Emotional labor, workplace violence, and depressive symptoms in female Bank employees: a questionnaire survey using the K-ELS and K-WVS

BACKGROUND: In modern society, the scale of the service industry is continuously expanding, and the number of service workers is increasing. Correspondingly, physical and mental problems related to emotional labor are becoming a major social problem. In this study, we investigated the relationship between emotional labor, workplace violence, and depressive symptoms in female bank employees, which is a typical service industry. METHODS: In this study, the Korean Emotional Labor Scale (K-ELS) and Korean Workplace Violence Scale (K-WVS) were distributed to 381 female workers in their 20s at a bank in Seoul, Korea. Data were obtained from 289 subjects (75.9%) and analyzed for 278 respondents, after excluding those with missing responses. We examined the relationship between emotional labor, workplace violence, and depressive symptoms, using multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Among 278 subjects, 27 workers (9.7%) had depressive symptoms. “Emotional disharmony and hurt” (OR 2.93, 95% CI = 1.17–7.36) and “Organizational surveillance and monitoring” (OR 3.18, 95% CI = 1.29–7.86) showed a significant association with depressive symptoms. For workplace violence, the “Experience of psychological and sexual violence from supervisors and coworkers” (OR 4.07, 95% CI = 1.58–10.50) showed a significant association. When the number of high-risk emotional labor-related factors was 1 or more, 13.1% showed depressive symptoms. When the number of high-risk workplace violence-related factors was 1 or more, 14.4% had statistically significant depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: A significant result was found for depressive symptoms related to Emotional disharmony, which is a sub-topic of emotional labor, and those at high risk for “Organizational surveillance and monitoring.” For workplace violence, depressive symptoms were high for the group at high risk for the “experience of psychological and sexual violence from supervisors and coworkers.” In this way, management of emotional disharmony, a sub-factor of emotional labor, is necessary, and improvements to traditional corporate culture that monitors emotional labor is necessary. Violence from colleagues and supervisors in the workplace must also be reduced. IRB Approval No. SCHUH 2017–01-029. Registered 26 January 2017. Retrospectively registered. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s40557-018-0229-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The association between perceived discriminations and well-being in Korean employed workers: the 4th Korean working conditions survey

BACKGROUND: Around the globe, discrimination has emerged as a social issue requiring serious consideration. From the perspective of public health, the impact of discrimination on the health of affected individuals is a subject of great importance. On the other hand, subjective well-being is a key indicator of an individual's physical, mental, and social health. The present study aims to analyze the relationship between Korean employed workers' subjective health and their exposure to perceived discrimination. METHODS: The Fourth Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS, 2014) was conducted on a representative sample of the economically active population aged 15 years or older, who were either employees or self-employed at the time of interview. After removing inconsistent data, 32,984 employed workers were examined in this study. The data included general and occupational characteristics, perceived discrimination, and well-being. Well-being was measured through the WHO-Five index (1998 version). Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between perceived discrimination and well-being. RESULT: As a group, employed workers who were exposed to discrimination had a significantly higher likelihood of “poor well-being” than their counterparts who were not exposed to discrimination. More specifically, the workers exposed to age discrimination had an odds ratio(OR) of 1.51 (95% CI: 1.36–1.68), workers exposed to discrimination based on educational attainment had an OR of 1.43 (95% CI: 1.26–1.61), and workers exposed to discrimination based on employment type had an OR of 1.68 (95% CI: 1.48–1.91) with respect to poor well-being. Furthermore, workers exposed to a greater number of discriminatory incidents were also at a higher risk of “poor well-being” than their counterparts who were exposed to fewer such incidents. More specifically, the workers with three exposures to discrimination had an OR of 2.60 (95% CI: 1.92–3.53), the workers with two such exposures had an OR of 1.69 (95% CI: 1.44–1.99), and the workers with one such exposure had an OR of 1.32 (95% CI: 1.20–1.45). CONCLUSION: The present study found that discrimination based on age, educational attainment, or employment type put workers at a higher risk of “poor well-being,” and that the greater the exposure to discrimination, the higher the risk of poor well-being.

