Estimated flavonoid intakes according to socioeconomic status of Korean adults based on the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007~2012 / 한국영양학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to estimate the dietary flavonoid intakes of Korean adults according to socioeconomic status. METHODS: Using data from the 2007~2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a total of 31,112 subjects aged over 19 years were included in this study. We estimated individuals' daily intakes of total flavonoids and seven flavonoid subclasses, including flavonols, flavones, flavanones, flavan-3-ols, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidin, and isoflavones,by linking food consumption data with the flavonoids database for commonly consumed Korean foods. We compared intakes of flavonoids according to the levels of household income and education. RESULTS: Average dietary flavonoid intakes of the study subjects were 321.8 mg/d in men and 308.3 mg/d in women. Daily flavonoid intakes were positively associated with household income level (p < 0.0001) and education level (p < 0.0001). The subjects in the highest household income and highest education level group (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.30~0.45, p < 0.0001 in men, OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.41~0.60, p < 0.0001 in women) had a lower likelihood of having low total flavonoid intake (less than 25 percentile) compared to the lowest household income and lowest education level group. The food group that contributed to total flavonoid intake with the biggest difference between the lowest and highest groups for both household income level and education level was beverages. CONCLUSION: This study shows that socioeconomic status was positively associated with flavonoid intake in a representative Korean population. Further research is needed to analyze the association of flavonoid intake with health outcomes according to socioeconomic status such as household income and education level.

Clinical Benefits of Preoperative Percutaneous Transhepatic Gallbladder Drainage in Patients Older than Sixty with Acute Cholecystitis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical benefits of preoperative percutaneous transhepatic drainage (PTGBD), especially regarding morbidity and mortality, in patients aged 60 or older with acute cholecystitis. METHODS: A retrospective study was done on a series of elderly patients (>60 years old; n=132) who had been diagnosed between January 2007 and December 2009 as having acute cholecystitis. The patients were divided into 4 groups; cases in which only laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) was done (Group 1, n=84), cases in which LC was done after preoperative PTGBD (Group 2, n=15), cases in which only open cholecystectomy was done (Group 3, n=23), and cases in which open cholecystectomy was done after preoperative PTGBD (Group 4, n=10). We analyzed between group differences in surgical outcomes including periods of postoperative fast and postoperative hospital stay, OP. morbidity, and open conversion rate. RESULTS: Patients in Group 1 had fewer underlying medical problems and lower ASA scores than patients in groups 2, 3, or 4 (p<0.05). Mean operating time in Group 2 (113.66+/-107.5 min) was significantly longer than in group 1 (72.02.9+/-34.2 min) (p<0.05) and the open conversion rate was higher (8.33% vs 26.67%). But, blood loss (ml) and OP time in Group 2 were lower than in Group 3 or 4 (p<0.001). Postoperative recovery progression (periods of postoperative fasting and length of postoperative hospital stay) of Group 2 were better than in groups 3 or 4 (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Pre-operative PTGBD procedures in elderly patients with acute cholecystitis is a good clinical option as a pretreatment to a cholecystitis operation.

Abdominal Computed Tomography in Patients with Right Lower Quadrant Pain

PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of abdominal computed tomography (CT) for patients with right lower quadrant (RLQ) pain. METHODS: Between January 2006 and July 2008, 191 consecutive patients with RLQ pain underwent abdominal CT (CT group). Forty-two patients who had undergone abdominal ultrasound (US group) and 52 patients without abdominal CT or abdominal ultrasound for RLQ pain (clinical Dx group) underwent emergent operations. Using the Alvarado scoring system, we scored all patients. The abdominal CT was performed in the abdominal and pelvic area with contrast. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-one (63.4%) of the 191 patients in the CT group were preoperatively diagnosed as having acute appendicitis and underwent surgery. There were three cases of negative appendectomy (1.6%). In the US group and the clinical Dx group, the negative appendectomy rates were 4.8% and 3.8%, respectively. The sensitivity of the abdominal CT was 96.7%. In the CT group, in addition to acute appendicitis, colitis, nonspecific enteritis, diverticulitis, urinary stone, ovary, uterine, and diseases were indentified. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, abdominal CT scans in patients with RLQ pain were useful for the diagnosis acute appendicitis and for the differential diagnosis of other diseases presenting with RLQ pain. The false positive rate was significantly lower in the CT group than in the other groups.