• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.124-140
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• 2023

Objectives: This study examined the changes in dietary habits, the prevalence of chronic diseases, and mental health problems in the regional areas of the Republic of Korea before and after the COVID-19 pandemic to provide evidence of the status of regional health inequalities. Methods: This study analyzed Korean adults aged 19 or older who participated in the Korea Community Health Survey (n = 686,708) and Consumer Behavior Survey for Foods (n = 19,109) from 2018 to 2020. The participants were classified according to their residence area (Seoul metropolitan area, Metropolitan cities, Provinces); 2018-2019 were defined as before COVID-19, and 2020 as after COVID-19. The dietary behaviors, chronic diseases, and mental health problems were measured using a self-report questionnaire. Results: After COVID-19, the eating-out usage rate in the Seoul metropolitan area and Provinces decreased compared to before COVID-19 (P < 0.001), and when responding that they eat out, the frequency of eating out with household members in the Seoul metropolitan area increased (P = 0.024). The deliveries/takeout usage rate in the Provinces decreased after COVID-19 compared to before (P < 0.001). After COVID-19, the prevalence of obesity decreased in all regions (P < 0.001), and the prevalence of hypertension increased significantly in the Provinces (P = 0.015). The prevalence of diabetes mellitus increased continuously before and after COVID-19 in all regions (P < 0.002). High-risk subjective stress levels increased significantly in the Seoul metropolitan area (P < 0.001), and sleep duration significantly increased in all regions (P < 0.001). Major depressive disorder was reduced significantly in Metropolitan cities (P = 0.042) and Provinces (P < 0.001). Conclusions: After the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of chronic diseases and mental health problems showed regional differences along with changes in dietary habits. It is necessary to reflect the regional differences in dietary habits in future policies resolving regional health inequalities.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.363-375
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• 2023

Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with adolescent obesity, as well as any new factors that correlated with a change in the rate of obesity over time. Methods: The study used 5-yearly data collected by the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey starting from the year 2006 up until 2021 (data from 2nd, 7th, 11th, and 17th surveys were analyzed). Factors such as demographics, dietary factors, health behavioral factors, and mental health factors were studied. All data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 27.0, employing chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: This study included data from a total of 255,200 participants. Factors contributing to obesity varied with time. Over the survey duration of 15 years, low academic achievement, parents with low levels of education, low frequency of fruit consumption, low frequency of fast food intake, long periods of being seated, and high levels of stress were significantly associated with a high rate of obesity. Factors that showed a new correlation with an increase in obesity rates included living with single parents, low frequency of muscle strengthening exercises, and experiencing intense sadness and despair in the past year. Factors that were correlated with a change in obesity rates over time included household economic status, frequency of carbonated beverage consumption, frequency of intense physical activity, and frequency of alcohol consumption. Breakfast intake and smoking were not significantly associated with obesity rates in the 15-year period. Conclusions: While several factors associated with obesity remained consistent over time, several new factors have emerged in response to social, economic, and environmental changes contributed to a change in obesity rate over time. Therefore, to prevent and manage adolescent obesity, continuous research into the new emergent factors contributing to obesity is needed.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.179-188
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identifying factors influencing organizational commitment of nurses in Korean Red Cross Blood Center (KRCBC). Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted for 224 nurses who worked for more than three months in KRCBC. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from August 28 to September 20, 2018. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis with SPSS (ver. 23.0). Results: The mean score of organizational commitment was 3.37±0.52 on a scale of 5 points, the mean of positive psychological capital was 3.51±0.51, communication ability score was 3.60±0.48, and social support score was 3.68±0.57. The factors influencing organizational commitment of nurses in KRCBC were social support (β=.41, p<.001), job satisfaction (β=.27, p<.001), and total length of employment in KRCBC (β=.19, p=.016). The model explained 36.1% of the organizational commitment of the nurses. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop an organizational commitment program for strengthening social support and job satisfaction to improve organizational commitment of nurses in KRCBC. Such a program is eventually expected to improve the quality of nursing care of nurses with a short career in KRCBC.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.1339-1348
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• 2021

