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.
Blood Glucose ; Cohort Studies ; Fasting ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Life Style ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Function Tests ; Liver* ; Logistic Models ; Male* ; Marital Status ; Meat ; Questionnaires ; Risk Factors* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Solvents ; Ulsan

No abstract available.
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Prevalence*

To estimate the impact the discontinuance of regular exercise on serum lipids, we selected 90 healthy young adults who were recruited and completed their training course as scheduled(5-week basic physical training and 4-week indoor education) during the period February 1995 to April 1995. Serum lipids, height, and weight were measured three times(Time I: before training, Time II: after 5-week training, Time III: after 4-week detraining). Ninety study subjects were classified as underweight, normal and overweight based on the criteria of Katsura equation. Of 17 underweight subjects, two were weight maintainers and 15 were weight gainers. There was no significant change in serum lipids after detraining among 15 weight gainers. Of 64 normal weight subjects, three were weight losers, 12 weight maintainers and 49 were weight gainers. There was significant increase in total cholesterol after detraining among 12 weight maintainers(P<0.01). In addition to this, there was also significant increase in total cholesterol(P<0. 01), LDL- cholesterol(P<0. 01) and HDL-cholesterol(P<0.05) after detraining among 49 weight gainers. This might be due to the harmful effect of detraining except HDL-cholesterol change. Of nine overweight subjects, only one was weight loser and eight were weight maintainers. There was significant increase in HDL-cholesterol after detraining among 7 weight maintainers (P<0.05). However, there were no significant changes in total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol and MI index. The harmful effect of detraining was not observed in overweight subjects. In conclusion, the harmful effect of detraining was observed in weight maintainers and weight gainers among normal weight subjects after regular exercise.
Cholesterol ; Humans ; Overweight ; Thinness ; Triglycerides ; Weight Gain ; Young Adult

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship of body fatness indicators and serum lipids (total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low density lipoprotein(LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, myocardial infarction(MI) index) to find anthropometric indicators of body fat distribution that are strongly associated with serum lipids. 347 adult male workers of an industry in Kyungpook province were selected and data on the general characteristics were obtained using questionnaire from June 26 to June 29, 1991. Serum lipids were tested with 5 ml fasting blood and height, weight, circumferences of waist, hip and mid-thigh, five subcutaneous fat thickeness(biceps, triceps, supscapular, suprailiac, thigh) were mea sured using Ultrasound type A TATT. Waist circumference, waist/hip circumference ratio and subcutaneous fat thickness of suprailiac area are significantly increased with increasing age, but thigh circumference is significantly decreased (P< 0.05). These results suggest that central obesity is closely related to age and waist circumference may be the best indicator of body fatness or body fat distribution in men. In younger age group(below 40 year old), the result of canonical correlations analysis suggests that circumferences(0.501) was slightly closely related to serum lipids than subcutaneous fat thickness(0.493), however, in older age group (above 40 year old), subcutaneous fat thickness(0.528) were more strongly associated with serum lipids than circumferences(0.419). Weighted canonical analyses suggest that biceps and suprailiac areas in younger age group and sub scapular area in older age group are stronger indicators of serum lipids among .subcutaneous fatness measurements. Of the circumferences, waist is the most strongest indicator of serum lipids in both age groups. Therefore, it is recommended that circumference of waist and subcutaneous fat thickness of subscapular area should be measured to estimate the degree of central obesity for preventing cardiovascular disease in men.
Adipose Tissue* ; Adult ; Body Fat Distribution* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Fasting ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hip ; Humans ; Lipoproteins ; Male ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Subcutaneous Fat ; Thigh ; Triglycerides ; Ultrasonography ; Waist Circumference ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: The causes of chest pain vary but the leading cause of chest pain is ischemic heart disease. Mortality from ischemic chest pain has increased more than two fold over the last ten years. The purpose of this study was to determine the data necessary for rapid treatment of patients with signs and symptoms of ischemic chest pain in the emergency department (ED). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We interviewed 170 patients who had ischemic chest pain in the emergency department of Yeungnam University Hospital over 6 months with a protocol developed for the evaluation. The protocol used included gender, age, arriving time, prior hospital visits, methods of transportation to the hospital, past medical history, final diagnosis, and outcome information from follow up. RESULTS: Among 170 patients, there were 118 men (69.4%) and the mean age was 63 years. The patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were 106 (62.4%) and with angina pectoris (AP) were 64 (37.6%). The patients who had visited another hospital were 68.8%, twice the number that came directly to this hospital (p<0.05). The ratio of patients who visited another hospital were higher for the AMI (75.5%) than the AP (59.4%) patients (p<0.05). The median time spent deciding whether to go to hospital was 521 minutes and for transportation was 40 minutes. With regard to patients that visited another hospital first, the median time spent at the other hospital was 40 minutes. The total median time spent before arriving at our hospital was 600 minutes (p>0.05). The patients who had a total time delay of over 6 hours was similar 54.8% in the AMI group and 57.9% in the AP group (p>0.05). As a result, only 12.2% of the patients with an AMI received thrombolytics, and 48.8% of them had a simultaneous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In the emergency department 8.5% of the patients with an AMI died. CONCLUSION: Timing is an extremely important factor for the treatment of ischemic heart disease. Most patients arrive at the hospital after a long time lapse from the onset of chest pain. In addition, most patients present to a different hospital before they arrive at the final hospital for treatment. Therefore, important time is lost and opportunities for treatment with thrombolytics and/or PCI are diminished leading to poor outcomes for many patients in the ED. The emergency room treatment must improve for the identification and treatment of ischemic heart disease so that patients can present earlier and treatment can be started as soon as they present to an emergency room.
Angina Pectoris ; Chest Pain* ; Diagnosis ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Mortality ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Thorax* ; Transportation

