Background : In Korea, Improvements of standards of hygiene, sanitation and water supply led to a significant reduction in the endemicity of HAV infection, so that hepatitis A outbreaks have shifted from children to adolescents and young adults. Hepatitis A infection becomes more symptomatic with increasing age. We studied Hepatitis A antibody prevalence in college students, who start living a active life in a community. Hepatitis A infection is primarily by the fecal-oral route transmitted disease by either person-to-person contact or ingestion or contaminated food or water. So, We studied follow up prevalance of anti-HAV IgG in college students who were living together in dormitory during 1 year.
Methods : The 668 serum samples were obtained from college students living in dormitory. Kangung National University during the period of May 2nd through 5th, 1999. For follow up study, the 158 serum samples were obtained from this group during the period of May, 2000. Anti-HAV IgG was measured by HAVAB radioimmunoassy.
Results : The overall seroprevalence rate of anti-HAV IgG 16.3% in 1999. According to age, the anti-HAV IgG positive rate was increase with age, 10.5% in 18 years, 12.4% in 19 years, 15.9% in 20 years, 22.5% in 21 years, 27.9% in 22-26 years. The seroprevalence of anti-HAV IgG was increase with year of university entrance, but not different with sex, department of college and number of family. The anti-HAV IgG positive rate in urban group(14.7%) of native place was lower than in rural group(21.5%). Seroconversion rate of negative anti-HAV IgG was only 1.3% during I year.
Conclusion : This study showed that the seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus was a dramtic drop among adolsecent and young adulthood in korea. Natural acquisition of HAV antibody rarely occurs during 1 year in living condition such as dormitory.
Background : The prevalence of dementia is estimated to be as high as 5-10% over 65 years of age in Korea. it is important to evaluate of dementia for the elderly, Because of the chronicity and progressiveness of the disease. However, cognitive impairment often goes unrecognized by physician because the many previous tools to evaluate cognitive function in the clinical setting are complex, time-consuming and sometimes questionable correlation with real world functioning. The purpose of this study is to assess the usefulness of T도 Time and Change test as screening test for dementia, on the basis for the correlation between this measure(T&C) and MMSE-K.
Methods : The subject for this study consisted of 64 elderly who visited to the outpatient depa-rtment of family medicine of the Ehwa Mok-dong hospital or Elderly Welfare Center in Seoul. They received the T&C test and MMSE-K examination. Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and Pearson' Correlation coefficient were calculated using standard formulas.
Results : The T&C had a sensitivity of 505, a specificity of 88%, a positive predictive value of 60%, a negative predictive value of 77%, respectably. when timed cutpoints were added, The T&C test had a sensitivity of 95%, specificity of 83%m a positive predictive value of 75%, a negative predictive value of 97%. respectivaly.
Conclusion : The Time and Change(T&C) tests can be an effective, simple and performance based tool to recognize dementia. Further validation with a representative elderly sample is needed to establish screening value in primary care of community populations.
Background : Accidental fall is a major risk factor of hip fractures in the aged. Recently Tai chi exercise is reported to reduce the frequency of falls in the American elderly. This study was to evaluate the effects of Tai Chi exercise on equilibrium in the Koreas elderly.
Methods : we selected 4 clubs for the elderly in the same district. The elderly(11 men, 9 women) who attended two of the clubs were offered Tai Chi(9 basic forms) exercise and the elderly(4 men , 21 women) who attended the other two of them were offered regular medical examination. Intervention length was 12 weeks, with outcomes measured before and after intervention.
Results : In men, single left leg standing with eyes open improved in Tai chi group as compared with non-Tai chi group(p=0.026). In women, single right leg standing with eyes open improved in Tai Chi group as compared with non-Tai Chi group(p=0.023), and single left leg standing with eyes open showed improvement in Tai Chi group as compared with non-Tai Chi group(p=0.085). MMSE-K showed improvement in Tai Chi group as compared with non-Tai Chi group, but it was not significant(p>0.05). Those who said these 9 basic forms were not difficult were 81.8% in men, 77.8% in women.
Conclusion : '9 basic forms of Tai Chi' is easy to practice and helpful for equilibrium in the aged. The effect of 9 basic forms of Tai Chi on cognition of the aged needs further studies.
