• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.89-112
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• 2000

Although dental laboratory technicians are prone to be exposed to various work-related health hazardous materials such as dusts, chemicals, etc., the prevalence and nature of work-related health problems of them have not been a matter of great concern in the field of occupational health service in Korea. The purpose of the present investigation was to describe a collected profile of subjective health symptoms and their attributable factors in Korean dental laboratory technicians. A questionnaire listing five groups of health symptoms and five health symptom-related factors was mailed to randomly selected 1,900 dental laboratory technicians. Among them, 1,344 dental laboratory technicians filled out the questionnaires and returnde them. Five groups of health symptoms included musculoskeletal symptom, dermal symptoms, respiratory symptoms, eys symptoms, and ear symptoms. Five health symptom-related factors were occupational environment-related health risk factors, work history, health related habits and status, use of personal protective equipment and general characteristics. Detailed parameters of health risk factors were work posture, vibration, and chemical or physical hazards such as dust, fume, vapor, solvent, light, and noise for occupational environment-related factors; work place, area, number of employees, work hours, career, work part, and work load for work history; Broca's index, hours of sleep, eating, smoking, alcohol, exercise, health examination, and self assessed health status for health habits and status; face masks, goggles, and so on for use of personal protective equipment, and; age, sex, marital status, and education for general characteristics. Before the start of main survey, a pilot survey was carried out for validity and reliability tests of the questionnaire. All the data obtained were coded and analyzed with PC/SAS 6.12 program. The prevalence of health symptoms was the highest in musculoskelton (87.3%), and followde by eyes (78.9%), respiratory organs (64.3%), ears (57.8%), and skin (52.2%) in descending order. Statistically significant risk factors by multiple logistic regression analyses were sex, health examination, self assessed health status, and hand/finger posture in musculoskeletal symptoms; sex, self assessed health status, career, acid gas, and hand contact with resin mixture in deraml symptoms; Broka's smoking, exercise, self assessed health status, and face mask in respiratory symptoms; sex, hours of sleep, self assessed health status, work hours, work load, plaster dust, inadequate lighting, and goggle in eys symptoms, and eating, smoking, self assessed health status, and work load in ear symptoms. With the above considerations in mind, prevalence of subjective symptoms among Korean dental laboratory technicians was relatively high, and they were attributable to most of the occupational environment-related factors, work history, use of personal protective equipment, health habits and status, and general characteristics. Particularly, it is suggested that health promotion programs for promoting self- assessed health status and smoking cessation, preventive measures for protection of the female technicians’health, and reducing work load be necessary, since those factors were associated with more than one subjective symptom.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.133-147
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• 2002

This study conducted an analysis of the correlations among menopausal symptoms of middle-aged women, their exercise performance and subjective health conditions on those 417 middle-aged women aged 40-59 years, residing in Seoul and the Kyongki Province area, from December 6, 2000 through Jun. 20, 2001, using the SPSS 10.00 program. Resultant findings were revealed, as follows: 1. A difference was represented in general characteristics between menopausal symptoms of middled-aged women and variables such as satisfaction with life, sexual life, diseases, the presence or absence of surgical operations; a difference between exercise performance and variables such as age, the presence or absence of vocations, weight control, satisfaction with life, and sleep; and also a difference between subjective health conditions and variables such as weight control, satisfaction with life, diseases, and the presence or absence of surgical operations. 2. Furthermore, a difference was revealed between the levels of menopausal symptoms by exercise performance and variables such as mental and physical symptoms and psychological symptoms. 3. The group of good exercise performance showed higher subjective health conditions as to subjective health conditions by the levels of exercise performance. 4. The better their subjective health conditions, the lower their menopausal symptoms as to menopausal symptoms by subjective health conditions. 5. A negative relationship was disclosed between menopausal symptoms and exercise performance; a positive relationship between exercise performance and subjective health conditions; and a negative relationship between subjective health conditions and menopausal symptoms.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.671-681
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• 2010

