BACKGROUND: We examined the consumption patterns and the knowledge and awareness of energy drinks to draw up a guideline for energy drink consumption and to give accurate information to college student. METHODS: Data from 324 subjects (186 males and 138 females) were collected using self-administered questionnaires. The study participants were recruited from the Gyeonggi-do, Seongnam area between March and June 2013. RESULTS: The results showed that there was a significant gender-based difference in awareness of energy drinks- 56.5% (78/139) of the males and 78.9% (71/90) of the females had negative awareness (P<.001). As for recognizability of taurine by awareness of energy drinks, there were intergroup differences: the mean was 3.89 for the group with positive awareness and 3.31 for the negative awareness group (P=.001). The odds ratio for awareness of energy drinks was 2.75 (95% CI:1.05-7.18) and those with positive awareness consumed more than those with negative awareness (P=.039). CONCLUSIONS: This investigation on the factors that affect energy drinks consumption behaviors is of significance in that it helps make known the high caffeine content of energy drinks, and accurate knowledge of the side effects and appropriate consumption.
Caffeine ; Energy Drinks* ; Female ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Male ; Odds Ratio ; Taurine ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Lumbar stabilization exercise was used to improve spinal mobilization and stabilization. This research was conducted to investigate the effects of lumbar stabilization exercise programs on shoulder pain and range of motion among a group of elderly individuals. METHODS: The study subjects were 28 elderly patients from C hospital, Gochang, Jeollabukdo. They were randomly divided into 3 groups: lumbar stability exercise group, passive upper arm exercise group, and conservative therapy group. The therapies were conducted for 4 weeks. Shoulder pain and range of motion were measured both before and after therapies. The homogeneity of study subjects was analyzed using the chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests. For the pre-/post-status comparison, the Wilcoxon's signed-ranks tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted. RESULTS: General characteristics including age, sex, and disease history of the 3 groups were comparable. After 4 weeks of exercise, shoulder pain was significantly reduced in the lumbar stability exercise group (6.4+/-2.9 vs. 3.6+/-3.1, P=.026) and range of motion was significantly increased in the same group. More specifically, right flexion (121.1+/-12.0degrees vs. 137.9+/-11.9degrees, P=.008), right abduction (96.6+/-21.8degrees vs. 129.7+/-50.7degrees, P=.008), and left abduction (92.0+/-21.8degrees vs. 110.3+/-21.2degrees, P=.038) increased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Shoulder pain and range of motion improved significantly in the lumbar stability exercise group. Further study is needed to look into the longer effects of this exercise program using more subjects.
Aged ; Arm ; Humans ; Range of Motion, Articular* ; Shoulder Pain ; Shoulder*

BACKGROUND: Recently, there has been a growing interest in sleep duration as a risk factor for obesity. The link between sleep duration and obesity has been well established in adults, but there are limited studies in adolescents. Also, little research had been done involving South Korean adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep duration and body mass index in South Korea adolescents. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of the data collected from the 2013 Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey. The sample included 59,367 adolescents. The questionnaires used for this study assessed gender, age, mother's education level, academic performance, smoking, alcohol use, eating behaviors, physical activity, duration of internet use, perceived stress level, and perceived health status. Data were analyzed with chi2-test, ANOVA, and logistic regression analysis using SPSS Version 21. RESULTS: The percentage of obese subjects was the greatest among respondents reporting less than 5 h of sleep (11.0%) and the lowest among those reporting 8 or more hours of sleep (8.4%). In the results of logistic regression analysis, compared with sleep duration of 8h or more, the adjusted odds ratio was 1.11 for 7-8 h, 1.19 for 6-7 h, 1.19 for 5-6 h, and 1.19 for <5 h of sleep, with other factors controlled. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study showed that a shortsleep duration is significantly associated with obesity among South Korea adolescents. In managing obesity in this population, health professionals should attend to how much sleep they are getting.
Adolescent* ; Adult ; Body Mass Index* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Education ; Feeding Behavior ; Health Occupations ; Humans ; Internet ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Motor Activity ; Obesity ; Odds Ratio ; Risk Factors ; Risk-Taking ; Smoke ; Smoking