Relationship of activities outside work to sleep and depression/anxiety disorders in Korean workers: the 4th Korean working condition survey

BACKGROUND: Sleep disorders and depression/anxiety disorders are long-standing and significant problem for mental health. Also there are already known so many negative health effect of these disorders. But there were few studies to examine the association between activities outside work and forementioned disorders. So this study aimed the association of those things by using the Republic of Korean data. METHODS: Data from 32,232 wage workers were used in the 4th Korean Working Condition Survey. General and occupational characteristics, sleep disorders, depression/anxiety disorders and activities outside work are included in questionnaire. To find the relationship between activities outside work and sleep, depression/anxiety disorders, multivariate logistic regression analysis was used after adjusting for general and occupational characteristics. RESULTS: We observed that volunteer activities increased the odds ratio of both sleep disorders and depression/anxiety disorders(Odds ratio[OR] = 1.35, 95% confidence interval[CI]: 1.03–1.78 and OR = 1.54, 95% CI: 1.29–1.84, respectively). And self-development activities increase the odds ratio of sleep disorders(OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.17–1.57). Gardening activities lowered the odds ratio of depression/anxiety disorders(OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.59–0.94). CONCLUSION: Some of activities outside work were related to sleep disorders and depression/anxiety disorders among Korean wage workers. Our results showed negative health effect of some kinds of activities outside work such as volunteering and self-devlopment compared to other studies that emphasized positive effect of those activities for health.

The association between perceived discrimination and depression/anxiety disorders among Korean workers: analysis of the third Korean Working Conditions Survey

BACKGROUND: Discrimination is a long-standing social problem, and interest in the health effects of discrimination has been increasing. Unfortunately, Korean workers experience various types and combinations of discrimination. This study aimed to examine the association between perceived discrimination and depression/anxiety disorders among Korean workers. METHODS: Data from 33,530 paid workers were extracted from the third Korean Working Conditions Survey. The data included general characteristics, occupational characteristics, perceived discrimination, and depression/anxiety disorders. To examine the relationship between perceived discrimination and depression/anxiety disorders, multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate depression/anxiety disorders as the dependent variable and perceived discrimination as the independent variable, after adjusting for relevant general and occupational characteristics. RESULTS: After adjusting for the relevant general and occupational characteristics, we observed that male and female workers who had experienced perceived discrimination exhibited a significantly higher likelihood of having depression/anxiety disorders. The odds ratios among male and female workers were 3.25 (95 % confidence interval: 2.45–4.32) and 4.56 (95 % confidence interval: 3.45–6.03), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived discrimination was significantly related to depression or anxiety disorders among Korean workers. The risk of depression or anxiety was higher among female workers, compared to male workers.

The association between shift work and depression in hotel workers

BACKGROUND: Shift work is vital in hotel businesses as these businesses run 24 h daily regardless of holidays to accommodate customers. The number of shift workers in hotel businesses is expected to increase consistently and it is crucial to study the impact of shift work on hotel workers' mental health. This study, therefore, aims to examine the association between depression and shift work in hotel workers. It especially focuses on investigating whether there is a difference in how closely these two are related depending on shift types. METHODS: A survey was conducted with 768 hotel workers who worked at two first-class hotels in Seoul. Out of 659 respondents total (response rate of 85.8 %), 506 respondents were selected as the final research subjects, excluding 153 respondents whose responses were incomplete. The survey was composed of questionnaires related to general characteristics, work-related characteristics, shift work, shift type, and depression level. The Korean Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale was used to evaluate the subjects' depression level. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted with depression as a dependent variable and shift type as an independent variable after relevant general and work-related characteristics were adjusted to examine the relationship between shift type and depression. RESULTS: After adjustment for relevant general and work-related characteristics, hotel workers had a significantly higher likelihood of belonging to the depression group than those with a fixed day shift, across all three shift types: rotating day shift (OR = 2.22, 95 % CI = 1.05-4.61), rotating night shift (OR = 2.63, 95 % CI = 1.11-6.24), and fixed night shift (OR = 3.46, 95 % CI = 1.02-11.74). CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that shift work was significantly related to depression in hotel workers and the risk of depression clearly differed among shift types. In particular, fixed night shift workers were most vulnerable to depression. Rotating day shift workers without night work could also have a higher risk of depression.

