• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.849-858
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• 2006

This research aimed to survey problems related to the elderly's purchasing trends and habitual use of health food; it was in order to effectively prevent the monetary and health damage to the elderly of health foods. In February 2006, the data were collected from 271 of the elderly people living in Goyang-si, Kyunggi-Do. The results of the study indicated: first, more than 50% of the respondents had much interest in health foods, and 42.8% of them answered they were taking health foods. Second, about 62% of 116 respondents who were taking health foods were taking one kind of them, for the purpose of maintaining and improving their health condition. Third, the major information regarding health foods was acquired from their family members, relatives and friends, or TV, radio and journals. Lastly, 75% of respondents even did not know whether there was a relief system for damage related to health foods.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.141-145
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• 2012

Objective : The purpose of this study was to describe and compare trends in suicidal ideation, suicidal attempt and suicide in Republic of Korea from 2006 to 2011. Such data are needed to guide policies to reduce suicidal behaviors. Methods : Data came from the 2006-2010 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Korea National Statistical Office and 2006-2011 Korean Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study Replication and 2007-2011 National Emergency Department Information System. Results : No change occurred between 2006-2011 in suicidal ideation, suicidal attempt, whereas suicide rate increased annually. Suicidal attempt events was decreased in age over 50. Suicidal attempts by poisoning and hanging have increased, although suicide caused by poisoning of insecticide have decreased. Especially, suicides caused by hanging have gradually increased in both sex. Conclusions : These finding suggest that fatal suicidal methods may influence increased suicidal rate. Instead of traditional suicidal process, investigation of other pathway about suicidal behaviors should be needed.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.41-64
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• 2007

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to verify the validity of the evaluation indicators on safety and health education programs provided to Korean industrial workers, by developing further. Methods: To develop the early evaluation indicator, the secondary analysis was made on 'Survey on Industrial safety & health trends', the national wide survey data product by Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency, as well as the various examinations on literatures. To validate such developed evaluation indicator, 13 safety and health managers in Focus Group discussion to prove the reliability of the contents were composed. To confirm the face validity, the interview with 6 industrial safety and health education experts was held to study the appropriateness of the content. With the cooperation from Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency, the structured survey was performed with the safety and health managers from 588 businesses who participated in the education program for the later half of 2006. In this study, the number of responses was randomly divided into 1:1 two groups, in which one group was for the Exploratory Factor Analysis and the other group was for the Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Results: The results were as follows. First, for the Structure category, 18 evaluation indicators were developed into 4 evaluation categories such as a preliminary examination, education staff and organization, education environment and rules/ regulation. Secondly, the Activity category was comprised of 10 evaluation indicators with respect to 2 areas of curriculum satisfaction and program evaluation. Finally, for the Output category, 9 evaluation indicators were developed into 2 evaluation areas such as documentation and information share and education effects. Conclusions: The evaluation indicators developed through this study will possibly develop and be applied to evaluation tools on safety and health education program, which may further become the standardized indicators to better operate the industrial safety and health education programs.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.206-219
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• 2019

This paper aims to demonstrate current health expenditure (CHE) and National Health Accounts of the years 2018 constructed according to the SHA2011, which is a manual for System of Health Accounts (SHA) that was published jointly by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Eurostat, and World Health Organization in 2011. Comparison is made with international trends by collecting and analyzing health accounts of OECD member countries. Particularly, scale and trends of the total CHE financing as well as public-private mix are parsed in depth. In the case of private financing, estimation of total expenditures for (revenues by) provider groups (HP) is made from both survey on the benefit coverage rate of National Health Insurance (by National Health Insurance Service) and Economic Census and Service Industry Census (by National Statistical Office); and other pieces of information from Korean Health Panel Study, etc. are supplementarily used to allocate those totals into functional classifications. CHE was 144.4 trillion won in 2018, which accounts for 8.1% of Korea's gross domestic product (GDP). It was a big increase of 12.8 trillion won, or 9.7%, from the previous year. GDP share of Korean CHE has already been close to the average of OECD member countries. Government and compulsory schemes' share (or public share), 59.8% of the CHE in 2018, is much lower than the OECD average of 73.6%. 'Transfers from government domestic revenue' share of total revenue of health financing was 16.9% in Korea, lower than the other social insurance countries. When it comes to 'compulsory contributory health financing schemes,' 'transfers from government domestic revenue' share of 13.5% was again much lower compared to Japan (43.0%) and Belgium (30.1%) with social insurance scheme.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.11-28
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to derive implication on the adoption of PROMs (Patient-Reported Outcome Measures) to improve quality of care in South Korea. With this purpose, the paper examines the status of PROMs in South Korea and other countries including OECD's PaRIS (Patient Reported Indicators Survey) initiative, and reviews policy cases that have adopted PROMs to improve performance of healthcare system. Methods: We conducted literature review on OECD reports on PaRIS, peer-reviewed journals, and information from the websites of relevant institutions such as ICHOM, NQF and OECD. Results: To identify healthcare services of best values and support patient-centered health system, OECD has initiated PaRIS which develops, collects and analyzes patient-reported indicators for cross-countries comparison. PaRIS is implemented on two work streams: 1) collect, validate and standardize PROMs in the areas where patient-reported indicators already exist such as breast cancers, hip and knee replacement, and mental conditions, 2) develop a new international survey on multiple chronic conditions. Countries like England, U.S., Sweden and Netherlands use PROMs for measuring performance of hospitals and performance evaluation at the national level, and provide the financial incentives for reporting PROMs. Conclusions: The use of PROMs can support the current policy agenda that is the patient-centered healthcare system which has been emphasized to reinforce the primary and the community-based care. For the use of PROMs, it is recommended to actively participate in PaRIS initiative by OECD, select appropriate instruments for PROMs, and continue on standardization of them. This will assure patients' involvement in improving health system performance, systemize information generated in the process of adopting PROMs, and develop a system to evaluate performance.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.112-119
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• 2020

