• Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.319-327
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• 2023

Purpose: Patients with hematological malignancies are at an increased risk of severe infection with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, developing an adequate immune response after vaccination is difficult, especially in patients with lymphoid neoplasms. Since the long-term effects of the BNT162b2 vaccine are unclear, the humoral immune response 5 months after the two vaccinations in patients with hematological disorders was analyzed. Materials and Methods: Samples were collected from 96 patients vaccinated twice with BNT162b2 and treated with at least one line of an antitumor or immunosuppressive drug in our hospital from November 2021 to February 2022. Serum anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (anti-SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) antibody titers were analyzed. Patients were age- and sex-matched using propensity matching and compared with a healthy control group. Patients with serum anti-SARS-CoV-2 S antibodies were defined as 'responder' if >50 U/mL. The patients had B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL), multiple myeloma, chronic myeloid leukemia, etc. Results: Patients had significantly low antibody levels (median, 55.3 U/mL vs. 809.8 U/mL; p<0.001) and a significantly low response rate (p<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that patients with B-NHL, aged >72 years, were associated with a low response to vaccination. There were no significant differences between patients with chronic myeloid leukemia and healthy controls. Conclusion: Our study shows that patients with hematological disorders are at risk of developing severe COVID-19 infections because of low responsiveness to vaccination. Moreover, the rate of antibody positivity differed between the disease groups. Further studies are warranted to determine an appropriate preventive method for these patients, especially those with B-NHL.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.4968-4979
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Socioeconomic factors on medical information resources when medical consumer choose inpatient or outpatient services. The target population was 12,249 people aged above 19 in Chungcheongbuk-do. The sample was accrued for the period of 3 months in 2008 by face to face interview of direct visiting from systematic sampling method. There was a significant difference in the use of personal informer and public informer by sex(p<0.001). There was a significant difference in the use of experimental and professional informer by living area(p<0.001). In conclusion, the results suggest that there is relationship between medical information resource and socioeconomic factors of medical consumer.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.264-272
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• 2022

Purpose: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly disrupted cancer screening services worldwide. We aimed to measure the impact of COVID-19 on gastric cancer screening rates based on age, sex, household income, and residential area. Materials and Methods: We analyzed data from the Korean National Cancer Screening Survey from 2017 to 2021 for adults aged 40-74 years. We evaluated the gastric cancer screening rate within two years in accordance with the National Cancer Screening Program protocol recommendations and that within the previous year. We compared the trends in the pre- and post-COVID-19 outbreak periods. Results: Before the COVID-19 outbreak, there was little change in the gastric cancer screening rates until 2019. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the screening rate as per recommendation decreased from 70.8% in 2019 to 68.9% in 2020 and that for one year decreased from 32.7% in 2019 to 27.2% in 2020. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued after 2020, both gastric cancer screening rates as per recommendations and for one year rebounded. Although a similar trend was observed for the upper endoscopy screening rate, the upper gastrointestinal series screening rate decreased from 7.8% in 2020 to 3.1% in 2021. During the pandemic, the screening rate decreased among younger adults (40-49), those residing in metropolitan regions, and those with high incomes. Conclusions: Despite a decline in gastric cancer screening rate during the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate surged in 2021. Further studies are needed to estimate the impact of cancer screening delays on future cancer-related mortalities.

• Survey Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.1-26
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• 2011

