• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.153-202
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• 2014

Aside from political leaders' popularity rates and the stock exchange index of business firms, ordinary people are highly interested in aspects of daily life, such as housing, income, health, family, food, human relations and work. Cross-national opinion polls on daily-life satisfaction were carried out in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macao, the Philippines, India, Myanmar, Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Pakistan in the fall of 2013 and winter 2014. The percent difference index (PDI) is formulated as the sum of two positive responses (satisfied and somewhat satisfied) minus the sum of two negative responses (dissatisfied and somewhat dissatisfied). Percent difference indices are given according to society and daily-life aspects. For our analysis to go beneath national average and to go beyond national borders, two lines of analysis are carried out. First, the distance between the level of satisfaction of the top and bottom quartiles is given for each society and according to each of the daily-life aspects. Second, the regional sum of satisfaction of the top quartiles and bottom quartiles are shown crossed by daily-life aspects. In this article we confine ourselves to preliminary comparative description and analysis. More solid and deep comparisons will be carried out by local polling leaders of 12 Asian societies in the succeeding issue of the Asian Journal of Public Opinion Research. Nevertheless, two key threads stand out from this preliminary comparisons. First, social relations (family and human relations) stand out as most satisfied aspects of life in most of twelve societies. Second, the need to go beneath national averages and beyond national borders in analyzing cross-national surveys is confirmed. The comparability and validity of cross-national surveys with varying sampling method and survey mode are briefly discussed toward the end of the article.

• Journal of the Korean Statistical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.63-76
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• 2001

An adaptive estimation and testing method is proposed for comparing dispersions among several ordered groups. Based upon the large sampling theory for nonparametric quartile estimators, we derive the order restricted estimators and construct a simple test statistic. This test statistic has a mixture of several chi-square distributions as its asymptotic null distribution. The proposed test is illustratively applied to survival time data for the patients with carcinoma of the oropharynx.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2010

Objectives: Prehypertension is associated with a higher risk of developing hypertension compared with normotension. Yet, factors predicting the development of hypertension among prehypertensive people are ill-understood. This prospective cohort study was performed to examine if serum gamma-glutamyltrasferase (GGT) within a normal range can predict the future risk of hypertension among prehypertensive adults. Methods: Study subjects were 293 prehypertensive persons >30-years-of-age who participated in a community-based health survey in 2003 and who were followed up in 2008. Sex-specific quartiles of baseline serum GGT were used to examine association with 5-year hypertension incidence. Results: Baseline serum GGT within normal range predicted the risk of developing hypertension for 5 years only in prehypertensive women. Adjusted relative risks were 1.0, 3.7, 3.6, and 6.0 according to quartiles of baseline serum GGT (P for trend <0.01). This pattern was similarly observed in non-drinkers. However, serum GGT was not associated with incident hypertension in men. Different from serum GGT, baseline serum alanine aminotransferase, another well-known liver enzyme, did not predict the risk of incident hypertension in both genders. Conclusions: Even though baseline serum GGT within normal range strongly predicted the future risk of hypertension, it was observed only in women, Although underlying mechanisms of this association are currently unclear, serum GGT can be used to select a high risk group of hypertension in prehypertensive women.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.325-329
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• 2005

Objectives : This study was performed to assess the association between high sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hsCRP) and hypertension. Methods : We evaluated the relationship between hsCRP with hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors, using a cross-sectional survey of 202 people over the age of 50, living in a rural area. A logistic regression analysis was used to study the association between hsCRP and hypertension. The hsCRP levels were divided in quartiles, and the odds ratios (OR), with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), calculated, using the lowest quartile as a reference. Results : The subjects consisted of 37.1% men and 62.9% women, with a mean (SD) hsCRP level of $1.9({\pm}3.0mg/{\ell})$ . The overall prevalence of hypertension was 61.4%. The prevalence of hypertension according to the hsCRP quartile was not statistically significant. After adjustment for confounding variables, the prevalence of hypertension according to the subjects in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th hsCRP quartiles were 1.418 (95% CI=0.554-3.628), 1.124 (95% CI=0.392-3.214) and 0.892 (95% CI=0.312-2.547) times higher, respectively, compared to those in the 1st quartile. Conclusions : The results showed that the level of hsCRP was not a risk factor for hypertension among adults aged over 50 years, living in a rural area. A further study should be performed to find the association between hsCRP and hypertension.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.121-127
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• 2010

