OBJECTIVES

Workers are continuously exposed to occupational hazards and risks. By analyzing recent data on the status of occupational safety and health (OSH) in the Philippines, this study aimed to determine the common occupational injuries and diseases among Filipino workers, and preventive and control measures/activities and occupational safety and health policies and programs implemented across the country.

A review of data on Philippine OSH from the Integrated Survey of Labor and Employment (ISLE) by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) covering data from 2015/2016, 2017/2018, and 2019/2020 was done. The number of occupational injury cases, types of injuries, and types of diseases were assessed as well as the implementation of OSH policies and programs. Descriptive statistics, simple T-test, and Pareto analysis were used to analyze the collated data sets.

The number of occupational injury and diseases in the Philippines across industries are decreasing. Superficial injuries and open wounds (56.47%), and Work-related Musculoskeletal Diseases (WMSDs) (61.82%) top the list as the most common injury and disease across industries, respectively. In 2018, OSH programs and preventive and control measures underwent reforms due to the implementation of the Republic Act (RA) 11058. For OSH programs, there is an increase in implementation between 2015 and 2019.

Occupational injury and occupational diseases in the Philippines across industries are declining. In terms of OSH measures and programs, there has been a significant change over the years, especially after the introduction of RA 11058 in 2018. A rise in the implementation of measures and policies was noted. However, there are still gaps that need to be addressed.

Objectives Workers are continuously exposed to occupational hazards and risks. By analyzing recent data on the status of occupational safety and health (OSH) in the Philippines, this study aimed to determine the common occupational injuries and diseases among Filipino workers, and preventive and control measures/activities and occupational safety and health policies and programs implemented across the country.
occupational medicine ; occupational health ; public health ; preventive medicine

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in both genders worldwide. Gender differences in clinical presentation and treatment have been reported. Objective: This study aims to describe and compare the cardiovascular risk factors and management strategies for primary prevention among Filipinos. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was done on 2,082 patients at the Preventive Cardiology Clinic of a tertiary referral center in Quezon City, Philippines from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2017. Results: Seventy-two percent of the patients were females with a higher mean age compared to males (57.67 + 10.50 vs 55.66 + 11.82, p 0.002). There were more women who were unemployed (75.2 vs 45.9, p<0.001). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of hypertension (68.6% vs 67.9%, p=0.542) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (19.8% vs 21.5%, p=0.437) in both genders. Beta blockers (24.1%), calcium channel blockers (22.9%) and angiotensin receptor blockers (22.1%) were the most commonly prescribed anti-hypertensive drugs. Biguanides were the most commonly prescribed glucose-lowering drug (11.3%). Compared to men, more women had dyslipidemia (51.8% vs 38.6%, p<0.001). Statins were more commonly prescribed in women (22.4 vs 18.1%, p=0.033). Conclusion There were significantly more women seen in our Preventive Cardiology clinic. Smoking and alcoholic drinking were higher in males. BMI, total cholesterol and HDL were significantly higher in females than in males.
Sex Characteristics ; Heart Disease Risk Factors ; Primary Prevention ; Preventive Medicine

Physicians play a central role in the fields of medical service, research, and industry, so it is imperative to produce well-qualified doctors. Medicine is composed of science and arts, both necessary for its practice, and thus, the education outcomes in basic medical education in a medical school include basic biomedical sciences, social sciences and clinical sciences. Adequate science competencies create a deeper and better understanding of scientific knowledge, concepts, and methods fundamental to clinical science, and contribute to the scientific, technological, and clinical developments. The science competencies are primarily obtained by studying basic medicine in basic medical education, which has been criticized for failing to do so sufficiently in Korea. The failure is attributed to insufficient education time, teachers, and budgets, but the most critical factor is the lack of awareness regarding the importance of the science competencies of the physicians. Such ignorance also affects the Korean Medical Licensing Examination (KMLE). The KMLE tests competency in clinical sciences, preventive medicine, and medical laws, but not in basic biomedical sciences, which might result in insufficient science competency of the physicians and a decrease in the overall quality of the medical health service. Tests must be urgently introduced in KMLE on the competencies of basic biomedical sciences to improve the science competency of the physicians. The representative organizations of the medical society should take vigorous actions for the introduction of the basic medicine examination in KMLE.
Budgets ; Education ; Education, Medical ; Fibrinogen ; Health Services ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Licensure ; Preventive Medicine ; Schools, Medical ; Social Sciences ; Societies, Medical