Mortality for oldest-old age (aged 80 or over) in Korea has never been studied mainly due to lack of data leaving its quality aside. The rapid aging recently occurring in Korea, which no other country has never experienced, must introduce a drastic change in the structure of future population pyramid, requring a careful investigation on mortality level, pattern, and trend for the oldest-old age in Korea. For mortality trend, we need to extend the past mortality data, which has provided only an open-ended age interval 80 or 85 years and over, to age-specific mortality up to 115 years old. A prerequisite for such an extension is constructing a Korean standard mortality by which one can figure out the mortality level and pattern of the oldest-old age. A Korean standard mortality is proposed by applying one relational model and eleven functions from which we select best models for each sex in terms of three measures of fits and three consistencies of mortality. Then we extend the mortality of the open-ended age intervals by providing a method to avoid the longitudinal consistency of mortality.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.554-566
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Urban-rural inequities in health and mortality exist in Korea, a highly centralized developed country. The potential impact of multiple health-related lifestyle behaviors on mortality and difference between urban and rural areas is not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the effect of high-risk health behaviors on all-cause mortality among residents living in urban and rural in Korea. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Cross-sectional analyses were conducted on 8,298 adults aged 40 yrs and older from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013-2015. High-risk behaviors were defined as having poor diet quality, current smoking, high-risk drinking, or insufficient physical activity. Mortality status was linked to the Cause of Death data followed up to December 31, 2019. The associations between all-cause mortality and high-risk behaviors were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, income, and survey year. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were calculated, and effect modification analysis was conducted. Participants were stratified by residential area (urban or rural). RESULTS: During the follow-up (median: 5.4 yrs), 313 deaths occurred. A higher proportion of rural residents than urban residents engaged in multiple high-risk behaviors (28.9% vs. 22.6%; P < 0.0001). As individual factors, a greater risk of mortality was associated with poor diet quality, current smoking, and inadequate physical activity, and these tendencies persisted in rural residents, especially for diet quality. Multiple high-risk behaviors were positively associated with a higher risk of mortality in Koreans living in urban and rural areas. PAF (95% confidence interval) was 18.5% (7.35-27.9%) and 29.8% (16.1-40.2%) in urban and rural residents, respectively. No additive or multiplicative effect of the region was observed. CONCLUSION: The higher prevalence of multiple high-risk lifestyle behaviors in rural residents may explain the higher mortality in rural areas compared to urban areas. Comprehensive public health policies to improve health-related behaviors in rural populations may be needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.9-13
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• 2011

Objectives: Although increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) is caused by stress accelerates collagen degradation, there was no data on the relationship between stress and urinary hydroxyproline (Hyp) and proline (Pro), a good marker of collagen degradation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between depression, anxiety, and stress (DAS) and concentrations of urinary Hyp and Pro. Methods: 97 hospital employees aged 20 to 58 were asked to fill out comprehensive self-administrated questionnaires containing information about their medical history, lifestyle, length of the work year, shit-work and DAS. Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) was applied to evaluate chronic mental disorders. Urine samples were analyzed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with double derivatization for the assay of hydroxyproline and proline. Results: The mean value of Hyp and Pro concenturation in all subjects was $194.1{\pm}113.4\;{\mu}mol/g$ and $568.2{\pm}310.7\;{\mu}mol/g$. DASS values and urinary Pro concentrations were differentiated by sex (female > male, p < 0.05) and type of job (nurse > others, p < 0.05). In the stepwise multiple linear regressions, urinary Hyp and Pro concentrations were influenced by stress (Adjusted $r^2$ = 0.051) and anxiety and job (Adjusted $r^2$ = 0.199), respectively. Conclusions: We found that stress and anxiety were correlated with urinary Hyp and Pro concentrations. To identifying a definite correlation, further study in large populations will be needed.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.203-210
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• 2019

This study analyzed the size and influence factors of annual average health expenditure according to job type. Using data from the Korea Health Panel (2012), the final analysis was conducted on adults aged 20 years or older, excluding the missing data. Data analysis was done by logistic regression analysis to analyze the factors affecting medical expenditure. As a result of the study, Model 1 showed higher expenditure on medical expenses by skilled workers in agriculture and forestry fishery than those in simple labor. Model 2 was analyzed as having a positive effect on the increase of medical expenditure by the simple worker in the sales of the occupation, statistically significant by sex, marriage, income level and chronic disease. Therefore, it would be necessary to establish social security and health care & welfare policies, in order to grasp the disease with a high frequency rate according to occupation status and activate the physical examination and preventive actions.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.57 no.11
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• pp.479-483
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• 2014