Fatigue and related factors among hotel workers: the effects of emotional labor and non-standard working hours

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed fatigue and its association with emotional labor and non-standard working hours among hotel workers. METHODS: A structured self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 1,320 employees of five hotels located in Seoul. The questionnaire survey included questions concerning the participants' sociodemographics, health-related behaviors, job-related factors, emotional labor, and fatigue. Fatigue was assessed using the Multidimensional Fatigue Scale (MFS). Multiple logistic regression modeling was used to determine the associations between fatigue and emotional labor. RESULTS: Among male workers, there was a significant association between fatigue and both emotional disharmony (OR=5.52, 95% CI=2.35-12.97) and emotional effort (OR=3.48, 95% CI=1.54-7.86). These same associations were seen among the female workers (emotional disharmony: OR=6.91, 95% CI=2.93-16.33; emotional effort: OR=2.28, 95% CI=1.00-5.16). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that fatigue is associated with emotional labor and, especially, emotional disharmony among hotel workers. Therefore, emotional disharmony management would prove helpful for the prevention of fatigue.

The Relationship between Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Work-related Risk Factors in Hotel Workers

OBJECTIVES: To identify work-related musculoskeletal symptoms and any associated work-related risk factors, focusing on structural labor factors among hotel workers. METHODS: A total of 1,016 hotel workers (620 men and 396 women) were analyzed. The questionnaire surveyed participants' socio-demographics, health-related behaviors, job-related factors, and work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. Work-related musculoskeletal symptoms were assessed using the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire. All analyses were stratified by gender, and multiple logistic regression modeling was used to determine associations between work-related musculoskeletal symptoms and work-related risk factors. RESULTS: The risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal symptoms was 1.9 times higher among male workers in the kitchen department than males in the room department (OR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.03-3.79), and 2.5 times higher among male workers with lower sleep satisfaction than those with higher sleep satisfaction (OR = 2.52, 95% CI = 1.57-4.04). All of the aforementioned cases demonstrated a statistically significant association with work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. Moreover, the risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal symptoms was 3.3 times higher among female workers aged between 30 and 34 than those aged 24 or younger (OR = 3.32, 95% CI = 1.56-7.04); 0.3 times higher among females in the back office department than those in the room department (OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.12-0.91); 1.6 times higher among females on shift schedules than those who were not (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.02-2.59); 1.8 times higher among females who performed more intensive work than those who performed less intensive work (OR = 1.88, 95% CI = 1.17-3.02), and; 2.1 times higher among females with lower sleep satisfaction than those with higher sleep satisfaction (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.34-3.50). All of the aforementioned cases also displayed a statistically significant association with work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study focused on structural risk factors in the working environment, such as the gender-based division of labor, shift work and labor intensity, that demonstrated a statistically significant correlation with the work-related musculoskeletal symptoms of hotel workers. Both men and women reported different prevalence rates of work-related musculoskeletal symptoms among different departments. This could indicate that a gender-based division of labor produces different ergonomic risk factors for each gender group. However, only females displayed a statistically significant correlation between shift work and labor intensity and musculoskeletal symptoms. Thus, minimizing ergonomic risk factors alone does not suffice to effectively prevent musculoskeletal diseases among hotel workers. Instead, work assignments should be based on gender, department, working hours and work intensity should be adjusted to address multi-dimensional musculoskeletal risk factors. In addition, an approach that seeks to minimize shift work is needed to reduce the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders.

