• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.86 no.2
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• pp.102-110
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• 2023

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a major health burden worldwide, with over 600 million confirmed cases and 6 million deaths by 15 December 2022. Although the acute phase of COVID-19 management has been established, the long-term clinical course and complications due to the relatively short outbreak is yet to be assessed. The current COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant morbidity and mortality around the world. Interestingly, epidemiological studies have shown that fatality rates vary considerably across different countries, and men and elderly patients are at higher risk of developing severe diseases. There is increasing evidence that COVID-19 infection causes neurological deficits in a substantial proportion to patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome. Furthermore, lack of physical activity and smoking are associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) susceptibility. We should therefore explore why lack of physical activity, smoking, etc causing a population more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and mechanism involved. Thus, in this review article, we summarize epidemiological evidence related to risk factors and lifestyle that affect COVID-19 severity and the mechanism involved. These risk factors or lifestyle interventions include smoking, cardiovascular health, obesity, exercise, environmental pollution, psychosocial social stress, and diet.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.39 no.sup2
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• pp.261-268
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• 2009

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of periodontitis in Korean adults and to examine the associations between periodontitis and known risk factors. Methods: Using Korean National Oral Health Survey 2006 data, a total of 4,263 people who had taken oral examination, interviewed by questionnaire, and aged 18 or older were sampled. The prevalence of periodontitis measured by Community Periodontal Index (CPI) was calculated and the differences in prevalence according to known risk factors (age, sex, monthly income, education, residential area, tooth-brushing frequency, regular dental visit, smoking, and diabetes) were examined with chi-square test. Logistic regression analysis was performed to see the effects of each risk factor on the risk of having periodontitis. All statistical approaches were reflected national sampling design using Survey procedures in SAS 9.1. Results: The overall prevalence of periodontitis in Korean adults was 10.3%. There existed statistically significant differences in crude prevalence for periodontitis according to the all risk factors. In logistic regression, older age groups (O.R.:2.94-3.71), people living in rural area (O.R.:1.87), and current smokers (O.R.:1.77) were significantly prone to have periodontitis. People who earned monthly income of more than 2 million Korean won (O.R.:0.64) and brushed their teeth two or more times per day (O.R.:0.60-0.62) had significantly lower risk of having periodontitis. Conclusions: About 10% of Korean adults had periodontitis in 2006. People who were older, living in rural region, in lower income status, smoking, less tooth brushing were more likely to have periodontitis.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.190-200
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the level of perception of safety risk factors and the degree of performance of safety nursing activities in order to develop an education program to improve the safety of patients. Methods: The subjects were 217 nurses from 3 university hospitals in Incheon. Data were collected with structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive analysis, t-test, and ANOVA using SPSS 22.0. Results: The level of perception of patient's safety risk factors and safety care activities was 2.93 and 4.68, respectively. Perception of patient safety risk factors which belonging to the risk type of therapeutic devices, equipment, service and infrastructure all scored below average; also in addition, behavior, performance, and violence risk type and work system, information and communication risk type showed relatively low perception levels. Safety nursing activities showed a low level of performance in accurate communication among medical teams, management of fire and disaster, security management, use of restraints, identification of patients, and correct performance of operations and procedures. Conclusion: Based on these results, it is necessary to improve the safety of patients by taking proper management measures along with education.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.521-532
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• 2018

Dementia, characterized by a progressive cognitive decline and a cumulative inability to behave independently, is highly associated with other diseases. Various cardiovascular disorders, such as coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation, are well-known risk factors for dementia. Currently, increasing evidence suggests that sex factors may play an important role in the pathogenesis of diseases, including cardiovascular disease and dementia. Recent studies show that nearly two-thirds of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease are women; however, the incidence difference between men and women remains vague. Therefore, studies are needed to investigate sex-specific differences, which can help understand the pathophysiology of dementia and identify potential therapeutic targets for both sexes. In the present review, we summarize sex differences in the prevalence and incidence of dementia by subtypes. This review also describes sex differences in the risk factors of dementia and examines the impact of risk factors on the incidence of dementia in both sexes.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.591-596
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• 2017