A case-control study was conducted to investigate the risk factors (Part of job, Obesity, Alcohol, Smoking, Milk, Salt, and Family history) for hypertension. We selected 330 hypertension cases (male; 247, female; 83) and 1,336 controls (male; 887, female; 449) from employees in Taegu city from 1 May to 30 November, 1988. Data was analysed using a logistic regression model. Statistically Significant elevated odds ratio were noted for alcohol (odds ratio=3.23), obesity (odds ration=2.31), salt (odds ratio=1.75) in male (P<0.05) and those in female were noted for alcohol (odds ratio=16.49), family history (odds ratio=3.70), obesity (odds ratio=1.74) and salt (odds ratio=1.73) (P<0.05). Statistically significant reduced odds ratio was noted for milk in both sexes (odds ratio=0.69 for male and 0.65 for female) (P<0.05) and the dose-response relationship between milk intake and hypertension was confirmed (P<0.05). Therefore, milk seems to be preventive factor for hypertension. Smoking was not significantly associated with hypertension in both sexes. The part of job was significantly associated with hypertension in female by simple analysis (P<0.05) but the relationship was disappeared when multivariate analysis (logistic regression analysis) was done.
Case-Control Studies* ; Daegu ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Milk ; Multivariate Analysis ; Obesity ; Odds Ratio ; Risk Factors* ; Smoke ; Smoking

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the total cholesterol levels and related factors in a rural adult population. METHODS: 3,207 adults( 1,272 men and 1,935 women) were examined in 1997. Their heights, weights, and fasting serum total cholesterol levels were measured, and their body mass indices were calculated. A questionnaire interviewing method was used to collect risk factor data. RESULTS: The mean value of total cholesterol were 190.5 mg/dl, and 198.8 mg/dl, and the age-adjusted prevalence rates for hypercholesterolemia (above 240 mg/dl) were 13.7% and 10.2%, in men and women, respectively. From simple analyses, age, educational level, coffee intake, amount of meat and food intake, waist circumference, waist-hip circumference ratio(WHR), and body mass index(BMI) were significant risk factors in men (p<0.05) relating to serum total cholesterol levels. In women, age, educational level, hypertension history, diabetes history, herbal drug history, amount of food intake, alcohol consumption, waist circumference, WHR, BMI, and menopausal status were significant risk factors (p<0.05). In multiple linear regression analyses, waist circumference (p<0.01), BMI (p<0.01), and coffee intake (p<0.05) proved to be significant risk factors in men. Whereas, menopausal status (p<0.01), BMI (p<0.01), herbal drug history (p<0.01), amount of food intake (p<0.05), waist circumference (p<0.05), and alcohol consumption (p<0.05) were significant risk factors in women. Conclusions : The significant risk factors, for both men and women, relating to the serum total cholesterol were waist circumference and BMI. Thus, for the reduction of serum total cholesterol level, it is recommended that health education for the control of obesity should be implemented.
Adult* ; Alcohol Drinking ; Cholesterol* ; Coffee ; Eating ; Fasting ; Female ; Health Education ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Life Style ; Linear Models ; Male ; Meat ; Obesity ; Prevalence ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Risk Factors ; Waist Circumference ; Weights and Measures

