• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2010

This study investigated cut-off values of body mass index (BMI) and body fat measures for metabolic syndrome (MS) in elderly Koreas. Questionnaire surveys, anthropometric measurements, medical examinations, and body composition analyses were conducted for 10,077 subjects aged 40-65 years in the health examinee cohort in Korea between 2004 and 2006. Cut-off values were identified using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for both men and women. Stratified analyses by weight range (<60, 60-69, 70-79, and 80-89, ${\geq}90\;kg$ for men; <50, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, ${\geq}80\;kg$ for women) were conducted. Among male subjects, the cut-off points were $25.5\;kg/m^2$ for BMI with a sensitivity of 70.0% and a specificity of 72.0%, and 26.1% for body fat percentage with a sensitivity of 60.6% and a specificity of 76.4%. Among female subjects, the cutoff points were $24.1\;kg/m^2$ for BMI with a sensitivity of 73.3% and a specificity of 68.8%, and 31.5% for body fat percentage with a sensitivity of 76.7% and a specificity of 65.6%. Stratified analysis by weight range showed that the cutoff points of BMI and body fat measures tended to higher as weight level increased. The results of our study suggest cut-off values of BMI and body fat measure for MS were similar to the general obesity criteria in Korea.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.63-74
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• 2005

Objectives: The present study aimed to provide the fundamental data for guiding establishment of measures among the rural elderly population with physical disabilities. The specific goals of this report are to reveal the prevalence of their disabilities, its tendency according to their increasing age, and to assess the background explanations. Methods: The self-administered questionnaires have been performed 432 persons of rural residents age 40 and greater in Kumsan-Gun and Chongyang-Gun, Chungchongnamdo Province. The questionnaire items included presence or not. of disabilities. specific causes for disabilities, anthropometric measures, and amount of physical activities. Results: The proportion of disabilities was higher in women than men, and the functional degree of their limbs decreased with the increasing age. The proportion of disabling extremities was higher in the lower extremities than in the upper ones. Joint diseases were the most prevalent causes for disabilities of extremities. Concerning the degree of depression, 41.2% of study subjects were normal, 47.5% had mild depression, 6.3% moderate, and 5.1% severe depression, with no statistical difference based on age and sex. The worse are the functional degree of both extremities, the greater the degree of depression the subjects had. The odds ratio for presence of disabilities of extremities was 2.6 times higher in women than in men for sex and for age, 50's were 3.5 times, 60's 4.3 times, 70's 4.9 times than 40's, respectively, with increasing tendency with increasing age. The odds ratio for depression was 1.2 times greater in subjects with disabilities than in normal population with no statistical difference. Conclusions: More efforts are needed to establish elderly specific measures for providing proper public health services centering on maintenance of physical functioning among elderly population.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.81-89
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to analyze the patterns and interrelationships for meeting recommendations of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and dietary behavior in elementary school students. A cross-sectional design was used to assess 259 students ages 11 to 13 years. Physical activity (moderate to vigorous physical activity $\geqq$60min/day), sedentary behavior (viewing time for TV, computer, DVD, video, etc<3hr/day), and dietary behavior (servings of fruits and vegetables$\geqq$5times/day) were categorized into two levels: meeting recommendations or not meeting recommendations. Parents' health behaviors and home environmental variables were assessed with self-reported measures. Chi-squared tests and independent t-tests were conducted to compare anthropometric variables and the prevalence of students not meeting the recommendation for the three health behaviors. Comparison between males and females and logistic linear regression were used to determine the interrelationships of three health behaviors. 25.9% of students did not meet the physical activity recommendations. 15.4% did not meet sedentary behavior recommendations, and 41.7% did not meet dietary recommendation. Only 39.8% of students met all three recommendations, but 19.0% did not meet over two recommendations. Patterns that simultaneously did not meet two recommendations were: sedentary and dietary behavior in males (8.1%), and physical activity and dietary behavior in females (10.4%). Students who did not meet dietary recommendations were at greater risk of not meeting physical activity (OR 2.76; 95% CI 1.15 to 6.64), and sedentary behavior (OR 3.07; 95% CI 1.15 to 8.16) compared with students who did meet dietary recommendations. The findings of this study support not an independent behavior approach but a multiple behavior approach taking into account gender and interrelationships among the three behaviors.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.513-526
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of low sodium diet education program on dietary habits, diet quality, and measures of obesity in overweight or obese middle-aged women. Methods: Subjects were 81 individuals aged 45 years or over, who completed an 8-week nutrition education. The subjects were divided into a normal group (N = 30) and an overweight-obese group (N = 51) according to the BMI. The effects were evaluated by anthropometric measurement, biochemical analysis, questionnaire, and diet records before and after the program. Results: Overweight-obese group showed significant decreases in weight (p < 0.0001), BMI (p < 0.0001), percent of body fat (p = 0.0087), waist circumference (p < 0.0001), systolic (p = 0.0003) and diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.0261). Nutrients intakes were not different between the two groups and only sodium intake was decreased after education. Total score of general dietary habits, dietary behavior related to sodium intake, dietary diversity score (DDS), diet variety score (DVS), and diet quality index-international (DQI-I) were improved in both groups compared to the baseline. Overweight-obese group showed significant improvement in 'having fruits everyday', 'having fish everyday', 'trying to eat many kinds of food', 'eating less broth when eating soup, stew, and noodles', 'eating less kimchi and salt-fermented vegetable', and 'propensity to think that dishes should be pretty seasoned'. In addition, moderation of empty calories food (p = 0.0064) and macronutrient ratio (p = 0.0004) were improved in the overweigh-obese group, but in the normal group, the results did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: These results suggested that low sodium diet education program may contribute to obesity management by improving diet quality and dietary habits in middle-aged women.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.629-635
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• 2007