The Association Between Hypertension and Lifestyle in Express Bus Drivers / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether or not there is an association between blood pressure and lifestyle habits in male express bus drivers. METHODS: The study subjects were 249 male express bus drivers. The data was obtained from annual health surveillance. A structured questionnaire was used to assess smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, daily hours of sleep, work duration and weekly working hours. The subjects' BMI (Body Mass Index) was classified using the World Health Organization diagnostic criteria for obesity in Asians, and their blood pressure was classified according to the JNC (Joint National Committee) 7 classification. Multiple cases of logistic regression modeling were used to determine associations between hypertension and the subjects' common characteristics, lifestyle habits and obesity were used as the independent variables. RESULTS: We found that lack of sleep was associated with hypertension (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.01~3.39) and obesity was also associated with hypertension (OR 2.81, 95% CI 1.59~4.98). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that daily hours of sleep and obesity were associated with hypertension in male express bus drivers. Due to the characteristics of this job, such as long hours and lack of exercise, it can result in obesity and lack of sleep, which can in turn influence occurrences of hypertension. Therefore, consideration of lack of sleep and obesity in their workers will be helpful for the management in the prevention of hypertension.

Prevalence of Low Back Symptom and Impact of Job Stress among Working Women as Clinical Nurses in University Hospitals / 여성건강간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to investigate the impact of job stress on low back symptoms among Clinical nurses (CNs) in university hospital. METHODS: A total of 322 CNs employed in a hospital in Seoul were interviewed by a well-trained interviewer using the structured questionnaire. Data collected for this study includes demographics, social and work characteristics, low back symptoms, and job stress. To test the impact of job stress on low back symptoms, we used multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of low back symptoms was 25.8% in this study. Low back symptoms differed significantly by factors, such as physical work burden, past history of injury and work duration. Also low back symptoms differed significantly by organizational system among independent variables of job stress. In a multiple logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio of organizational system to low back symptoms was 2.07 after an adjustment. CONCLUSION: This study showed that organizational system among job stress was a significant variable in explaining low back symptoms. We suggest the improvement of organizational system category as a preventive strategy for low back pain in CNs working in hospital.

The Relationship between Job Stress and Dyslipidemia in Express Bus Drivers / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether or not there is a relationship between job stress and dyslipidemia in male express bus drivers. METHODS: The study subjects were 301 male express bus drivers. The data was obtained from annual health surveillance. A structured questionnaire was used to assess sociodemographics, health-related behaviors and job characteristics. Job stress was measured by the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form. A measure of blood lipid levels, comprised of total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, was dichotomized and categorized into 'high' or 'low'. Multiple logistic regression modeling was used to determine an association between job stress and dyslipidemia, with blood lipid level as the dependent variable. RESULTS: We found that high job demand was associated with high total cholesterol (OR 3.25, 95% CI 1.18-8.95) and high LDL-cholesterol (OR 4.14, 95% CI 1.18-14.44) and lack of job control was associated with low HDL-cholesterol (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.04-3.56). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that job demand and lack of job control were associated with dyslipidemia in male express bus drivers. A job stress management program that emphasizes job demand and lack of job control is needed to prevent dyslipidemia in male express bus drivers.

Relationship of Shift Work to Cardiovascular and Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Korean Female Workers / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: We wanted to investigate the relationship of shift work to the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal symptoms of Korean female workers. METHODS: The data was analyzed from a cross-sectional survey of 1,875 Korean female workers. Information was obtained about the shift work, the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal symptoms and the background characteristics. Multiple regression analysis was used to test for the relationship between the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal symptoms and the shift work variables, while controlling for the covariates. RESULTS: Shift work was more common for blue-collar workers than for office workers. A higher proportion of current smokers and drinkers was observed for shift workers than for day workers. A full-time job was more popular for shift workers than for day workers, while more day workers worked over 8 hours per day than did the shift workers. The mean scores of the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal symptoms were significantly higher for shift workers than for day workers. Shift work was associated with 0.54 more cardiovascular symptoms and with 0.38 more gastrointestinal symptoms on a multiple regression analysis (p=0.001; p=0.020, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that shift work may increase the risks for cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disturbances. Therefore, preventive strategies are needed to control the negative effects of shift work in the workplace.

