Low cholesterol is associated with mortality from cardiovascular diseases: a dynamic cohort study in Korean adults.

This study was conducted to evaluate the association of single serum total cholesterol (TC) measurement with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) deaths in Korean adults. The study subjects were taken from the multi-site collaborative dynamic prospective cohort for epidemiologic investigation on cancer risk in residents nearby nuclear power plants in Korea. A total of 12,740 adults aged 40 to 69 yr who underwent a mass screening examination were followed up from 1993 to 2008. Occurring CVD deaths were confirmed by the death certificates in the National Statistical Office, Korea. Groups with the lowest group having TC < 160 mg/dL as well as the highest group having >= 240 mg/dL were associated with higher CVD mortality in Cox proportional hazards analysis adjusting for age, sex, smoking and drinking status, body mass index, level of blood pressure, triglyceride and high density lipoprotein cholesterol. The distribution of adjusted hazard ratios showed the U-shaped curve. Based on the results of this study, caution should be taken in prescribing statins for primary prevention among people at low cardiovascular risk in Korean adults.

[Survival rates of the 5 major cancers in Jeju Island residents, 2000-2001].

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to calculate the survival rates of cancer patients in Jeju Island residents from 2000 to 2001, based on their major primary sites of occurrence. METHODS: Data were extracted from the database of the Jejudo Cancer Registry (JCR). The eligible population comprised 2,382 cancer cases, whose cancers were diagnosed from 1 January 2000 through 31 December 2001. Of the eligible population, 1,438 patients with 5 major cancers defined by the level of incidence rates were selected as the study participants. The period of survival for each case was calculated from the date of first diagnosis to the date of death, or the end of follow-up, i.e., 31 December 2003. The observed survival rates (OSR) and relative survival rates (RSR) were calculated according to sex, age-group, and primary sites of occurrence. RESULTS: The 3-year OSR and RSR in 5 major cancers were higher in women than in men except 75 year-old over group. The 3-year RSR of stomach, colorectum, liver, and lung in both sexes were 61.0%, 62.6%, 24.7%, and 22.8%, respectively. The respective rates in JCR showed some statistically significant differences from those in the Korea Central Cancer Registry (KCCR). CONCLUSIONS: These results would suggest some clues about prognostic factors of major cancers in Korean, and could apply to planning and evaluating of cancer control strategies in Jeju Island.

[Estimation of a nationwide statistics of hernia operation applying data mining technique to the National Health Insurance Database].

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to develop a methodology for estimating a nationwide statistic for hernia operations with using the claim database of the Korea Health Insurance Cooperation (KHIC). METHODS: According to the insurance claim procedures, the claim database was divided into the electronic data interchange database (EDI_DB) and the sheet database (Paper_DB). Although the EDI_DB has operation and management codes showing the facts and kinds of operations, the Paper_DB doesn't. Using the hernia matched management code in the EDI_DB, the cases of hernia surgery were extracted. For drawing the potential cases from the Paper_DB, which doesn't have the code, the predictive model was developed using the data mining technique called SEMMA. The claim sheets of the cases that showed a predictive probability of an operation over the threshold, as was decided by the ROC curve, were identified in order to get the positive predictive value as an index of usefulness for the predictive model. RESULTS: Of the claim databases in 2004, 14,386 cases had hernia related management codes with using the EDI system. For fitting the models with applying the data mining technique, logistic regression was chosen rather than the neural network method or the decision tree method. From the Paper_DB, 1,019 cases were extracted as potential cases. Direct review of the sheets of the extracted cases showed that the positive predictive value was 95.3%. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that applying the data mining technique to the claim database in the KHIC for estimating the nationwide surgical statistics would be useful from the aspect of execution and cost-effectiveness.