In accordance with the River Law, the basic river maintenance plan is established every 5-10 years with a considerable national budget for domestic rivers, and various river surveys such as the river section required for HEC-RAS simulation for flood level calculation are being conducted. However, river survey data are provided only in the form of a pdf report to the River Management Geographic Information System (RIMGIS), and the original data are distributedly owned by designers who performed the river maintenance plan in CAD format. It is a situation that the usability for other purposes is considerably lowered. In addition, when using surveyed CAD-type cross-sectional data for HEC-RAS, tools such as 'Dream' are used, but the reality is that time and cost are almost as close as manual work. In this study, RAUT (River Information Auto Upload Tool), a tool that can solve these problems, was developed. First, the RAUT tool attempted to automate the complicated steps of manually inputting CAD survey data and simulating the input data of the HEC-RAS one-dimensional model used in establishing the basic river plan in practice. Second, it is possible to directly read CAD survey data, which is river spatial information, and automatically upload it to the river spatial information DB based on the standard data model (ArcRiver), enabling the management of river survey data in the river maintenance plan at the national level. In other words, if RIMGIS uses a tool such as RAUT, it will be able to systematically manage national river survey data such as river section. The developed RAUT reads the river spatial information CAD data of the river maintenance master plan targeting the Jeju-do agar basin, builds it into a mySQL-based spatial DB, and automatically generates topographic data for HEC-RAS one-dimensional simulation from the built DB. A pilot process was implemented.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.556-565
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• 2014

Objectives: This study is aimed at inquiring into the grasp of real condition of working environment and improvements by calculating the hypertension distribution consequent on job stress risk and exposure level of alleviating factors. In addition, this study is intending to estimate the hypertension distribution through socio-demographic factors and level of stressors occurring at working environment, such as high workload, low control, low support, job insecurity, long working hours, low income. Methods: This study estimated the hypertension distribution using the tertiary Korean Working Conditions Survey data, and conducted comparative analysis according to the category of individual questionnaire items using odds ratio. Result: As a result of study, it was found that in the event that working environment satisfaction is low and business & an immediate superior's attitudes are negative, the hypertension distribution was high. Particularly, it was found that physical risk factor musculoskeletal risk factor, and mental risk factor in a workplace were all increasing the hypertension distribution. Conclusions: With the aged workers' labor market participation ratio increasing, hypertension could be a major issue in the field of Occupational Safety and Health. Thus, it's necessary that the relevant employer should lower the hypertension distribution through creation of pleasant working environment and inducement of workers to improve in the relations with their superiors. As for the uppermost limit of this study, there is a limit to clarifying the mechanism of hypertension through multivariate statistics analysis because it's difficult to establish causal relationship by individual questionnaire item as the working conditions survey is made by cross-sectional study. In the follow-up research, this study is going to do research on the mechanism of hypertension through questionnaire supplementation and in-depth analysis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.539-543
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• 2012

Background: The results of the Global School Personnel Survey (GSPS) conducted in India in 2009 are compared with 2006 GSPS to assess any change in 2009 on tobacco use and knowledge and attitudes to tobacco use, training and availability of tobacco control teaching material in schools and the existence of school tobacco control policies. Methods: GSPS is a cross sectional survey conducted twice (2006 and 2009) in entire India. A total of 180 schools were surveyed each time. Results: Of the participating school personnel, 2660 in 2006 and 2575 in 2009, about 95% were teachers and the balance administrators. In 2009, compared to 2006 the prevalence of current smoking of cigarettes (19.6% in 2006 and 10.3% in 2009) and bidis (21.5% in 2006 and 13.9% in 2009) was found to be significantly lower; the percentage of teachers receiving training on preventing youth tobacco use has significantly reduced (16.7% in 2006 and 10.1% in 2009); access of teachers to educational materials on tobacco use and how to prevent its use among youth had not increased (34.6% in 2006 and 37.8% in 2009); there was no change in policy prohibiting tobacco use among students and school personnel; however, ever use of any tobacco on school premises was significantly lower (15.6% in 2006 and 9.6% in 2009). Conclusions: The prevalence of current smoking (cigarettes/bidis) among school personnel and use of any tobacco on school premises were significantly decreased in 2009 as compared to 2006. Necessary action should be planned to increase the number of teachers trained and the availability of teaching materials on preventing youth tobacco use in order to have effective prevention of tobacco use among students.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3865-3869
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• 2013

