• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.50-58
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• 2023

Objectives: Socioeconomic inequality in metabolic syndrome (MetS) remains poorly understood in Iran. The present study examined the extent of the socioeconomic inequalities in MetS and quantified the contribution of its determinants to explain the observed inequality, with a focus on middle-aged adults in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from the Ravansar Non-Communicable Disease cohort study. A sample of 9975 middleaged adults aged 35-65 years was analyzed. MetS was assessed based on the International Diabetes Federation definition. Principal component analysis was used to construct socioeconomic status (SES). The Wagstaff normalized concentration index (CI_n) was employed to measure the magnitude of socioeconomic inequalities in MetS. Decomposition analysis was performed to identify and calculate the contribution of the MetS inequality determinants. Results: The proportion of MetS in the sample was 41.1%. The CI_n of having MetS was 0.043 (95% confidence interval, 0.020 to 0.066), indicating that MetS was more concentrated among individuals with high SES. The main contributors to the observed inequality in MetS were SES (72.0%), residence (rural or urban, 46.9%), and physical activity (31.5%). Conclusions: Our findings indicated a pro-poor inequality in MetS among Iranian middle-aged adults. These results highlight the importance of persuading middle-aged adults to be physically active, particularly those in an urban setting. In addition to targeting physically inactive individuals and those with low levels of education, policy interventions aimed at mitigating socioeconomic inequality in MetS should increase the focus on high-SES individuals and the urban population.

• KOREAN ASSOCIATION OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH NURSES
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.50-54
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• 2012

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.415-416
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• 1996

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.725-739
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• 2006

This study was performed to assess socioeconomic status and physical health status of middle-aged men ($40's{\sim}60's$) in Ganghwa country. We interviewed 1,267 middle-aged men (602 male, 665 female) by trained interviewers using structured questionnaires including demographic information, general health status, and anthro-pometric measurements. And all the data were analyzed by chi-square test, Student's t-test and one-way ANOVA using SPSS 12.0 version at p<0.05. These results were that males were higher than females in educational levels (p = 0.000) and most of them decreased according to age in educational levels (p =0.000) and family income (p =0.000), and prevalence of chronic diseases (p =0.000): stomach-duodenum disease, fracture, arthritis, or hypertension. They took to the health information on TV and radio and their health managing methods were exercise and walking and resting and diet regulation. Body Mass Index (BMI) was decreased in oder males (p =0.024) but increased in older females (p=0.001). In females, obesity prevalence of 40's, 50's and 60's was 31.3%. 49.7% and 48.0%, respectively. Waist circumference was the highest in 50's males (p=0.015), but hip circumference was the highest in 50's females (p =0.015). Waist-hip ratio (WHR) increased in older males (p = 0.028) and females (p= 0.000). In spite of the subjects were engaged in agriculture and fishery and had desirable lifestyles obesity rate especially abdominal obesity, was the serious problem. Socioeconomic status, especially education and income were related to SRH (p=0.006, p=0.000), chronic disease (p=0.000) and BMI (p=0.028, p=0.000). Therefore, it is necessary that the public health policy and nutrition education programs to alter lifestyles and to improve health preservation and health promotion in the farming and fishing communities.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.423-433
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the health care experiences among patients with Parkinson's disease. Methods: Of the qualitative research methods, Colaizzi's phenomenological method was used in this study. A total of nine patients, who were diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and receiving outpatient treatment, were selected as the subjects of this study. Subsequently, data were collected through individual in-depth interview. Results: The four categories obtained as a result were 'strenuous efforts to control my own body,' 'subject of health that no one can replace,' 'focus on the current while expecting a breakthrough in health management,' and 'human dignity that cannot be lost to the end.' Conclusion: The study results are expected to help health care providers deeply understand the experiences in health care among patients with Parkinson's disease and to provide source data for nursing intervention development that can be helpful in managing the health status of patients with Parkinson's disease.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.670-684
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• 2009

Objectives : This research analyzed the general characteristics that closely affect the children's dental health and the mothers' dental health knowledge and dental health behavior to identify the correlation of the latter with the status of children's dental health in order to provide the basic data for the development of dental health business that would target children. Methods : Research subjects were selected arbitrarily from three nursery schools located in Busan metropolitan city, targeting 186 children between the ages of four to six and their mothers. The children were subjected to dental Inspection, and the status of their dental caries was studied whereas the mothers were subjected to the surveys on the general characteristics, dental health knowledge and dental health behavior. Results : 1. Level of mothers' dental health knowledge is higher when the mothers' educational level is higher(p=0.02) and when the household's monthly income is higher(p=0.009). 2. When the level of mothers' dental health knowledge is higher, children tended to brush their toothbrushing using proper method(p=0.025). Moreover, when the level of mothers' dental health knowledge is higher, they tended to take their children to dental clinic mostly for preventive measures than for treating cavity(p=0.023). 3. When the level of mothers' dental health knowledge is higher, children's dmft index was significantly low(p=0.02). When the mothers use fluoride-containing toothpaste, children's children' dmft index was even lower(p=0.02). 4. As the children tended to brush their teeth more often, dmft index was lower(p=0.003). When the reason that the children visited dental clinic was more to prevent, than to treat cavity, dmft index was even lower(p=0.000) Conclusions : When the above mentioned results are summarized, it is possible to know that the mothers' dental health knowledge and dental health behavior significantly affect children's dental health. Accordingly, it is necessary to develop maternal and child dental health program that factors in both the mothers and children in order to prevent children's dental caries and to increase their dental health, and continued care is required to discover and treat dental caries early on.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.297-311
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• 2020

