diabetes patients in Jeollanam-do, Korea. Methods: The study subjects were 2,310 diabetes patients participated in 2014 community health survey in Jeollanam-do, Korea. Dependent variables were the utilizations of fundus examination, microalbuminuria test, and HbA1c test. The used statistical analysis methods were chi-square test and hierarchical regression analysis with weight in consideration of complex sample design. Results: The utilization rates of fundus examination, microalbuminuria test, and HbA1c test were 25.8%, 27.4%, and 12.3%, respectively. In the results of hierarchical regression, fundus examination was significantly related to age, education level in predisposing factors, residential area in enabling factors and recognition of blood sugar, drug therapy, and subjective health status in need factors. Microalbuminuria examination was significantly related to monthly income, residential area in predisposing and health screening, recognition of blood sugar, drug therapy, diabetic education, number of chronic disease, and subjective health status in need factors. HbA1c examination was significantly related to age, education level, marital status in predisposing factors, residential area in enabling factors and drinking, recognition of blood sugar, drug therapy, and diabetic education in need factors. Conclusion: The results of this study were shown that perception of their disease seriousness, education about diabetes management, and accessibility of tests were important to utilization of test for diabetes complication and HbA1c. It might be necessary to the develop and strength strategies for enhancing the utilization of tests for diabetes complication and management in diabetes patients.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.55-63
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• 2013

Objectives : This study was performed to examine the effectiveness of auricular acupuncture to adult men on smoking cessation. Methods : 47 smoking people was divided two groups : experimental group(treated with auricular acupuncture therapy, n=22) and control group(not treated with auricular acupuncture therapy, n=25). We used Lung point, Shenmen point and Endocrine point twice a week for 4 weeks to experimental group. We assessed the changes in amount of daily smoking, desire of smoking, taste of smoking and nicotine dependence as well as subjective symptoms were studied. Results : The experimental group showed significant decrease in amount of daily smoking, desire of smoking, taste of smoking and nicotine dependence. Subjective symptoms also showed improvement comparing to control group. Conclusions : Acupuncturing lung, shenmen, and endocrine point showed effectiveness on decreasing smoking rates and subjective symptoms. Therefore the auricular acupuncture therapy is expected to helpful to smoking cessation and improve the health of smokers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.169-178
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• 1997

In order to investigate the complaint rates of subjective fatigue symptoms and study the relationship between them and body type, health awareness in middle school students, we carried out a survey of 1,209 students (654 boy students and 555 girl students) at a middle school in Taejon City by a self-recorded questionnaire. The survey was conducted in June, 1997. The results obtained were as follows: 1. Among complaints of fatigue, "feel like lying down" was the highest, followed by "feel anxious about things", "feel drowsy", "yawning a lot", "eye strain" and "whole body feels tired" in descending order. 2. In the average weighted score of fatigue complaint, dullness and sleepiness (I) was the highest, followed by a difficulty in concentration (II) and bodily projection of fatigue (III) in descending order. Fatigue seems to create mental stress rather than physical burdens. 3. In the classification of body type based on the $R\ddot{o}hrer$ index, the obesity type (145 and above) was 11.0%, standard type (110~144) was 64.7% and leptosomic type (l09 and below) was 24.3%. Comparison between both sexes revealed that the rate of obesity and leptosomic types were significantly higher in boy students than in girl students. 4. In terms body type awareness, the statistics are the following: those who consider themselves to be standard type, 44.3%, slightly obese 24.5%, leptosomic, 23.5% and obese 7.8%. However, the level of obesity awareness was significantly higher in girl students than in boy students. 5. As for health awareness, 36.5% considered themselves healthy, 5.4% generally healthy and 10.1% a little unhealthy, but the level of unhealthy awareness was higher in girl students than in boy students. 6. In the relationship between body type and health awareness, most students thought that they were obese in spite of their standard body type. Also, many students who were obese and leptosomic tended to consider themselves to be a little unhealthy. 7. The more the students were obese or felt unhealthy, the more the average weighted score of fatigue complaints was high.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.656-665
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• 2016