Little data exists on metabolic syndrome (MetS) related with intake, especially for the South Korean. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for nutritional assessment in the population with MetS in South Korea. Randomly selected female participants, mean age 21.9 years (n = 38) were invited to answer the FFQ twice (FFQ1 and FFQ2) over a nine-month interval and to complete twelve-day diet records (DR) during the months between in South Korea. The correlation coefficients for nutrient intake between FFQ1 and FFQ2 varied from 0.253 (niacin) to 0.573 (cholesterol), and the energy intake-adjusted correlation coefficients ranged from 0.187 for protein to 0.662 for iron. The energy intake-adjusted and de-attenuated correlation coefficients for comparison of FFQ1 and the DRs ranged between 0.277 (vitamin $B_1$) and 0.768 (fiber), and between 0.229 (zinc) and 0.859 (fat) for comparison of DRs with FFQ2. The percentages of study subjects classified into the same quartiles in both the DRs and FFQ1 ranged from 15.8% (vitamin $B_6$) to 47.4% (calcium), and for the same quartiles in DRs and FFQ2 from 13.2% (vitamin $B_1$) to 44.7% (potassium). The FFQ has reasonably good validity and reproducibility. Further research is needed for an assessment of reproducibility and validation of present FFQ in the subjects with MetS.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.349-365
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• 1997

Using data obtained from 1, 473 adults aged 18-68 yrs, residing in large cities and by use of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire, we assessed the relative importance of various foods as indicators of both the amount and the variability of selected nutrient intake to develop a simple food frequency questionnaire. Since Cronba- ch's alpha value of the questionnaire including 78 food items was 0.76, the reliability of this questionnaire was acceptable. A large fraction of the variability of nutrient intake in this population could be explained by the small number of food items. The estimation of dietary nutrient intake such as total calories or protein content, which are derived from almost all foods, will require more food items with nutrients such as calcium or vitamin A, which are concentrated in a few food items. A dietary history ascertaining the intake of as few as 5-19 food items mighted be all needed in order to determent the associa- tion between disease outcome and the intake of a single nutrient. There was certainly a high level of agreement with nutrient intake by the sbujects who were cross-classified by quartiles of nutrient indices based on all the food items(78) and by quartiles of nutrient indices based on food items selected by stepwise multiple regression for selected nutrients. The data provided further evidence that useful information on dietary intake over an extended period can be obtained by a simple and relatively inexpensive food frequency questionnaire.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10501-10504
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• 2015