Background: Cigarette per day (CPD) use is a key smoking behaviour indicator. It reflects smoking intensity which is directly proportional to the occurrence of tobacco induced cancers. Self reported CPD assessment in surveys may suffer from digit bias and under reporting. Estimates from such surveys could influence the policy decision for tobacco control efforts. In this context, this study aimed at identifying underlying factors of digit bias and its implications for Global Adult Tobacco Surveillance. Materials or Methods: Daily manufactured cigarette users CPD frequencies from Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) - India data were analyzed. Adapted Whipple Index was estimated to assess digit bias and data quality of reported CPD frequency. Digit bias was quantified by considering reporting of '0' or '5' as the terminal digits in the CPD frequency. The factors influencing it were identified by bivariate and logistic regression analysis. Results: The mean and mode of CPD frequency was 6.7 and 10 respectively. Around 14.5%, 15.1% and 15.2% of daily smokers had reported their CPD frequency as 2, 5 and 10 respectively. Modified Whipple index was estimated to be 226.3 indicating poor data quality. Digit bias was observed in 38% of the daily smokers. Heavy smoking, urban residence, North, South, North- East region of India, less than primary, secondary or higher educated and fourth asset index quintile group were significantly associated with digit bias. Discussion: The present study highlighted poor quality of CPD frequency data in the GATS-India survey and need for its improvement. Modeling of digit preference and smoothing of the CPD frequency data is required to improve quality of data. Marketing of 10 cigarette sticks per pack may influence CPD frequency reporting, but this needs further examination. Exploring alternative methods to reduce digit bias in cross sectional surveys should be given priority.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.433-441
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• 2015

Purposes: This study was done to identify factors associated with uncontrolled hemoglobin A1c among patient with diabetes mellitus. Method: The sample was 412 Koreans with diagnosed diabetes aged 40 years or older who participated in the Fifth Korea Health and Nutrition Examination survey, which was a nationwide, cross-sectional survey. Data was analyzed using logistic regression. Uncontrolled hemoglobin A1c rate was 55%. Results: There was a difference between controlled and uncontrolled group in hemoglobin A1c as follows: duration of diabetes, BMI(Body Mass Index), hypertriglyceridemia, vitamin D, sleep duration. After adjusting for confounding factor, longer duration of diabetes (>7 years vs. ${\leq}7$)(Adjusted OR=2.277, 95% CI [1.277-4.060]), presence of hypertriglyceridemia (Adjusted OR=4.019, 95% CI [1.871-8.634]), lower vitamin D level (<20ng/mL vs. ${\geq}20$)(Adjusted OR=2.487, 95% CI[1.411-4.381]), longer sleep duration (6-8 hours vs >8 hours)(Adjusted OR=6.831, 95% CI [1.877-24.855]) were significantly associated with increased odds of uncontrolled hemoglobin A1c. Conclusions: Results show that duration of diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, vitamin D and sleep duration are significantly related to hemoglobin A1c. Therefore, considering these factors it would be helpful to develop strategies to improve blood glucose control in patients with diabetes.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.667-681
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• 2008

This study aimed to identify a nutritionally vulnerable group and to examine their nutritional problems based on a relationship between socioeconomic position and nutritional status through life-course. A cross-sectional nationwide survey of 2005 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) was used. A total of 8,930 participants aged $\geq$ 1 year were included. The socioeconomic position indicator was education level. Nutritional status was assessed by the percentage attainment of a dietary reference intake (DRI) and dietary quality based on nutrient intakes estimated by a 24 hour-recall data. Food insufficiency was examined by one-item food insufficiency questionnaire. The difference in nutritional status and food insufficiency according to educational level was tested by General Linear Model and Chi-square test, respectively. The nutritional status and food insufficiency was the worst during adolescence and older age than other period. Both quantity and quality of nutrient intakes was poorer in low education group than high education group. The prevalence of food insufficiency also was higher in low education group. The results were consistent across the life-course and sex. Based on these findings, we suggest that the development of various policy and strategies targeted to nutritionally vulnerable group is necessary to reduce nutritional inequality by socioeconomic position.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.162-168
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• 2012

Vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for metabolic syndromes. We examined whether vitamin D deficiency altered the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in older Koreans. Cross-sectional analysis of data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV 2008-2009 was used to examine the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and the prevalence of CVD in a representative population-based sample of 5,559 men and women aged ${\geq}50$ years. CVD was defined as angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, or stroke. The prevalence of CVD (7.0%) in the older Korean population was lower than that in the older US population, although average serum 25(OH)D levels were much lower in the Korean population. Additionally, serum 25(OH)D levels did not differ significantly between the CVD and non-CVD groups. However, subjects in the lowest category (< 25 nmol/l) of serum 25(OH)D level had the greatest prevalence of CVD, about two-fold higher than subjects in the highest category (> 75 nmol/l), after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, education level, residence location, and region. The prevalence of other risk factors for CVD, including higher waist circumference, fasting glucose, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglyceride levels and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels, was also higher among subjects in the lowest category than among those in the highest category. In conclusion, low serum 25(OH)D may be an independent risk factor for CVD in older Koreans.