Objective : Frameless stereotactic aspiration of a hematoma can be the one of the treatment options for spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage in the basal ganglia. Postoperative hematoma enlargement, however, can be a serious complication of intracranial surgery that frequently results in severe neurological deficit and even death. Therefore, it is important to identify the risk factors of postoperative hematoma growth. Methods : During a 13-year period, 101 patients underwent minimally invasive frameless stereotactic aspiration for basal ganglia hematoma. Patients were classified into two groups according to whether or not they had postoperative hematoma enlargement in a computed tomography scan. Baseline demographic data and several risk factors, such as hypertension, preoperative hematoma growth, antiplatelet medication, presence of concomitant intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), were analysed via a univariate statistical study. Results : Nine of 101 patients (8.9%) showed hematoma enlargement after frameless stereotactic aspiration. Among the various risk factors, concomitant IVH and antiplatelet medication were found to be significantly associated with postoperative enlargement of hematomas. Conclusion : In conclusion, our study revealed that aspirin use and concomitant IVH are factors associated with hematoma enlargement subsequent to frameless stereotactic aspiration for basal ganglia hematoma.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.141-149
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify risk factors of accidental falls by age in the Korean elderly. Methods: The study subjects included 10,242 community-dwelling elders aged 65 or over. The data were analyzed by logistic regression analysis. Results: The risk factors of accidental falls in the younger old group (aged 65~74) include fear of falling (OR=16.28, 95% CI: 12.03~22.03), depression (OR=1.24, 95% CI: 1.06~1.44), and hearing impairment (OR=1.20, 95% CI: 1.01~1.43). The risk factors of accidental falls in the older old group (aged 75~84) include fear of falling (OR=11.54, 95% CI: 7.04~18.93), muscle strength (OR=1.36, 95% CI: 1.15~1.60), number of chronic disease (OR=1.65, 95% CI: 1.09~2.50), and presence of spouse (OR=1.27, 95% CI: 1.06~1.51). The risk factors of accidental falls in the oldest old group (aged 85 years old or older) include fear of falling (OR=8.05, 95% CI: 1.85~34.98) and exercise (OR=2.91, 95% CI: 1.36~6.24). Fear of falling is defined as a common factor in the all age groups. Conclusion: Different strategies should be developed for age groups to prevent elderly falls with understanding of contributing factors of falls in each group.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9065-9070
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• 2014

The incidence of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is high in Western and Northern Europe and North America, and low in Asia. Although the incidence of RCC in Japan is lower than the rates in the other industrialized countries, there is no doubt that it is increasing. In this paper, we would like to introduce the summary of findings of JACC study, which evaluate the risk factors for RCC in a Japanese population. JACC study suggests nine risk factors (i.e., smoking, obesity, low physical activity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, kidney diseases, beef, fondness for fatty food and black tea) and one preventive factor (i.e., starchy roots such as taro, sweet potato and potato) in a Japanese population. In Japan, however, drinking black tea may be a surrogate for westernized dietary habits while eating starchy roots may be a surrogate for traditional Japanese dietary habits. Further studies may be needed to evaluate risk factors for RCC because the number of cases is small in our studies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.85-95
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• 2009

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of depression and to identify the influencing factors of depression. Methods: The data of the 2006 Youth Health Risk Behavior web-based Survey Collected by the Korea Center Disease Control was analyzed by Chi-square test, logistic regression using the SPSS program. Results: The influencing factors of depression by general characteristics were gender, school, health status, socioeconomic status and living with both parents. The influencing factors of depression by health risk behaviors were perceived stress, sleep, effort for weight loss, smoking, drinking and drug use. Conclusion: This study suggested that Depression prevention programs should be developed in considering preventing and reducing health risk behaviors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence, subtypes and risk factors of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) among male adolescents. Methods: The survey was conducted on male adolescents (n=441) attending a high school. Rome IV criteria was used to diagnose IBS. Data on health promoting behaviors, psychological distress, sleep hygiene practices were collected using self-administered structured questionnaires. Results: The prevalence of IBS was 11.1% and the subtypes were mixed (77.5%), unclassified (10.2%), diarrhea-predominant (8.2%), and constipation-predominant (4.1%). Risk factors influencing IBS were sleeping time (Odds Ratio [OR]=1.00, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.99~1.00), anxiety, a subfactor under psychological distress (OR=1.12, 95% CI: 1.02~1.22), and arousal-related behaviors, a subfactor under sleep hygiene practices (OR=1.10, 95% CI: 1.03~1.17). Conclusion: Our findings indicated that IBS is a common problem in male adolescents. It is necessary to develop school-based intervention strategies addressing sleeping time, anxiety and arousal-related behaviors in order to prevent and improve IBS in male adolescents.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.19-39
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and correlated factors of sexual behavior among high school students in Seoul A sample of 233 male and 248 female high school students were analyzed using cross-tabulation and logit regression models. Correlated factors examined include type of school, level of mothers education, perceived living status of family, whether family has two parents or not, and whether students have ever lived away from the family, whether students received reproductive health education at school and whether they have friends with sexual experience, whether students have ever smoking and alcohol drinking. The prevalence of alcohol drinking was 73% among boys and 55% among girls and the prevalence of smoking was 64% of boys and 40% of girls, whereas the prevalence of sexual activity was 27% among boys and 15% among girls. Risk taking was more prevalent among boys than among girls. Multiple risk taking behavior was common for both boys and girls. Students who did not have two parents were more likely to engage in risk taking behavior than those who had two parents. For both boys and girls, the factor that affects their own sexual activity most was having a friend who was sexually active and having an experience of living away from their family also increases the odds. For girls, the factor that affects having experience of alcohol drinking and smoking. Receiving reproductive health education at school had no effect on students sexual behavior. Much higher risk taking behavior with sexual behavior among students in Seoul implies that the overall prevalence of risk taking behavior among high school students was likely to rise as South Korea continues its modernization. In-school and community health education programs need to be modified to be effective in protecting students from risk taking sexual behavior.