Objective: We compared the level of blood cadmium exposure with health impacts by using data from a survey of residents near an abandoned mine and a national health survey. Methods: For this study, we used data from 7,046 individuals who participated in the Health Effects Survey of Abandoned Metal Mines (AMS, 2008-2011) and 6,871 individuals who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV-VI (KNHANES, 2008-2013). To evaluate the health impacts, the quartiles (S1 to S4) were classified according to blood cadmium concentration, and then the odds ratios of S2 to S4 over S1 for exceeding the reference values of renal function, blood pressure, and bone density were compared. Similarly, the odds ratio of AMS over KNHANES was confirmed. Results: In the AMS, adjusted for general characteristics, the geometric mean of blood cadmium concentration was 1.34 ㎍/L, which was statistically significantly higher than that of the KNHANES 1.22 ㎍/L (p<0.001). In the integrated data of AMS and KNHANES, the estimated odds ratio of S4 over S1 for exceeding the reference value was found to be 1.70 for serum creatinine, 1.71 for hypertension, and a T-score 2.02 for the tarsal bone. They were all statistically significant. Conclusion: Residents around abandoned metal mines had a higher blood cadmium concentration than the general population, and the odds for exceeding the reference values were higher for some health indicators. Continuous biomonitoring should be conducted for vulnerable areas such as around abandoned metal mines, and measures to reduce cadmium exposure and management of chronic diseases are needed.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.581-590
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• 2002

Purpose: The purpose of this correlational study was to identify relationships among job stress, health beliefs and health behaviors of aircrews and contributing factors to aircrew's health promoting behaviors. Method: Two-hundred twenty-four aircrew members completed questionnaires. The questionnaires were composed of a demographic form, health behavior scale, self-efficacy scale, perceived benefit scale, perceived barrier scale, job demand scale, and latitude scale. Result: The subject's health behavior has shown significant correlations with self-efficacy, benefit, and barrier. Significant negative correlations were found between job stress and self-efficacy. Relationships between job stress and barriers were also statistically significant. In demographic features, statistically significant difference were found between subject's rank and job stress score. Also, there was a significant difference between health behavior and the subject's age. Conclusion: Future efforts should focus on the development of a program to consider aircrew's perceived benefits, perceived barriers and self-efficacy to the compliance of health promoting behaviors.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.97-107
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• 2010

Although aspiration towards quality of life and holistic health has been growing faster in our modern society and the affordance of health in built environment has been more acknowledged, there has been hardly any development on built environment planning and design theory that can be comfortably and confidently used in creating built environment to promote holistic health. Thereby, this study sets out to experimently formulate a composite theory that explains the relationship between health and built environment. The main methodology of this study is literature review and analysis. Theories that have been applied in other similar fields were chosen to be analyzed by health related perspectives and graft those theories onto holistic health viewpoints to compose a comprehensive theory. Selected theories that were considered useful to be analyzed were Lawton's Environment Press Theory, Carp & Carp's Complementary & Congruence Theory, Valins' Activity-based Design Criteria Theory, Atchley's Continuity Theory, Murtha & Lee's User Benefit Criteria Theory, and Alexander's Pattern Language Theory. Characteristics of these theories were compared by their abstractness and concreteness, and the range of application, and analyzed by a holistic health perspective. Then, these theories were comprehensively structuralized and synthesized as a built environment for health theory. This study has its significance in providing a base to develop healthy built environment research further as it introduced a conceptual framework which explains spatial elements in the health functionality point of view.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.423-436
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• 2021

This article summarizes the structure of China's current social health insurance system and reviews the development status of China's private health insurance (PHI). China's medical security system is mainly composed of two parts: basic medical insurance (BMI) and PHI. Among them, the BMI provides reimbursement of basic medical expenses for the insured persons according to different proportions. PHI is a necessary supplement to the BMI and provides assistance to the insured persons in the event of illness or accident. By having PHI, people can obtain medical protection outside the coverage of BMI. In the development of PHI in China, the total medical cost is high and the insurance market size is large, but the proportion of PHI expenditure is low and the personal burden is high. Through this Chinese case, it will be helpful for mutual development between Korean PHI and national health insurance, for Korean insurance companies to enter the Chinese market, and for removing the medical burden on the people.