PURPOSE: To describe the relationship between the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs) and to evaluate the validity of WHtR in identifying adolescents with metabolic syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed data from a pooled population of 4068 adolescents aged 10-19 years from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys conducted between 1998 and 2008. Overweight individuals were defined by body mass index (BMI) ≥85th percentile. Those with at least 2 CMRFs among hypertension, hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were classified as having multiple CMRFs. RESULTS: WHtR was significantly related to systolic blood pressure, HDL-C, and triglycerides in both non-overweight and overweight adolescents (all p<0.01). Among overweight adolescents, the area under the curve (AUC) for WHtR in identifying multiple CMRFs was significantly greater than that for BMI (p=0.014). Metabolic syndrome was more common in overweight adolescents with a WHtR of ≥0.5 than in those with a WHtR of <0.5 (p<0.001). In non-overweight adolescents, the prevalences of multiple CMRFs (p=0.001) and metabolic syndrome (p<0.001) were higher in those with a WHtR of ≥0.5 than in those with a WHtR of <0.5. Among those without central obesity, the prevalence of multiple CMRFs was higher in those with a WHtR of ≥0.5 than in those with a WHtR of <0.5 (p=0.021). CONCLUSION: WHtR is a simple and valid index for identifying adolescents with increased cardiometabolic risk and is related to CMRFs even in non-overweight adolescents. In adolescents already screened via BMI and waist circumference (WC), WHtR seems to be of additional help in discriminating those at higher cardiometabolic risk.
Adolescent ; Blood Pressure/physiology ; *Body Height ; Body Mass Index ; Cardiovascular Diseases/*epidemiology ; Child ; Cholesterol, HDL/blood ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension/complications/epidemiology ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome X/*epidemiology ; Nutrition Surveys ; Obesity, Abdominal/complications/*epidemiology ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; Triglycerides/blood ; *Waist Circumference/physiology ; *Waist-Height Ratio ; Young Adult

Objective: Maumgyeol Basic service is a mental health evaluation and grade scoring software using the 2 channels EEG and photoplethysmogram (PPG). This service is supposed to assess potential at-risk groups with mental illness more easily, rapidly, and reliably. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical implication of the Maumgyeol Basic service. Methods: One hundred one healthy controls and 103 patients with a psychiatric disorder were recruited. Psychological evaluation (Mental Health Screening for Depressive Disorders [MHS-D], Mental Health Screening for Anxiety Disorders [MHS-A], cognitive stress response scale [CSRS], 12-item General Health Questionnaire [GHQ-12], Clinical Global Impression [CGI]) and digit symbol substitution test (DSST) were applied to all participants. Maumgyeol brain health score and Maumgyeol mind health score were calculated from 2 channel frontal EEG and PPG, respectively. Results: Participants were divided into three groups: Maumgyeol Risky, Maumgyeol Good, and Maumgyeol Usual. The Maumgyeol mind health scores, but not brain health scores, were significantly lower in the patients group compared to healthy controls. Maumgyeol Risky group showed significantly lower psychological and cognitive ability evaluation scores than Maumgyeol Usual and Good groups. Maumgyel brain health score showed significant correlations with CSRS and DSST. Maumgyeol mind health score showed significant correlations with CGI and DSST. About 20.6% of individuals were classified as the No Insight group, who had mental health problems but were unaware of their illnesses. Conclusion This study suggests that the Maumgyeol Basic service can provide important clinical information about mental health and be used as a meaningful digital mental healthcare monitoring solution to prevent symptom aggravation.

Background: Emerging infectious diseases, such as Middle East respiratory syndrome or coronavirus disease 2019, pose a continuous threat to public health, making a risk assessment necessary for infectious disease control and prevention. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the risk assessment methods for infectious diseases used by major foreign countries and organizations. Methods: We conducted an investigation and comparative analysis of risk assessment and risk determination methods for infectious diseases. The risk assessment tools included the strategic toolkit for assessing risks, influenza risk assessment tool, pandemic severity assessment framework, and rapid risk assessment methodology. Results: The most frequently reported risk elements were disease severity, antiviral treatment, attack rate, population immunity, and basic productive ratio. The risk evaluation method was evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively by the stakeholders at each institution. Additionally, the final risk level was visualized in a matrix, framework, and x and y-axis. Conclusion Considering the risk assessment tools, the risk element was classified based on the duplicate of each indicator, and risk evaluation and level of risk assessment were analyzed.

