BACKGROUND: Pregnancy considerably alters cardiovascular dynamics, and thereby affects the transition of blood pressure after delivery in women. We aimed to analyze the association between parity and blood pressure in Korean adult women. METHODS: We included 8,890 women who participated in Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2010 and 2012. We divided the population according to the menopause status and analyzed the association between parity and blood pressure by using multiple regression analysis, and on hypertension, by using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were significantly associated with parity in premenopausal women (beta=-0.091 [P<0.001] and beta=-0.069 [P<0.001], respectively). In the analysis that excluded women receiving antihypertensive medication, the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of postmenopausal women were significantly associated with parity (beta=-0.059 [P=0.022] and beta=-0.054 [P=0.044], respectively). Parity was found to prevent hypertension after adjustment for confounders in postmenopausal women (odds ratio, 0.55; 95% confidence interval, 0.310-0.985). CONCLUSION: We found that parity prevented hypertension in Korean women.
Adult ; Blood Pressure* ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Logistic Models ; Menopause ; Nutrition Surveys* ; Parity* ; Pregnancy

BACKGROUND: This study examined the differences in factors associated with albuminuria according to gender and comorbidities of hypertension (HTN) and diabetes mellitus (DM). METHODS: We included 3,859 participants aged 20 to 79 years (55% female) from the 5th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants were excluded if they took antihypertensive or anti-diabetic medication, had chronic renal failure, had malignant tumor, were pregnant or menstruating during the health examination, or had missing urine albumin data. Albuminuria was defined by the participant's urine albumin-creatinine ratio (uACR). Relationships between dependent and independent variables were analyzed using the Pearson's correlation test and simple linear regression. Due to possible muticollinearity, multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine whether the association between the dependent and independent variables of interest remained significant after adjustment for other potentially confounding independent variables. RESULTS: The variables significantly correlated with uACR were different between the genders and between subjects with HTN or DM as a comorbidity. In the multiple linear regression models, hemoglobin A1c (P=0.01) was positively associated with uACR in men without HTN and DM. In men with HTN or DM, systolic blood pressure and fasting glucose (P<0.01) were positively associated with uACR. In women with HTN or DM, waist circumference (P=0.011) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (P<0.001) were positively correlated with uACR (P<0.05) and glucose level (P=0.019) was negatively correlated with uACR. CONCLUSION: The study suggested factors correlated with albuminuria were different for men and women according to comorbidities such as HTN and DM.
Albuminuria* ; Blood Pressure ; Comorbidity* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Fasting ; Female ; gamma-Glutamyltransferase ; Gender Identity ; Glucose ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Korea ; Linear Models ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys ; Waist Circumference

BACKGROUND: Morning blood pressure surge affects to cardiovascular disease risk. Short time to first cigarette (TTFC) after waking can enhance morning blood pressure surge, and accelerate atherosclerosis METHODS: We investigated that the relationship between TTFC and blood pressure. The study subjects included male current smokers (n=211) who had health check-up in Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital from July to September, 2014. We categorized the subjects into 2 groups according to TTFC; early TTFC (TTFC <30 minutes) and late TTFC (TTFC > or =30 minutes), and the subjects who were taking antihypertensive medications or had a high blood pressure (>140 mm Hg or 90 mm Hg) were defined as hypertensive group. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to estimate the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval to investigate the association between TTFC and hypertensive group. RESULTS: Compared with late TTFC, early TTFC had higher odds (odds ratio [OR], 3.87; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.89-7.94) for hypertensive group. After adjusting confounding factors, early TTFC was significantly associated with an increased risk of hypertension (OR, 4.43; 95% CI, 1.84-10.70). CONCLUSION: early TTFC after waking is associated with hypertension. It suggests delaying TTFC might help to control of blood pressure among the current smokers who are not ready to immediately quit smoking.
Atherosclerosis ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Heart ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Logistic Models ; Male* ; Metabolic Syndrome X ; Odds Ratio ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Tobacco Products*

BACKGROUND: Salmonella is an important pathogen that causes gastroenteritis and sepsis in humans. Recently, changes in serotype prevalence and an increase in antimicrobial resistance have been reported. This study investigated the distribution of Salmonella serotypes and determined the antimicrobial susceptibility of various strains. METHODS: We collected 113 Salmonella isolates other than Salmonella serotype Typhi from 18 university hospitals in 2015. The serotypes were identified by Salmonella antisera O and H according to the Kauffman White scheme. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests for 12 antibiotics were performed using the disk diffusion method or E-test. RESULTS: We identified 22 serotypes. Serotype group B (44.2%) was the most common, followed by groups C (34.5%) and D (21.2%). Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:- (23.0%), S. Enteritidis (16.8%), and S. Typhimurium (12.4%) were the most common species. Resistance rates for ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ceftriaxone, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole were 46.9%, 18.5%, 8.8%, and 5.3%, respectively. The intermediate resistance rate to ciprofloxacin was 29.2%. Six isolates were extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producers, including 5 bla(CTX-M-15) and 1 bla(CTX-M-55). CONCLUSION: There have been changes in the serotype prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella in Korea, with a high prevalence of CTX-M 15-positive strains. Continuous monitoring of Salmonella serotypes and antimicrobial resistance is warranted.
Ampicillin ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Ceftriaxone ; Chloramphenicol ; Ciprofloxacin ; Diffusion ; Gastroenteritis ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Immune Sera ; Korea ; Methods ; Prevalence ; Salmonella ; Sepsis ; Serogroup ; Serotyping

BACKGROUND: Several factors contribute to differences in Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype distribution. We investigated the serotype distribution and antimicrobial resistance of S. pneumoniae isolated between 2014 and 2016 in Korea. METHODS: We collected a total of 1,855 S. pneumoniae isolates from 44 hospitals between May 2014 and May 2016, and analyzed the serotypes by sequential multiplex PCR. We investigated the distribution of each serotype by patient age, source of the clinical specimen, and antimicrobial resistance pattern. RESULTS: The most common serotypes were 11A (10.1%), followed by 19A (8.8%), 3 (8.5%), 34 (8.1%), 23A (7.3%), and 35B (6.2%). The major invasive serotypes were 3 (12.6%), 19A (7.8%), 34 (7.8%), 10A (6.8%), and 11A (6.8%). Serotypes 10A, 15B, 19A, and 12F were more common in patients ≤5 years old, while serotype 3 was more common in patients ≥65 years old compared with the other age groups. The coverage rates of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)7, PCV10, PCV13, and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine 23 were 11.8%, 12.12%, 33.3%, and 53.6%, respectively. Of the 1,855 isolates, 857 (46.2%) were multi-drug resistant (MDR), with serotypes 11A and 19A predominant among the MDR strains. The resistance rates against penicillin, cefotaxime, and levofloxacin were 22.8%, 12.5%, and 9.4%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There were significant changes in the major S. pneumoniae serotypes in the community. Non-PCV13 serotypes increased in patients ≤5 years old following the introduction of national immunization programs with the 10- and 13-polyvalent vaccines.
Cefotaxime ; Humans ; Immunization Programs ; Korea ; Levofloxacin ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Penicillins ; Pneumococcal Vaccines ; Pneumonia ; Serogroup ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Streptococcus ; Vaccines