Related factors on Fatigue Symptom in Married Working women / 한국역학회지

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the related factors on fatigue symptoms among married working women. METHODS: Data was analyzed from a cross-sectional survey of 902 married working women. Information was obtained about fatigue symptoms, sociodemographics, health behaviors, and job-related characteristics. Multiple regression tested the related factors on fatigue symptoms in married working women. RESULTS: Fatigue was more common in office working women than in manufacture working women. Mean fatigue symptom was significantly higher in office working than in manufacture working women(p=0.002). In a multiple regression analysis, fatigue was associated with educational level, alcohol drinking state, stress, and overtime work in a multiple regression analysis(p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that fatigue is affected by job-related factor like overtime work with educational level, alcohol drinking state, or stress. Further research will be needed to establish preventive strategies for controlling the negative effects of fatigue on health stats of married working women.

Marital State and Job Satisfaction in Female Office Workers / 한국역학회지

OBJECTIVES: We wanted to investigate the marital state and job satisfaction of female office workers. METHODS: The data was analyzed from a cross-sectional survey of 995 female office workers. Information was obtained about the job satisfaction, sociodemographics, health behaviors, and job-related characteristics. Multiple regression analysis was used to test for the related factors of job satisfaction by marital state among female office workers. RESULTS: The mean score of individual items on job satisfaction was significantly higher in married than in unmarried women(p=0.014). Job satisfaction was associated with stress, employment type in unmarried women, whereas it was related with employment type in married women on a multiple regression analysis (p<0.001; p=0.006; p=0.026, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that job satisfaction is significantly higher in married than in unmarried women and it may be affected by job-related factor like employment type. Further research is needed to establish proper strategies for improving job satisfaction of female office workers.

Analysis of the Evaluation for Clinical Performance Examination using Standardized Patients in one Medical School / 한국의학교육

PURPOSE: Analysis of the evaluation for clinical performance examination (CPX) using standardized patient (SP) in one medical school was done to compare the evaluations between the staffs and SPs, among the staffs, and among the SPs, and to investigate the correlation between the evaluation scores and the school record. METHODS: Clinical performance examination was done to seventy-nine 4th grade medical students. Checklist was modified from the existing reference and added more items. Three SPs who were non-physician volunteers were trained by authors about what is the disease and how to act the patient and how to evaluate the students. Three staffs and three SPs both filled up the checklist at the same time right after each student's performance. RESULTS: Agreements between the staffs and the SPs were relatively high enough in the items of physical examination and management but low in the history taking related items although they were statistically significant. In the evaluation between the staffs and the SPs, the mean scores in the management and overall attitude were not significantly different, but, mean scores in the history taking, physical examination and overall skill were significantly different. Among the staffs there were no significant differences in history taking, physical examination, overall attitude, and there were significant differences in patient management and overall skill. Among the SPs there were no significant differences in physical exam, patient management and overall skill, and there were significant differences in history taking and overall attitude. The correlation coefficients between the evaluation scores and school records, between the evaluation scores and written report were relatively low respectively. CONCLUSION: To increase the agreement rates between the staffs and SPs, more training for the staffs and SPs are necessary