Suicide has been a long-standing problem for global public health, along with almost 800,000 deaths from suicide worldwide in 2016, accounting for 1.4% of all deaths. South Korea was ranked first in suicide mortality in 2018 among countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This study aimed to suggest up-to-date information about suicide-related indicators such as the rate of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, and suicide death, and its trends by applying sampling weight to make it nationally representative. In this study, we used the data sources: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination (KNHANES, '07-13, '15-18), Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS, '08-09, '13, '17), Korean Wealth Panel Study (KOWEPS, '12-18), Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, '10-13), and Statistics Korea (1983-2017). The rate of suicidal ideation as recent year was 4.73% (KNHANES, '17), 6.96% (KCHS, '17), 2.29% (KOWEPS, '18), and 5.39% (KHP, '13). That of suicide attempt as recent year was 0.51% (KNHANES, '18), 0.32% (KCHS, '17), and 0.15% (KOWEPS, '18). Annual percentage change (APC) of suicidal ideation was -15.4% (KNHANES, '07-13, '15, '17), -2.5% (KCHS, '08-09, '13, '17), -10.8% (KOWEPS, '12-18), and -10.9% (KHP, '10-13). APC of suicide attempt was -4.4% (KNHANES, '07-13, '15-18), -4.4% (KCHS, '08-09, '13, '17), and -13.6% (KOWEPS, '12-18). APC of death by intentional self-harm was -1.25% (Statistics Korea, '07-18). All suicide-related indicators were found to be decreasing in the overall from 2009. Individuals with lower income level were more likely to experience suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Even though suicide rate had been continuously decreasing from its highest point in 2011 (suicide rate: 31.7 per 100,000 population) to 2017 (suicide rate: 24.3 per 100,000 population), it increased again in 2018 (suicide rate: 26.6 per 100,000 population). This information would be grounded on policy implementation for suicide prevention, thus continuous data observation is necessary.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.113-122
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• 1999

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the trends of original research in the Korean Journal of Preventive Medicine, and to evaluate the quality of original articles about lead poisoning. Method: The data for the analysis of trends in preventive medicine research was taker from a total of 829 original articles published in the Korean Journal of Preventive Medicine from 1968 to 1997, The qualitative meta-analysis was measured against a checklist of evaluation criteria, which were divided into 10 categories, with 46 articles on lead poisoning. The evaluation process was performed independently by two evaluators, Results: The number of articles per 100 members over the study period increased by almost 4 pieces in the early 1980s, and by more than 9 pieces in the mid-1990s. In the major classifications of subjects, environmental and industrial health, epidemiology and health statistics, and health policy and management published 370 pieces (44.0%), 137 pisces (16.5%), 322 pieces (38.9%) respectively. In the order of the number of articles, five themes about health significance, including metal exposure (73 pieces), diseases associated with exposure to organic solvents (45 pieces), air pollution (36 pieces), maternal and child health (32 pieces), and occupational health (3D pieces) received consistent attention throughout the years $1968\sim1997$. The overall mean score of article qualify about lead poisoning was 37.8 out of 50. Of the articles any information on the purpose and hypothesis described well, Of those the originality of the subjects, the form of article's (including tables and figures), and the number of inappropriate words of abstracts showed very low score. For multiple regression analyses, the number of joint research institutes and the acceptance of research grants about the article quality were statistically significant. Conclusions: The number of original research reports in the Korean J Prev Med has recently increased and their subjects bave diversified. Of the basis of this study, the articles need improvement in the areas of abstracts, tables and illustrations (figures), etc. The Korean Society for Preventive Medicine will revise contribution regulations for manuscripts submitted to the Korean J Prev Med. Future studies should address these issues and perform the quantitative mata-analysis about the specific subjects including the quality of articles.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2008