Objectives: This study examined the characteristics and related factors by comparing the lifestyles and health behaviors between Korean Seventh-day Adventists and the general population of Korea. Methods: A survey was conducted of 878 people more than 20-years-old Korean Seventh-day Adventists who live in the metropolitan area and 3,000 people more than 20-years-old who live in the metropolitan area in 4th (2nd year) National Health and Nutrition Survey. A comparison of health behaviors related to health screenings, smoking, drinking, physical activity, subjective stress, weight management, and oral health was analyzed using a chi-square test. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the contributing factor to the health behavior. Results: Health screening rates among Korean Seventh-day Adventists were higher than the general population (p<0.001), but Korean Seventh-day Adventists showed lower rates of health screening in the 20-30 ages. Lifetime smoking experience rates and current smoking rates were significantly lower in the Korean Seventh-day Adventists than in the general population (p<0.001). The success rate of smoking cessation among ex-smokers of Korean Seventh-day Adventists were very high. In terms of the drinking rate, Korean Seventh-day Adventists were significantly lower than the general population (p<0.001). The drinking rate of men was higher than women (p<0.001). Moderate physical activity of men were higher than women in Korean Seventh-day Adventists (p<0.001). Conclusion: The lifestyles and health behaviors of Korean Seventh-day Adventists, such as tobacco smoking and alcoholic drinking, were eminently healthier than the general population. Nevertheless, further well-organized studies will be needed.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2012

In order to evaluate the physical and psychological health effects from automobile air pollution, 99 employees who worked near a main street were given a general health questionnaire, and the prevalence of their subjective complaints was measured. The collected data were classified according to gender, sleep time, degree of regular exercise, self-consciousness of symptoms, length of employment, work time, rest time, and smoking status. The results obtained were summarized as follows: The scores related to health complaints regarding physical and psychological items were higher in females than in males. THI scores were higher for the < 4 hour sleep time group. The health complaint scores for physical items were higher in the regular exercise group, whereas most scores for mental items were higher in the irregular exercise groups. The health complaints scores for physical and psychological items were higher in the unhealthy symptom group than in other groups. Those employees who had worked for > 4 years showed significantly higher rates of complaints regarding the eyes and skin. THI scores were higher for the < 6 hour working time group. The smoking group showed higher scores regarding health complaints related to physical items. The THI scores of the respiratory organs, mouth, anus, and digestive organs were significantly higher for the smoking group than for the non-smoking group. In summary, this study shows that the health complaint scores regarding physical and psychological symptoms tended to be higher among the unhealthy group, the less sleep time group, the less work time group, smokers, and females. These results can be used to improve the psychosomatic health status and working environments of employees who work near a main street.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.395-404
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• 2012

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the health behaviors of working elderly Koreans aged 65 over and examined the socio-demographic and disease-related factors by health behaviors. Methods: This study used data obtained from the 2nd basic survey of the 2008 Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We selected 381 working elderly having one or more of the diseases hypertension, diabetes, heart disease or cerebrovascular disease. Results: 78.9% out of the subjects have hypertension, 31.2% have diabetes, 12.3% have heart disease, and 6.3% have cerebrovascular disease. Compared to the health behaviors of the general elderly, the rate of the practice of regular exercise among the subjects was lower, but the smoking and drinking rate were higher. The significant variables associated with health behavior practice rates were gender, type of work, subjective health status and chronic diseases. Conclusion: The type of work of the elderly with chronic diseases was significantly associated with health behaviors. Consequently, this study found that continuous care programs for the working elderly with chronic diseases should be developed and provided as an occupational health service when the jobs are offered to them.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.59-67
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• 2008

Due to the fast increase in cellular phone users, public interest on health effect of electromagnetic fields(EMFs) by cellular phonos is gradually increasing. Some EHS(electromagnetic hypersensitivity) patients complain of psycho-neurophysiological symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, memory loss resulting from RF radiation by CDMA cellular phones. However, EHS is difficult to diagnose and depends on the individual's subjective judgement. And we don't know clearly if the cause of EHS is uneasiness or real exposure. There have been various EHS volunteer studies on heart rate, blood pressure and subjective symptoms using GSM phones. But there are few studies on experimental case-control study investigating physiological parameters, subjective symptoms, and perception of EMFs. In this study, two volunteer groups of 17 self-declared EHS and 19 controls were exposed to both sham and real RF exposure by CDMA cellular phones for half an hour each. We investigated not only the physiological parameters such as heart rates, respiration rates and HRVs(hear rate variability), but also the perception of EMFs and subjective symptoms. As the results, EMF exposure did not have any effects on the subjective symptoms or physiological parameters for both groups. For the EMF perception, there was no evidence that EHS group perceived the EMFs correctly than the control group.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.87-106
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• 1994