Background : The measurement of carbon monoxide concentration in expired air is used as an objective method to analyze the smoking status. This method has been proven to be reliable and is used throughout the world but it has been only recently accepted in Korea. Therefore the purpose of this study was to examine if measuring the concentration in expired air accurately reflects the Korean's smoking status.
Methods : The subjects were from ages of 19 through 75 healthy people including smokers and nonsmokers. The smokers had their carbon monoxide measured after answering a questionnaire. This questionnaire was formed to obtain information concerning smoking status, smoking habit an factors that influence carbon monoxide measurement. Micro II smokerlyzer (Bedfont Instruments Ltd., England) was used to analyze CO concentration in expired air. The method used for measuring CO concentration was to deeply inhale and hole one's breath for 15 seconds and measure CO concentration while exhaling.
Results : The total number of subjects was 148(143 males, 5 females) consisting of 114 smokers, 34 non-smokers(never smokers 23, ex-smokers 11). The average CO concentration in exhaled air in smokers was 17.247.30 ppm, in nonsmokers 6.031.06 ppm(in ex-smokers 6.361.29 ppm, in never smokers 5.870.92 ppm). A significant difference was evident between smokers and non-smokers(P<0.0001). The CO concentration values compared among the groups divided in terms of daily smoking rate were as the following 11.885.57 ppm in subjects smoking less than 10 cigarettes/day,17.356.48ppm in those smoking 11-20 cigarettes/day, 20.006.35 ppm in the 21-30 cigarettes/day group, and 24.889.70 ppm in the 31 cigarettes/day group (p<0.0001). In addition, the CO concentration was influenced by the change of the degree of inhalation and the elapsed time since last smoking.
Conclusion : The measurement of CO concentration in exhaled air among the Koreas proved to be an accurate and reliable method reflecting the present smoking status.
Background : Recently, the trend pursuing slimness is significantly increasing in adolescents. Because of distorted body image, excessive body weight control can cause problems of health. The goal of this study is to investigate the factors of distorted body image and its problems.
Methods : The survey was performed in a high school of Jindo island on May, 2000. All of 258 students in 1st and 2nd grade participated in this study by questionnaires. Thirteen truthless questionnaires were excluded in this study. Therefore 245 student were selected.
Results : Only 205 of 245 repliers were satisfied with their body figure. In male, 24.1% wanted weight loss, and 39.8% wanted weight gain. In female, 73% wanted weight loss. In a populations(BMI<20), 70 males wanted weight loss, whereas 35(52.2%) among 67 females want weight loss. According to these result, female stuedents wanted strongly weight loss than male. The factors which most influenced body figure were sports star in males(36.1%), and movie stars in female.(43.8%) A group of 58.4% of repliers has experienced body weight control. A group of 37% in male and 39.6% in female suffered from side effects. 77% of total hoped to be educated about adequate body weight control method.
Conclusion : Almost of adolescents dissatisfied with their body figure, Many adolescent who is not obese attempt weight loss, and are sufferd from side effects. Therefore, it is required for effective education about body weight control and social attitude permitting adequate body image.
Background : It is reported that abnormal eating behavior is more frequent in the group of weight control than those of no control. Repeated and chronic binge eating behavior has associations with impaired work and social functioning. overconcerns with body shape and wight. The purpose of this study is to investigate the degree of abnormal eating behavior according to weight management, depression level and obesity.
Methods : From June 1999 to July 1999, we collected self-record questionnaire including body mass index(BMI), Back Depression Inventory(BDI), Eating Attitude Test(EAT), from 1292 students of one girl's high school in Seoul. Study subjects were divided by BMI, the set point was 25 ㎏/㎡. EAT score associated with weight control. BMI, BDI. smoking and alcohol was assessed by mul-tiple linear regression. Study subjects were also grouped by the existence of the history of weight management behavoir, then BMI, EAT score and BDI in each subgroups was assessed by t-test.
Results : Obese student were 42, whereas those of BMI under 25 ㎏/㎡ were 1191. BDI score ranging from 5 to 20 were 940, 21 to 63 were 179. The EAT score has significant relevance to the history of weight control, BMI, and BDI score in order. The EAT score and BMI were higher in the subjects who experienced various modes of weight control (48.41±14.47 vs 33.63±12.52 in EAT, 20.34±2.26 vs 18.72±1.89) (p<0.01).
