• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.455-460
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• 2014

Background: The purpose of the present study was to determine geographic clustering of breast cancer incidence in Kanagawa Prefecture, using cancer registry data. The study also aimed at examining the association between socio-economic factors and any identified cluster. Materials and Methods: Incidence data were collected for women who were first diagnosed with breast cancer during the period from January to December 2006 in Kanagawa. The data consisted of 2,326 incidence cases extracted from the total of 34,323 Kanagawa Cancer Registration data issued in 2011. To adjust for differences in age distribution, the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) and the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) of breast cancer were calculated for each of 56 municipalities (e.g., city, special ward, town, and village) in Kanagawa by an indirect method using Kanagawa female population data. Spatial scan statistics were used to detect any area of elevated risk as a cluster for breast cancer deaths and/or incidences. The Student t-test was performed to examine differences in socio-economic variables, viz, persons per household, total fertility rate, age at first marriage for women, and marriage rate, between cluster and other regions. Results: There was a statistically significant cluster of breast cancer incidence (p=0.001) composed of 11 municipalities in southeastern area of Kanagawa Prefecture, whose SIR was 35 percent higher than that of the remainder of Kanagawa Prefecture. In this cluster, average value of age at first-marriage for women was significantly higher than in the rest of Kanagawa (p=0.017). No statistically significant clusters of breast cancer deaths were detected (p=0.53). Conclusions: There was a statistically significant cluster of high breast cancer incidence in southeastern area of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was suggested that the cluster region was related to the tendency to marry later. This study methodology will be helpful in the analysis of geographical disparities in cancer deaths and incidence.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.59-97
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• 1987

Tuna and tuna fishing extend over most of the tropical waters of the world oceans, especially, this study of the Indian Ocean and the fish and the fishing vessels are highly mobile. No country can deal in isolation with the problems of its tuna fishery and of any tuna fishery in its waters, without collaborating with other countries. This cooperation is often best established through some formal international mechanism. The essential requirements are for information-on the resources, the fishery, the trade-and to identify where management actions are needed to consore the resources or to maintain the economic or social function of the fishery. These will also usually require some form of international mechanism. With the changes in the Law of the Sea, the siuuation in respect of management of tuna-considered among the highly migratory species, requirng special treatment-has also changed. At present there are both uncertainty regarding tuna management and political arguments as to how such management can be best implemented. Bearing this in mind, together with the fact that only few tuna stocks have shown clear evidence of serious depletion through over-exploitation, present emphasis will be placed on information requirements. This study included compiling the data necessary to review the state of stoks in the Indian Ocean tuna fishing grounds. Information on the resources-where the fish are, their quantity, their movements, etc. is important, whether in planning development of new fisheries, or considering the need for collaboration with other countries (in ascertaining to what extent their catches may affect catches of the natoinal fleet) or for conservation measures. A major source of information is the statistics of for conservation measures. A major source of information is the statistics of catch and fishing effort from existing commercial vessels. These need to be assembled for all fisheries on the same stock on an oceanwide basis. The statistical data also need to be analysed and intepreted, and combined with biological data(e.g., on growth, mortality and migration rates) to provide information that is intelligible and useful for administrators and other decision-makers. This must also be undertaken on a resource-wide or ocean-wide basis. Finally, because of the world-wide similarities in the methods of datching, processing and marketing fish, there is a particular tut not exclusive need in those countries just beginning to develop their tuna fisheries-to have ready access to a syntheis of information on tuna, tuna biology and tuna fisheries and tuna fisheries economics and management on the Indian Ocean.

