BACKGROUND: Positive spousal support is considered to be effective for successful smoking cessation. In this study, interaction behaviors of spouses for smoking cessation and association of characteristics of spousal relationship with smoking cessation outcome was assessed. METHODS: Self-quitters who visited a family medicine clinic or a health promotion center were inquired on their smoking status and the relationship with their spouse by using the PIQ (partner interaction questionnaire). In a follow-up period of 3 and 6 months, current smoking status of each patient was assessed again by tele phone. RESULTS: The smoking cessation rate among the subjects was 14.1%. There were significant differences between the successful quitters group and the failed group in age and smoking years (P<0.05). For the mean PIQ scores based on 71 persons, the mean total PIQ score was 42.9 (SD 12.8), the mean positive PIQ score was 18.8 (SD 7.7), and the mean negative score was 24.1 (SD 6.9). We analyzed the association of PIQ scores with continuous abstinence at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. And there was no relationship between negative behaviors and abstinence at 3 and 6 months. Also, there was no relationship between the positive/negative score ratio and continuous abstinence at 3 and 6 months. CONCLUSION: The self quitters' partners were fairly interactive, but more of the interactions were negative in nature. Our data suggest that frequency of positive and negative interactions are not significantly related to the success rate of smoking cessation at 3- and 6-month follow-up periods.
Follow-Up Studies ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Smoking Cessation* ; Spouses

BACKGROUND: Serum gamma-GT is one of the biliary enzymes with the only enzymatic activity capable of cleaving extracellular glutathione, thus originating precursor amino acids for the intracellular resynthesis of glutathione. Several population-based studies have shown a strong cross-sectional association between serum gamma-GT concentration and cardiovascular risk factors. And prospective studies showed that serum gamma-GT concentration had a prognostic impact on cardiovascular mortality. But, the mechanism by which gamma-GT is associated with cardiovascular disease is not elucidated. We hypothesized that there was an association between serum gamma-GT and ferritin, a marker of oxidative stress. In this study, we investigated the relationship between serum gamma-GT and serum ferritin. METHODS: By reviewing the medical records of 288 healthy adults, we determined the serum levels of gamma-GT and ferritin according to age, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, hs-CRP, serum ferritin, AST, ALT, uric acid and smoking history. We studied the relationship between the variables by Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple stepwise regression analysis. Mean values of serum gamma-GT according to the smoking history were compared using t-test. RESULTS: Serum gamma-GT correlated positively with serum ferritin (r=0.42; P<0.001). BMI, triglycerides, total cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, AST and ALT also showed statistically significant correlation. Smokers showed significantly higher serum gamma-GT. Serum gamma-GT correlated with serum ferritin, ALT, current smoking and triglycerides by multiple stepwise regression analysis. CONCLUSION: Serum gamma-GT correlated positively with serum ferritin.
Adult* ; Amino Acids ; Blood Glucose ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Fasting ; Ferritins* ; gamma-Glutamyltransferase* ; Glutathione ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Oxidative Stress ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Triglycerides ; Uric Acid

