Association of Anthropometric Indices with Prevalence of Hypertension in Korean Adults / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between hypertension prevalence and the four commonest anthropometric measurements for obesity(body mass index(BMI), wasit-hip ratio(WHR), waist circumference(WC) and body fat in Korean adults. METHODS: We studied the cross-sectional association of the anthropometric indices and blood pressure in 1,197 individuals( who were participants in the population-based cohort study). Hypertension was defined as blood pressure 160/95 mmHg or current use of antihypertensive medication. Informations on life-style factors were obtained from personal interview. RESULTS: There were close associations between BMI, WHR and WC with blood pressure in both men and women. After age adjustment, BMI and WC showed significantly positive correlation with systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels in both men and women. Odds ratio(ORs) of being hypertensive were estimated comparing the highest to the lowest quantile, adjusting for age, smoking status, alcohol intake levels, education attainment. The simultaneously adjusted ORs of being hypertensive, comparing the highest vs the lowest categories, was for BMI 2.0(95% confidence interval(CI)=0.9-3.2) in men and 3.2 (95% CI=1.7-6.1) in women, for WC 2.1(95% CI=1.0-4.4) in men and 3.1(95% CI=1.6-5.9) in women, for fat(%) 4.2(95% CI=1.9-9.5) in men and 2.1(95% CI=1.2-3.6) in women. CONCLUSION: In addition to measures of overall obesity(BMI) as well as central obesity(WHR, WC), body fat(%) was independently associated with prevalence of hypertension. Among obesity indices, body fat was the most predictor variable in hypertensive state in male and BMI was in female.

The Seroepidemiologic Study for Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus Type I(HTLV-I) Infection in Residents of Cheju-Do / 감염

BACKGROUND: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is a retrovirus that has been identified as a cause of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma and tropical spastic paraparesis. HTLV-I infection is highly endemic in the southwestern islands of Japan, Caribbean basin, South America, and Africa. In 1993, we showed that the seroprevalence of antibodies to HTLV-I was 0.13% among blood donors in Korea, but surprisingly, 0.80% in Cheju-Do adjacent to endemic areas of Japan. So this study was designed to reevaluate the seroprevalence of antibodies to HTLV-I among residents in Cheju-Do. METHODS: Total 2,372 residents in Cheju-Do were tested from December 1995 to March 1996. Anti-HTLV-I antibodies were detected by the microtiter particle agglutination test. RESULTS: Among total 2,372 residents, 19 were anti-HTLV-I positive. So the overall positive rate of anti-HTLV-I antibodies was 0.80%. The positive rate in females was higher than in males (0.82% vs 0.78%). The positive rate was 1.45% in the age group of 20-29 years, 1.41% in 40-49 years, 0.91% in 0-9 years, 0.70% in 30-39 years, and 0.54% in 50-59 years. The mean age of seropositive cases is 35.2 in males and 35.4 in females, with a mean of 35.3. Geographically, high positive rate was observed in Sogwipo-City (1.37%) and Namcheju-Gun (0.83%) compared to those of Pukcheju-Gun (0.64%) and Cheju-City (0.61%), which showed high seroprevalence in districts adjacent to endemic areas of Japan. Any specific risk factors or associated disorders of HTLV-I infection could not be found among the seropositive cases. CONCLUSION: The seroprevalence of antibodies to HTLV-I in Cheju-Do was noted to be very high by the microtiter particle agglutination test. So henceforth serosurvey by confirmative laboratory tests is needed, and if high seroprevalence is showed from it, screening of blood donors for HTLV-I in Cheju-Do should be considered to prevent transfusion-associated HTLV-I infection.