BACKGROUND: Though clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are an effective and widely used treatment method worldwide, they are as yet not widely accepted in Korea. Given that cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death in Korea, it is urgent that CR programs be developed. In 2008, the Government of Korea implemented CR programs at 11 university hospitals as part of its Regional Cardio-Cerebrovascular Center Project, and 3 additional medical facilities will be added in 2019. In addition, owing to the promotion of CR nationwide and the introduction of CR insurance benefits, 40 medical institutions nationwide have begun CR programs even as a growing number of medical institutions are preparing to offer CR. The purpose of this research was to develop evidence-based CPGs to support CR implementation in Korea. METHODS: This study is based on an analysis of CPGs elsewhere in the world, an extensive literature search, a systematic analysis of multiple randomized control trials, and a CPG management, development, and assessment committee comprised of 33 authors—primarily rehabilitation specialists, cardiologists, and thoracic surgeons in 21 university hospitals and 2 general hospitals. Twelve consultants, primarily rehabilitation, sports medicine, and preventive medicine specialists, CPG experts, nurses, physical therapists, clinical nutritionists, and library and information experts participated in the research and development of these CPGs. After the draft guidelines were developed, 3 rounds of public hearings were held with staff members from relevant academic societies and stakeholders, after which the guidelines were further reviewed and modified. RESULTS: CR involves a more cost-effective use of healthcare resources relative to that of general treatments, and the exercise component of CR lowers cardiovascular mortality and readmission rates, regardless of the type of coronary heart disease and type and setting of CR. CONCLUSION: Individualized CR programs should be considered together with various factors, including differences in heart function and lifestyle, and doing so will boost participation and adherence with the CR program, ultimately meeting the final goals of the program, namely reducing the recurrence of myocardial infarction and mortality rates.
Acute Coronary Syndrome ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cause of Death ; Consultants ; Coronary Disease ; Delivery of Health Care ; Heart ; Hospitals, General ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Insurance Benefits ; Korea ; Life Style ; Methods ; Mortality ; Myocardial Infarction ; Nutritionists ; Physical Therapists ; Preventive Medicine ; Recurrence ; Rehabilitation ; Secondary Prevention ; Specialization ; Sports Medicine ; Surgeons

OBJECTIVE: Though clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are an effective and widely used treatment method worldwide, they are as yet not widely accepted in Korea. Given that cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death in Korea, it is urgent that CR programs be developed. In 2008, the Government of Korea implemented CR programs at 11 university hospitals as part of its Regional Cardio-Cerebrovascular Center Project, and three additional medical facilities will be added in 2019. In addition, owing to the promotion of CR nationwide and the introduction of CR insurance benefits, 40 medical institutions nationwide have begun CR programs even as a growing number of medical institutions are preparing to offer CR. The purpose of this research was to develop evidence-based CPGs to support CR implementation in Korea. METHODS: This study is based on an analysis of CPGs elsewhere in the world, an extensive literature search, a systematic analysis of multiple randomized control trials, and a CPG management, development, and assessment committee comprised of 33 authors—primarily rehabilitation specialists, cardiologists, and thoracic surgeons in 21 university hospitals and two general hospitals. Twelve consultants, primarily rehabilitation, sports medicine, and preventive medicine specialists, CPG experts, nurses, physical therapists, clinical nutritionists, and library and information experts participated in the research and development of these CPGs. After the draft guidelines were developed, three rounds of public hearings were held with staff members from relevant academic societies and stakeholders, after which the guidelines were further reviewed and modified. PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS: CR involves a more cost-effective use of healthcare resources relative to that of general treatments, and the exercise component of CR lowers cardiovascular mortality and readmission rates, regardless of the type of coronary heart disease and type and setting of CR. Individualized CR programs should be considered together with various factors, including differences in heart function and lifestyle, and doing so will boost participation and adherence with the CR program, ultimately meeting the final goals of the program, namely reducing the recurrence of myocardial infarction and mortality rates.
Acute Coronary Syndrome ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cause of Death ; Consultants ; Coronary Disease ; Delivery of Health Care ; Heart ; Hospitals, General ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Insurance Benefits ; Korea ; Life Style ; Methods ; Mortality ; Myocardial Infarction ; Nutritionists ; Physical Therapists ; Preventive Medicine ; Recurrence ; Rehabilitation ; Secondary Prevention ; Specialization ; Sports Medicine ; Surgeons

