• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7485-7489
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women throughout the world. However, in comparison with Western women, it presents relatively early in women of Asian ethnicity. Early menarche, late menopause, use of OCP's, family history of benign or malignant breast disease, exposure to radiation and BMI in the under-weight range are well known risk factors for the development of breast cancer in premenopausal women. Early detection with the use of breast self-examination (BSE) and breast cancer screening programs can lead to a reduction in the mortality rates due to breast cancer. The aim of our study was to assess the risk factors for breast cancer among young women and to emphasize the importance of early screening among them. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among women aged 18 to 25 using a self-administered questionnaire. Data was collected over a period of 6 months from June to December, 2014. A total of 300 young women selected randomly from Dow Medical College and various departments of Karachi University successfully completed the survey. Results: Respondents were 18-25 years of age (mean age=21.5). Out of the 300 young females, 90 (30%) had at least one risk factor, 90 (30%) had two, 40 (13%) had three, 8 (2.7%) had four, 2 (0.7%) had five while one female was found to have six positive risk factors for breast cancer. Some 66 women (22%) experienced symptoms of breast cancer such as non-cyclical pain and lumps. While 222 women (74%) had never performed breast self-examination, 22 (7.3%) had had a breast examination done by a health professional while 32 (10.7%) had participated in breast screening programs. A total of 223 (74.3%) women considered breast cancer screening important for young women. Conclusions: The percentage of young women with risk factors for breast cancer was found to be alarmingly high. Therefore, screening for breast cancer should start at an early age especially in high risk groups. Awareness about breast self-examination should be emphasized. Moreover, screening programs should be started to ensure early detection and reduction of mortality rates caused by breast cancer also in young Pakistani females.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7467-7472
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is known to be one of the most prevalent cancers among women in both developing and developed countries. The incidence of breast cancer in Pakistan has increased dramatically within the last few years and is the second country after Israel in Asia to have highest proportional cases of breast cancer. However, there are limited data for breast cancer available in the literature from Pakistan. Objectives: The study was conducted to bring to light the common clinical presentation of breast cancer and to evaluate the frequency of established risk factors in breast carcinoma patients and furthermore to compare the findings between premenopausal and postmenopausal women in Pakistan. Materials and Methods: A 6 months (from July 2012 to Dec 2012) cross sectional survey was conducted in Surgical and Oncology Units of Civil Hospital, Karachi. Data were collected though a well developed questionnaire from 105 female patients diagnosed with carcinoma of breast and analyzed using SPSS version 17. Institutional ethical approval was obtained prior to data collection. Results: Out of 105 patients, 43 were premenopausal and 62 were postmenopausal, 99 being married. Mean age at diagnosis was $47.8{\pm}12.4years$. A painless lump was the most frequent symptom, notived by 77.1%(n=81). Some 55.2% (n=58) patients had a lump in the right breast and 44.8%(n=47) in the left breast. In the majority of cases, the lump was present in upper outer quadrant 41.9% (n=44). Mean period of delay from appearance of symptoms to consulting a doctor was $5.13{\pm}4.8months$, from the shortest 1 month to the longest 36 months. Long delay (> 3 months) was the most frequent figure 41.9%. Considering overall risk factors most frequent were first pregnancy after 20 years of age (41%), physical breast trauma (28.6%), lack of breast feeding(21.9%), and early menarche <11 years (19%), followed by null parity (16.2%), consumption of high fat diet (15.2%), family history of breast cancer or any other cancer in first degree relatives (9.5% and 13.3%, respectively). Some of the less common factors were late menopause >54 years (8.6%), use of oral contraceptive pills (10.5%), use of hormone replacement therapy (4.7%),smoking (4.7%) and radiation (0.96%). Significant differences (p<0.005) were observed between pre and post menopausal women regarding history of physical breast trauma, practice of breast feeding and parity. Conclusions: A painless lump was the most frequent clinical presentation noted. Overall age at first child > 20 years, physical breast trauma, lack of breast feeding, early menarche <11 were the most frequent risk factors. Physical breast trauma, lower parity, a trend for less breast feeding had more significant associations with pre-menopausal than post-menopausal onset. Increase opportunity of disease prevention can be obtained through better understanding of clinical presentation and risk factors important in the etiology of breast cancer.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.221-227
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• 2015