• 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.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.5287-5294
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• 2016

Background: Breast cancer is a worldwide public health concern and is the most prevalent type of cancer in women in the United States. This study concerned the best fit of statistical probability models on the basis of survival times for nine state cancer registries: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington. Materials and Methods: A probability random sampling method was applied to select and extract records of 2,000 breast cancer patients from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database for each of the nine state cancer registries used in this study. EasyFit software was utilized to identify the best probability models by using goodness of fit tests, and to estimate parameters for various statistical probability distributions that fit survival data. Results: Statistical analysis for the summary of statistics is reported for each of the states for the years 1973 to 2012. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Anderson-Darling, and Chi-squared goodness of fit test values were used for survival data, the highest values of goodness of fit statistics being considered indicative of the best fit survival model for each state. Conclusions: It was found that California, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, New Mexico, and Washington followed the Burr probability distribution, while the Dagum probability distribution gave the best fit for Michigan and Utah, and Hawaii followed the Gamma probability distribution. These findings highlight differences between states through selected sociodemographic variables and also demonstrate probability modeling differences in breast cancer survival times. The results of this study can be used to guide healthcare providers and researchers for further investigations into social and environmental factors in order to reduce the occurrence of and mortality due to breast cancer.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.85-93
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• 2020

Purpose: The annual statistics for poisoning are reported based on the data from poison control centers in many advanced countries. In 2016 a study was conducted to analyze the 2016 Korea Poisoning status. This study was conducted to make a better annual report for poisoning statistics in Korea from a 2017-2018 national representative database. Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis of poisoning patients based on the data from an emergency department (ED) based injury in-depth surveillance project by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017-2018. Bite or sting injuries were not included. Results: A total of 17714 patients presented to 23 EDs because of poisoning. Adults above 20 years old age accounted for 84.6% of the population, while the proportion of intentional poisoning was 60.8%. The poisoning substance presented in the ED were therapeutic drugs (51.2%), gas (20.3%), pesticides (16.4%), and artificial substances (11.4%). Overall, 35% of patients were admitted for further treatment. The mortality was 2.4% (422 cases), and the most common fatal substances in order were carbon monoxide, other herbicides, and paraquat. Conclusion: This study showed the 2017-2018 status of poisoning in Korea. The prognosis is different from the cause of poisoning and the initial mental state of the patient. Therefore, appropriate methods for preventing poisoning and therapeutic plans in specific situations are needed.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.225-237
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• 2024

In the analysis of competing risks data, some of covariates may not be fully observed for some subjects. In such cases, excluding subjects with missing covariate values from the analysis may result in biased estimates and loss of efficiency. In this paper, we studied multiple imputation and the augmented inverse probability weighting method for regression parameter estimation in the cause-specific proportional hazards model with missing covariates. The performance of estimators obtained from multiple imputation and the augmented inverse probability weighting method is evaluated by simulation studies, which show that those methods perform well. Multiple imputation and the augmented inverse probability weighting method were applied to investigate significant risk factors for the risk of death from breast cancer and from other causes for breast cancer data with missing values for tumor size obtained from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screen Trial Study. Under the cause-specific proportional hazards model, the methods show that race, marital status, stage, grade, and tumor size are significant risk factors for breast cancer mortality, and stage has the greatest effect on increasing the risk of breast cancer death. Age at diagnosis and tumor size have significant effects on increasing the risk of other-cause death.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of and problems with the Safe Community Programs in Gangbuk-gu, one of the 25 districts of the capital city of Korea. Methods: The study subjects were 396 individuals who were involved in Safe Community Programs between 2009 and 2011. We examined the effectiveness and willingness of respondents to participate as a safety leader of the Safe Community Program with a questionnaire. We examined the injury death rates of Gangbuk-gu by using of the death certificate data of Korea's National Statistical Office. Descriptive statistics and chi-squared tests were used. Results: The effectiveness of programs did not differ but active participation differed significantly among subjects (p<0.05). The injury death rate of Gangbuk-gu as a whole increased during the implementation period. However, senior safety, in particular, may be a helpful program for reducing injuries in Gangbuk-gu. Conclusions: This study suggests that the lack of active participation may be a major problem of Safe Community Programs in Gangbuk-gu. Therefore, Safe Community Programs should be expanded to the entire district of Gangbuk-gu and more active participation programs should be developed.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.106-117
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• 2016