Purpose : This study was conducted to assess the usefulness of fat-free mass index (FFMI) and fat mass index (FMI) as novel expression methods of body composition in children. Methods : A total of 466 Second grade students-248 boys and 218 girls- from all elementary schools the Gwacheon City underwent anthropometric measures including bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and biochemical tests. The correlation coefficients between obesity indices, including FMI and FFMI, and metabolic risk factors, were assessed. Metabolic risk factors of children with increased FMI were compared with those of children with normal FMI. We compared FMI and FFMI percentile distribution between this study's subjects and the subjects of the Fukuoka body composition study. Results : FMI was lower and FFMI was higher in this study's subjects compared to the subjects of the Fukuoka body composition study. FMI was correlated with other obesity indices and several metabolic risk factors. Metabolic risk was higher in children with increased FMI than in children with normal FMI. Conclusion : FMI and FFMI were useful indicators in comparing difference of body composition among children that had different body size and growth. High FMI was related to increase of metabolic risk in children.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.285-295
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to compare the awareness of dietary patterns and health of full-time and employed housewives. The investigation gathered information on general characteristics, dietary lifestyle, nutritional status, and health by questionnaire as well as anthropometric measurements. The subjects included housewives living in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province (86 full-time and 127 working housewives) during November 2009 to January 2010. The average age, height, and weight of the housewives were $45.8{\pm}7.6\;yr$, $161.0{\pm}8.4\;cm$, and $55.7{\pm}6.3\;kg$, respectively. The average monthly income of the households was 3 million to 5 million won (31.4% full-time and 37.0% working housewives), and their average food expense was 200,000 to 500,000 won (46.5% full-time and 48.1% working housewives). More than 90% of the studied homes were nuclear families and the most common number of children was 2 to 3 (79.1% full-time and 76.4% working housewives). The ratio of employed housewives who ate regular meals was 35.4%, but that of the full-time housewives was 48.2% (p<0.05). Of the working housewives, 7.1% never ate breakfast and the primary reason for skipping breakfast was 'busy in the morning' (61.1%). The type of food that the housewives preferred when eating out was Korean food, both for the full-time and employed housewives (76.0%). All the housewives overate calories and the full-time housewives ate more protein, fat, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, niacin, vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, and cholesterol than the employed housewives (p<0.05). Both the full-time and employed housewives were more satisfied with supper than with other meals. About 30.6% of the full-time and 33.9% of the working housewives had no interest in health, but answered that regular exercise was very important for health (33.3% full-time and 39.7% working housewives). In conclusion, working housewives have poor dietary habits and nutrient intakes, thus substantial measures to improve these problems are urgently needed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.81-95
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• 1995

