No abstract available.
Cholesterol*

BACKGROUND: Familial aggregation of coronary risk factors is well known, which are hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and obesity. However inter-spouse relation of the risk factors has remained controversial. As spouses are not blood-related, any risk factor relation that exist probably may not reflect genetic factors, but the environmental factors to which the couple is exposed. Moreover, the effect of assortative marriage should be considered. This study is designed to identify inter-spouse relation of coronary risk factors and to document the effects of marriage duration to spouse concordance. METHODS: From May 1995 to March. 1999, we enrolled 1,859 couples who had visited the Health Promotion Center at Seoul National University Hospital. We analysed inter-spouse correlation of body mass index, blood pressure, glucose, serum lipid factors, uric acid, smoking, alcohol drinking, and stress known as coronary risk factors. The correlation coefficients were compared according to marriage duration. RESULTS: There was statistically significant spouse concordance for all risk factors with the exception of smoking. The correlation coefficients of blood pressure, total cholesterol, and triglyceride increased with marriage duration but troughed at 30-39 years of marriage. Those of body mass index and glucose peaked at early and late marriage duration. Those of HDL-cholesterol and uric acid was relatively fixed throughout marriage. CONCLUSION: The presence of significant inter-spouse correlation for most of the coronary risk factors reflect the influence of assortative marriage and environmental factors on spouse concordance. If a spouse has many cardiovascular risk factors, partner should be evaluated for risk factors.
Alcohol Drinking ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Family Characteristics ; Glucose ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Marriage* ; Obesity ; Risk Factors* ; Seoul ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Spouses* ; Triglycerides ; Uric Acid

BACKGROUND: Social support is defined as interpersonal transaction ; the giving of symbolic or material aid to another. It has been shown to have both buffering effects and direct beneficial effects on diverse health related outcomes. But there has been the dearth of well-validated measurement instruments. This article describes the development of Korean version of the Duke-UNC functional social support questionnaire(DUFSS), focusing on the aspect of social support. METHODS: The 13-item, self-administered questionnaire was translated to Korean language. It was evaluated on 177 patients attending the family medicine clinic of Seoul National University Hospital during one month(November, 1996.) Comparisons to the family APGAR, COOP/ WONCA functional status chart are made to assess validity. Factor analyses are performed. Correlation of the questionnire score with the sum of family APGAR and each items of COOP/ WONCA functional chart are measured Internal consistency are evaluated. RESULTS: The questionnaire score are correlated with significantly correlated with social activity item. The total Cronbachs alpha is calculated as 0.89. The four content areas developed by factor analyses are donfidant support(items 8, 9, 10), af fective support(items 4, 5, 6, 7), instrumental support(items 3, 12) and quantity of support(item 1). These shows similarity to American study results. CONCLUSIONS: The Korean version of the Duke-UNC functional social support questionnaire has been documented as having high reliability and moderate validity. It covers two dimensions well(confidant support, affective support) with a small enough number of questions. Instrumental support may need further study.
Humans ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Although lack of exercise is well known to be a risk factor of osteoporosis, it is unclear whether weight-bearing exercise has different effects on bone mineral density compared to non weight-bearing exercise, and the amount of exercise needed to prevent osteoporosis is not clearly defined. This study was performed to clarify the relations between the type and the amount of exercise with BMD. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 3,661 women who had undertaken health screening including BMD measurement at Health Promotion Center of SNUH between May 1997 and March 1999. Information on sociodemographic characteristics, menarche, childbirth andexercise were gathered by means of self-reported questionnaire, and BMD was measured using DEXA. RESULTS: The number of women with lumbar osteoporosis were 601 (16.4%) and femoral neck osteoporosis 372 (10.2%). Lumbar osteoporosis occurred more frequently with increasing age and age at menarche, and in menopausal women, but less frequently with increasing fat-free mass in multiple logistic regression analysis. When adjusted for age, age at menarche, menopause and fat-free mass, lumbar osteoporosis was less common in women who exercised, but the type and the amount of exercise had no bearing. Especially, lumbar osteoporosis was least common in women engaging in moderate amount of exercise. Femoral neck osteoporosis decreased significantly only in weight-bearing exercise group and in women engaging in high amount of exercise. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that lumbar osteoporosis can be prevented through exercise regardless of its type and amount, and high amount or weight- bearing exercise is most effective to prevent femoral neck osteoporosis.
Adult* ; Body Composition ; Bone Density* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Femur Neck ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Mass Screening ; Menarche ; Menopause ; Osteoporosis ; Parturition ; Risk Factors ; Weight-Bearing ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: The elderly ex-smokers are not free from the effect of previously exposed smoking, and have a tendency to participate in health promoting behavior eagerly. This study was designed to evaluate factors that affect pulmonary function in the elderly ex-smokers. METHODS: The ex-smokers with normal chest radiological findings who visited Seoul National University Hospital Health Promotion Center were analyzed. The effect of various factors including age, height, smoking amount, and duration of smoking cessation on pulmonary function indices were analyzed with bivariate correlation analysis. Multiple regression analysis was performed using factors indentified significant in bivariate correlation tests. RESULTS: Multiple regression analyses were done for the all age group and the elderly group. Factors significantly affecting Forced vital capacity(FVC) were height,age and duration of smoking cessation for both grroups. Smoking amount was not significant. Forced expiratory volume in 1 second(FEV1) was significantly influenced by height, age, duration of smoking cessation, and smoking amount for both group. In the all age group, peak expiratory flow(PEF) was siginificantly influenced by age, regular exercise, and duration of smoking cessation. In the elderly group, PEF was significantly affected by height, age, regular exercise, and duration of smoking cessation. The factors significantly affectiong FEV1/FVC were age, smoking amount in the all age group, and regular exercise, smoking amount in the elderly group. CONCLUSION: Smoking amount was a significant factor decreasing FEV1 in the elderly ex-smoker. Duration of smoking cessation was significant in normalization of pulmonary function indices in both the all age group and the elderly group. It is inferred that smoking cessation is beneficial in reversing the adver sely affected pulmonary function indices even in the elderly.
Aged* ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Seoul ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Smoking Cessation ; Thorax

