• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.104-111
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• 2022

Background: The IMPPAC cohort (Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychosocial aspects and work ability among Brazilian workers) seeks to understand the impact of the pandemic on Brazilian workers. This article describes the occupational profile, psychosocial aspects, and work ability determined during the baseline and follow-up measurements of the cohort. Methods: Workers were invited to participate through media advertisements, social networks, and emails. From June to September 2020, 1211 workers were included in the cohort. Follow-up measurements finished on October 2021 with 633 workers. Data were collected through standardized questionnaires using Google Forms. Psychosocial aspects were assessed using the COPSOQ II-Br. Work ability was assessed using the Work Ability Index (WAI). Results: At baseline and follow-up, high proportion of workers were in the risk zone with regard to work pace, emotional work demands, influence on work, work-family conflict, burnout, and stress. Approximately 75% of the workers reported good to excellent work ability at baseline and follow-up. Conclusion: The occupational profile, psychosocial aspects, and work ability of Brazilian workers from the IMPPAC cohort were described. Psychosocial aspects and WAI were similar at baseline and follow-up.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.131-142
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• 1999

By using the Korean demographic data and the modified relative risk projection model given in the Committee on the Biological Effect of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) report-V under the U.S. National Academy of Science, the radiogenic excess risk in Korean population has been evaluated. On the basis of this risk, a safety goal for the safe operation of domestic nuclear power plants has been further derived in terms of personal dose. The baseline risk of death due to all causes in Korea and the trivial risk level, which the society considers safe, were estimated to be $5.2{\times}10^{-3}$ and $5.2{\times}10^{-6}$, respectively. The radiogenic excess cancer risk in Korea has been estimated to be $5.2{\times}10^{-3}$ for tie case of acute exposure to 0.1 Gy and $3.7{\times}10^{-3}$ for the case of chronic lifetime exposure to 1.0 mGy/y. On the basis of these risks estimate, the resulting safety goal for one year opeation of a reactor was 0.05 mSv, which is quite identical with the ALARA guideline prescribed by the USNRC in the Appendix I, 10CFR50.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.221-228
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• 2006

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to shed further light on the effect of modifiable health behavior risk factors on dependence in activities of daily living, defined in a multidimensional fashion. Methods: The study participants were 10,278 middle aged Americans in a longitudinal health study, the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS). A multi-stage probability sampling design incorporating the effect of population sizes (Metropolitan and non-metropolitan), ethnicity (the non- Hispanic White, the Hispanic, and the Black), and age (age 51-61) was utilized. Basic Activities of Daily Living (ADL) were measured using five activities necessary for survival (impairment in dressing, eating, bathing, sleeping, and moving across indoor spaces). Explanatory variables were four health behavior risk factors included smoking, exercise, Body Mass Index (BMI), and alcohol consumption. Results: Most participants at baseline were ADL independent (1992). 97.8% of participants were independent in all ADL's at baseline and 78.2% were married. Approximately 27.5% were current smokers at baseline, and the subjects reported moderate or heavy exercise were 74.8%. All demographic characteristics and behavioral risk factors were significantly associated with the ADL status at Wave 4 except alcohol consumption. Risk behaviors such as current smoking, sedentary life style and high BMI at Wave 1 were associated with ADL status deterioration; however, moderate alcohol consumption tended to be more related to better ADL status than abstaining at Wave 4. ADL status at Wave 1 was the strongest factor and the next was exercise and smoking affecting ADL status at Wave 4. People who were in ADL dependent at Wave 1 were 15.17 times more likely to be ADL dependent at Wave 4 than people who were in ADL independent at Wave 1. Concerning smoking cigarettes, people who kept only light exercise or sedentary life style at Wave 1 were 1.70 times more likely to be died at Wave 4 than the people who did not smoke at Wave 1. Conclusions: All demographics and health behaviors at wave 1 had consistently similar OR trends for ADL status to each other except alcohol consumption. Smoking and exercise in health behaviors, and age and gender in demographics at Wave 1 were significant factors associated with ADL group separation at Wave 4.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.35-47
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• 2009

