• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제44권6호
• /
• pp.242-248
• /
• 2011

Objectives: Busan is reported to have the highest mortality rate among 16 provinces in Korea, as well as considerable health inequality across its districts. This study sought to examine overall and cause-specific mortality and deprivation at the town level in Busan, thereby identifying towns and causes of deaths to be targeted for improving overall health and alleviating health inequality. Methods: Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for all-cause and four specific leading causes of death were calculated at the town level in Busan for the years 2005 through 2008. To construct a deprivation index, principal components and factor analysis were adopted, using 10% sample data from the 2005 census. Geographic information system (GIS) mapping techniques were applied to compare spatial distributions between the deprivation index and SMRs. We fitted the Gaussian conditional autoregressive model (CAR) to estimate the relative risks of mortality by deprivation level, controlling for both the heterogeneity effect and spatial autocorrelation. Results: The SMRs of towns in Busan averaged 100.3, ranging from 70.7 to 139.8. In old inner cities and towns reclaimed for replaced households, the deprivation index and SMRs were relatively high. CAR modeling showed that gaps in SMRs for heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and physical injury were particularly high. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that more deprived towns are likely to have higher mortality, in particular from cardiovascular disease and physical injury. To improve overall health status and address health inequality, such deprived towns should be targeted.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제39권6호
• /
• pp.493-498
• /
• 2006

Objectives : Diabetes has been reported as a risk factor for several cancers. However, the association between diabetes and gastric cancer has been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the fasting serum glucose level and gastric cancer risk in Korea. Methods : Among the members of the Korean Multi-Center Cancer Cohort (KMCC) from 1993 to 2004, a total of 100 incident gastric cancer cases were ascertained until December 31, 2002 and 400 controls were matched according to age, sex, and year and area of enrollment. Of the eligible subjects, those without fasting serum glucose level information were excluded, with a total of 64 cases and 236 controls finally selected. On enrollment, all subjects completed a baseline demographic and lifestyle characteristics questionnaire, and had their fasting serum glucose level measured. The Helicobacter pylori infection status was determined by an immunoblot assay using long-term stored serum. The odds ratios (ORs) were estimated using conditional and unconditional logistic regression models adjusted for the H. pylori infection status, smoking, drinking, education, follow-up period and matching variables. Results : The ORs for risk of gastric cancer according to the serum glucose level were 1.33 [95% CI=0.50-3.53] and 1.66 [95% CI=0.55-5.02] for the categories of 100-125 and 126 mg/dL or greater, respectively, compared to the category of less than 100 mg/dL. No increased risk of gastric cancer according to the serum glucose level was found (p-trend=0.337). Conclusions : This study provides no evidence for an association of the serum glucose level with gastric cancer.

• 대한의생명과학회지
• /
• 제14권1호
• /
• pp.13-18
• /
• 2008

Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with increased risks of many diseases including cancer. Individuals who regularly consume excessive quantities of alcohol have a greater risk of developing head and neck cancers such as esophageal, pharyngeal and oral cavity cancers if they are deficient in ALDH2 expression compared to normal populations. We evaluated lipid peroxidation in Aldh2 +/+ and Aldh2 -/- mice after they had been subjected to acute ethanol exposure. Malondialdehyde(MDA) level in liver tissue was evaluated as a biomarker of oxidative lipid peroxidation. Although the ethanol treatment did not increase the hepatic MDA level both in Aldh2 +/+ mice and in Aldh2 -/- mice, the MDA level was significant higher in the Aldh2 -/- mice than in the Aldh2 +/+ group. The MDA level was also significantly correlated with olive tail moment in blood and the level of 8-OHdG in liver tissue. This is a strong evidence to support our hypothesis that oxidative stress is more intense in Aldh2 -/- mice than in Aldh2 +/+ mice. Our results suggest that ALDH2-deficient individuals may be more susceptible than wild-type ALDH2 individuals to ethanol-mediated liver disease, including cancer.