No abstract available.
Compliance* ; Early Detection of Cancer* ; Family Practice* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking*

Korea has a unique feature for telemedicine, including geographical mal-distribution of medical resources, immature health care delivery and heavy traffic in metropolitan areas. As one solution for these issues, we developed a tele-primary care system and tested its feasibility and user satisfaction. The tele-primary care system is based on PC's with videoconferencing hardware. The patient PC equipped with diagnostic peripherals such as blood pressure, stethoscope, magnifying camera, and so on. There are two remote clinics and 4 homes which are connected to the telecare center through leased lines or fast internet. Three hundred ninety eight patients were seen during the period of one year and each made about 2 visits on an average. The health problems seen through tele-primary care were not different from ones in primary care clinics. Drugs were prescribed over the half of the visits and labs were used only infrequently. Most users were satisfied and felt comfortable with this new type of medicine. We found tele-primary care system would be one solution for health delivery issues in Korea.
Blood Pressure ; Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Internet ; Korea* ; Patient Satisfaction* ; Primary Health Care ; Stethoscopes ; Telemedicine ; Videoconferencing

BACKGROUND: Smoking greatly increases the risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis. Besides direct harm from smoking, some dietary pattern of smokers have been reported to increase such risk. This study aimed to analyze various nutrients by smoking status, and to find out whether smokers maintain harmful dietary patterns. METHODS: One thousand and six hundred fourteen men were selected who visited the health promotion center of an university hospital in Seoul. The inclusion criteria was the completion of dietary survey. Dietary analysis was done by calculation of amounts of each nutrients from 24-hour recall method. We compared total intake of each nutrients and total calories by smoking status with analysis of variance (ANOVA). Then we adjusted the results for exercise and education level by ANCOVA (analysis of covariance). RESULTS: The study subjects were 840 current smokers (52.0%), 479 ex-smokers (29.7%) and 295 non-smokers (18.3%). The consumption of total fat and cholesterol was significantly high in smokers than non-smokers (P=0.012, P=0.005). The alcohol intake was higher in smokers and ex-smokers than non-smokers (P <0.001, P=0.007). The smokers and ex-smokers had less calcium than non- smokers (P=0.001, P=0.044). Furthermore, the smokers exercised less than ex-smokers and non-smokers (P <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The smokers consumed more total fat and cholesterol which increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. They also had less calcium and drank more alcohol. Comprehensive approach which includes intervention for dietary intakes in addition to smoking cessation is desirable to decrease health risk for smokers.
Analysis of Variance ; Calcium ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Diet ; Education ; Health Promotion* ; Humans ; Male* ; Osteoporosis ; Seoul ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation ; Smoking*

BACKGROUND: The risk of overweight and obesity to health is well known. Physical activity is important in the treatment of obesity in terms of healthy body composition and maintenance of body function. This study is a follow-up study to identify the impact of changes of leisure time physical activities on body weight. METHODS: The study subjects were people who visited a health examination center in Seoul at least twice between 1995 and 2000. Seven hundred people who completed physical activity questionnaires each time they visited were included. Three hundred eighty two of them were men, and 318 were women. The questionnaire was Baecke physical activity questionnaire, consisted of items for work activities, sports activities, and non-sports leisure activities. Each index of activities was calculated. RESULTS: Ninety seven people (13.9%) reduced their weights more than 5% of initial body weights. Twenty eight people (4.0%) gained their weights more than 5% of initial body weights. In five hundred and seventy five people (82.1%) their body weights were changed within 5% of initial body weights. Non-sports leisure time indices increased greatly and were significantly more than sports indices in reduced weight group. Non-sports leisure time indices were not changed significantly in gained weight group. The dose-response relationship existed between changed body weight (kg) and difference of leisure time indices. The multivariate analysis showed that female was a significant factor related to reducing weight (odds ratio=4.5, 95% confidence interval 2.7-7.5). Increase of non-sports leisure indices showed borderline significance (odds ratio=1.4, 95% confidence interval 0.9-2.0). CONCLUSION: To increase non-sports leisure activities for the purpose of reducing body weight is actively recommendable. Such activities performed on a daily basis may have impact on reducing weight through repeatability and ease of access.
Body Composition ; Body Weight* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leisure Activities* ; Male ; Motor Activity* ; Multivariate Analysis ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Seoul ; Sports ; Weights and Measures ; Surveys and Questionnaires