The Prevalence of Chronic Diseases among Migrants in Korea According to Their Length of Stay and Residential Status / 가정의학회지

BACKGROUND: Migrant health is becoming public health issues, as the migrant populations are increasing and their length of stay is prolonged. This study aims to analyze the differences in prevalence of chronic diseases among migrants according to length of stay and residential status. METHODS: An initial population pool were 3,024 who were assessed with health screening programs by Migrant Health Association. 2,459 migrants were selected for final analysis. Via Stata 10 we conducted univariate logistic regression analysis to examine the effects of their length of stay and residential status on the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and obesity. In the final analysis, the result of each sex was adjusted for age, nationality, length of stay, and residential status via multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Longer length of stay tends to increase the prevalence of hypertension in male; 4-6 year stay-duration group demonstrated statistically significant excess compared to 1 year or less stay-duration group (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.39; confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 1.92). After adjustment, male migrants stayed more than 7 year showed considerably higher dyslipidemia than male migrants stayed less than 1 year (adjusted OR, 1.95; CI, 1.05 to 3.64). Compared to the group with 1 year or less stay-duration, the prevalence of obesity in male was significantly higher among 4-6 year (adjusted OR, 1.65; CI, 1.17 to 2.32) and 7 year or more stay-duration group (adjusted OR, 1.65; CI, 1.11 to 2.45). CONCLUSION: Longer length of stay correlated to higher prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity among some population of migrants. So more researches and new developing policies are needed for this problem.

Posterior Fossa Tumors in Children

The authors reviewed retrospectively the records of 27 cases of posterior fossa tumor in patients below the age of 60 among the 387 brain tumor cases admitted to Kyungpook University Hospital during the last 10 years. The posterior fossa tumors were 34.2% of the total 79 cases of pediatric brain tumors. The most frequently involved age group was 6~8 years. Headache(40.7%) and vomiting(37.0%) were the most common initial presenting symptoms. Cerebellar signs, Cranial nerve palsy and motor weakness were found in 66.7%, 9.6% and 11.1% of the cases respectively. Cerebellar midline was the most frequently involved site(63.0%). In order of frequency, the pathological diagnoses were medulloblastoma, ependymoma, primitive neuroectodermal tumor(PNET), and astrocytoma. Hydrocephalus was noted in 70.4%, and shunt surgery was done in 28.6%. Surgery followed by radiation therapy was used in most of the cases.