• 보건교육건강증진학회지
• /
• 제18권1호
• /
• pp.35-47
• /
• 2001

As the complexity of the our environment is further complicated by advancements in industry and increase in vehicle traffic flow, the incidents of injury causing accidents are on the rise. Consequently, there is increasing emphasis on the importance of systematic and continual safety education for injury preventive behaviors. This study investigates safety related problems of elementary school students based on the PRECEDE model, proposed by Green et al.(1980 Green), to comprehensively identify the requirements of school safety education. The identified requirements were used to diagnose the current state of elementary school safety education through the analysis of multidimensional factors. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 594 sixth grade students from randomly selected 4 schools in Seoul to examine their injury preventive behaviors and to determine the educational diagnosis variables that affect it. The duration of the survey was 3 weeks starting from April 12, 1999 to May 8, 1999. A summary of the survey results are presented below; 1. Situations in which accidents have occurred were, in their order of frequency, ‘during play or sports activities within the school grounds’ was most frequent at 59.6％, ‘during play on local streets’ at 49.5％, and ‘traffic accidents’ at 41.6％. 2. Categorization of the injury preventive behavior showed that ‘not playing at high traffic flow locations such as streets and construction sites’ had the higher level of observance, while ‘wearing of helmets and joint protection devices during playing’ was least observed. 3. Considering injury preventive behaviors in relation to educational diagnosis variables indicated, for predisposing factors, lower ‘perception to injury accidents’ (p〈0.001) combined with higher ‘concerns for injury accidents’(p〈0.001), ‘practice of preventive behavior’(p〈0.001), and ‘the level of safety knowledge’(p〈0.001) resulted in significantly higher observance of injury preventive behaviors. For enabling factors, higher ‘perceived level of the school safety education’ (p〈0.001) and ‘availability of safety education resources’(p〈0.01) indicated significantly higher observance of injury preventive behaviors. For the reinforcing factor, frequent exposure to ‘safety education brochure’ (p〈0.01) and ‘audio-visual material for safety education’(p〈0.01) combined with more ‘regional safety education’ (p〈0.01), ‘home safety education’ (p〈0.01), ‘school safety education’(p〈0.001), and, ‘parents’ observance of preventive behaviors' (p〈0.001) showed significantly higher observance of injury preventive behaviors. 4. An analysis of the factors that affect injury preventive behaviors showed that the enabling factor ‘awareness of school safety education’ had the highest correlation with injury preventive behaviors followed by factors, in their order of significance, ‘practice of preventive behavior’, ‘perception to injury accidents’, ‘level of safety knowledge’, ‘parents’ observances of preventive behaviors', and ‘concerns for injury accidents.’

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제40권5호
• /
• pp.404-410
• /
• 2007

Objectives: Due to the assumptions of homogeneity as well as challenges in the socioeconomic position of the elderly, they have been relatively neglected in studies of health inequalities. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the social inequalities in preventive services among elderly men and women. Methods: Data were obtained from a nationally representative sample of 342 men and 525 women aged 65 and over collected during the 2001 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Age adjusted proportions and logistic regression were used to identify the social patterning of preventive services among elderly Koreans using various social position indicators. Results: The findings of this study generally supported the presence of social gradients in preventive services among the Korean elderly. The likelihood of using the service becomes progressively higher with social position. Educational level, income, and self-rated living status were significantly associated with increased medical checkups and cancer checks. In addition, logistic regression detected educational inequalities only among older women receiving BP checks. After being stratified based on health status and chronic disease status, social disparities still existed when educational level and self-rated living status were considered. Among unhealthy individuals, place of residence was observed as a barrier to medical checkups. Conclusions: This study demonstrated strong and consistent associations between socioeconomic position and preventive services among the elderly in Korea. The results indicate that public health strategies should be developed to reduce the barriers to preventive services encountered by the elderly.