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to investigate incidence and related factors of the MS in a university hospital Methods: This survey was conducted from January in 1997 to March in 2008. This study is a cohort study. The baseline subjects were 529 men and 609 women without metabolic syndrome(MS) who visited the health promotion center of Chungnam National University Hospital for general health check-up. The MS was diagnosed according to the definition by the NCEP ATP III. The abdominal obesity guidelines for waist circumference applied the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity Guideline Results: The survey exhibited that baseline risk factors that mainly affect odds ratio(OR) of the MS at follow-up were sex, ages, heavy drinking, uric acid and transpeptidase(GGT) in women. Incidence of the MS was 10.6% in total cases, 18.1% in men and 4.0% in women. The risk of the MS was significantly lower in women than men(OR=0.4, 95% confidence interval(CI: 0.2-0.9), significantly higher 50-59 Ages than < 40 ages(OR=3.4, 95% CI: 1.9-6.4), significantly high in women with heavy drinkers(OR=14.3, 95% CI: 1.2-177.5), significantly high in whole, men and women with high uric acid group(whole, OR=2.6, 95% CI: 1.6-4.2. men, OR=2.1, 95% CI: 1.3-3.5. women, OR=14.2, 95% CI: 3.0-68.3) and significantly high in women with high GGT(OR=1.8, 95% CI: 2.4-12.6). Conclusion: Risk factors of incident MS were baseline sex, ages, heavy drinking in women, uric acid and GGT in women. These can be utilized as an important index to determine risk factors of incident MS and will be basic data in part of management, education, countermeasure and selection test of the MS.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.24-35
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• 1998

Cumulative trauma disorders(CTDs) have been a growing problems for US and European industries with higher incidence rate every year. The increase and their associated costs has led companies to form committes and implement programs to address this problem. In our country, we have just started to recognize and to work on the problems in industry. This study conducted an ergonomic analysis for typical jobs of ship building industry which was not usually surveyed for CTD problem. A baseline CTD checklist which was supposed to do a risk assessment was developed and applied in this study. Initially, we considered five major parts in the checklist which consisted of personal, frequency, posture, force, and miscellaneous information. Most jobs in ship building industry were much different from typical assembly work and VDT work that have been major part of the previous CTD studies. Specifically, job characteristics in terms of frequency and posture were quite different. There were relatively long cycle time, awkward postures for whole body (not just for upper extremities). Also, CTD risk scores based on checklist were a lot higher than the scores for VDT jobs which was a case of preceding application of the checklist. Specifically, grinding jobs turned out to be the most risky one in terms of CTDs. In conclusion, usual CTD prevention guidelines are not likely to he effective in this type of industry. An individual job based interventions are strongly suggested to have a good control of CTD problems in ship building industry.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2023

Observational data with missing or incomplete data are common in biomedical research. Multiple imputation is an effective approach to handle missing data with the ability to decrease bias while increasing statistical power and efficiency. In recent years propensity score (PS) matching has been increasingly used in observational studies to estimate treatment effect as it can reduce confounding due to measured baseline covariates. In this paper, we describe in detail approaches to competing risk analysis in the setting of incomplete observational data when using PS matching. First, we used multiple imputation to impute several missing variables simultaneously, then conducted propensity-score matching to match statin-exposed patients with those unexposed. Afterwards, we assessed the effect of statin exposure on the risk of heart failure-related hospitalizations or emergency visits by estimating both relative and absolute effects. Collectively, we provided a general methodological framework to assess treatment effect in incomplete observational data. In addition, we presented a practical approach to produce overall cumulative incidence function (CIF) based on estimates from multiple imputed and PS-matched samples.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.199-207
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• 2000

Objectives : This study was peformed to identify the risk factors related to the development of hypertension in a rural area. Method : Total of 3,573 subjects in Chung-Song County were interviewed and examined in 1996. The study cohort comprised 2,580 hypertension-free subjects aged above 20. One-year follow up was completed for 1,781 subjects(69.0%) in 1997. General characteristics(age, gender, education level, economic status, marital status), the family history of hypertension, diet, alcohol, smoking, coffee, stress, past history of oral contraceptive and menopausal status in female, height, weight, waist and hip circumference, baseline blood pressure, and serum total cholesterol were considered as risk factors. Results : Multivariate analysis using logistic regression model indicated that age(RH=1.50, 95% CI; 1.15-1.96), the family history of hypertension(RR=2.11, 95% CI; 1.04-4.26), waist-hip ratio(WHR) (RR=2.09, 95%, CI; 1.15-3.79), and baseline systolic blood pressure(130-139/<120mmHg)(RR=3.34, 95% CI; 1.47-7.60) were significant risk factors associated with the development of hypertension above the borderline level in male. In female, age(RR=1.06, 95% CI; 1.03-1.09), change in menopausal status$(no{\rightarrow}yes/no{\rightarrow}no)$ (RR=3.32, 95% CI; 1.01-10.87), baseline systolic blood pressure(120-129/<120mmHg: RR=2.00, 95% CI; 1.02-3.90)(130-139/<120mmHg: RR=2.64, 95% CI; 1.34-5.20) and baseline diastolic blood pressure(85-89/<80mmHg)(RR=4.09, 95% CI; 1.86-8.96) were identified as risk factors. Conclusions : Age and high normal blood pressure were significant risk factors for the development of hypertension above the borderline level. In addition, the family history of hypertension and WHR in men, and the change of menopausal status in women might be significant risk factors in Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.159-165
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• 2010