Background: Colon cancer is the second most common cancer in developed countries. Activated platelets play a key role in inflammation and atherothrombosis, with mean platelet volume (MPV) is an early marker of platelet activation. The aim of the study was to clarify the relevance of MPV in patients with colon cancer. Materials and Methods: We measured MPV levels in 128 patients with colon cancer before and after surgery, and 128 controls matched for age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and smoking status. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for colon cancer were calculated using multivariate logistic regression analyses across MPV quartiles. Results: Patients with colon cancer had higher MPV compared with controls. Surgical tumor resection resulted in a significant decrease in MPV levels (11.4 fL vs 10.7 fL; p<0.001). A positive correlation between MPV and tumor-nodule-metastases (TNM) stage was found. Furthermore, after adjusting for other risk factors, the ORs (95%CIs) for colon cancer according to MPV quartiles were 1.000, 2.238 (1.014-4.943), 3.410 (1.528-7.613), and 5.379 (2.372-12.198), respectively. Conclusions: The findings show that patients with colon cancer have higher MPV levels compared with controls, and these are reduced after surgery. In addition, MPV was found to be independently associated with the presence of colon cancer. Further studies are warranted to assess the utility of MPV as a novel diagnostic screening tool for colon cancer.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.445-452
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• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is a strong independent predictor of future cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. We evaluated the relationship between hsCRP and dietary intake in apparently healthy young women living in southern Vietnam. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Serum hsCRP was measured and dietary intake data were obtained using the 1-day 24-hour recall method in women (n = 956; mean age, $25.0{\pm}5.7$ years) who participated in the International Collaboration Study for the Construction of Asian Cohort of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES) in 2011. RESULTS: Women in the high risk group (> 3 mg/L) consumed fewer fruits and vegetables, total plant food, potassium, and folate than those in the low risk group (< 1 mg/L). A multiple regression analysis after adjusting for covariates revealed a significant negative association between hsCRP and fruit and vegetable consumption. A logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio (OR) of having a high hsCRP level in women with the highest quartiles of consumption of fruits and vegetables [OR, 0.391; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.190-0.807], potassium [OR, 0.425; 95% CI, 0.192-0.939] and folate [OR, 0.490; 95% CI, 0.249-0.964] were significantly lower than those in the lowest quartiles. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that, in young Vietnamese women, an increased consumption of fruit and vegetables might be beneficial for serum hsCRP, a risk factor for future CVD events.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.737-751
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to assess sodium and potassium intakes and urinary excretion of adults in Busan and to evaluate the relationship of urinary sodium/potassium excretion (UNa/UK) to the status of anthropometric, blood pressure, urine analysis, and nutrient intake of subjects. Nutrient intake by 24-h recall, 24-h UNa/UK were measured with 87 adults aged 20-59 yrs (42 men and 45 women). The mean intakes of sodium and potassium were 3915.4 mg and 3093.9 mg, respectively. The mean 24-h UNa/UK was 3457.0/1680.4 mg. UNa showed significant positive correlations with sodium intake (p < 0.001, p < 0.001), sodium/potassium ratio (p < 0.001, p < 0.01), UK (p < 0.001, p < 0.001), and UNa/UK ratio (p < 0.05, p < 0.01) in men and women and with age, BMI, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure in women (p < 0.05, p < 0.05, p < 0.05, p < 0.05). The UK showed significant positive correlations sodium intake (p < 0.001, p < 0.001), UNa (p < 0.001, p < 0.001) in men and women and with sodium density in men (p < 0.001) and with age, intakes of protein and potassium in women (p < 0.01, p < 0.05, p < 0.05). Mean SBP was lowest in the second quartile and highest in the fourth quartile of UNa. Mean UNa in the second, third, and fourth quartiles were 2821.1 mg, 3621.3 mg, and 5456.4 mg, respectively. Mean SBP in the second, third, and fourth quartiles were 115.8 mmHg, 120.7 mmHg, and 125.9 mmHg, respectively. Based on the results, UNa was related to sodium intake, UK, and SBP. We conclude that nutritional education for the reduction of high sodium intake is needed in the general population to prevent and control adverse blood pressure levels.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.358-368
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to compare the validity of obesity indices among the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and body fat percentage (BF%), and to determine which is the most useful index to predict the risk of chronic diseases of elderly people. This study was conducted as a cross-sectional study at welfare centers in Seoul. The total number of subjects was 261 (68 men and 193 women) with age ${\geq}60$ years. The distribution of obesity using 3 obesity indices in the subjects with hypertension, diabetes, or arthritis was BF%>WC>BMI in elderly men and WC>BF%>BMI in elderly women. In elderly women, odds ratios (ORs) for hypertension in BMI and WC quartiles were significantly increased in quartile 2 and 3 (p<0.05). The ORs for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and arthritis in BF% quartiles were significantly increased in quartile 3 and 4 (p<0.05). The BF% was sensitive obesity index for predicting the occurrence of chronic disease in men, and the WC was sensitive index in women. Our results suggested maintaining BMI less than $23.5kg/m^2$, WC less than 82 cm, and BF less than 35% in order to prevent chronic diseases in elderly women.