Objectives : This study was to evaluate the association between perceived oral health and perceived oral symptoms among adults in Daegu. Methods : All 437 subjects aged 18 or more selected convenience sampling were surveyed cross-sectionally via the self-administrated questionnaire. The questionnaire was measured perceived oral symptoms and perceived oral health, and also obtained socio-demographic characteristics, oral health behaviors. To assess the crude associations, bivariate analysis were applied. For the adjusted association between perceived oral health and perceived oral symptoms, multivariate linear regression multiple regression analysis was conducted. Results : 33.2% of the adults rated their perceived oral health was good, and 30.9% as poor. Older age, low education, had peridontal disease was negatively perceived their oral health(p<0.05). As oral symptoms were more frequently perceived, the perceived oral health were negative. Among the factors of perceived oral symptoms, trouble biting/chewing, poor periodontal status, trouble of appearance of teeth were positively associated with the perceived oral health after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics, oral health behaviors in the regression model. Age, education, income, recent dental treatment, and all perceived oral symptoms showed the highest impact of association with perceived oral health in the baseline-category logit model. Conclusions : Perceived oral health are significantly associated with perceived oral symptoms among adults in Daegu. The findings of this study will be helpful to design plans of oral health promotion in welfare institutions to increase the oral health related quality of life among the adults.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.251-259
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• 2002

The purpose of the study was to investigate physical stress symptoms and health risk behaviors of adolescent athletes and high school students as a basis for providing a health promotion program of adolescent athletes. The subjects consisted of 160 male students of a physical education high school(athletes) in Kyonggi and 147 male high school students(non-athletes) in Seoul. Data was obtained from the physical stress symptoms and the health risk behaviors questionnaire. The result were as follows : 1. Physical stress symptoms didn't make significant difference between groups. GI symptom, as the subscale of physical stress symptoms of non-athletes were higher then those of athletes. The highest ranked physical stress symptoms in athletes was cardiopulmonary symptom Ⅱ(upper respiratory symptoms) and in non- athletes was central-neurological symptoms. 2. Health risk behaviors didn't make significant difference between groups. Weight control, as the subscale of health risk behaviors of athletes were higher then those of non-athletes. The highest ranked health risk behaviors in athletes was alcohol and in non-athletes was smoking. 3.There were the low positive correlation between physical stress symptoms and health risk behaviors.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.179-188
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• 2017

Objectives : This study tried to examine whether there is any difference between the middle-aged men and women in terms of the effect of health-related and oral health-related characteristics on their depressive symptoms (PHQ-9). Methods : We used the 2nd year data of the 6th session of the National Health and Nutrition Survey of 2,008 adults(aged40~64 years) for fulfilling the research objectives. Results : The analysis showed that among middle-aged male and female respondents, household income, subjective health conditions, and stress perception among health-related characteristics had common elements affecting their depressive symptoms. The self-reported oral health conditions affected depressive symptoms for male respondents. On the other hand, chewing problems and contraction of periodontal disease affected depressive symptoms of female respondents. Conclusions : Thus, it is necessary to consider the effect of sex in the relationship between health-related and oral health-related characteristics, and to make efforts to develop differential programs to manage and prevent depressive symptoms among men and women.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.274-282
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• 2020

This study examined the effect of job stress and mental health factors on the oral symptoms of caring service workers in Seoul. For the research method, a survey was conducted from July 24 to August 6, targeting 150 caring service workers. The survey items were job stress, mental health (physical symptoms, anxiety, and insomnia), and self-diagnosed oral symptoms. The results of the study were as follows. Job stress (p=0.001) had a significant effect on the oral symptoms. In addition, physical symptoms (p<0.001), anxiety symptoms (p<0.001), and insomnia symptoms (p<0.001) all had significant effects on the oral symptoms. Among the risk factors, physical symptoms had the greatest influence on oral symptoms. In addition, according to the correlation result of job stress, anxiety symptoms, insomnia symptoms, oral symptoms, as job stress increases, physical symptoms (p<0.001), anxiety symptoms (p<0.001), insomnia symptoms (p<0.001), oral symptoms (p<0.01) showed an increasing positive correlation and a statistically significant difference. Physical and psychological labor power is greatly exhausted by care service workers performing tasks that require physical and mental care for those who are being cared for. Therefore, there is a need for systematic expansion measures for the mental health of workers and the introduction of customized oral health education programs to improve oral health because improved health and oral health conditions can increase work performance.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.871-880
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• 2011