Objective: This study assessed whether both physical disability and perceived dependence relate to depression or whether perceived dependence in personal care activities, household activities, community mobility and recreational activities is an intermediate step in the relationship between physical disability and depressive symptoms. Methods: Data come from a cross-sectional survey of 209 women, aged 55 or older, with osteoarthritis (OA). Mediation analyses occurred in four step and included logistic regression analyses as outlined by Baron & Kenny. Results: The results from step 1 showed that greater difficulty with each domain of physical disabilities was significantly related to greater perceived dependence. In step 2, greater perceived dependence was significantly associated with greater depressive symptoms in all domains. Step 3 analyses showed that greater physical disabilities in each domain were significantly associated with depression. The final step testing mediation indicated that personal care activities, household activities and community mobility were fully mediated by perceived dependence. That was, once dependence was taken into account, the relationship between physical disabilities and depression was no longer significant. Partial mediation was found for dependence and recreational activity limitations. Conclusion: It is important to take into account the experience of perceived dependence as a mediator in understanding the relationship between disability and depression in the domains of personal care, household, and community mobility. To conclude, these findings point to the importance of taking into account an individual's reaction to their disability rather than just focusing on the severity of disability.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.298-305
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• 2017

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep duration and periodontitis in adult Korean women. This cross-sectional study was based on the 2014 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHNES). We selected the data from 3,292 women (over 19 years of age) out of 7,550 participants for analysis, after excluding data from men. Complex logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the effect of sleep duration on the risk of periodontitis; the crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were calculated. The risk of periodontitis was higher in participants who had a sleep duration of 7 hours or more, than in those with less than 7 hours (crude OR) by 1.37 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13~1.65). The adjusted OR of the participants after adjusting for the sample characteristics of the participants (age, education level, income level, diabetes, hypertension, obesity) was 1.04 times (95% CI, 0.82~1.32), but the risk for periodontitis was slightly higher, though not statistically significant. This study confirmed the relationship between sleep duration and the risk of periodontitis in Korean women. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and implement a comprehensive health promotion program that can improve the proper sleeping habits of adult women in Korea and to combine oral hygiene management programs to prevent periodontal disease.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.315-322
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• 2017

The aim of this study was to explore the association between daily toothbrushing frequency and health risk behaviors of school-going adolescents in poor urban areas of Peru. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 959 school-going adolescents 11~19 years of age in poor urban areas of Peru in 2014. Health risk behaviors we assessed in the study were smoking; drinking; consuming sugar-sweetened soft drinks (more than one cup); leisure time activities including watching television, playing games, and using the Internet; and never or rarely handwashing with soap. Daily toothbrushing frequency was divided into two groups (once and twice daily). For statistical analyses, the chi-square test and hierarchical logistic regression were used at 5% level of significance. Of the total respondents, 63 (14.3%) were boys and 53 (10.3%) were girls and 116 (12.1%) engaged in toothbrushing (${\leq}1$ times daily). According to the adjusted logistic regression analysis for socio-demographic characteristics, two behaviors (leisure time use activities, including watching television, playing games, and using the Internet (odds ratio [OR], 2.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20~4.35), and never or rarely hand washing with soap (OR, 4.09; CI, 2.48~6.75) were statistically associated with toothbrushing frequency (${\leq}1$ times daily). We found two health risk behaviors (leisure time activities, including watching television, playing games, and using the Internet, and never or rarely handwashing with soap) associated with toothbrushing frequency among adolescents in the study area. Thus, oral health promotion programs should consider these health risk behaviors associated with toothbrushing frequency.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.289-300
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• 2014

Purpose: The aim of this research was to explore nurses' knowledge of and attitudes toward pediatric palliative care (PPC) in Korea. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. A total of 196 participants were recruited from the ELNEC-PPC course held in Seoul, Korea. All participants completed a 20-item survey questionnaire which assessed knowledge of and attitudes toward PPC using a 7-point Likert scale. Results: Nurses' knowledge of PPC correlated with their educational level and work experience in the pediatric unit and hospice care unit. The work experience in the pediatric unit, career length in PPC and completion of palliative education course made differences in the attitudes toward PPC. Married nurses scored significantly higher on the parental rights in determining palliative care service for their child, and nurses with master's degree or higher showed a higher level of understanding of and attitudes toward the differences between PPC and adult palliative care. Conclusion: The factors influencing nurses' knowledge of and attitudes toward PPC need be considered to develop a pediatric palliative training program.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.11-25
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• 2016