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in women worldwide. Immigrant women face cultural and social impediments, discrimination, and emotional and mental stressors; and they participate less in breast cancer prevention services. Breast self examination (BSE) may be effective in early detection. The purpose of this descriptive cross-sectional study was to identify the practice of BSE and to examine predictors related to the practice of BSE among North Korean female immigrants residing in South Korea. METHODS: Data were collected from a convenience sample of 131 North Korean female immigrants aged 20 years through 65 years who had attended community centers, local churches, and women's gatherings located in Incheon, Kyeongkido, Seoul, and Jeju. RESULTS: This study found that 17.6% of the women performed BSE and 8.4% were taught the methods of detecting breast cancer including BSE. Two significant predictors to performing BSE were found-good perceived health status (P=.003)and education about breast cancer screening and the breast self examination (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that North Korean female immigrants who were taught the detecting methods of breast cancer including BSE were more likely to practice BSE.
Breast Neoplasms ; Breast Self-Examination* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Education ; Emigrants and Immigrants* ; Female ; Humans ; Incheon ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Seoul

BACKGROUND: A conventional treadmill provides manually controlled constant speed during exercise. A fast interactive automatic speed control treadmill (FAST), which is highly sensitive to the position of the user on the belt and spontaneously adjusts its speed accordingly, was evaluated in terms of energy expenditure (EE) during exercise. METHODS: A total of 43 subjects were recruited and assigned to one of three exercise intensity groups-low (LIG; 40-50% of VO2max), moderate (MIG; 55-65% of VO2max), and high (HIG; 70-80% of VO2max). During the first test (Test-1), each subject performed an exercise bout on the FAST while spontaneously changing their locomotion speed within their assigned range of intensity. The average speed in Test-1 was calculated and applied to the second test (Test-2), in which the subjects exercised at a constant belt speed and matched the total travel distance of Test-1. During the tests, the oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR), respiratory quotient (RQ), oxygen pulse (OP), and EE of each subject were measured. RESULTS: The average VO2 in Test-1 was higher than that in Test-2 for both the LIG (22.95+/-2.55 vs. 21.72+/-2.90 ml/kg/min) and MIG (31.17+/-3.75 vs. 29.73+/-4.86 mL/kg/min) (P<.05) subjects. The EE in Test-1 was higher than that in Test-2 for both the LIG (7.09+/-1.67 vs. 6.71+/-1.73 kcal/min) and MIG (9.79+/-2.62 vs. 9.32+/-2.71 kcal/min) (P<.05) subjects. The HR, RQ, and OP in the LIG and the MIG were similar. There was no difference between Test-1 and Test-2 in any of the metabolic parameters for the HIG subjects. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated that, low- to moderate-intensity treadmill exercise at varying speeds required higher energy expenditure than that at a constant speed. Thus, a treadmill with a spontaneous speed variation function may be an effective exercise modality that increases energy expenditure.
Energy Metabolism* ; Heart Rate ; Locomotion ; Oxygen ; Running ; Walking

BACKGROUND: Korea has high prescribing rate and rising antibiotic resistance. This study was conducted to understand why primary physicians prescribe antibiotics for acute respiratory infections and to explore the factors that influence antibiotic resistance, and so to suggest strategy to reduce antibiotic resistance. METHODS: A qualitative exploratory approach was used using 4 focus groups composed of physicians from different area. A semi-structured guide was applied in obtaining the physicians' opinions. Common themes were extracted by authors, which were used to gather results and draw conclusion. RESULTS: Participants acknowledged multiple factors such as clinical factor and competitive environment are involved in physicians' decision of antibiotic prescribing. They identified that causes of rising antibiotic resistance were shortage of information, discontinuation of taking antibiotics, and other system factors. CONCLUSION: Participants were certain that less prescribing antibiotics and selecting appropriate antibiotics might be method to reduce antibiotic resistance. To change the prescribing behavior, it should be provided periodically for community physicians with prescribing information and specific guidelines for antibiotics resistance. Patients should be also noticed about antibiotic medication information more accurately. Including prescription incentive policy, improvement of healthcare system will be carried out at the same time.
Anti-Bacterial Agents* ; Delivery of Health Care ; Drug Resistance, Microbial ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Information Dissemination ; Korea ; Methods ; Motivation ; Prescriptions* ; Respiratory Tract Infections

BACKGROUND: This study examined moderating effects of optimism and family support on the depression of family caregivers of cancer patients aged 55 and over by adopting stress process model. METHODS: 359 family caregivers who accompanied with cancer patients to out-patient clinics were recruited and completed questionnaire at three university hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to test validity of the construction of the scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to determine moderating effects of optimism and family support on depression after making mean centering of each variable. RESULTS: Results showed that spouse caregivers have more depression than do adult children as the nursing period gets longer. Education and income status were significant variables affecting depression of family caregivers. Optimism and family support for family caregivers have moderating effects on the association between stressors (emotional functioning of cancer patients and role overload of family caregivers) and depression of family caregivers. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that more attentions are needed to the depression of spouse caregivers. Interventions are strongly recommended for health professionals to provide cancer patients and their family caregivers with "holding environments" caring for emotions and facilitating adjustment.
Adult Children ; Attention ; Caregivers* ; Depression* ; Education ; Gyeonggi-do ; Health Occupations ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Nursing ; Optimism* ; Outpatients ; Seoul