Background: The emergence of new infectious diseases threatens public health, increasing socioeconomic damage, and national risks. This study aimed to develop an evidence-based risk assessment tool to quickly respond to new infectious diseases. Methods: The risk elements were extracted by reviewing the risk assessment methods of the World Health Organization, United States, Europe, United Kingdom, and Germany, and the validity and priority of elements were determined through expert meetings and Delphi surveys. Then, the scale and level for each risk element were defined and a final score calculation method according to the risk evaluation result was derived. The developed risk assessment tool was verified using data at the time of domestic transmission of an emerging infectious disease. Results: In case of spread of actual infectious diseases, priority is determined based on the criticality of the elements in each area of transmissibility and severity, from which the weighted score of the risk assessment is derived. Then, the risk score for each element was calculated by multiplying the average value of the risk evaluation by its weight and the evaluation risk assessment score for the two areas was calculated. At last, the final score is plotted in a matrix where the x-axis indicates the transmissibility and the y-axis the severity and plotted on the coordinate plane for time series use. Conclusion With respect to transmissibility and severity, this risk assessment method to respond to new and re-emerging infectious diseases enables rapid and evidence-based evaluation by quantitatively and qualitatively assessing various risk elements.

PURPOSE: Only a few studies have explored nationwide trends in lipid profiles among Asian adolescents. We aimed to assess trends in lipid profiles and the associated lifestyle factors among Korean children. METHODS: We analyzed data for 2,094 adolescents who were aged 10-18 years and had participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys in 1998 and 2010. RESULTS: During 1998-2010, the prevalence of obesity significantly increased in boys, but no changes were observed in girls. Over this period, there was a small but significant decrease in the mean low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol level in boys (1998, 87.5 mg/dL; 2010, 83.6 mg/dL; P=0.019) and mean triglyceride levels in girls (1998, 90.8 mg/dL; 2010, 85.8 mg/dL; P=0.020). There were no significant changes in the prevalence of dyslipidemia in boys, but a modest decrease was noted in girls (1998, 25.1%; 2010, 18.3%; P=0.052). During the study period, the prevalence of breakfast skipping decreased, whereas that of regular exercise increased in both groups. Daily total energy intake did not change between these years. In multivariable logistic regression analyses, breakfast skipping was associated with increased risk of hyper-LDL-cholesterolemia in boys (odds ratio [OR], 5.77) and hypertriglyceridemia (OR, 2.27) in girls. Regular exercise was associated with decreased risk of hypo-HDL-cholesterolemia (OR, 0.40) in boys. CONCLUSION: Although the prevalence of obesity in boys increased, favorable or constant trends in lipid profiles were observed among Korean adolescents during 1998-2010. Decrease in breakfast skipping and increase in regular exercise may have contributed to these trends.
Adolescent* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Breakfast ; Child ; Dyslipidemias ; Energy Intake ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertriglyceridemia ; Korea* ; Life Style* ; Lipoproteins ; Logistic Models ; Obesity ; Prevalence ; Triglycerides

Background: It is not evident that the attributable risk of smoking on mortality in Korea has decreased. We investigated the impact of smoking on all-cause mortality and estimated the attributable risk of smoking in Korean adults. Methods: Those aged ≥20 years with smoking history in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES) 2007–2015 were enrolled. We categorized the participants into three groups as follows: never smoker, <20 pack-years (PY) smokers, and ≥20 PY smokers. We applied inverse probability weighting using propensity scores to control various confounders between the groups. All-cause mortality risks were compared between the groups using the Kaplan-Meier log-rank test. The effects of smoking-attributable risks (ARs) on mortality were also calculated. Results: A total of 50,458 participants were included. Among them, 19,334 (38.3%) were smokers and 31,124 (61.7%) were never smokers. Those with a smoking history of 20 PY or more (≥20 PY smokers), those with a smoking history of less than 20 PY (<20 PY smokers), and never smokers were 18.1%, 20.2%, and 61.7%, respectively, of the study population. Smokers had a higher risk of all-cause mortality compared to never smokers (log-rank test p<0.01). The ARs of smoking were 21.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.7%–37.9%) and 9.0% (95% CI, 6.1%–12.0%) in males and females, respectively. ARs decreased from 24.2% to 19.5% in males and from 9.5% to 4.1% in females between 2007–2010 and 2011–2015. Conclusion Our study using KNHANES IV–VI data demonstrated that smoking increased the risk of all-cause mortality in a dose-response manner and the ARs of smoking on mortality were 21.8% in males and 9.0% in females during 2007– 2015. This suggests that the ARs of smoking on mortality have decreased since around 2010.

