• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 2017

Purpose: Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI), a highly prevalent behavior in adolescents, refers to the direct destruction of one's body tissue without suicidal intent. To date, the prevalence of adolescent self-injury in South Korea and its associated factors remain unknown. This study aims to determine the prevalence of self-injury in Korean adolescents as well as its associated factors. Methods: We assessed 717 middle school students by means of an anonymous self-report survey. Information about demographic characteristics, lifestyle, anxiety and depression, self-esteem, and parenting behavior was obtained. Data were analyzed using $x^2$ test, t-test and multiple logistic regression. Results: NSSI was reported by 8.8% of respondents. Univariate analyses showed associations of exposure to alcohol use, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and parenting methods with self-injury. In multiple analyses, alcohol use, anxiety, and parental abuse were associated with lifetime self-injury. Conclusion: The rate of NSSI in the South Korea was found to be lower than those of other countries. As our study suggests that alcohol use, anxiety, and parental abuse are associated with lifetime self-injury, health care providers at school should take these factors into account when developing prevention and intervention programs for adolescents.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.25-36
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• 1996

The purposes of the present study were: (1) to investigate aeromedical dissorders prevalent among ROK air force pilots and (2) to evaluate their detrimental effects on flight performance. The study examined the eight flight-induced disorders primarily responsible for permanent grounding and flying restrictions. According to the survey of 600 randomly selected pilots, 80.2% of the respondents have experienced low back pain, which was 20% higher than the lifetime prevalence in Swedish male workers. Bradyacusia ranked second (56.0%) resulting from continuous exposure to high aircraft noise. The cardiovascular disorders, the most common cause for permanent grounding of Canadian forces pilots, were found in 16.0% of the Korean pilots. Due to the high prevalence of the disorders, in 1993 the Korean pilots received medical treatments 10 times as many as factory workdes. Compared to the flight performance of Israeli and British pilots in wars, the flight performance of the Korean pilots was found to be inferior. Such poor performance can be attributable to the high incidence rates of disorders. Statistical analyses revealed that the aeromedical disorders were related to personal variables such as age, flight career- related factors, and fatigue. Cigarette smoking and drinking habit contributed to worsening back pain, barotitis media, and pulmonary disorders. More comprehensive research was recommended to identify health hazards, combined with intervention to minimize disorders that could lead to early termination of flight careers or excessive loss of flight time. This study further suggests that aeromedical institutions in Korean air force should be fostered more professionally and financially.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1633-1637
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• 2012

Introduction: The incidence of oral premalignant and malignant lesions is on the rise due to an increased number of people taking in tobacco and alcohol related habits. Material and Methods: 1028 patients with tobacco, alcohol and areca nut habits attending our Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology formed the study sample. An interviewer based questionnaire was used to record the habit details. All the patients were then examined clinically for the presence of lesions. Chi square and Fisher exact tests were used to assess the statistical significance of the study parameters. Results: Males had a higher prevalence and comprised 87.9% of the sample. The commonest habit in this study sample was smoking (39.2%) followed by smokeless tobacco use (28.1%). Out of the 1028 patients with habits 40% had no clinically detectable changes in their mucosa. Of the mucosal changes leukoplakia (14%) was the commonest. Conclusions: This study provided information about the habit trends in the patients visiting this institution. The study may serve as a useful tool in educating the patients about the deleterious effects of oral tobacco, alcohol and betel exposure.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.79-83
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• 2001

Dirofilaria immitis parasitizes mainly in the pulmonary arteries and in the heart of dogs and cats. The parasite is also of public health importance, because it often elicits nodules in the pulmonary parenchyma and in the subcutaneous tissues, or sometimes parasitize itself in the eyes of human. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of heartworm infection among 165 dogs on three breeding farms in the vicinity of Seoul, Korea. Of 165 dogs, 83 dogs (50.3%) were infected with the parasite, as revealed by an antigen-detecting test using the peripheral blood. Of these, 23 dogs (20.2%) contained microfilaria using the peripheral blood, which are potential source of transmission to uninfected animals and to humans in the endemic area. None of infected dogs showed any clinical signs associated with the disease. Since the three farms were located in the vicinity of Seoul, the unexpectedly high infection rate could imply that the possibility of exposure of both animals and humans living in the metropolitan Seoul area to the parasite is higher than in the other area of Korea.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 1994

The rate of 58 neonatal calves in infection of Theileria sergenti was investigated in random samples on the farms located in Kyunggi, Chonbuk districts of Korea. 1. The criteria used in veryfying infection with T. sergenti included the detection of parasites by giemsa stain and acridine orange stain in the blood smear slides. 2. Further evidence of current or previous exposure to T. sergenti was based on demonstration of T. sergenti specific antibody and antigen by the western immunoblot and the directed immunofluorescent antibody test in the peripherial blood of the calves. 3. The prevalence rates were 35%, 50% in Kyunggi, Chonbuk provinces respectively and the overall prevalence in all the farms was 43.2％ by means of acridine orange stain. 4. The parasites that were observed in the peripherial blood of calves was showen surely by the western immunoblot to the characteristic 34KD antigen among the proteins of T. sergenti (Korean isolate). 5. And the antigen of the neonatal calves reacted at the very highest titer(1 : 2, 560) 6. These data highlight the significances of T. sergenti in the neonatal calf disease in Korea.