BACKGROUND: Although proactive screening for sexual dysfunction in primary care has been emphasized as an important part of comprehensive care, doctors seldom ask their patients about their sexual function. Worry about patients' responses was reckoned as a major barrier, but few studies have dealt with how patients feel and what they want. This study was aimed to describe and analyze the attitudes of patients toward proactive screening for sexual dysfunction. METHODS: A set of self-administered questionnaire was given to every patients who visited a family medicine clinic in a university hospital for 2 weeks from March 16, 2005. RESULTS: A total of 185 patients were analyzed. Among them, 72.4% were willing to consult their physician when they were in trouble with their sexual function, and 84.3% said proactive screening for sexual dysfunction was necessary. Many patients did not care about 'when to be asked' and wanted to be asked in face-to-face interview rather than by a questionnaire. Sentence emphasizing that every patient is given the same question was most preferred. CONCLUSION: Patients' attitude toward proactive screening for sexual dysfunction in primary care was generally positive. Patients preferred to be asked "I ask every patient about his sexual problem. If you're OK, I ask you about your sexual problem." regardless of timing, during the interview.
Humans ; Mass Screening* ; Primary Health Care ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Since the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study indicated that the significant risks are associated with hormone replacement therapy (HRT), it has been highly expected that postmenopausal women have decisional conflict about HRT. We investigated how much decisional conflict women have in taking HRT and what factors were associated with this conflict. METHODS: A total of 312 postmenopausal women, who had been on HRT or just began, were surveyed from May 10 to June 27, 2005. The subjects were asked by questionnaire that included demographic characteristics and factors related to decisional conflict. Decisional conflict was assessed using the Decisional Conflict Scale (DCS) composed of 16 items. RESULTS: The mean score of DCS was 2.61, which was severe and lack of support from friends and relatives was the most common major conflicting factor. Forty-five percent of the participants started HRT by doctor's recommendation, but had a higher decisional conflict compared to those who started on their own or by encouragement from family and friends. Women who were exposed to mass-media or who had discontinued HRT previously had a lower conflict. Higher the educational level and longer the duration of HRT before stopping lowered decisional conflict. DCS was not significantly influenced by age, income, menopausal symptoms, duration of HRT and the history of hysterectomy. CONCLUSION: Postmenopausal women when making a decision to begin HRT had high conflict. The factors related to conflict were educational level, exposure to mass-media, and motivation to begin therapy. Therefore, adequate and continued counseling with doctors may reduce women's decisional conflict about HRT.
Counseling ; Female ; Friends ; Hormone Replacement Therapy* ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Motivation ; Women's Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: C-reactive protein (CRP) is one of the increasing plasma proteins in inflammatory diseases and tissue necrosis and recent evidence show that increased elevated levels of CRP are associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and obesity. To investigate the relationship of obesity and CRP, we evaluated the correlation of CRP with obesity index in healthy adults. METHODS: The subjects included 1,926 healthy adults (1,168 men and 758 women) who visited the Health Promotion Center of a general hospital from May to December 2004. We excluded subjects who had inflammatory diseases, and investigated based on age, physical examination, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, serum lipid profile, percentage of body fat, and body mass index (BMI). CRP was analyzed by method of Turbid Immuno Assay (TIA) which has high sensitivity-CRP. We evaluated serum level of CRP in relation to %body fat, BMI, and clustering of metabolic risk factors. RESULTS: Comparing the median CRP with the percentage of body fat, BMI, clustering of metabolic risk factors the value of CRP significantly increased according to increase in %body fat BMI and metabolic risk fakfor (P<0.001). The proportion of elevated CRP levels (> or =0.22 mg/dL) was increased as %body fat, BMI, and clustering of metabolic risk factor increased. The Odds Ratios for elevated levels of CRP were 1.5 (95% CI 1.0~2.1) in men and 2.9 (95% CI 1.7~4.8) in women for subjects with obesity (BMI> or =25 kg/m2), 2.0 (95% CI 1.3~2.9) in men with more than 25% %body fat, and 2.5 (95% CI 1.4~4.1) in women with more than 30% %body fat. CONCLUSION: As %body fat increased, the proportion of elevated CRP (> or =0.22 mg/dL) level increased in men and women. We conclude that obesity is related with CRP.
Adipose Tissue ; Adult* ; Blood Glucose ; Blood Pressure ; Blood Proteins ; Body Mass Index ; C-Reactive Protein* ; Coronary Disease ; Fasting ; Female ; Health Promotion ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Male ; Necrosis ; Obesity* ; Odds Ratio ; Physical Examination ; Risk Factors*

