BACKGROUND: The regional fat distribution is known to be related with some cardiovasular risk factors independently to total body fat amount. Regional fat distribution pattern can be assessed by waist to-hip ratio(WHR). WHR distribution patterns depend on age, sex, race and show regional difference. But, our own unique data are inadequate, so we tried to investigate distribution patterns, cut off points and related factors of WHR in middle aged men and women among Korean. METHODS: The study population were middle aged men and women above 40 years old who visited our hospital for routine check up from April to July, 1996. We measured height, weight, blood pressure, waist circumference, hip circumference, fasting blood sugar and total cholesterol in 1,000 persons. We gathered data about diet habits, exercise, smoking and drinking status by standard questionnaire. We analized above data by using SAS for Window 6.10. RESULTS: The study population numbers of men and women were 494 and 499, and average ages of men and women were 49.3 and 50.5 years respectively. For men, the average WHRs as a whole were 0.895, and 0.893, 0.893 and 0.911 in their forties, fifties and above sixties respectively. For women, the average WHRs as a whole were 0.827, and 0.816, 0.837 and 0.850 in their forties, fifties and above sixties respectively. The percentage above WHR 1.0, 0.95, and 0.90 in men were 2.4%, 11.7% and 46% and the percentage above WHR 0.90, 0.85, and 0.80 in women were 8.2%, 32.9% and 68.7%. Adjusting by age, body mass index, WHR was significantly correlated with weight, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure in men only. For men, WHR was associated with alcohol drinking positively and with exercise negatively. For women, WHR was associated with alcohol drinking and smoking status positively. CONCLUSIONS: The WHR had a tendency to increase according to age. The 90th percentile points in men and women were 0.957 and 0.894 respectively. WHR was related with several cardiovascular risk factors and several life styles.
Adipose Tissue ; Adult ; Alcohol Drinking ; Blood Glucose ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Cholesterol ; Continental Population Groups ; Drinking ; Fasting ; Female ; Food Habits ; Hip ; Humans ; Life Style ; Male ; Middle Aged* ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Waist Circumference ; Waist-Hip Ratio* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.
Anemia* ; Erythropoietin* ; Humans* ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature*

PURPOSE: This retrospective study was done to evaluate the status of nosocomial urinary tract infections and to determine the risk factors andtransmission route of causal IRPA through molecular epidemiology. METHOD: Two hundred ninety-nine of 423 patients admitted to the internal medicine and surgery ICU at a university hospital incity B had a positiveurine culture. Twelve of the 299 patients who had a urinary tract infection had IRPA strains. The data was collected from November 1, 2004 to January 31, 2005. The following results were obtained after the data was analyzed using percentile and UPGMA. RESULT: The rate of nosocomial urinary tract infections in the ICU was 10.8%. Therewere 16.8 cases of infection based on the period of hospitalization. There were 16.9 cases of infection based on the use of a foley catheter. The rate of nosocomial urinary tract infection in the ICU and urinary tract infections related to IRPA were higher in patients with the following characteristics: men, old age, admission through the emergency room, longer than seven days admission, severity of admitting causes, disturbance of consciousness, hydration less than 300cc in 24hours, a long course of antibiotics, a long period of foley catheterization and perineal care. Most of the microorganisms that caused the urinary tract infection were gram negative bacilli, among which P. aeruginosa was found in 70 patients (18.5%) and IRPA in 12 (4.0%). Among the 12 IRPA strains that were tested with PFGE, eight showed a dice coefficient higher than 80%, suggesting a genetic relationship. They were related with the period of hospitalization in the same ICU. These patients all received direct care for a urinary tract infection. CONCLUSION: Through these results, IRPA can be consideredas a contributing factors to urinary tract infections thus, active preventative measures are needed by the medical staff.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/*pharmacology ; Cross Infection/*epidemiology/etiology/microbiology ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Female ; Humans ; Imipenem/*pharmacology ; Intensive Care Units ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pseudomonas Infections/drug therapy/*epidemiology ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa/classification/drug effects/*genetics ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Urinary Catheterization ; Urinary Tract Infections/*epidemiology/etiology/microbiology