A Study on the Body Fatness and Lifestyles of Some Medical Students / 예방의학회지

This study was carried out to evaluate the associations between lifestyles and Body Mass Index in a group of 349 male and 65 female medical students, ages 17 to 31 years. 20.0% of male students and 3.1% of female student showed the over weight in the classification of obesity by Japan Society for Study of Obesity. There was no statistically significance in the comparison of the height body weight, body mass index, obesity index and body fat(%) according to grade in both sexes. But male students showed increasing tendency of waist-hip ratio with grade. According to obesity category, there was significant difference in the comparison of body weight, body mass index , obesity index, waist-hip ratio and body fat(%), but height. Body mass index was positively related with waist-hip ratio(r=0.6150, p=0.0001) and fat(%)(r=0.5101, p=0.0001) in males and waist-hip ratio (r=0.4734, p=0.001) and fat(%)(r=0.4522, p=0.002)in females. This study provides an opportunity to further examine the relationship of sociodemographic factors and health behaviors to obesity, and suggest the basic concept to match the obesity study to general eqidemiological cohort studies for controlling of chronic adult diseases.

A study on the knowledge and personal history about hepatitis Bviral marker in the university admission

No abstract available.

An Epidemiological Study on Traffic Accidents / 예방의학회지

A retrospective study has been made of 170,026 cases of motor vehicle accidents which had been reported to the National Police Headquarters of Republic of Korea, 1983. Also a study has been made of 264 cases of road traffic casualties who were treated at the Eul-ji General Hospital from Jan. 1, 1983 to Dec. 31, 1983. This study was conducted to find out the nature and pattern of the traffic accidents from the clinical and epidemiological view points. In additions, the modes of injury from the road accidents were pursued which might help to reduce the traffic accident rate. The results of the study were summarized as follows; 1. In this study, the highest incidence was in the age group between 21-30 years (21.29%). And the age group of highest death rate was under 10 years (7.28%). 2. In the comparison of sexual differences, male was dominated in accidents number and death rate. (Casualty rate; 61.66%). 3. In the comparison of each hour differences, the accident was mostly occurred during afternoon from 16 : 00 to 18 : 00 (12.23%). 4. The most common day of week was Sunday (14.74%). 5. The most common season of year was Autumn (27.92%). 6. In the comparison of occupational differences, the high incidences were showed in labor men (31.06%) and business men (12.12%). 7. In the comparison of accidental vehicles, the most common vehicle were cars and the next were trucks and buses. 8. The most common mechanism of accidents was collision (57.41%). 9. In the comparison of clinical differences, orthopaedic and neurosurgical injuries were most common types of the hospitalized casualties. 10. In the comparison of anatomical fracture sites, the most common site was tibia (15.81%) and the next site was femur (12.56%).

An Epidemiological Study of 100 Cases of Lung Cancer in Korean / 예방의학회지

An epidemiological study is to observe and analyse 100 cases of lung cancer in Korean, which had been diagnosed actually at the general hospitals in Korea from 1970 through 1974, to discover the tendency of the lung cancer by sex, age, occupation, duration of clinical symptoms before diagnosis, site of cancer in lung, size of cancer, occurrence, treatment, prognosis, smoking and pathological findings as follows. 1. Males were affected 5.7 times more than females, the peak incidence of lung cancer were 50 years old age group. 2. The occupations of the cases were commerce, agriculture, industry, laborers and teachers, etc. in thht order. 3. The average duration symptoms from onset to diagnosis were 5.5 months. 4. The cancers were affected more right side than left side of the lungs, Particularly the most of them were affected in the upper lobes of the lungs. 5. The average diameter of the tumors was 5.5crX6.5cm, However the largest of them was 10cm X 13cm. 6. The most cases of the lung cancers were occurred primarily. 7. Out of the 100 cases, 58 cases had no treatment, 23 cases had palliative-symptomatic treatment, of cases by special chemo-therapy, 7 cases by surgery, and 5 cases by cobalt 60 or X-gay. 8. In the view point of prognosis, the most cases of the lung cancers died within one year atfer diagnosis. 9. The smoking was one of the causative factor of lung cancer, but there was no significant diferentiation by means of the amount of smoking. 10. The most cases of the lung cancers diangosed histo-pathologically, were epidermoid(squamous) type.