• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제38권3호
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• pp.175-183
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• 2012

Objectives: Controversy regarding the relationship between exposure to Agent Orange and disease has progressed for more than four decades, both at home and abroad. Recently, the allegation by US veteran Steve House of the burial of Agent Orange at the US Army base Camp Carroll located in Waegwan-eup, Korea, has emerged. We reviewed published articles and reports related to Agent Orange. Methods: Articles and reports were collected online using the keywords 'agent orange' and 'health' and then reviewed. Results: A number of epidemiologic studies have reported disease outcomes due to exposure to Agent Orange, while others were unable to establish a link to the injuries of veterans of the Vietnam War. This can be explained by the fact that accurate exposure assessment should be carried out since exposure misclassification in epidemiologic studies can affect estimates of risk. In the case of the burial of Agent Orange at Camp Carroll, an exposure pathway could be through underground water supplies, which differs from the cases of Vietnam and Seveso in Italy. Conclusion: There still remains a dispute among academics regarding the relationship between exposure to Agent Orange and disease, although Agent Orange is a highly toxic chemical. This dispute indicates that accurate exposure pathway and exposure assessment is needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제48권2호
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• pp.105-110
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• 2015

Objectives: Recently, low systolic blood pressure (SBP) was found to be associated with an increased risk of death from vascular diseases in a rural elderly population in Korea. However, evidence on the association between low SBP and vascular diseases is scarce. The aim of this study was to prospectively examine the association between low SBP and mortality from all causes and vascular diseases in older middle-aged Korean men. Methods: From 2004 to 2010, 94 085 Korean Vietnam War veterans were followed-up for deaths. The adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) were calculated using the Cox proportional hazard model. A stratified analysis was conducted by age at enrollment. SBP was self-reported by a postal survey in 2004. Results: Among the participants aged 60 and older, the lowest SBP (<90 mmHg) category had an elevated aHR for mortality from all causes (aHR, 1.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2 to 3.1) and vascular diseases (International Classification of Disease, 10th revision, I00-I99; aHR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.2 to 8.4) compared to those with an SBP of 100 to 119 mmHg. Those with an SBP below 80 mmHg (aHR, 4.5; 95% CI, 1.1 to 18.8) and those with an SBP of 80 to 89 mmHg (aHR, 3.1; 95% CI, 0.9 to 10.2) also had an increased risk of vascular mortality, compared to those with an SBP of 90 to 119 mmHg. This association was sustained when excluding the first two years of follow-up or preexisting vascular diseases. In men younger than 60 years, the association of low SBP was weaker than that in those aged 60 years or older. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that low SBP (<90 mmHg) may increase vascular mortality in Korean men aged 60 years or older.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.80-88
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• 2001

Objectives : In an epidemiologic study on the health impact of Agent Orange exposure, the valid estimation of exposure level is the most important step. Based on recent studies, we examined the correlation between exposure levels categorized by personal exposure estimates and serum 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD, Dioxin), exploring the possibility of utilizing the exposure level as a surrogate for the estimate of exposure to agent orange. Methods : During the study period (Jan 1996-Feb 1996), blood specimens of 745 subjects taken randomly among 1,329 persons and kept frozen, were analyzed for 2,3,7,8-TCDO and six other dioxin congeners. The serum dioxin and congeners were measured in 1998 by CDC, adjusted for serum lipids. We categorized the total exposure scores into five groups based on Agent Orange exposure data collected by interview and military records. Pearson and Spearman's correlation coefficients & multiple regression analysis were used to identify the relationship of the exposure level categorized with serum concentration of 2,3,7,8-TCDD, and six other dioxin congeners. Results : Dioxin and the other congeners, except 1,2,4,6,7,8-HpCDD, showed significant correlations to exposure categories (p<0.005): 2,3,7,8-TCDD and OCDD showed positive correlations, whereas the other congeners did negative. The values of 2,3,7,8-TCDD differed according to exposure category and proportionally increased from the low exposure group to the high, a dose-response relationship, even after other possible confounding variables were adjusted for. In multiple regression analysis, age$(\beta=0.033)$, dioxin$(\beta=0.433)$, 1,2,3,7,8-PeCDD$(\beta=-0.998)$, 1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDD$(\beta=-0.773)$, 1,2,3,6,7,8-HxCDD$(\beta=0.255)$, 1,2,3,7,8,9-HxCDD$(\beta=-3.468)$, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD$(\beta=0.109)$ we re found to be significantly related to the total exposure score(p<0.005). Conclusion : This study demonstrated that the use of such categorizations as a surrogate measure of agent orange exposure in identifying exposure degrees in a health impact study is valid.