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the self-rated oral health concern of adults over the age of 20 and from all over the country and their subjective oral health symptoms in a bid to provide some information on oral health policy setting for adults. Methods : The subjects in this study were 3,558 adults who voluntarily participated in a survey conducted by this researcher at the website of a company. After their answer sheets were analyzed, the following findings were given: Results : 1. 81 percent replied that they were very concerned about oral health. As to the relationship between their general characteristics and oral health concern, there were statistically significant differences in that regard according to their gender, age, purpose of seeing a dentist and occupation. 2. As for the relationship of their general characteristics to subjective awareness of oral health symptoms, there were statistically significant gaps in that aspect according to their gender, age, purpose of seeing a dentist, occupation and state of smoking. 3. In regard to the relationship between oral health concern and subjective awareness of oral health symptoms, those who were more concerned about oral health felt less subjective oral symptoms, but the difference between them and the others was not significant. The respondents who felt more symptoms of dental caries felt more symptoms of periodontal diseases as well. Conclusions : The above-mentioned findings indicate that in order to help adults promote or maintain their oral health, their concern for oral health should be stimulated by providing them with a lot of diverse information, and it seems that the development of programs that can eliminate their subjective oral symptoms of dental caries and peridontal diseases, the primary causes of tooth dysfunction, is required.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.941-950
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• 2019

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between depressive symptoms and oral health status in Korean middle-aged women. Methods: We analyzed data from the sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES VI). The final sample consisted of 2,691 adults aged 40-64 years. The Chi-squared test was used to assess the rate of depressive symptoms, oral health status, and relationship between oral health status and depressive symptoms. Moreover, logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between depressive symptoms and oral health status. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 program. Results: Overall, 15.1% of subjects experienced depressive symptoms. The rate of depressive symptoms in self-aware oral health, toothache, and mastication problem groups were 19.6%, 19.9%, and 25.3%, respectively. Compared to other groups, the likelihood (odds ratio) of having depressive symptoms was 1.47 (95% confidence interval [CI] : 1.16-1.88), 1.58 (95% CI: 1.22-2.04), and 1.73 (95% CI: 1.32-2.28) higher in self-aware bad oral health, toothache, and mastication problem groups, respectively. Conclusions: We found an association between depressive symptoms and oral health status. Thus, oral health status should be evaluated as a potential risk factor for depressive symptoms.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.57-69
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of the physical health on health behaviors of the rural elderly. In this study, physical health is measured self-rated health and farmer symptoms. The specific questions addressed in this study are: What are the general tendencies of health behavior, self-rated health and farmer symptoms? What are the direct impacts and indirect impacts of respondents' characteristics, self-rated health and farmer symptoms on health behaviors of the rural elderly? For this purpose, survey data was gathered from 881 rural elderly who live in a village. The statistical methods used for data analysis were descriptive statistics, correlations, and path analysis with spsswin 12.0 program. The major findings of this study are as follows: The level of health behaviors and self-rated health is low and the level of farmer symptoms is high. In general, it can be said that respondents of this study have the low level of physical health and health behaviors. A path analysis shows the relation of variables, which influence on health behaviors. Economic status, education status and farmer symptoms play direct and positive effects on health behaviors. Especially, the effect of farmer symptoms is more important than the others. Sex and age are indirectly significant on health behavior. The results obtained from the study confirm that objective physical health, like as farmer symptoms, plays important roles in health behavior of the rural elderly. It means that the Korean rural elderly need many facilities and services to promote their physical health.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.491-499
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• 2020

Background: Assembly lines work is frequently associated to work-related upper limb musculoskeletal disorders. The related disability and absenteeism make it important to implement efficient health surveillance systems. The main objective of this study was to identify self-reported variables that can determine work-related upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms-discomfort/pain-during a 6-month follow-up. Methods: This was a prospective study with a 6-month follow-up period, performed in an assembly line. Upper limb musculoskeletal discomfort/pain was assessed through the presence of self-reported symptoms. Uni- and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate which self-reported variables were associated to upper limb symptoms after 6 months at the present and to upper limbs symptoms in the past month. Results: Of the 200 workers at baseline, 145 replied to the survey after 6 months. For both outcomes, "having upper limb symptoms during the previous 6 months" and "education" were possible predictors. Conclusion: Our results suggest that having previous upper limb symptoms was related to its maintenance after 6 months, sustaining it as a specific determinant. It can be a hypothesis that this population had mainly workers with chronic symptoms, although our results give only limited support to self-reported indicators as determinants for upper limb symptoms. Nevertheless, the development of an efficient health surveillance system for high demanding jobs should implicate self-reported indicators, but also clinical and work conditions assessment should be accounted on the future.