At the Beginning of "Committee of Health for Nation, KMA"

The WHO defines "Health" as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Now, it is recognized comprehensively including spiritual area. The trends of diseases have been also changed from infectious and parasitic diseases to life-style related diseases. Prevention in common life is more important than before. The Korean Medical Association has actively taken a part in public health promotion and in other activities to come closer to public. As a part of these efforts, Committee of Health for Nation was organized as a special committee in June and it has nine sub-specialty committees under its umbrella. Sub-specialty committees have been organized by top experts in their respective fields, including allergy/atopy, food safety, cancer, metabolic syndrome, environment, anti-tobacco committee and so forth. They are taking the lead in producing guidelines for both physicians and patients against certain diseases and deliver the most reliable information to public in the event of controversial issues like mass food-poisoning in schools, where people just get confused with overflow of different views. The committee also aims to summit recommendations to the Government in its policy making process for better operation of national health system as a way of delivering voices from the forefront of healthcare.

Effects of Tibolone and Active Vitamin D Combined Treatment on Bone Mineral Density in Korean Postmenopausal Women / 대한내분비학회지

BACKGROUND: Tibolone is a novel synthetic compound with tissue-specific effects in bone, breast tissue and the endometrium. Tibolone, and active vitamin D, effectively prevent bone loss, and the maintain skeletal integrity of postmenopausal women. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of tibolone, and active vitamin D (1-hydroxyvitamin D3), therapies given alone, or in combination, against bone loss in postmenopausal women. METHODS: One hundred and three postmenopausal women were treated with tibolone (n=40), alphacalcidol (n=27) or both drugs (n=36) for 12 months. All subjects took supplemental calcium carbonate (500 mg daily). The bone mineral densities (BMD) of the lumbar spine and proximal femur were measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at the baseline and after 12 months. RESULTS: Tibolone therapy produced significant increase of 4.1 and 1.8% in the BMD at the lumbar spine (p<0.001) and femoral neck (p=0.009), respectively. The combination of tibolone and active vitamin D increased the BMD by 8.0 and 4.4% (p<0.001) at the spine and femoral neck, respectively. The differences in the change of BMD from the baseline at the lumbar spine was significant (p=0.038) in the combination treatment group compared that in the tibolone alone group. CONCLUSION: Tibolone alone, and in combination with active vitamin D, effectively increased the BMD at all skeletal sites in postmenopausal women. Combination treatment for osteoporosis is emerging as a promising modality in Korean postmenopausal women.