Now, safety assurance in construction sites should be accomplished by its own organization rather than control of the code or government. It is believed that the safety assurance can be considerably improved by a lecture or an education using the existing theories or literatures up to now, but it is thought that fundamental safety assurance we not able to be accomplished without developing safety devices '||'&'||' equipment or taking fundamental measures, based on the result analyzed from workers behaviors. There are various behaviors of the workers showed in construction site, but only tests for hammerusing works such as form, re-bar, stone workers directly related to the grip strength are mainly performed, investigated and measured here for the study. The above works are similar to power grip, 7th picture on seven items which are categorized for hand grip types(Ammermin 1956 ; Jones ; Kobrick 1958). Measurements of grip strength are commonly taken in anthropometric surveys. They are easy to administer but unfortunately it is rather dubious whether they yield any data that are of interest to the engineer. Very fewer controls of tools are grasped and squeesed studies showed very little overall correlation between grip strength and other measures of bodily strength (Laubach, Kromer, and Thordsen 1972), but hammer-using work which is practically progressed in construction site are mainly influenced with grip strength. According to the investigation on work measurement, it is shown that 77% of form worker are using hammer to be related to grip strength. In this study, it is particularly noticed that wearing safety gloves in construction site is required for workers safety but 20% difference between grip strength with safety gloves and without ones are commonly neglected in the site(Fig. 1). Nevertheless, safety operation with consideration of the above 20% difference is not considered in the construction site. Factors of age, kinds of work, working time, with or without safety gloves are in vestigated '||'&'||' collected at the sites for this study. Test, not at each working hour but at 14 : 00 when the almost all of the workers think the most tired, resulting from the questionaires, also when it is shown on the research report has been performed and compared for main kinds of works : form '||'&'||' re-bar work. Tests were performed with both left SE rightand of the workers simultaneously in construction site using Rand Dynamometer(Model 78010, Lafayette Instrument Co., Indiana, U.S.A) by reading grip strength on the gauge while they are pulling, and then by interviewing on their ages, works, experiences and etc., directly. The above tests have been performed for the dates of 15th march-26th May '95 with consideration of site condition. And even if various factors of ambient temperature on the testing date, working condition, individual worker's habit and worker's condition of the previous ate are concerned with the study. Those are considered as constants in this study. Samples are formwork 53, rebar 62, electrician 5, plumber 4, welding 1 from D construction Co., Ltd, ; formwork 12, re-bar 5, electrician 2, from S construction Co., Ltd, , formwork 78, re-bar 18, plumber 31, electrician 13, labor 48, plumber 31, plasterer 15, concrete placer 6, water proof worker 3, maisony 5 from B construction Co., Ltd. As In the previously mentioned, main aspect to be investigated in this study will be from '||'&'||' re-bar work because grip strength will be directly applied to these two kinds of works ; form '||'&'||' re-bar work, eventhough there are total 405 samples taken. It is thought that a frequency of accident occurrence will be mainly two work postures "looking up '||'&'||' looking down" to be mainly sorted, but this factor is not clarified in this study because It will be needed a lot of work more. Tests has been done at possible large scale of horizontally work-extended sites within one hour in order to prevent or decrease errors '||'&'||' discrepancies from time lag of the test. Additionally, the statistical package computer program SPSS PC＋has been used for the study.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 2008

This study was performed to identify association between nutritional status and health risks of the elderly. This was a cross-sectional study involving low income elderly women in Gwangju, Korea (${\geq}$65y, n = 92). Socio-demographics, life style characteristics, health conditions, dietary intakes based on 24h-recall method, anthropometric measures, and clinical biochemistry parameters were examined. Anthropometric and clinical parameters included wt, ht, waist, hip, body protein, body fat, abdominal fat, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein, albumin, hemoglobin, hematocrit, fasting blood glucose, ferritin, IL-2, IL-6, TNF-${\alpha}$, CRP, TAS, TBARS, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure. The subjects were divided into three groups based on age (65-74y, 75-84y, 85y${\leq}$) and were divided into two groups according to the sum of the Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) checklist score (adequate nutritional status, NSI score ${\leq}$3; at risk of malnutrition, NSI score >3). Mean and frequency of variables were estimated. Analysis of Variance, Tukey test, Chi-square test, and Multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Mean BMI and body fat were 25.1 $kg/m^2$ and 40.0%, respectively. However, for over 80% of subjects, the intakes of energy, fiber, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, Ca, K, and Zn were less than the Korean DRI (EAR or AI). The subjects who had lower NSI score tended to have better health status, eat meals frequently, have less depression, and exercise regularly. The subjects who had higher NSI score tended to have tooth problems, to eat alone most of time, and to be physically unable to cook or feed. Serum IL-6 and TNF-${\alpha}$ were significantly related with nutritional status which suggested higher tendency of inflammatory response. Serum IL-2, TAS, and glucose were significantly correlated with body fat (%) or abdominal fat (%). These results suggest that improving the nutritional status, increasing regular exercise, maintaining normal weight are beneficial to health care of low income elderly women.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.147-155
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• 2008

