ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to estimate the incidence of abnormal liver function and risk factors in male employees of an industry in Ulsan City. METHODS: Five hundreds and seventy nine male employees were selected as the study cohort and 533(92.1%) of them were followed after one year. The blood sample was collected to test for AST, ALT, gamma-GTP, total-cholesterol, fasting blood sugar and a self-administered questionnaire on life style was done. General characteristics(age, marital status, educational level), job department, exposure status for organic solvents, life style(alcohol, smoking, exercise, diet), past history of liver disease, family history of liver disease, drug intake, HBsAg, blood glucose, total-cholesterol were considered as risk factors. The result of liver function test after 1 year follow-up was treated as dependent variable. The operational definition of abnormal liver function was as follows; those who had abnormal liver functions in the two repeated tests with one month interval. RESULTS: The annual incidence of abnormal liver function was 9.6 per 100 and age-standardized incidence was 9.5. BMI, alcohol, past history of liver disease, and meat intake were significantly related to the incidence(p<0.05). In multiple logistic regression analysis, BMI(RR=2.70, 95% CI=1.41-5.16) and alcohol(RR=1.98, 95% CI=1.08-3.60) were proved as the significant variables. By stratified analysis considering changing pattern of alcohol and BMI, the relative risk of the BMI normal-normal and alcohol intake high-high group was 2.24(95% CI=1.09-4.62) and that of the BMI obese-obese and alcohol intake high-high group was 5.66(95% CI=2.69-11.88) compared with that of BMI normal-normal and alcohol intake low-low group. CONCLUSIONS: The age-standardized annual incidence of abnormal liver function was 9.5 per 100 in male employees. Thus, an active effort for reducing alcohol intake and controlling BMI should be done to reduce the incidence.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Blood Glucose , Cohort Studies , Fasting , Follow-Up Studies , Hepatitis B Surface Antigens , Incidence , Life Style , Liver Diseases , Liver Function Tests , Liver , Logistic Models , Marital Status , Meat , Surveys and Questionnaires , Risk Factors , Smoke , Smoking , SolventsABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of zinc administration on the autistic children. the subject diagnosed as infantile autism were 24 male and 10 female children of a special school in Taegu city. Control group were selected from 1 : 2 ratio matched with cases on sex and age. The results were as follows. In female autistic group, the mean content of zinc in hair was significantly lower than control group, but in male the result was inverse at all age group. The content of zinc in hair showed significant correlation with age in male autistic group and control group. Zinc content of hair, age and sex accounted for 37.2% of the variance of autistic score and the most significant variable was zinc content. Autistic group were divided into two group. Group I which zinc content of hair below 150 ppm were administrated with multi-vitamin contained 10mg of zinc, Group II which zinc content of hair above 150 ppm were administrated with placebo. Total administration period was eight weeks. In zinc administration group, there was a decreasing tendency of autistic score as the zinc content of hair was increased but the relationship was not statistically significant.