Owing to the use of many cultural facilities, the elevation of life standards and the high level progress of industry, visual impairment was on increasing trends. Especially due to studying for many hours, the myopia of adolescents became a serious social issue. The purpose of this study was to understand adolescent's wearing glasses and eyesight condition, whether the primary myopia factor and the subjective symptoms were different between the myopia group and the normal group, between the wearing glasses group and the non-wearing glasses group, and the effect on physical, mental and study activity of myopia. The subject of investigation was 627 middle school students in Seoul and the investigation was accomplished from July 7th, 1993 to July 12th, 1993. The data were analyzed by the percentage, x²-test, t-test and ANOVA of SPSS. The results were as followed; 1. The rate of the right and left eyesights higher than 0.8 in the normal group was 47.0%, and those less than 0.7 in the myopia group was 53.0%. In the boy students, the normal group was 54.1%, the myopia group was 45.9%. In the girl students, the normal group was 39.2%, the myopia group was 60.8%. Therefore the girl students' myopia rates were higher than the boy students', and this result was significant(p<0.01). 2. The rate of wearing glasses of the middle school students was 44.6%. The rate of wearing glasses of the girl students was 56.8%. The rate of wearing glasses of the girl students was higher than that of the boy students 43.2%. The rate of necessary glasses of the middle school students was 6.1% and the rate of necessary glasses of the boy students was 7.9%, the rate of necessary glasses of the girl students was 4.1%. 3. In case of a family member of the student wear glasses, the rate of wearing glasses was higher. 4. In the myopia group, the main reason for not wearing glasses was "Uncomfortable"(63.3% in the boy students, 40% in the girl students). In case of the girl students, "Nonpermission of their parents" was 18.7% and remarkably higher than 5.1% in case of the boy students. 5. The factor of myopia was that "The bad attitude of watching TV closely" was 19.9%, that "The dimly-lit room" was 6.6%. 6. In order to protect eyesight, the rate of the students who practiced "Looking at something from afar 3∼4times a day" was 37.3%, the rate of the students who did "Eye exercise" was 17.5%, the rate of the students who took "A medicine for promoting nutrition" was 12.9%. The rate of taking the medicine was higher than 3.5% in the normal eyesight group. 7. After near working, the point of subjective symptoms was higher in the myopia group than in the normal group and in the wearing glasses group than in the unwearing group and in the girl students than in the boy students. 8. The longer time to watch TV, the higher point of subjective symptoms. The longer distance to watch TV, the lower point of subjective symptoms(p<0.05).

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.3 s.35
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• pp.305-313
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• 1991

In order to investigate industrial fatigue due to visual display terminal (VDT) work of banking operations the questionnaire survey for subjective symptoms of fatigue was carried out on 470 bank clerks who had been engaged in VDT work for various length of work hours. The questionnaires comprised three groups of 10 items each, representing dullness and sleepiness (level of cerebral activation), difficulty in concentration (level of motivation) and bodily projection of fatigue. The results were as follows : 1. Of the 30 items of questionnaires, the highest percentage was accounted for by 'eye strain' (51.5% ), followed by 'feel stiffness in the neck or the shoulders'(33.4%), 'feel a pain in the low back'(26.8%), 'whole body feels tired'(19.6%) and 'feel headache'(17.9%) in the order of sequence. 2. The average weighted score for the first group of questionnaire items (dullness and sleepiness) was the largest among three groups and was followed by 'the third cup (bodily projection of fatigue) and the second item group (difficulty in concentration) in the order of sequence, suggesting the heavier mental stress of VDT work in banking operations rather than physical burden. 3. In terms of the age and sex of workers, work duration and VDT work percentage, the difference in average weighted score was noted only between sex, the score of female being larger than that of male. 4. The complaint rates of subjective symptoms showed close associations with the subjective optimums of room temperature, ventilation, illumination and noise level. 5. The significant correlation was showed between age, work duration and item of 'whole body feels tired', between VDT work percentage and items of 'eye strain' and 'feel stiffness in the neck or shoulders' and between all items of subjective symptoms.