Cerebrovascular, and Other Health Effects, Due to the Exposure of Ex-Workers to Carbon Disulfide in the Maunfacture of Rayon / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cerebrovascular and other related health effcets, due to the exposure of ex-workers to carbon disulfide in the manufacture of rayon. METHODS: The study subjects comprised of 453 workers from the rayon manufacturing industry (387 males, 66 females). They were examined with a brain MRI and for other risk factors related to their occupation, such as age, work department, work duration, duration of work cessation, and blood pressure. Laboratory tests were also performed such as blood sugar, hemoglobin, cholesterol, etc. The cumulative exposure levels were calculated as the mean exposure level, per work department, multiplied by the total work duration in months. RESULTS: 75.1% of the subjects were between the ages of 40 and 59 years. 76.0% of the subjects had worked in high exposure departments (e.g., department of spinning and refining etc). 52.5% of the subjects had worked for more than 10 years, and 63.3% of the subjects had ginven up the work (exposure) more than 10 years earlier. The brain MRI findings were normal, a single lacunar infarct, multiple lacunar infarcts (mostly, on subcortex and white matter), and a hemorrhage in 52.5, 8.6, 36.2 and 2.7% respectively. Multiple lacunar infarcts were not related to the cumulative exposure level but in the female workers only, were significantly related to the increasing level of work duration (p<0.05), and in the male workers only, were related to the increased duration of work cessation and age (p<0.01). Abnormal rates of laboratory tests were higher in the multiple lacunar infarcts subjects with hypertension compared to theose with normal brain MRI findings (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The multiple lacunar infarcts of the brain seemed not to be related to the cumulative exposure level but to the low exposure departments, duration of work, duration of work cessation, age and hypertension. This was conducted as a health evaluation on workers from the rayon manufacturing industry who had terminated their exposure to carbon disulfide many years earlier.

Health Evaluation of ex-workers occupationally exposed to Carbon disulfide: Subjective Symptoms and Related Factors according to compensation for CS2 poisoning / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the chronological subjective symptoms and related factors in ex-workers who were occupationally exposed to Carbon disulfide. METHODS: One hundred and seventy-seven subjects (147 males and 30 females) were randomly selected among ex-workers and interviewed by well trained doctors, who filled out a structured questionnaire developed by authors on the subjective symptoms. The questionnaire was composed of symptoms in the head and neck, and those of the neuro-psychological, respiratory, endocrine, musculoskeletal, and reproductive systems. Other factors such as general and occupational characteristics including work department, work duration, duration since cessation of exposure, and compensation for occupational disease were also investigated. RESULTS: The mean subject age was 55.4 years. The mean cumulative exposure index (CEI) was 38.96 +/- 31.18. CEI was significantly higher in the compensated group (47.61 +/- 32.51) than in the non-compensated group (26.81 +/- 24.75)(p=0.000). Symptom complaints were significantly higher in the compensated group in all organ systems, and their incidence increased gradually until 10 years after cessation of work, and then decreased. The mean duration for cessation of exposure at the time of compensation was 10.97 years. The significantly different factors between the compensated group and the non-compensated group were total cumulative exposure index and the time interval between the cessation of work and the time of compensation. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that total cumulative exposure index and the time interval between the cessation of work and the time of compensation may be important factors affecting the compensation for occupational disease. Therefore, further studies will be necessary.

PBL Experience in the Screening of Chronic Disease / 한국의학교육

PURPOSE: Problem-based learning(PBL) experiences applied in the field of screening for chronic disease during the course of Community Medicine for the 3rd grade medical students were summarized. This study was aimed to train medical students the health appraisal ability and also the ability for public health education and promotion with health-oriented concept rather than disease-oriented one. And also it was aimed to train students to know what to learn and how to search the informations they need for themselves. STUDY SUBJECT AND METHOD: Three to four students in one team spent one and half days(Friday and Saturday) of one-week practical course of Community Medicine. Assigned materials were the medical records which are the files with the results of automated multiphasic screening tests which were applied to generally healthy people. Students were supposed to find, evaluate, solve or manage the real problems encountered from the multiphasic screening test results. RESULTS: The students accepted this self-directed learning process and small group discussion and also health-oriented human approach as new experiences and stimulants.