The purpose of this study was to identify how students majoring in nursing perceive cause of cancers and the effects of diet for preventing cancers. Data for the study were collected by 651 nursing students, who were registered in the second and third year in three technical colleges and third and fourth year in two universities. The research instruments included items on general characteristics of subjects, items about the degree of perception of the frequency of cancer onset and items on the perception of mortality, risk factors, preventive diets, knowledge, and high risk factor for cancer in specific body areas. The findings of this study are as follows : 1. Almost all subjects(92.8%) reported that the frequency of cancer onset increases and that it is 93.9% for people over 40. Degree of perception about cancer mortality was low at 33.0%. 2. As far as the perception of risk factors for cancer onset was concerned, smoking, stress, heredity, family history, and alcohol were rated high, over 80.0%. Risk factor in clouding, virus, hormones, pesticides were rated as low. 3. As to the perception of risk factor for body area as associated with diet salted and scorched food were rated at 44.5% for stomach cancer, alcohol, 50.4% for liver cancer, smoking, 72.8% for lung cancer, pregnancy times, 25.3%, and marriage age, 23.0% for uterine cancer, and no delivery experience, 40% for breast cancer. 4. The knowledge score for cancer was between 12 and 36, with a mean score of 26.75(SD=4.13). There was a statistically significant difference between experience in caring for cancer patients during clinical practice and knowledge score(t=3.09, p=.002).
Breast Neoplasms ; Diet* ; Heredity ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; Lung Neoplasms ; Marriage ; Mortality ; Nursing* ; Pesticides ; Pregnancy ; Risk Factors* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Students, Nursing ; Uterine Neoplasms

The anesthesiologist is sometime presented with the problem of coagulation defects through the perioperative period. The possible causes of inappropriate hemostasis in this situation are numerous, and multiple mechanism may be simultaneously involved. Coagulation and fibrinolysis variables were measured in 15 patients who had undergone prolonged major surgery or received massive transfusion before and until 10 days after operation. Hemostactic surveys included platelet count, fibrinogen, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, antithrombin lll, and fibrin degraduation products. No patients had major hemorrhage, thrombosis, or disseminated intravascular coagulation, but laboratory findings suggest that a hypercoagulable state existed even 10 days postoperatively. The results were as follows: 1) Platelet counts decreased just after operation, but significantly increased to 154% of the control value 7 days after operation and 204% 10 days postoperatively. 2) Prothrombin time was significantly prolonged just after operation compared to the control value, but returned to normal in 4 days postoperatively. 3) Fibrinogen decreased just after operation, but significantly increased to 165% of the control value 4 days after operation, 178% 7days after operation and 191% 10 days postoperatively. 4) Activated partial thromboplastin time was not changed through the entire period. 5) Antithrombin lll was not changed through the entire period. 6) Fibrin degradation product was within normal ranges before operation, but in 11 cases it exceeded normal range from 1 to 10 days postoperatively.
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation ; Fibrin ; Fibrinogen ; Fibrinolysis* ; Hemorrhage ; Hemostasis ; Humans ; Partial Thromboplastin Time ; Perioperative Period ; Platelet Count ; Prothrombin Time ; Reference Values ; Thrombosis