We analyzed the current research trends of living modified organisms (LMO) by questionnaires in the interest of making biosaftey laws and policies in Korea. We executed a pre-survey at the Crop Functional Genomics 2004 conference and obtained LMO research information from 423 LMO research organizations, including 32 national research institutes, 314 universities, and 77 industries. We found that the total 59 kinds of hosts including 26 kinds of plants, 15 kinds of animals, and 18 kinds of microbes were used for LMO research and E. coli was the most common host. The risk of the most experimental hosts was below a biosafety level of 1 (73.8%) and 2 (25.9%). LMO development use purpose was implemented in various developmental uses: 51.3% in test and research use, 19% in health and medical use, and 12.9% in agriculture use. The experiment product, waste product, and products of host for LMO development were 327.2, 223.6, and 13.5 in number of plants; 280.6, 52.4, and 8.7 in number of animals; and $8.3\;{\times}\;10^{11}CFU$, $7.7\;{\times}\;10^{11}CFU$, and $6.5\;{\times}\;10^{11}CFU$ in microbes in 2004. The survey results about how to possess the LMO were very unreliable, because only 10.6% of the researchers returned the questionnaires. Consequently, we strongly suggest the scientific organizations as well as scientists should have more interests in biosafety of LMO research and an LMO biosafety management system should be developed for Korea's future biotechnology.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.373-386
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• 2022

Objectives: This study examined the perception of the vegan trend of millennials and their future needs. Methods: This study was conducted online from June 21, 2021, to July 15, 2021, targeting 425 adult men and women born between 1980 and 2000. The contents of the survey were divided into four categories: general information, awareness of vegetables, awareness of vegan trends, and future needs for vegan trends. Results: Most respondents recognized the importance of eating vegetables and perceived vegetarianism and veganism as a lifestyle. Regarding the perception of the vegan trend, the highest response rate was 'The vegan trend is to be satisfied with my life regardless of other people', while the lowest response rate was 'The vegan trend is only a temporary fad'. The reasons for purchasing vegan products with high response rates were 'interest in the earth and environment', 'protection of animal rights', and 'thinking about health'. The type of vegan product wanted in the future was delicious food, and convenience level was in the order of 'completely cooked', 'half-cooked', and 'pre-processed'. Among the sustainable vegetarian types that millennials responded, 'semi-vegetarian', which can consume most animal products excluding red meat, showed the highest response rate. Conclusions: The positive perceptions about vegetables are expected to increase. Efforts should be made to develop convenient meals using vegetables and provide reasonable prices to expand vegetable intake.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1895-1899
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• 2012

Background and Aims: Liver cancer is a major health problem in low-resource countries. Approximately 55% of all liver cancer occurs in China. Hebei Province is one of the important covering nearly 6% of the population of China. The aim of this paper was to explore liver cancer mortality trends during past 30 years, and provide basic information on prevention strategies. Methods: Hebei was covered covered all the three national surveys during 1973-1975, 1990-1992, and 2004-2005 and one provincial survey during 1984-1986. Subjects included all cases dying from liver cancer in Hebei Province. Liver cancer mortality trend and geographic differences across cities and counties were analyzed. Results: There were 82,878 deaths in Hebei Province during 2004-2005 with an average mortality rate was 600.9/10,000, and an age-adjusted rate of 552.3/10,000. Those dying of cancer were 18,424 cases, accounting for 22.2% of all deaths, second only to cerebrovascular disease as a cause of death. Cancer mortality was 133.6/100,000 (age-adjusted rate was 119.2/100,000). Liver cancer ranked fourth in this survey with a mortality rate of 21.0/100,000, 28.4/100,000 in males and 13.35/10,000 in females, accounting for 15.7%, 17.1% and 13.4% of the total number of cancer deaths and in males and females, respectively. The sex ratio was 2.13. Since the 1970s, liver cancer deaths of Hebei province have been increasing slightly. The crude mortality rates in the four surveys were 11.3, 16.0, 17.4, 21.0 per 100,000, respectively, with age-adjusted rates fluctuating during the past 30 years, but the trend also being upwards. There is a tendency for the mortality rates to be higher in coastal than mountain areas, and is relative lower in the plain area, with crude mortality rates of 25.3, 22.1, and 19.1 per 100,000, respectively. There were no notable differences in cride data between urban and rural, but the age-adjusted mortality rate in rural was much higher. Conclusion: Our study indicated that the mortality of liver cancer in Hebei Province is lower than the national average level. There is a slightly increase trend, especially in some counties. Liver cancer is a major health problem and it is necessary to further promote prevention strategies in Hebei province.