• 한국조경학회지
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• 제32권5호
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• pp.129-138
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• 2004

Cherishing the dead is based in sadness. Designing a memorial space therefore has an inherent challenge to evoke the feeling that is so personal and varied by providing a physical space. The tendency of memorials, especially in the US after the mid 20th century, has been to emphasis each dead individual, as seen at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C., the Oklahoma City National Memorial in Oklahoma City, and so forth. In the process of designing the memorial of the Taiwanese Chi-chi earth-quake, Cheng Kim Park Robidoux tried to set up a series of spaces through which not only the relatives of the dead but also unrelated visitors could have their own spatial experiences, private rituals and public events, so that they can finally build up a collective memory. Sky-Well consists of a large bamboo forest enclosing a void. Without a particular entrance and guiding system, visitors stroll and get lost in the bamboo forest before they find the central void. The horror they experienced during the earthquake is melted down into the motion and phenomenology of the bamboo forest whereas the central void is reinterpreted as an empty mind, where people find solace from the sky. Details, such as the bamboo wall to place commemorative flowers and lotus blossom paving, are echoing the theme of rebirth.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제37권5호
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• pp.342-347
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• 2011

Healthy worker effect (HWE) refers to the consistent tendency for actively employed individuals to have a more favorable mortality experience than the population at large. Although HWE has been well known since the 1970s, only a few studies in occupational epidemiology have attempted to fully define and evaluate HWE. HWE can be separated into effects on the initial hiring into the workforce (healthy worker hire effect) and those on continuing employment (healthy worker survival effect). In this review, we summarize the methods for minimizingor adjusting for the healthy worker effect available in occupational epidemiology. It is noteworthy that healthy worker survival effect appears complicated, considering that employment status plays simultaneous roles as a counfounding variable and intermediate variable, whereas healthy worker hire effect may be adjusted by incorporating health status at baseline into the statistical model. In addition, two retrospective cohort studies for workers in the semiconductor industry and Vietnam veterans in Korea, respectively, were introduced, and their results were explained in terms of healthy worker effect.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.275-282
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• 1992

Maxillofacial war injures is specific representative of severe hard and soft tissue defect. This type of injuries were different from the trauma because it may be fatal. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the injury type base on the retrograde medical record in the 104 patients from Feb. 1991 to Aug. 1992 in Korea Veterans Hospital. The obtained results were as follows. 1. Among 104 cases, 51 cases(49.0%) were classified as mandibular defects only, and 53 cases (51.0%) were classified as maxillary with mandibular defect (combined). 2. The etiologic factors of injury were gunshot, artillery and grenade or shell: 33 cases, 14cases, and 10 cases respectively in Korea War, 19 cases, 5 cases, and 8 cases respectively in Vietnam War. 3. In 57 cases of mandibular partial defect, the angle area showed the highest frequencies, 18 cases(31.6%). 4. In 42 cases of mandibular segmental defect, the area between the 1st molar and the ascending ramus showed the highest frequencies. 17 cases(40.4%), and almost all cases were unilateral defect (40 cases, 95.0%) 5. Reconstruction method performed for segmental mandibular defect were wire or plate(15 cases, 35.7%) and soft tissue closure only(12 cases, 28.7%), respectively.