Purpose: The efficacy of antibiotic therapy for acute sinusitis is controversial. This study aimed to compare the efficacies of amoxicillin with nasal irrigation and nasal irrigation alone for acute sinusitis in children. Methods: This randomized, double-blind, controlled study included 80 children aged 4-15 years with a clinical presentation of acute sinusitis. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either amoxicillin (80 mg/kg/day) in 3 divided doses orally for 14 days with saline nasal irrigation (for 5 days) and 0.25% phenylephrine (for 2 days) or the same treatment without amoxicillin. Clinical improvements in their initial symptoms were assessed on days 3, 14, 21, and 28. Results: On day 3, patients in the amoxicillin with nasal irrigation group showed significant clinical improvement (P=0.001), but there was no significant difference in the degree of improvement between the amoxicillin with nasal irrigation and nasal irrigation alone groups during follow-up (P>0.05). In addition, no significant differences were seen in age, sex, and degree of improvement between groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: High-dose amoxicillin with saline nasal irrigation relieved acute sinusitis symptoms faster and more often than saline nasal irrigation alone. However, antibiotic treatment for acute sinusitis confers only a small therapeutic benefit over nasal irrigation.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.136-142
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• 2015

Purpose: Although the American Academy of Pediatrics provides clinical guidelines for urinary tract infection (UTI) infants, guidelines are not appropriate for neonates and infants less than 2 months of age due to insufficient data. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of neonates and young infants less than 2 months old (group 1) with UTI compared to older infants from 2 to 12 months old (group 2). Methods: We reviewed UTI patients aged 0 to 12 months admitted to the pediatric department in the last 5 years. Clinical characteristics such as age, sex, fever duration, recurrence, progression to acute pyelonephritis (APN), malformations like hydronephrosis and vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), and laboratory results were compared between group 1 and group 2. Results: 615 patients were included in this study. Group 1 had 94 cases and group 2 had 521 cases. Escherichia coli was the most commonly isolated pathogen in urine cultures. Fever duration was shorter in group 1 (vs.) 2 ($1.91{\pm}1.43$ days vs. $3.42{\pm}2.40$ days, P<0.05). As compared to group 2, group 1 had a higher proportion of patients with antenatal hydronephrosis and hydronephrosis found after admission (10.6% vs. 3.6% and 75.5% vs. 55.9%, P<0.05). There were differences between two groups in white blood cell (WBC) count (Group 1: $13,694{\pm}5,315/{\mu}L$, Group 2: $15,271{\pm}6,130/{\mu}L$, P<0.05) and C-reactive protein (Group 1: $32.02{\pm}35.17mg/L$, Group 2: $46.51{\pm}46.63mg/L$, P<0.05). Conclusion: Compared to older infants, UTI in neonates and young infants shows milder clinical manifestations except higher rates of hydronephrosis but outcome is alike.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.533-541
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• 2023

Objectives: This study analyzed the relationship between parental body mass index (BMI; BMI_p) and hypertension in their adolescent offspring (HTN_a), focusing on the mediating effect of adolescents' BMI (BMI_a). Methods: Utilizing data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, including participants aged 12-18, we conducted a mediation analysis while controlling for confounding factors such as age, sex, physical activity, dietary habits, household income quartile, and parents' alcohol and smoking habits. Results: The study included a total of 5731 participants, of whom 3381 and 5455 participants had data on fathers' and mothers' BMI, respectively. For adolescent systolic blood pressure (SBP_a), the father's BMI (BMI_f) had a significant total effect (β, 0.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.12 to 0.34) and average controlled mediated effect (ACME) (β, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.32), but the average direct effect (ADE) was not significant. The mother's BMI (BMI_m) had a significant total effect (β, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.09 to 0.25), ACME (β, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.22 to 0.28) and ADE (β, -0.08; 95% CI, -0.16 to 0.00). For adolescent diastolic blood pressure, both BMI_f and BMI_m had significant ACMEs (β, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.12 and β, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.07 to 0.12, respectively), BMI_m had a significant ADE (β, -0.09; 95% CI, -0.16 to -0.02) but BMI_f had an insignificant ADE and total effect. Conclusions: The study found that parental BMI had a significant effect on SBP_a, mediated through BMI_a. Therefore, a high BMI in parents could be a risk factor, mediated through BMI_a, for systolic hypertension in adolescents, necessitating appropriate management.