Medical nutrition therapy (MNT) is considered a keystone of medical treatment of chronic diseases. However, only few studies have evaluated medical and economical outcome of MNT. The study was performed on the patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus to evaluate the effect of clinical and cost-effective outcomes of MNT. Subjects from two general hospitals were randomly assigned to two different groups; One receiving basic nutritional education (BE) (n = 35), and the other receiving intensive nutritional education (IE) (n = 32) for a 6-month clinical trial. The group which received BE had a single visit with a dietitian, while the other group which received IE had an initial visit with a dietitian addition to two visits during the first 4 weeks of the study periods. Anthropometric parameters, blood components, and dietary intake were measures at the beginning of study period and after 6 month. Cost-effective analysis included direct labor costs, educational materials and medication cost difference during 6 months. After 6 month, subjects from IE group showed significant reduction of body weight (p <0.05) and systolic blood pressure (p <0.05), whereas BE group did not show any significant changes. Result from biochemical indices showed glycated hemoglobin concentration was significantly reduced by 0.7% (p <0.05) only in the IE group. The ratio of energy intake to prescribed energy intake decreased significantly in both groups (p <0.05). Mean time taken for a dietitian to educate the subject was 67.9 ${\pm}$ 9.3 min/person for BE group, while 96.4 ${\pm}$ 12.2 min/person for IE group. Mean number of educational materials was 1.9 ${\pm}$ 0.7/person for BE group and 2.5 ${\pm}$ 0.7/person for IE group. Change in glycated hemoglobin level along the 6 month period of study can be achieved with an investment of \88,510/% by implementing BE and \53,691/% by implementing IE. Considering the net cost-effect of blood glucose control and HbA Ic, IE which provides MNT by dietitian had a cost efficiency advantage than that of BE. According to this study, MNT provided by dietitian had a significant improvements in medical and clinical outcomes compared to that of BE intervention. Therefore, MNT protocol should be performed by systemic intensive nutrition care by dietitian in clinical setting to achieve good therapeutic results of DM with lower cost.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.1 s.56
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• pp.45-59
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• 1997

It has been known that there is a tracking phenomenon in the level of serum lipids. However, no study has been performed to examine the change and tracking of serum lipids in Korean adolescents. The purpose of this study is to examine the changes of serum lipids in Korean adolescents from 12 to 16 years of age, and to examine whether or not there is a tracking phenomenon in serum lipids level during the period. In 1992 serum lipids(total cholesterol(TC), triglyceride(TG), LDL cholesterol(LDL-C), HDL cholesterol(HDL-C)) were measured in 318 males, 365 females who were 12 years of age in Kangwha county, Korea. These participants have been followed up to 1996 and serum lipids level were examined in 1994 and 1996. Among the participants 162 males and 147 females completed all three examinations in fasting state. To examine the effect of eliminating adolescents with incomplete data, we compared serum lipids, blood pressure and anthropometric measures at baseline between adolescents with complete follow-up and adolescents who were withdrawn. To examine the change of serum lipids we compared mean values of serum lipids according to age in males and females. Repeated analysis of variance was used to test the change according to age. We used three methods to examine the existence of tracking. First, we analyzed the trends in serum lipids over 4-year period within quartile groups formed on the basis of the first-year serum lipids level to see whether or not the relative ranking of the mean serum lipids among the quartile groups remained in the same group for 4-year period. Second, we quantified the degree of tracking by calculating Spearman's rank correlation coefficient between every tests. Third, the persistence extreme quartile method was used. This method divides the population into quartile groups according to the initial level of blood lipids and then calculates the percent of the subjects who stayed in the same group at follow-up measurement. The decreases in levels were noted during 4 years for TC, LDL-C, primarily for boys. The level of HDL-C decreased between baseline and first follow-up for both sexes. Tracking, as measured by both correlation coefficients and persistence extreme quartiles, was evident for all of the lipids. The correlation coefficients of TC between baseline and 4 years later in boys and girls were 0.55 and 0.68, respectively. And the corresponding values for HDL-C were 0.58 and 0.69. More than 50% of adolescents who belonged to the highest quartile group in TC, HDL-C and LDL-C at the baseline were remained at the same group at the examination performed 2 years later for both sexes. The probabilities of remaining at the same group were more than 35% when examined 4 years later. The tracking phenomenon of TG was less evident compared with the other lipids. Percents of girls who stayed at the same group 2 years later and 4 years later were 42.9% and 25.7%, respectively. It was evident that serum lipid levels tracked in Korean adolescents. Researches with longer follow-up would be needed in the future to investigate the long-term change of lipids from adolescents to adults.