• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.476-488
• /
• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Dietary sugars intake worldwide is stable or decreasing, but overall sugars intake remains above the recommended level. Some studies suggest that ultra-processed foods (UPFs) drive excessive sugars intake. However, UPF consumption in Korea and its association with sugars intake have not yet been studied. This study aimed to estimate the contribution of UPF consumption to total sugars intake and to investigate the association between UPF consumption and total sugars intake in Koreans. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016-2018 were used, and included data on 21,075 participants aged 1+ years completed a 24-h recall. Food items reported in the 24-h recall were classified according to the NOVA system as UPFs, processed foods, processed culinary ingredients, or unprocessed or minimally processed foods. RESULTS: The average daily energy intake was 1,996 kcal, and UPFs accounted for 26.2% of the total energy intake (% TE). The average total sugars intake was 63.1 g (13.0% TE), and 44.9% of total sugars intake came from UPFs. Among the entire population, 15.8% exceeded the recommended limit for total sugars within 20% TE, and excessive total sugars intake was more prevalent among females (19.5%) and children (21.1%). The prevalence of excessive total sugars intake showed a significantly increasing tendency across the quartiles of UPF energy contribution, ranging from 11.9% in the lowest quartile to 23.2% in the highest quartile. Even after adjustment for sociodemographic variables, UPF consumption was positively associated with the prevalence of excessive total sugars intake (P for trend < 0.001). This association was similar in subgroup analyses by sex and age. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that UPF consumption may drive excessive intake of total sugars in the Korean diet. Our findings conclusively establish that restricting UPF consumption may be an efficient way to reduce sugars intake in Korean population.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.129-137
• /
• 2022

This study compared the sociodemographic characteristics and innovativeness of OPAL generation e-commerce users and non-users based on the innovation diffusion theory, and examined the effect of these personal characteristics on the availability of e-commerce use. The result showed that OPAL generation e-commerce users differed from non-users in gender, age, income level, education level, and functional, hedonistic, social and cognitive innovativeness. In addition, gender, age, educational level, functional and hedonistic innovativeness were found to be significant variables that determined the OPAL generation's use of e-commerce. Based on these results, we presented the theoretical and practical implications of this study.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.152-158
• /
• 2023

Objectives: This study examined the associations between Internet addiction and suicide and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among South Korean adolescents. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 1694 Korean adolescents. The suicidal Ideation Questionnaire and Deliberate Self-Harm Inventories were used to identify high-risk suicide and NSSI groups, respectively. Internet addiction was assessed using the Internet Addiction Scale. Other questionnaires included sociodemographic data, perceived academic stress, and daily life-related factors. We also performed a logistic regression analysis using the high suicide risk and NSSI groups as dependent variables. Results: The high suicide risk and NSSI prevalence rates among participants were 11.8% and 28.3%, respectively. A multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that Internet addiction is associated with higher suicide risk and NSSI. Additionally, being female and academic stress were significant suicide risk factors, while male participants had a higher NSSI prevalence. Conclusion: Our results suggest that monitoring adolescents' Internet use and providing education to prevent Internet addiction would lower high suicide and NSSI risk. Moreover, suicide and NSSI risk screening in adolescents with Internet addiction and providing suitable interventions will be essential for the preventing suicide and NSSI.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.222-228
• /
• 2023

Background: This study aimed to explore relationships between job stress and psychological adaptation and how they related to interpersonal needs through mood states among female migrant manufacturing workers. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 16 factories in Shenzhen, China. Sociodemographic, job stress, psychological adaptation and other psychological information of was collected. Structural equation modeling was performed to delineate the internal relationship between variables. Results: The hypothetical structural equation model exhibited acceptable model fit among female migrant manufacturing workers (χ² = 11.635, df = 2, χ²/df = 5.82, p = 0.003, RMSEA = 0.090, CFI = 0.972, SRMR = 0.020). Job stress was directly associated with mood states and interpersonal needs; Psychological adaptation was directly associated with mood states and indirectly associated with interpersonal needs; Bootstrapping tests demonstrated mediation effect of mood states in the way from psychological adaptation to interpersonal needs. Conclusion: Female migrant manufacturing workers who suffered stress from job and the process of psychological adaptation may have worse mood states and workers with worse mood states are more likely to develop unmet interpersonal needs, a proximal factor of suicidal ideation.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.400-410
• /
• 2023