Purpose: Few studies that have evaluated the relationships between physical activity (PA) patterns of weekend warriors (i.e., individuals who perform all their weekly exercises in one or two sessions) and health outcomes have reported inconsistent findings. The present study sought to examine the association between weekend warrior PA patterns and cardiometabolic risk factors in Korean adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 29,543 men and women who participated in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2014 and 2019. The weekend warrior PA was defined as at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity or at least 75 minutes/week of vigorous-intensity PA concentrated in one or two sessions/week. Results: Compared with the inactive PA patterns, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) between the weekend warrior PA patterns and cardiometabolic risk factors were 0.89 (0.69–1.15) for hypertension, 0.81 (0.55–1.17) for diabetes, 0.92 (0.69–1.22) for dyslipidemia, 1.10 (0.91–1.34) for obesity, and 1.0 (0.83–1.27) for metabolic syndrome. Regularly active PA patterns, however, had lower odds of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Conclusion Our results suggested that no evidence of significant associations between the weekend warrior PA patterns and cardiometabolic risk factors in a representative Korean population. Large-scale prospective cohort studies are warranted to confirm or refute these findings.

PURPOSE: Porcine proliferative enteropathy (PPE) is known as one of the most important risk factors causing economic losses in swine industry worldwide. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a commercial oral attenuated Lawsonia intracellularis vaccine (Enterisol Ileitis) against PPE under a commercial pig farm condition in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty two-day-old 672 piglets were randomly allocated into vaccinated and control groups. All piglets in the vaccinated group were inoculated with a commercial attenuated L. intracellularis vaccine as following the manufacturer's instruction. Body weights of all pigs in both groups were measured on the vaccination day and 6, 14, and 20 weeks post vaccination and an average daily weight gain (ADWG) was calculated. Health status was observed biweekly during the whole trial. RESULTS: The vaccinated group showed significantly higher body weight (p<0.05) and ADWG (p<0.05) than those of the control group. The vaccinated group had significantly reduced impairments in activity, growth, defecation frequency, and stool hardness (p<0.05). Additional health benefits and improved weight gain by the vaccination produced a 4.2:1 return of investment, and the higher gross margin was $4.80 per pig. CONCLUSION: Our finding suggests that the L. intracellularis vaccine program has effects on the substantial health and economic benefits in the Korean swine industry.
Body Weight ; Defecation ; Hardness ; Ileitis ; Insurance Benefits ; Intestinal Diseases ; Investments ; Korea ; Lawsonia Bacteria ; Risk Factors ; Swine ; Vaccination ; Vaccines ; Weight Gain

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: There is little information on the association between weight misperception and eating behavior in Korean adolescents. Therefore, we investigated the association of food intake habits and dieting method and disturbed eating behavior (DEB) in relation to weight misperception. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Data was collected by using a nationwide online panel survey from 6,943 adolescents enrolled in middle/high school. DEB was measured with the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and those who scored > or = 20 on the EAT-26 were considered to have eating disorder. Logistic regressions were conducted to examine the association between weight misperception based on self-reported weight status and dieting method and eating behaviors. RESULTS: The proportion of weight underestimation was 23.5% and that of overestimation was 24.0%. Weight overestimating girls were more likely to engage in various unhealthy dieting practices (OR = 1.69 for fasting; OR = 1.88 for laxative or diuretic use; OR = 2.05 for self-induced vomiting after meals; P < 0.05). Moreover, there was a strong association between overestimation and undesirable eating behaviors, especially among girls, e.g.: having breakfast (OR = 0.85), high consumption of fast foods (OR = 1.28) and regular sodas (OR = 1.39), but not among boys. In both genders, weight overestimation appears to be a major risk factor for DEB (OR = 1.34 for boys and OR = 1.41 for girls; P < 0.05). CONSLUSIONS: Weight overestimation is associated with unhealthy weight control practices and eating behaviors. We particularly found a significant association between weight overestimation and DEB among nationwide Korean adolescents.
Adolescent* ; Breakfast ; Diet* ; Feeding and Eating Disorders ; Eating* ; Fast Foods ; Fasting ; Feeding Behavior* ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Meals ; Risk Factors ; Vomiting ; Weight Perception