BACKGROUND: Recently, body composition analyzer has been used widely clinically. Various indirectly measured values of body are calculated without direct measuring. The abdominal circumference that is presented by such instrument may be used for diagnosing abdominal obesity, but the reliable evidence of the accuracy and the validity may be not be enough for application to general population. For this reason, the author investigated the usefulness of automatically produced abdominal circumference for diagnosing abdominal obesity. METHODS: The medical records of 5,555 outpatients who had undergone body composition analysis in a tertiary hospital was collected. The usefulness of the automatically presented abdominal circumference for diagnosing abdominal obesity among general population was investigated. RESULTS: There was a significant positive correlation between abdominal circumference measured by body composition analyzer and measuring tape in the normal, the overweight, and the obese groups of both gender. But, the results were the same only in females in the underweight group. The most significant difference between the two values were 4.8+/-5.0 cm in normal male group and -5.7+/-5.5 cm in female obese group. The difference of the male obese group was lesser than that of the overweight, the normal and the underweight groups. The difference of the male overweight group was lesser than that of the normal group. The difference of the female obese group was lesser than that of the overweight, the normal and the underweight groups. The sensitivity and specificity to detect abdominal obese person among the total subjects was 76.3% and 79.1%, respectively. The specificity was higher in all male and the normal female groups, wheras the sensitivity was higher in the obese and the overweight female groups. CONCLUSION: Physicians should confirm the accuracy of abdominal circumference, especially in normal males and obese female group, although the automatically presented value is convenient and reflects the manually measured one very well which is useful to diagnose abdominal obesity.
Body Composition* ; Body Mass Index* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medical Records ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Outpatients ; Overweight ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Thinness ; Waist Circumference

BACKGROUND: Reduced pulmonary function is a common outcome in pulmonary patients with reduced bone mineral density. But, there are few studies on the relationship in adult females who do not have pulmonary diseases. Thus, this study was to assess the correlation between bone mineral density and pulmonary function in healthy women. METHODS: A total of 193 subjects was selected among adult females who visited a health promotion center. BMD was measured by Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and T-score of lumbar spine (L1-L4) was used. Pulmonary function was measured by spirometer and questionnaire survey was used to obtain information from the subjects. RESULTS: Mean T-score of L-spine was -0.284, FEV1 (pred %) was 98.82% and BMI was 23.50 kg/m2. The results showed positive correlation (0.128) between BMD and FEV1 by multiple regression analysis (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: As FEV1 of subjects increased, BMD increased in adult women who did not have pulmonary diseases.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Adult* ; Bone Density* ; Female ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Lung Diseases ; Spine ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Drinking*

BACKGROUND: Chest pain is a problem that primary care physicians commonly face and often unnecessary work-up is done because of its clinical importance of cardiac origin. There are various studies on the causative disorders of chest pain, but studies on young adult males are relatively few. Therefore, we conducted this study on the cause of chest pain among young policemen. METHODS: Diagnosis and classification of chest pain were made among 106 policemen who visited the outpatient department of family medicine at the National Police Hospital from March 1, 2002 to June 30, 2002. RESULTS: The causes of chest pain were musculoskeletal (55%), psychogenic (17%), others (15%), gastrointestinal (7%) and respiratory (6%), but none of them were cardiovascular origin. The nature of chest pain were stabbing (41%), sharp (22%), pressing (18%), squeezing (16%) and substernal discomfort (3%). The duration of chest pain were below 10 minutes (37%), 10 minutes to 1 hour (15%), several hours (20%) and several days (28%). The location of chest pain were left chest (61%), right chest (18%), precordial (7%), epigastric (6%), substernal (4%) and others (4%). The frequencies of chest pain were more than once a day (23%), once a week (26%), once a month (11%), once more than 1 month interval (17%) and first attack (23%). The aggravating factors of chest pain were physical strain (25%), coughing (22%), psychologic stress (16%), smoking (10%), weather change (8%), drinking (7%), resting (5%), and overeating (6%). CONCLUSION: Our study showed that unnecessary tests should be avoided and adequate treatment matched to their causes through exact and detailed history taking should be done, because the causes of chest pain among young policemen are mostly non-cardiovascular origin.
Chest Pain* ; Classification ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Drinking ; Humans ; Hyperphagia ; Male ; Musculoskeletal Diseases ; Outpatients ; Physicians, Primary Care ; Police ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stress, Psychological ; Thorax* ; Weather ; Young Adult