Background: As the government has recently been discussing the expansion of the disaster health expenses support project, we would like to confirm the characteristics of beneficiaries of the support project, particularly those of high-cost beneficiaries. Methods: Using the database of catastrophic health expenditure support project from 2019-2020, this study aims to confirm the characteristics of high-cost beneficiaries focusing on the overlap of the relieved out-of-pocket systems, known as the out-of-pocket ceiling system and the system for rare incurable diseases. Logistic regression analysis is used to examine this issue. Results: In order to analyze the factors influencing high-cost beneficiaries, five models were created and analyzed, including the status of duplicated beneficiaries for relieved out-of-pocket systems, sociodemographic and economic factors, and individual health status as sequential independent variables. All five models were statistically significant, of which economic factors had the greatest impact on the model's predictions. The main results indicated that those who benefited from multiple systems in duplicate were more likely to be high-cost beneficiaries, and there is a higher probability of incurring high health expenses among the underage. In addition, within the beneficiaries of catastrophic health expenditure support project, it was observed that higher health insurance premium percentiles are associated with a higher proportion of high-cost beneficiaries. Conclusion: This study examined the characteristics of high-cost beneficiaries by encompassing reimbursement and non-reimbursement. According to this study, it is expected to be used as basic data for setting priorities and improving the current criteria of catastrophic health expenditure support project, aiming to sequentially expand the program.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.373-380
• /
• 2023

Background: The association between dental amalgam fillings and urine mercury concentrations was investigated in this study to assess the health risks associated with dental amalgams. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 99 women in their 20s who visited the dental clinic in Daegu, Korea. The 99 participants were composed of 68 subjects who had dental amalgam fillings (exposure group) and 31 subjects who did not have dental amalgam fillings (nonexposure group). Oral examinations were conducted by a single dental hygienist, sociodemographic features were investigated as confounding variables, and urine mercury concentrations were measured using an automatic mercury analyzer. Results: The mean±standard deviation of the urine mercury concentrations of the exposure and nonexposure groups were 1.50±1.78 ㎍/g creatinine and 0.53±0.63 ㎍/g creatinine, respectively. The exposure group showed significantly higher levels than the nonexposure group (p<0.01). The urine mercury concentration significantly increased with an increase in the number of teeth filled with amalgam, cavity surfaces involved, and number of defective amalgam fillings, and according to the latest exposure time (p<0.001). In the multiple regression analysis of amalgam-related factors and urine mercury concentrations after correction for confounding factors, the urine mercury concentration in the group with six or more amalgam-filled teeth, 11 or more cavity surfaces, and two or more defective amalgams was significantly higher than that in the nonexposure group (p<0.001). Conclusion: According to this study, exposure to dental amalgams was confirmed to significantly affect urine mercury concentrations.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 2024

Background: Different job strain formulations based on the Job Demand-Control model have been developed. This study evaluated longitudinal associations between job strain and psychological distress and whether associations were influenced by six formulations of job strain, including quadrant (original and simplified), subtraction, quotient, logarithm quotient, and quartile based on quotient, in randomly selected Japanese workers. Methods: Data were from waves I and II of the Survey of Midlife in Japan (MIDJA), with a 4-year followup period. The study sample consisted of 412 participants working at baseline and had complete data on variables of interest. Associations between job strain at baseline and psychological distress at follow-up were assessed via multivariable linear regression, and results were expressed as β coefficients and 95% confidence intervals including R² and Akaike information criterion (AIC) evaluation. Results: Crude models revealed that job strain formulations explained 6.93-10.30% of variance. The AIC ranged from 1475.87 to 1489.12. After accounting for sociodemographic and behavioral factors and psychological distress at baseline, fully-adjusted models indicated significant associations between all job strain formulations at baseline and psychological distress at follow-up: original quadrant (β: 1.16, 95% CI: 0.12, 2.21), simplified quadrant (β: 1.01, 95% CI: 0.18, 1.85), subtraction (β: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.70), quotient (β: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.67), logarithm quotient (β: 0.42, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.72), and quartile based on quotient (β: 1.22, 95% CI: 0.36, 2.08). Conclusion: Six job strain formulations showed robust predictive power regarding psychological distress over 4 years among Japanese workers.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• /
• v.35
• /
• pp.53.1-53.15
• /
• 2023