To determine the hepatitis B virus infection rate of medical school students and appropriate time for immunization with hepatitis B vaccine, 385 students in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades of Medical School of Kyungpook National University who had not been vaccinated and volunteered to participate in this study were tested for HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc with radioimmunoassay method (Abbortt Lab. kit). A questionnaire was administered to ask the history of transfusion, acupuncture and surgery. HBsAg positive students were retested 16 months after the initial test. Overall HBsAg positive rate was 6.8% and the age adjusted rate for male (7.2%) was higher than that for female (4.9%). Anti-HBs positive rate was 35.8% (36.1% for male, 37.9% for male) and anti-HBc positive rate was 45.5% (46.5% for male, 44.7% for femaleP. Overall hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection rats was 49.1% and the infection rate for male (50.3%) was slightly higher than that for female (46.5%). HBsAg positive rate and infection rate were increased as the grade increased but it was attributed to the age distribution of the students. HBsAg positive rate for 20 years old students was 1.7%; 21 years, 6.6%; 22 years, 6.1%; 23 years, 12.2%; and 24 years and older, 6.4%. HBV infection rate showed an increasing trend as age increased; 45.8% for 20 years, 41.5% for 21 years, 49.5% for 22 years, 55.5% for 23 years and 59.6% for 24 years and older. The age differences in HBsAg positive rates and HBV infection rates did not reach the statistical significance level of 0.05. However, these findings and similar age differences in HBsAg positive rates and HBV infection rates observed in other study suggest that there is a significant age differences. Study of the same age group in other schools and different social classes is warranted to confirm the age difference. Clarification of the reason for such differences would provide a clue to identify the major route of HBV transmission in this age group. Among 26 HBsAg positive students in the initial test, only one student was active hepatitis patient. Out of 24 students who had follow-up test after 16 months 22 students were positive for HBsAg and two students became HBsAg negative and anti-HBs positive. It is obvious that nearly one-half of the medical school students were infected with HBV before 20 years of age and the HBV infection occurs in medical school. Thus, it is recommended to test all the students for HBV infection soon after the admission to the medical school and immunize all the susceptible students with hepatitis B vaccine and give booster as they start to practice at a hospital.
Acupuncture ; Age Distribution ; Animals ; Daegu* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B Vaccines ; Hepatitis B virus* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Immunization ; Male ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Radioimmunoassay ; Rats ; Schools, Medical* ; Social Class ; Young Adult

This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between change in obesity indices and change in serum lipids in adult male workers. Two-hundred-eight adult male workers of an industry in Taegu city were followed-up from 1991 to 1995. Height, weight, circumferences of hip and waist, blood pressure were measured and serum lipids were analysed. Data on life style were obtained using self-administered questionnaires. Mean differences of anthropometric measurements between 1991 and 1995 were as follows; 1.63kg in weight, 3.61cm in waist circumferences, 4.23cm in hip circumferences, 0.52kg/m2 in BMI and -0.021 in WHR. Those of lipids were as follows; 15.09mg/dl in total cholesterol, 20.43mg/dl in triglyceride, 9.40mg/dl in HDL-cholesterol, 2.87 in MI-index(p<0.01) and 350mg/dl in LDL-cholesterol. The changed value of BMI and Katsura index were strongly correlated with that of total cholesterol(r=0.174, p<0.05), the changed value of BMI correlated with that of triglyceride(r=0.374, p<0.01) and the changed value of weight correlated with that of MI index(r=-0.173, p<0.05). The changed value of WHR was significantly correlated with that of total cholesterol(r=0.162, p<0.05), however, was not significantly correlated with HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglyceride and MI index. The changed value of weight, BMI and Katsura index were correlated with that of triglyceride(r=0.262, p<0.01; r=0.267, p<0.01; r=0.258, p<0.01) and the changed value of MI index(r=-0.143, p<0.05; r=-0.158; r=-0.144, p<0.01), adjusting the pattern of change in life style. The changed values of HDL-cholesterol and MI index between 1991 and 1995 in low WHR group were significantly higher than those in high WHR group(p<0.05, p<0.01), adjusting the baseline value of them. Similar pattern was observed when considering Katsura index. When stratifying by BMI value of 1991, in low BMI group, the changed value of HDL-cholesterol and MI index showed the same pattern as above, however the of triglyceride was statistically higher in obese group than in non obese group(p<0.05). In conclusion BMI might be a better indicator to predict serum lipids change than other obesity indices.
Adult* ; Blood Pressure ; Cholesterol ; Daegu ; Hip ; Humans ; Life Style ; Male* ; Obesity* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Triglycerides ; Waist Circumference

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the effects of an oral vitamin supplementation on cognitive function in the elderly, 254 elderly people(experiment group) who were received an oral vitamin supplement for one-year was compared with 292 elderly who were treated as the control group in Koje city during the study period(from February 1997 to March 1998). METHODS: The cognitive function was tested by mini-mental state examination Korea(MMSE-K). Multiple regression analysis was done to control other confounding variables such as gender, age, educational level, smoking, alcohol, a past 15-day medical history, satisfaction for living cost, family number, cognitive function of the baseline survey. RESULTS: In the baseline survey, the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 31%(mild impairment 12.5% and severe impairment 18.5%). There was a significant difference(0.76) in cognitive change in the elderly between two groups, 0.68 improved in the experiment group and 0.08 worsen in the control group(p<0.01). In multiple regression analysis, the significant variables were an oral vitamin supplementation, a past 15-day medical history, family number, cognitive function of baseline survey(p<0.05). The improvement of cognitive function was observed in those who do not have a past 15-day medical history, have a large family number, and have a low cognitive function of the baseline survey. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that an oral vitamin supplementation was effective in improving the cognitive function in the elderly and more effective in the cases with abnormal cognitive function.
Aged* ; Confounding Factors (Epidemiology) ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Vitamins*