Osteoporosis is a major health problem that can lead to mortality. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis separately and to assess the risk factors associated with osteopenia/osteoporosis in Korean men aged 50 years and over. A total of 1,136 subjects were analyzed among the participants of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2010~2011 by using SPSS statistics complex samples (windows ver. 23.0). The prevalence rates of osteopenia and osteoporosis were 46.3% and 7.3%, respectively, and the mean ages of both osteopenia and osteoporosis risk groups were significantly higher than that of the normal group. The mean values for lifetime tallest height and bone mineral density in whole body, total femur, femoral neck, and lumbar spine were significantly lower in the risk group(osteopenia/osteoporosis) than in the normal group, whereas the mean values for height, body weight, BMI, waist circumference, alkaline phosphatase, parathyroid hormone, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides of the two groups showed no significant differences. The intakes of energy and carbohydrates were significantly higher in the risk group than in the normal group. The results of multiple logistic regression showed that being underweight and having hypercholesterolemia were significantly related with the prevalence of osteopenia/osteoporosis, whereas health habits such as smoking and exercise, chronic diseases such as obesity and hypertension, and nutrient intakes were not. These findings suggest the need for further studies to examine osteopenia/osteoporosis risk factors and outcomes specificly focused on Korean men.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.54-71
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• 1991

Health of a nation is quite often represented by the statistics such as infant death rate and maternal mortality rate. It is indisputable that maternal child health(MCH) is the basis of health of a nation. MCH is also one of the cardinal component of primary health care. The importance of MCH is conspicuous especially in the developing countries. In Korea, People in the rural communities still have high access barrier to basic health care needs, including MCH services. Access to quality care during pregnancy and delivery seems to be the crucial factor in preventing deaths in women and children. The beneficial effects of prenatal and postnatal care on the outcome of pregnancy for mother and child, and those of health professional-attended institutional delivery on the health of mother and child have been well documented in many studies. Recognizing these effects, the government of Korea received IBRD loan of $30 million in 1979 for th purpose of constructing 89 rural MCH centers. The construction is complete now and all 89 MCH centers are under operation ti imporve primary health care for mothers and children in Korea. However, it has been observed over time that overall performance of public MCH centers is declining. The decline has been attributed partly to low quality services by public MCH centers, poor management by health center mangers, competition with for-profit private clinics, and to the development of national health insurance. This study investigates the utilization by rural communities in Korea of MCH services provided by public sector health centers deemed to be physically and financially accessible to the community but suboptimally used. It seeks also to determine the factors that influence people's utilizations. This study sets out to discover a desirable form of MCH center from among alternative forms of centers, thereby to construct a MCH model.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.186-191
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with an excess mortality from cardiovascular disease which is likely attributed to an atherogenic lipid profile. Among nutritional factors vitamin K has been recently focused as a pivotal nutrient in improvement of lipid related markers. Thus, this study was designed to determine the effects of vitamin K on lipid profile in this disease. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Fifty eight patients with definitive RA were participated in the present double blind placebo controlled study. They were randomly allocated into two groups to receive vitamin $K_1$ as phylloquinone [10 mg/day] (n = 30) or placebo pills (n = 28), for eight weeks. In order to control the effects of probable confounders dietary intakes, anthropometric measurements including weight and height, clinical status using disease activity score-28 (DAS-28), physical activity and anxiety status were evaluated at baseline. Moreover, serum levels of lipid related markers including total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglyceride (TG) were measured at baseline and at the end of intervention. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding any of the baseline characteristics. After adjusting for some relevant confounders, in comparison between two groups, we observed no significant changes in lipid related markers at the end of intervention. Also, there was no significant difference between before and after intervention values within groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Function of vitamin $K_1$ in lipid profile modification remains still controversial. This study showed that vitamin $K_1$ has no effect on lipid profile in women with rheumatoid arthritis. Further studies with a longer follow-up are required to determine the effects of vitamin K on atherogenic lipid profile.