Background: Plastics are high-molecular-weight materials composed of long carbon chains. They are prevalent in daily life, present in various items such as food containers and microwavable packaging. Phthalates, an additive used to enhance their flexibility, are endocrine-disrupting chemicals. We utilized the data from the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) cycle 3, representing the general South Korean population, to investigate the relationship between the use of plastics in refrigerator food storage and phthalate exposure. Methods: We assessed 3,333 adult participants (aged ≥ 19 years) including 1,526 men and 1,807 women, using data from KoNEHS cycle 3. Using the 75th percentile concentration, urine phthalate metabolites were categorized into high and low-concentration groups. χ² test was conducted to analyze variations in the distribution of each variable, considering sociodemographic factors, health-related factors, food intake, the use of plastics, and the concentration of urine phthalate metabolites as the variables. To calculate odds ratios (ORs) for the high-concentration group of urine phthalate metabolites based on the use of plastics in refrigerator food storage, logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results: In men, the use of plastics in refrigerator food storage had significantly higher adjusted ORs compared to those using the others. The adjusted ORs were calculated as follows: mono-(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP) had an OR of 1.35 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.05-1.72), mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP) had an OR of 1.48 (95% CI: 1.16-1.88), mono-(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate (MECPP) had an OR of 1.32 (95% CI: 1.04-1.66), ∑di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (∑DEHP) had an OR of 1.37 (95% CI: 1.08-1.74) and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP) had an OR of 1.44 (95% CI: 1.13-1.84). Conclusion: The concentrations of urine phthalate metabolites (MEHHP, MEOHP, MECPP, ∑DEHP, and MnBP) were significantly higher in men who used plastics in refrigerator food storage compared to those using the others.

• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.56-66
• /
• 2024

Purpose: This study explored the factors influencing the health-related life satisfaction of people with disabilities who engaged in physical activity, by age and gender. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted of the 2020 Third Disability and Life Dynamics Panel (2021). The participants were 2,796 people who performed regular physical activity at least once a week. The variables selected were disability-related factors (degree of disability, multiple disabilities, and type of disability), sociodemographic factors (age, gender, living alone, and mean monthly family income), and health-related factors (amount of physical activity, self-esteem, depression, chronic disease, subjective health, and health-related life satisfaction). Descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, the t-test, two-way analysis of variance, and multiple regression analysis were conducted. Results: In total, 58.0% of participants were male, and 42.0% were female. For age groups, 14.4% were children/adolescents (0-19 years), 42.6% were adults (20-59 years), and 43.0% were seniors (≥60 years). The mean score for health-related life satisfaction was 5.0±2.15 out of 10. Adults and seniors whose level of physical activity met or exceeded recommendations had higher subjective health. Moreover, men had better subjective health than women in seniors. Health-related life satisfaction was higher among those who had higher self-esteem, were not depressed, did not have chronic diseases, and had better subjective health. Conclusion: Gender significantly influenced health-related life satisfaction in children/ adolescents and seniors. Disability-related factors were significant in adults, and health-related factors were significant in all age groups. Therefore, these factors should be considered when designing interventions to promote subjective health and health-related life satisfaction of people with disabilities.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• /
• v.34
• /
• pp.36.1-36.12
• /
• 2022

Background: Many studies have been conducted to investigate the harmful effect of shift work on physical and mental health. Although, by definition, "working evening shift" is included in the scope of shift work, most related studies conducted thus far have focused on working night shifts, overtime work, or different types of shift work, with little research effort dedicated to "working evening shifts." Therefore, to fill this research gap, we investigated the effect of working evening shifts on workers' mental health. Methods: The participants of this study were 16,692 employees of the 50,205 that participated in the 5th wave of the Korean Working Conditions Survey. We performed χ² test and logistic regression analysis to analyze the effects of independent variables on health problems and calculated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: In the logistic regression analysis adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, health-related factors, and work-related characteristics, employees who worked evening shifts showed higher levels of depression and anxiety compared to those that did not. In particular, the adjusted odds ratios of the group working evening shifts between one and nine times a month were the highest with 2.723 (95% CI: 2.014-3.682) for depression, 3.294 (95% CI: 2.547-4.259) for anxiety. Conclusions: The results of our study suggest that working evening shifts has a negative effect on employees' mental health. This trend decreased with an increase in the monthly frequency of evening work.