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine which fall-risk tool is most accurate for detecting and predicting adults in the hospital setting. METHODS: A literature search was performed to identify all studies published between 1946 and 2014 from periodicals indexed in Ovid Medline, Embase, CINAHL, KoreaMed, NDSL and other databases, using the following keywords: 'fall', 'fall risk assessment', 'fall screening', 'mobility scale', and 'risk assessment tool'. The QUADAS-2 was applied to assess the internal validity of the diagnostic studies. Fourteen studies were analyzed using meta-analysis with MetaDisc 1.4. RESULTS: The result of comparing twelve tools was that the Morse Fall Scale (MFS) is the best tool for predicting falls for acute hospitalized adult patients. Six prospective validation studies using MFS with high methodological quality, involving 9,255 patients, were included. Meta-analysis finding of MFS was as follows; pooled sensitivity 0.73 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.68-0.78), pooled specificity 0.75 (95% CI: 0.74-0.76), area under the curve (AUC) of summary receiver operating characteristics (sROC) curve 0.79 (standard error [SE] = 0.02), and value of index Q* 0.72 (SE = 0.01) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Falls in hospitalized adult patients can be effectively prevented using the MFS. These findings provide scientific evidence for using appropriate tool to prevent accidental falls and improve the safety of patients.
Accidental Falls ; Adult* ; Humans ; Inpatients* ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Assessment* ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUND: Although the obesity prevalence in Korean children and adolescents has stabilized since early 2000s, it is noted that severe obesity is increasing. However, no diagnostic criteria to define severe obesity in Korean children and adolescents has not been recommended yet. METHODS: We established two kinds of diagnostic criteria of severe obesity with the 2007 Korean National Growth Charts; 1) body mass index (BMI) criteria 1: BMI≥120% of 95th percentile or 30 kg/m², whichever is lower, 2) BMI criteria 2: ≥99th percentile. We examined the prevalence of severe obesity among children and adolescents who participated in the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2010-2012 based on BMI criteria 1 and 2 as well as percentage-weight-for-height (PWH). RESULTS: We presented the age- and sex-specific BMI cut-offs of BMI criteria 1 and 2. The prevalence of severe obesity was 1.6% and 1.7% based on BMI criteria 1 and 2, respectively. The prevalence of severe obesity based on PWH was 0.8%, which was lower than the prevalences based on BMI criteria 1 and 2. CONCLUSIONS: Our diagnostic criteria of severe obesity can be utilized in the epidemiological surveys and researches before the recommendation of the formal diagnostic criteria.
Adolescent* ; Body Mass Index ; Child* ; Diagnosis* ; Growth Charts ; Humans ; Korea ; Nutrition Surveys ; Obesity ; Obesity, Morbid* ; Prevalence

BACKGROUND: The rate of suicide of adolescents is recently significantly increasing in South Korea. Suicide is the first leading cause of death of adolescents aged 15 to 19 years in South Korea and the mortality rate due to suicide of adolescents is 8.9 per 100,000. The aims of this study is to investigate factors that affect suicidal ideation through inventory and scale. METHODS: A questionnaire was conducted to 820 high school students in a city, and 776 subjects who finished questionare were included in this study. Suicidal ideation, school bullying, excessive sexual thought and family conflict were checked by adolescent mental health and problem behavior screening questionnaire-II (AMPQ-II). Internet addiction degrees and depression was evaluated by internet addiction scale (IAS) and Beck's depression inventory (BDI), respectively. RESULTS: AMPQ-II, IAS, BDI, school bullying, suicidal ideation, and family conflict were closely related to each other. Binary logistic analysis showed that victims of school bullying (odds ratio [OR], 2.3; 95% confidence Interval [CI], 1.439-3.816), AMPQ-II high risk (OR 4.9; CI 2.546-9.433) and depression of all grade (OR 1.8 [mild], 2.2 [moderate], 6.4 [severe]) were related to suicidal ideation. CONCLUSIONS: Presence of school bullying, depression, and AMPQ-II high risk were closely related to suicidal ideation of high school students. Thus, AMPQ-II and BDI score can use as a screening tool for adolescent suicide ideation.
Adolescent Behavior ; Adolescent* ; Bullying ; Cause of Death ; Depression ; Family Conflict ; Humans ; Internet ; Korea ; Mass Screening* ; Mental Health* ; Mortality ; Problem Behavior* ; Suicidal Ideation ; Suicide*