• Journal of Korea Association of Health Promotion
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.137-148
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• 2004

Objective : To identify the risk factors for postmenopausal osteoporosis in Korea Materials and methods : Bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine and femoral neck was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry in 808 apparently normal postmenopausal Korean women. Questions about life style, demographic parameters, medical history and social habits etc. were asked on these women; 2ll women with normal bone mineral density, and 597 women with osteopenia or osteoporosis. Results 'Age of >50 years, low body mass index (BMI; <18.5 kg/m2), long duration of menopause(>10 years), and previous history of fracture were associated with increased prevalence of osteopenia or osteoporosis. Women without the outside activity also showed a higher frequency of low bone mass, Risk for osteopenia or osteoporosis was low in women with high BMI (>23 kg/m2) and women with job. The prevalence of low bone mass appeared to be independent of the following parameters: socioeconomic status, familial history, smoking, drinking, exercise, previous use of oral contraceptive, coffee or milk consumption, and degree of sunlight exposure. Conclusion 'Age, BMI, duration of menopause, previous history of fracture and degree of outside activity are the risk factors for postmenopausal osteoporosis in Korea.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.93-107
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• 2000

The excessive exposure to powered hand tools can cause damage to nerves, impair blood circulation, and musculoskeletal damage. The symptoms associated with hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) include numbness, tingling, pain and subsequent reduced dexterity of the hands. This study was performed to report the prevalence of the HAVS and evaluate its related factors among the workers using powered hand tools. Total 282 workers in 11 plants of Kyungki and Inchon areas were examined. A standard symptom questionnaire was developed and administered to collect information on personal characteristics, work history, operating conditions, tool characteristics, and subjective symptoms of HAVS. Mean values (standard deviations) of the age, the duration of powered hand tools used, and the daily hours using powered hand tools were 38.3(8.9) years, 79.3(62.2) months and 6.0(2.6) hours, respectively. 132 workers(46.8%) showed vibration-induced white finger symptoms according to the Taylor-Pelmear classification, and 30 workers(10.6%) were interfered with the work. The results of a multiple logistic regression analysis controlling for age and daily working hours showed that smoking, work duration, weight of tools, and continuous work over 2 hours were significantly associated with the symptom of HAVS.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.473-478
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• 2018

Background: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is an acquired disease which etiology remains unknown. It is characterized by the development of sensitivity to certain chemical products. Most of the hypotheses formulated to explain the syndrome associate it to a previous exposition to some kind of volatile chemical. University researchers in chemical laboratories suffer a phenomenon of multi-exposition to chemical agents at low concentration during long periods of time although in an irregular form. Many of these chemical agents have similar properties to those suspicious of causing MCS. This article studies the prevalence of MCS in laboratory researchers. Methods: The study group is university researchers in chemical laboratories. The control group was obtained from administrative personnel who work in the same universities and therefore, are not exposed to chemical products from the laboratories, but have the same exposition to the rest of environmental polluting agents from the area and from the buildings of the university. In this study, it is used the Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (QEESI) (sensitivity of 92%/specificity of 95%). Results: The results showed that the prevalence of MCS for the university researchers is not related to exposition by inhalation to multiple chemical agents, at low concentration. Conclusions: The results disagree with one of the main etiological hypotheses of MCS, which is based on the existence of hypersensitive people, who presents a response after prolonged expositions to very low concentrations during a long period of time.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of dizziness in adults and to identify factors associated with dizziness. Methods: This cross-sectional study used secondary data from the Eighth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants included 10,265 older adults aged≥40 years. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the chi-squared test, and multinomial logistic regression with the SPSS/WIN 27.0 program. Results: The prevalence of dizziness was 26.2%, with 20.9% reporting episodic dizziness and 5.3% reporting chronic dizziness. Compared to that noted in the control group participants without dizziness, the risk of episodic or chronic dizziness was higher in women and in participants with older age, low education level, low income level, high perceived stress level, depression, tinnitus, and occupational noise exposure. Moreover, the risk of chronic dizziness was higher among those with a body mass index of <25 kg/m², stroke, cardiovascular disease, or severe hearing loss. Conclusion: The study underscores the need to comprehensively identify risk factors associated with dizziness and to develop interventions to prevent and manage the occurrence and chronicity of dizziness in the general population.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2010

Objectives: We investigated the clustering of selected lifestyle factors (cigarette smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, lack of physical exercise) and identified the population characteristics associated with increasing lifestyle risks. Methods: Data on lifestyle risk factors, sociodemographic characteristics, and history of chronic diseases were obtained from 7,694 individuals ${\geq}20$ years of age who participated in the 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Clustering of lifestyle risks involved the observed prevalence of multiple risks and those expected from marginal exposure prevalence of the three selected risk factors. Prevalence odds ratio was adopted as a measurement of clustering. Multiple correspondence analysis, Kendall tau correlation, Man-Whitney analysis, and ordinal logistic regression analysis were conducted to identify variables increasing lifestyle risks. Results: In both men and women, increased lifestyle risks were associated with clustering of: (1) cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, and (2) smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and lack of physical exercise. Patterns of clustering for physical exercise were different from those for cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. The increased unhealthy clustering was found among men 20-64 years of age with mild or moderate stress, and among women 35-49 years of age who were never-married, with mild stress, and increased body mass index (>$30\;kg/m^2$). Conclusions: Addressing a lack of physical exercise considering individual characteristics including gender, age, employment activity, and stress levels should be a focus of health promotion efforts.