There are many predisposing factors for acute pulmonary edema, namely, left ventricular failure due to cardiac disease or fluid overloading, hypoalbuminemia, pulmonary capillary endothelial damage from bacterial toxins or irritant gases, rare central nervous system injuries pulmonary hyersensitivity reactions, etc. Acute pulmonary edema following operations is a rare complication especially in a patient whose preoperative cardiopulmonary status was within normal limits. We present a case of unilateral pulmonary edema immediately following operation in a 46 year old male patient who had a modified pull-through operation due to tongue cancer and who had no evidence of preoperative cardiopulmonary disorders. The edema was relieved after 9 hours with intensive care of pulmonary edema such as IPPB with Omorphine, diuretics, corticosteroid, asemi-sitting position and frequent tracheal suction.
Bacterial Toxins ; Capillaries ; Causality ; Central Nervous System ; Diuretics ; Edema ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Hypoalbuminemia ; Critical Care ; Intermittent Positive-Pressure Breathing ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Noble Gases ; Pulmonary Edema* ; Suction ; Tongue Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery diseases (CAD) are increasing in recent years among Korean due to change of socioeconomic status. Even though death rates due to CAD has increased in Korea, few epidemiologic studies have been done about risk factors of CAD. We conducted a case-control study to analyze risk factors for CAD among Korean. METHODS: The case series comprised 166 patients with angiographically confirmed CAD, who were admitted to Division of Cardiology in Asan Medical Center. The controls were 137 persons composed of patients with normal coronary arteriogram or patients with normal myocardial SPECT for chest pain. We surveyed life style habits, measured anthropometric variables, and analyzed biochemical markers among CAD patients and controls. RESULTS: In univariate analysis adjusted for age and body mass index (BMI), age, obesity, abdominal obesity, hypertension, low HDL-cholesterol, low apolipoprotein A1, and high lipoprotein (a) were associated with CAD in men and women. Smoking, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia were associated with in men only. Exercise and high HDL-cholesterol were inversely associated with CAD both in men and women. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, smoking, abdominal obesity, low apolipoprotein A1, and high lipoprotein (a) were found as independent risk factors of CAD among men. Abdominal obesity, low apolipoprotein A1, and high lipoprotein (a) were found as independent risk factors among women. CONCLUSION: These finding suggest cessation of smoking and weight control for abdominal obesity are important for prevention of CAD among Korean. The detection of low apolipoprotein A1 and high lipoprotein (a) could be useful for prevention of CAD.
Apolipoprotein A-I ; Biomarkers ; Body Mass Index ; Cardiology ; Case-Control Studies* ; Chest Pain ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Korea ; Life Style ; Lipoprotein(a) ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mortality ; Obesity ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Risk Factors* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Social Class ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of a teaching program on patients with myocardial infarction. Forty-five patients were randomly selected 22 were assigned to a teaching group and 23 to a control group. An individualized teaching program was delivered to the teaching group during the hospitalization period. It covered aspects such as: the characteristics of heart disease, the anatomy and physiology of the heart, risk factors of atherosclerosis, medication and diet and exercise therapy. When these subjects were discharged to their homes, they received regular supportive care via telephone or mail for 12 weeks. Atherosclerotic risk factors, including, smoking, exercise, blood lipid profile and BMI were measured before and after the teaching program. Post-testing revealed that the numbers of those who exercised and the number of non-smokers were significantly higher in the teaching group than in the control group. Increased HDL cholesterol (High-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol) was significantly greater in the teaching group than in the control group. The above findings suggest that this individualized teaching program might be helpful at reducing the risk factors of atherosclerosis in myocardial infarction patients.
Adult ; Aged ; Arteriosclerosis/etiology/*prevention & control ; Comparative Study ; Exercise ; Female ; Human ; Lipids/blood ; Male ; Middle Age ; Myocardial Infarction/*prevention & control ; *Patient Education ; Risk Factors ; Smoking

No abstract available.
DNA* ; Nucleolus Organizer Region*

An adequate supply of dietary iodine is essential for the synthesis of the thyroid hormons. The measurement of dietary iodine intake is important for the clinical assessment of thyroid disease, especially in areas where iodine intake is excessive or deficient.To evaluate dietary iodine intake in Korean and its effects on thyroid function, we measured urinary iodine excretion with morning urine by electrode method in 184 normal subjects, 96 postpartum women and 181 patients with thyroid disease from October 1994 to February 1995. The results were as follows;1) In normal control, the mean value of urinary iodine excretion was 3.8+-2.7mg/L (range 0.1-15.0mg/L). However, there was no sex and age differences in the urinary iodine excretion.2) In postpartum women, the urinary iodine excretion was 9.0+-10.8mg/L who were not taken high iodine diet(Miyok-Guk), the mean value was statistically higher than normal control(p<0.01) and significant increased the urinary iodine excretion after eating of high iodine diet(p<0.01).3) In volunteer, there were increase of urinary iodine excretion more than 10 folds after high iodine diet and medication.4) The urinary iodine excretion in patients with thyroid diseases was not different from normal control, and there were no significant differences of urinary iodine excretion among the patient groups. The urinary iodine excretion in the acute stage of patients with subactue thyroiditis or painless thyroiditis was significantly increased compared to the recovery stage. However, it was not significantly different from that of normal control.In conclusion, urinary iodine excretion in Korean population is very high comparing to the reported data in Western population but similar with Japanese. The urinary iodine excretion is significant increase( more than 10-folds of basal level) after high iodine diet or high iodine containing medication in postpartum women or healthy persons. As a clue of destruction induced thyrotoxicosis, the urinary iodine excretion measurement is not valid in area where iodine intake is excessive like Korea.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Diet ; Eating ; Electrodes ; Humans ; Iodine ; Korea ; Methods ; Postpartum Period ; Thyroid Diseases ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroiditis ; Thyrotoxicosis ; Volunteers