Background & Objectives: There were increasing evidence about the relationship between allergy related disease such as asthma, atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis and suicide ideation. However little was known about the concrete relatedness between severity and comorbidity of allergy related disease with suicide ideation. The objective of this study was to investigate the cases of the prevalence of suicide ideation among adolescents with allergy related disease such as asthma, atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis, and examine the association between allergy related disease and suicidal ideation among adolescents in South Korea. Methods: Data was based on Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey(2014) which was a cross-sectional study containing 34,874 Korean middle and high school students who diagnosed with allergy related disease. We used the weights, strata and primary sampling unit information provided by the public use dataset to compute descriptive statistics and logistic regressions. Computations were done with SPSS version 20.0. Results: 19.9%, 15.6%, 13.8% of adolescents who suffered from one, two and three of allergy related diseases respectively reported having been thought of suicide ideation. Socio-demographic factors were adjusted as control variables. Students with greater severity of disease were more likely to have suicide ideation. Odds ratio for students who were absent one to three days from school because of allergies was 1.96(95% CI 1.51-2.46), and odds ratio for those who were absent more than four days from school was 3.60(95% CI 2.46-5.28). Conclusions: Given that adolescents' severity and comorbidity of allergy related disease were clearly associated with suicide ideation, suicide prevention programs for adolescents with allergy related disease should be improved by strategic approaches towards the severity and comorbidity of disease.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.176-185
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• 2016

This study was performed to investigate elementary school children's awareness on children's favorite foods and their consumption behavior of the foods. This study also focused on the association between the variables and gender/grade. We conducted a cross-sectional survey with direct interview among three hundreds and six elementary school children (188 boys and 118 girls) from 13 schools of a city of Korea, using a structured questionnaire. Among the overall proportion, more than 20% of the respondents did not know children's favorite foods and/or have no information source on the foods. More than 60% of the respondents consumed children's favorite foods more than 1 to 2 times a week. Only 16% respondents got information on children's favorite foods at home and 37% at school. There were significant correlations (p < 0.05) between gender/grades and knowledge/route of information on children's favorite foods. Boys had more knowledge than girls (p < 0.05), however they showed worse attitude on children's favorite foods and consumed more the foods. The higher grade children had more knowledge, better attitude and various routes of information on children's favorite foods (p < 0.05), but consumed more the foods. The results of this study indicate that there is a discrepancy between knowledge and attitude/behavior. This study also indicate that school food-service program and food hygiene/safety education in school and at home should be improved. Strong implementation of laws for regulation of selling adulterated food around elementary school may be another step in controlling consumption of the food by school children.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.466-479
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to examine the level of physical activity and influencing factors in female college students. Method: Cross-sectional survey data including physical activity, exercise self-efficacy, social influences on physical activity, and perceived health status were collected from 213 subjects. Data from 204 subjects were analyzed. Results: The mean level of physical activity was 2,750.97 MET-min/week. Physical activity showed a positive association with exercise self-efficacy as well as social influences, and a negative association with age. Stepwise multiple regressions showed that physical activity among female college students was predicted by type of leisure activity, relative health status, social influences, and age. Conclusion: The findings suggest that a program for improvement of physical activity in female college students should include interesting and dynamic leisure activities and strategies for performing together with friends should be developed.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.156-166
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• 2012

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the relationship among health-related quality of life of the Cheon-nam region elderly with low back pain. Methods: Data were obtained from cross-sectional surveys conducted as a part of the Community Health Survey 2008. The final analysis included data from 7,003 of the 7,070 elderly participants (aged over 65 years), as 67 responses were excluded since they were inaccurate. Data were analyzed with SPSS for Windows (ver. 19.0), using a ${\chi}^2$-test, a t-test, an ANOVA, and multiple liner regression. The significance threshold was set as p<0.05. Results: Factors related to the health-related quality of life of the elderly were low back pain, age, education level, occupation, subjective health status, subjective stress, drinking status, number of chronic diseases, and sleep duration. Further, health-related quality of life was significantly lower in elderly adults with low back pain. Conclusions: In order to improve health-related quality of life of the elderly and the development of the program for the management of low back pain will be needed to determine, it is considered necessary to study more to follow through the various analysis of in the elderly and health-related quality of life.