Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association between obesity and falls among community-dwelling older adults in Korea and to assess whether body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference (WC) more accurately predicts fall risk. Methods: This study included 4378 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years from the seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016–2018). Complex-sample logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between general and central obesity and falls, stratified by sex and age group. Predictive accuracy was evaluated using Harrell’s C-index, and differences between WC and BMI were assessed using the ΔC-index and the DeLong test. Results: BMI-defined general obesity was not significantly associated with falls. In contrast, WC-defined central obesity was significantly associated with falls among older adults overall (adjusted odds ratio, 1.82; 95% confidence interval, 1.20 to 2.76). In sex-stratified analyses, central obesity remained significantly associated with falls in both males and females. Age-stratified analyses showed a significant association between central obesity and falls among adults aged 65–74 years, but not among those aged ≥75 years. WC demonstrated a modest but statistically significant improvement in predictive ability compared with BMI (ΔC-index=0.047, p=0.044), although subgroup differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions Central obesity, but not general obesity defined by BMI, was significantly associated with falls among community-dwelling older Korean adults. WC showed slightly better predictive performance than BMI. These findings suggest that WC may be a more appropriate indicator than BMI for identifying older adults at increased risk of falls.

Background/Aims: Young Korean men are obligated to serve in the military for 18 to 21 months. We investigated the effects of military service on steatotic liver disease (SLD) and other metabolic parameters. Methods: Pre-enlistment health check-up performed from 2019 to 2022 and in-service health check-up performed from 2020 to 2022 were merged as paired data. SLD was defined as a hepatic steatosis index of 36 or higher. Hypertension (HTN) and hypertriglyceridemia were also included in the analysis. Results: A total of 503,136 paired cases were included in the analysis. Comparing pre-enlistment and in-service health check-ups, the prevalence of SLD (22.2% vs 17.6%, p<0.001), HTN (7.6% vs 4.3%, p<0.001), and hypertriglyceridemia (8.1% vs 2.9%, p<0.001) decreased during military service. In terms of body mass index, the proportion of underweight (8.2% vs 1.4%, p<0.001) and severely obese (6.1% vs 4.9%, p<0.001) individuals decreased over time. Regarding fac-tors associated with SLD development and resolution, age was positively associated with SLD development (odds ratio, 1.146; p<0.001) and a health check-up interval of <450 days was a protective factor for SLD development (odds ratio, 0.746; p<0.001). Those serving in the marines were less likely to develop SLD, whereas those serving in the navy were more likely to develop SLD. Serving in the army or the navy was negatively associated with SLD resolution, whereas serving in the air force was positively associated with SLD resolution. Conclusions The prevalence of SLD, HTN, and hypertriglyceridemia decreased substantially during Korean military service.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify trends in contraceptive use and methods, as well as the influencing factors among Korean adolescent girls with sexual intercourse experience. Methods: Secondary data analysis was performed using data from the 2013−2022 Youth Health Behavior Online Survey. Participants were 9,562 adolescent girls who had experienced sexual intercourse in middle and high schools in Korea. Descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, the Cochran-Armitage trend test, and logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results: The reported prevalence of consistent contraceptive use during sexual intercourse significantly increased from 27.0% in 2013 to 46.1% in 2022 (p<0.01). The rate of modern contraceptive use increased from 79.4% in 2013 to 84.8% in 2022 (p for trend <0.01). Factors influencing contraceptive use included age, school type by sex, academic performance, economic status, residential type, lifetime smoking, and sexual education. Factors influencing modern contraceptive use included school type by sex, economic status, residential type, and lifetime smoking. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that more than half of the adolescent girls with sexual experience do not consistently use contraception, and some of them use unreliable contraceptive methods. Efforts are needed to improve modern contraceptive use among adolescent girls.

Background: This study aimed to identify the incidence rate of post-coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) conditions in the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army and to investigate the trend of the incidence rate according to changes in dominant variants. Methods: We used the results of a 19-item, self-completed survey of those who had recovered from COVID-19 in the ROK Army between March 24, 2020, and April 30, 2022. We used both descriptive and multiple logistic regression analyses to identify factors associated with the incidence rate of post-COVID-19 conditions. Results: Among the total of 48,623 COVID-19 episodes in the ROK Army, the overall incidence rate of post-COVID-19 conditions was 32.9%. Based on the survey, the incidence of cough was the highest at 15.4%, followed by fatigue (15.1%) and sputum (13.8%). The delta variant had the highest incidence rate of post-COVID-19 conditions at 50.7%, whereas the omicron variant had the lowest at 19.7%. Concerning the type of post-COVID-19 condition, the neuropsychiatric symptoms had the highest incidence at 27.4% when the delta variant was dominant, and the respiratory symptoms were highest at 37.3% when the omicron variant was dominant. In the case of smell and taste symptoms, the incidence rate was high at 21.1% only when the delta variant was predominant. Conclusion The overall incidence rate of post-COVID-19 conditions in the ROK Army was 32.9%. When the delta variant was dominant, the overall incidence as well as the proportion of neuropsychiatric symptoms were high. However, as the omicron variant became dominant, the overall incidence decreased, but the proportion of respiratory symptoms increased.

This study was conducted to clarify the prevalence of common skin diseases and their associated factors among military personnel in Korea. Four dermatologists visited adjacent military units and examined soldiers. A structured questionnaire that included questions about known skin diseases, demographic information, and questions for the Perceived Stress Index was completed for each participant. The soldiers that had been diagnosed with a skin disease answered one additional questionnaire (Skindex-29) which assess the influence of an individual's skin disease on daily life. Of 1,321 soldiers examined, 798 (60.4%) had one or more skin diseases. The three most common skin problems were acne (35.6%), tinea pedis (15.2%) and atopic dermatitis (5.1%). The diseases closely related to the period of military service were acne, tinea pedis, viral warts and corns. The diseases related to the amount of stress were atopic dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis, and acne. The most troublesome skin diseases were atopic dermatitis, tinea cruris, and seborrheic dermatitis. These results demonstrated that the prevalence of skin disease among military personnel in Korea is very high, and that some of the skin disorders may have a significant influence on their daily lives.
Acne Vulgaris/epidemiology ; Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Dermatitis, Atopic/epidemiology ; Humans ; Male ; Military Personnel ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life ; Questionnaires ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; Skin Diseases/diagnosis/*epidemiology ; Stress, Psychological ; Tinea Pedis/epidemiology ; Young Adult