Objectives: We evaluated the reliability of the possible covariates of the baseline survey data collected for the Epidemiological Investigation on Cancer Risk Among Residents Who Reside Near the Nuclear Power Plants in Korea. Methods: Follow-up surveys were conducted for 477 participants of the cohort at less than 1 year after the initial survey. The mean interval between the initial and follow-up surveys was 282.5 days. Possible covariates were identified by analyzing the correlations with the exposure variable and associations with the outcome variables for all the variables. Logistic regression analysis with stepwise selection was further conducted among the possible covariates to select variables that have covariance with other variables. We considered that these variables can be representing other variables. Seven variables for the males and 3 variables for the females, which had covariance with other possible covariates, were selected as representative variables. The Kappa index of each variable was calculated. Results: For the males, the Kappa indexes were as follow; family history of cancer was 0.64, family history of liver diseases in parents and siblings was 0.56, family history of hypertension in parents and siblings was 0.51, family history of liver diseases was 0.50, family history of hypertension was 0.44, a history of chronic liver diseases was 0.53 and history of pulmonary tuberculosis was 0.36. For females, the Kappa indexes were as follow; family history of cancer was 0.58, family history of hypertension in parents and siblings was 0.56 and family history of hypertension was 0.47. Conclusions: Most of the possible covariates showed good to moderate agreement.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.162-168
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• 2007

Objectives : This prospective population-based cohort study was conducted to evaluate the risk factors of cognitive impairment and the degree of cognitive function change through a 5-year follow-up. Methods : The baseline and follow-up surveys were conducted in 1998 and 2003, respectively, Among 176 subjects who had normal cognitive function in the baseline study, 136 were followed up for 5 years. The cognitive function was investigated using the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-K). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS and Stata. Results : Of the 136 subjects analyzed, 25 (18.4%) were cognitively impaired. Old age and low social support in the baseline survey were risk factors for cognitive impairment after 5 years. In the generalized estimating equation for 128 subjects except severe cognitive impairment about the contributing factors of cognitive function change, the interval of 5 years decreased MMSE-K score by 1.02 and the cognitive function was adversely affected with increasing age, decreasing education and decreasing social support. Conclusions : Although the study population was small, it was considered that the study results can be used to develop a community-based prevention system for cognitive impairment.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.393-398
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• 2019

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The association between tea consumption and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) remains controversial. This study aimed to determine whether tea consumption has an effect on CHD risk in Chinese adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In this hospital-based case-control study, 267 cases of CHD and 235 non-CHD controls were enrolled. Blood samples from all cases were examined. Cardiac function indices (left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase of the muscle or brain type), blood lipid index (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and blood coagulation function indices (fibrinogen and activated partial thromboplastin time) were recorded. Tea consumption of study participants was assessed by a specifically designed questionnaire. The baseline characteristics of the study populations were recorded, and CHD-related biomarkers were detected. Differences in baseline characteristics of the study participants were examined using t-tests for continuous variables and chi-squared tests for categorical variables. Unconditional logistic regression was used to measure the association between tea and CHD. RESULTS: There were significant differences in cardiac function indices, blood lipid index, and blood coagulation indices between CHD cases and controls (P < 0.05). We found tea consumption reduced CHD risk in female participants (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.484, 95% CI: 0.242-0.968, P = 0.0403). Regarding the type of tea consumed, the risk of CHD was reduced in women who drank partially fermented tea (adjusted OR = 0.210, 95% CI: 0.084-0.522, P = 0.0008). Analytic results for the amount of tea consumed per unit time showed CHD risk was reduced in women who consumed 1-2 cups of tea per day (adjusted OR = 0.291, 95% CI: 0.131-0.643, P = 0.0023). A tea-drinking frequency of > 6 days/week was beneficial for CHD prevention (adjusted OR = 0.183, 95% CI: 0.049-0.679, P = 0.0112). When analyzed according to the duration of tea consumption, the risk of CHD was reduced in participants who had been drinking tea for 10-20 years (adjusted OR = 0.360, 95% CI: 0.137-0.946, P = 0.0382). CONCLUSIONS: Tea consumption is associated with a reduced risk of CHD in female but not male populations in Guangzhou.