A Retrospective cohort study on the effect of health counselling through the level of gamma-GTP after screening test / 예방의학회지

1,281 male subjects who had been examined more than 3 times for regular check-up in one human dock center of the university hospital were studied between 1990-1995, to evaluate the effect of health counseling with life style and gamma-GTP value between 1054 normal group without intervention and 227 abnormal group with intervention, ages from 30 to 69 years old. Total mean value of gamma-GTP was 45.7+/-40.7 unit with highest gamma-GTP value in age group 50-59 on initial examination. Total abnormal rate was 17.7% with the highest abnormal rate of 18.6% in age group 50-59. Initially, the value of gamma-GTP was significantly different according to the degree of alcohol intake, relative weight and smoking in normal group(p<0.01) not in abnormal group. In conclusion, the value of gamma-GTP were significantly increasing in normal group without intervention and significantly decreasing in abnormal group with intervention(p<0.05), which suggests the effect of health counseling, such as the recommendation to change the health behaviour.

An analysis of liver function test of preemployment screening for office workers / 예방의학회지

This is to analyze and compare the distribution of the liver function test and its abnormal rates of the preemployment screening for office workers in asymptomatic young age groups between female and male. Liver function test(SGPT and SGOT) of 8,184 young adults(2,633 in female and 5,551 in male) were examined during the period from Jan.1,1994 to Dec. 31, 1994. The results were as follows; 1. Mean level of SGPT was 9.l+/-7.6(IU/L) in female, 21.0+/-27.9(IU/L) in male, and that of SGOT was 15.1+/-6.0(IU/L) in female, 20.5+/-26.5(IU/L) in male. There were significant differences(p<0.01) between female and male in both SPT and SGOT. And also there was significant increasing trend(p<0.05) by age groups in male for SGPT, decreasing trend(p<0.01) in female for SGOT. 2. In the abnormal rates of liver function test by the level of cut-off value, there were significant differences up to twice between the lowest and the highest cut-off value in both female(0.4% vs 0.7%) and male(6.5% vs 12.4%) 3. Abnormal rate of SGPT was 0.4% in female and 6.3% in male, and that of SGOT was 0.2% in female and 1.2% in male with significant differences between female and male in both tests.

The Percieved Health Status of Female Workers and It's Determinants in the Small and Medium Scaled Industries / 한국역학회지

458 female workers working in the small and medium scaled industries in Inchon area were surveyed to study their general characteristics, health behavior, working and environmental conditions, current health status etc. Self-administered questionnaire was developed by authors and distributed to the female workers with the explanation by trained interviewer on the purpose of survey and the method how to answer. The results were as follows: t. General characteristics showed that most(75.3%) of workers were living in their own home, and their age distribution was relatively even from teenagers to the forties. The level of education was high school graduate(including drop-out) in 69.4%, suggesting that the education level of female workers was increasing gradually. The marrital status was 69% in unmarried, and 31% in married state. 2. Survey on their health status showed that more than 20% of female workers complained that they have some kind of disease and most of them complained that they have chronic symptoms more than three kinds. Also, they complained at least two or three symptoms in physical, mental or sensoryneural symptoms respectively. But their medical care utility rate was only 22%. 3. There were no significantly correlated variables between health status and general characteristics(by x2-test). Among the variables on the health behavior, only alcohol drinking was significant to health status. Perceived health status related to the working environment was significantly different to the degree of work satisfaction and awareness for the exposure to harzadous materials. 4. Multivariable analysis showed that work satisfaction, awareness for the exposure to harzadous materials, alcohol drinking, type of employment were significantly related to the physical or mental health index, and also marrital status was to the physical health index. Work satisfaction, awareness for the exposure to harzadous materials, marrital status were related to the sensoryneural health index. Alcohol drinking, work satisfaction, awareness for the exposure to harzadous materials, marrital status were significantly related to the number of complained chronic symptoms. In summary, this study showed that inspite of wide and various range of the general characteristics of female industrial workers in Korea comparing to the past, there was high prevalence of disease due to the poor working conditions and low work satisfaction etc. Therefore, more detailed disease preventive policies or improvement of the work environment, and systematic management to raise the work satisfaction of female workers are urgently needed. And also, occupational health policies increasing the access to health care to provide the adequate health service for the workers who have perceived need are necessary.