Conclusion : EAT score was associated with weight control, BMI and BDI. EAT score and BMI were higher in weight control samples.
Background : The pathological significance of adolescent obesity is increasing, as research results indicate that about 80 percent of obese teenager becomes obese as adults. However, most studies on obesity have been mainly centered on the biomolecular aspect of obesity, thereby offering little solution to the clinical application and the promotion of overall health for people. This study investigates into the psychological factors of adolescent obesity, mainly that relating to stress.
Methods : After having chosen 14 third-year classes from two middle schools, one from the Kang-nam and the other from the Kang-puk region of Seoul, I have distributed questionnaires to the total of 501 students. For calculating the degree of stress among the students, I have employed the BEPSI (Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument) - K, transforming each 5 positive questions into 1 point, which were summed up and divided by 5 (the BEPSI-K score)
Results : Controlling the confounding factor, the regression coefficient regarding the Body Mass index of the BEPSI-K score was 0.661, t as 3.122, and R-Square as 0.05, indicating the statistical relevance of the two factors. A multiple linear regression analysis of theses data yielded the following equation : Body Mass Index = 15.6+0.661×BEPSI-K score(R²=0.05) Although the R-Square, as 0.05, was relatively low, this statistical result proves that the rise in stress contributes to the increase of Body Mass Index, thereby indicating that stress functions as an important factor for adolescent obesity.
Conclusion : For remedying and preventing adolescent obesity, one must make use of the BEPSI-K examination and calculate the degree of stress among the adolescent. This study further implies that the best solution to the problems of obesity among adolescent is for the family menbers, the educational institutions, and the society as a whole to understand and to help the adolescent overcome frequent mental stress resulting from thir daily lining.
Background : There are a few studies on the effects of job-strain on the prevalence of sleep problems in the foreign countries. In Korea, it has not been studied till now. In this article, the combined effects of job strain, shift work and some life-style on the prevalence of sleep proplems were studied among workers in middle-aged men.
Methods : 998 cases were chosen from 1109 men who visited health screening certer form October to November, 1999. Sleep problems were categorized to insomnia, sleep deprivation, daytime sleepiness and snoring on the base of result of factor analysis of 11 questions. Job strain was measured by 11 questions which developed by Karasek by and Theorell. All data set were analyzed using Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression analysis.
Results : The 4 sleep problems were analyzed by multiple logistic regression analysis in relation to job strain, shift work, occupation, obesity, sedentary life-style, smoking, drinking. Insomnia was increased significantly from highest job-strain group (Odds ratio (OR:2.02)) and non-exercise group(OR:2.05). In these groups, daytime sleepiness was increased significantly(OR=1.92 in the highest job-strain group, OR=1.72 in non-exercise group). Sleep deprivation was increased in the highest job-strain group(OR=2.18), managers & clerks(OR:1.67) and non-exercise group(OR:1.78). Snoring was increased from BMI(Body mass index) ≥25(OR=1.77), BMI ≥27(OR=2.80) and non-exercise group(OR:1.87).
Conclusion : In the highest job strain group, insomnia, sleep deprivation and daytime sleepiness was increased significantly. And sedentary life-style increased all sleep problems.
Background : Categorial rating scale about pain intensity has been used in many studies without any validation. So we tried to score the pain intensity of phrases which Koreans commonly use for description of pain intensity, and developed categorial rating scale about pain intensity.
Methods : After gathering the phrases which Koreans commonly use for description of pain intensity, the authors selected 23 common phrases. For the each 23 phrase, we asked 69 outpatients at a family Medicine clinic and 76 hospital employee to check on the visual analogue scale according to the intensity. To estimate the reliability of the answers, we asked them to respond to the same questionnaire two weeks later.
Results : Of 145 people interviewed, 63 were male and 82 were female. We found out the absolute pain intensity of 23 phrases. Then we could present 5 point categorial rating scale and 4 point categorial rating scale. Correlation coefficients of two weeks test-retest were from 0.355 to 0.570, which were all statistically significant.
Conclusion : We developed 5 point categorial rating scale and 4 point categorial rating scale which can be used for evaluation of Korean's pain intensity.
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