• 대한간호학회지
• /
• 제18권2호
• /
• pp.153-161
• /
• 1988

The purpose of this study was to analyze the level of the services provision of community health practitioners (CHP) and to find out the influence factors on the services provision of CHP. In this study the dependent variables were the level of community health services(CHS), maternal and child health services(MCH), family planning services(FPS), primary care services(PCS) and the ratios of preventive health services(PHS). And independent variables were predisposing, community demographic and task factors. For this analysis, atepwise regression was used. Data collected for the study on reorganization of health centers organization in 1985 was partly used. The findings of this study can be summarized as follows : First, total variance of independent variables for CHS, MCH, FPS, PCS and PHS are shown 62.5 percent, 58.3 percent, 41.8 percent, 17 percent and 61.9 percent respectively. Second, the most important variables which explain CHS, MCH, FPS, PCS and PHS was ratios of household contacted ($R^2$＝0.289), marital status ($R^2$＝0.177), marital status($R^2$＝0.167), ratios of household contacted($R^2$＝0.119) and management of preventive health services($R^2$＝=0.203) respectively. The independent varivbles used in this analysis presented that the explnining for the provision of preventive health service are more influenced than primary care services. In summary this analysis suggests that the level of preventive health services provision of CHP is low and the provision of primary care services compared with preventive health services are occurred independentely. In the future, the strategies for active preventive services by CHP must to be strengthened.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 대한예방의학회 2005년도 제57차 추계 학술대회 연제집
• /
• pp.451-451
• /
• 2005

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 대한예방의학회 1993년도 제45차 추계 학술대회 연제집
• /
• pp.51-52
• /
• 1993

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제24권3호
• /
• pp.373-389
• /
• 1991

In order to develop the measuring tool of VDT syndrome and investigate the variables affecting the development of VDT syndrome, a questionnaire study accompanied with the evaluation of working environment was performed with 138 VDT users from six public organs in Kwangju area. The results were summarized as follows. 1. As a result of analysis with data collected by newly developed questionnaire, VDT syndrome included five factors named as eye-related component, psychological component, general body component, musculoskeletal component, and skin-related component and the estimates of the internal consistency of five factors were 0.877, 0.820, 0.796, 0.791, 0.593 respectively. 2. Variables affecting the level of eye-related symptoms were the type of main b using VDT, the total time of VDT operation per day, and the use of external filter on CRT. 3. The level of eye-related symptoms in the group using external filter was higher significantly than that in the group not using filter. 4. The past history of severe illness affected the level of psychological symptoms significantly. 5. Variables affecting the level of general body symptoms were b satisfaction and income satisfaction. 6. Variables affecting the level of musculoskeletal symptoms were the type of main job using VDT, whether majored in EDPS, the level of typewriting, b satisfaction, and the total time of VDT operation per day. 7. Age and the use of external filter were significantly related to the level of skin-related symptoms.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
• /
• 제20권4호
• /
• pp.252-260
• /
• 2018

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationships between the level of knowledge, attitude and compliance of preventive behaviors of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) among nursing students. Methods: The study sample consisted of 219 nursing students. Through the use of a structured questionnaire, data collection was conducted from June 1st to June 30th 2015. The descriptive statistics, independent t-tests and Pearson's correlation coefficient were employed to analyze the data. Results: The score of the MERS-related knowledge was 9.15 out of 13. The participants had a positive attitude toward the MERS. The level of MERS-related knowledge was high in the case of temporary school closure or break in clinical practice because of the clinical training in hospitals that MERS occurred (t= 2.42, p= .016). The compliance level of the preventive behavior for MERS was high in female students (t= -2.11, p= .036), in the case of temporary school closure or break in clinical practice due to the clinical training in hospitals that MERS occurred (t = 3.29, p= .001), and in students that had MERS-related education for prevention (t = 2.80, p= .006). The MERS-related knowledge was positively correlated with the level of compliance for preventive behavior (r= .18, p= .009). Conclusion: To prevent MERS infection in nursing students, the level of knowledge on MERS should be enhanced so that they can practice preventive behaviors against it. Additionally, the MERS infection control education should include etiology and treatment products based on the MERS response guideline issued by the Centers for Korea Disease Control and Prevention.