Understanding the role of the microbiome in human health and how it can be modulated is becoming increasingly relevant for preventive medicine and for the medical management of chronic diseases. The development of high-throughput sequencing technologies has boosted microbiome research through the study of microbial genomes and allowing a more precise quantification of microbiome abundances and function. Microbiome data analysis is challenging because it involves high-dimensional structured multivariate sparse data and because of its compositional nature. In this review we outline some of the procedures that are most commonly used for microbiome analysis and that are implemented in R packages. We place particular emphasis on the compositional structure of microbiome data. We describe the principles of compositional data analysis and distinguish between standard methods and those that fit into compositional data analysis.
Biomarkers ; Chronic Disease ; Genome, Microbial ; Humans ; Metagenome ; Metagenomics ; Microbiota ; Models, Statistical ; Preventive Medicine ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Statistics as Topic

Anisakidosis is a term that collectively refers to a human infection caused by larvae of the family Anisakidae. Because Anisakis simplex was the main cause, it was originally called anisakiasis or anisakiosis, but since other parasites such as Pseudoterranova decipiens also cause similar diseases, the family name is now used as the diagnostic name. Anisakidosis cases have been increasing steadily owing to the propagation of the Japanese raw-fish-eating culture, such as sushi and sashimi, around the world; the traditional raw-fish-eating habits of individual countries; the establishment of marine mammal protection laws; and the development of endoscopic diagnostic techniques. The disease continues to occur in Korea, where most human parasites are believed to have been eradicated and is probably the most common parasitic disease encountered in clinical practice. Anisakidosis is a disease associated with acute abdominal pain. Anisakid larvae can invade the entire digestive tract and abdominal cavity and cause abdominal pain and a variety of digestive system symptoms. Thus, the history of eating raw fish is very important for its differential diagnosis. The lack of a precise understanding of the pathogenesis and clinical course of this disease may lead to unnecessary surgery. Anisakidosis may also manifest as allergic symptoms. Therefore, it is necessary to understand anisakidosis from the perspective of public health, food hygiene, and preventive medicine.
Abdominal Cavity ; Abdominal Pain ; Anisakiasis ; Anisakis ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Digestive System ; Eating ; Food Hypersensitivity ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Host-Parasite Interactions ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Larva ; Mammals ; Parasites ; Parasitic Diseases ; Preventive Medicine ; Public Health ; Raw Foods ; Unnecessary Procedures

Though clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are an effective and widely used treatment method worldwide, they are as yet not widely accepted in Korea. Given that cardiovascular (CV) disease is the second leading cause of death in Korea, it is urgent that CR programs be developed. In 2008, the Government of Korea implemented CR programs at 11 university hospitals as part of its Regional Cardio-Cerebrovascular Center Project, and 3 additional medical facilities will be added in 2019. In addition, owing to the promotion of CR nationwide and the introduction of CR insurance benefits, 40 medical institutions nationwide have begun CR programs even as a growing number of medical institutions are preparing to offer CR. The purpose of this research was to develop evidence-based CPGs to support CR implementation in Korea. This study is based on an analysis of CPGs elsewhere in the world, an extensive literature search, a systematic analysis of multiple randomized control trials, and a CPG management, development, and assessment committee comprised of thirty-three authors—primarily rehabilitation specialists, cardiologists, and thoracic surgeons in 21 university hospitals and 2 general hospitals. Twelve consultants, primarily rehabilitation, sports medicine, and preventive medicine specialists, CPG experts, nurses, physical therapists, clinical nutritionists, and library and information experts participated in the research and development of these CPGs. After the draft guidelines were developed, 3 rounds of public hearings were held with staff members from relevant academic societies and stakeholders, after which the guidelines were further reviewed and modified. CR involves a more cost-effective use of healthcare resources relative to that of general treatments, and the exercise component of CR lowers CV mortality and readmission rates, regardless of the type of coronary heart disease and type and setting of CR. Individualized CR programs should be considered together with various factors, including differences in heart function and lifestyle, and doing so will boost participation and adherence with the CR program, ultimately meeting the final goals of the program, namely reducing the recurrence of myocardial infarction and mortality rates.
Acute Coronary Syndrome ; Cause of Death ; Consultants ; Coronary Disease ; Delivery of Health Care ; Heart ; Hospitals, General ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Insurance Benefits ; Korea ; Life Style ; Methods ; Mortality ; Myocardial Infarction ; Nutritionists ; Physical Therapists ; Preventive Medicine ; Recurrence ; Rehabilitation ; Secondary Prevention ; Specialization ; Sports Medicine ; Surgeons

PURPOSE: The flipped classroom has been suggested as a method for efficient teaching in medical education. However, its feasibility and effectiveness in the educational environment are often overlooked. The authors redesigned an epidemiology course applying the flipped classroom method under a traditional curriculum consisting of heavily scheduled classroom hours and explored its feasibility and effectiveness. METHODS: In the fall semester of 2017, we flipped the ‘practice of epidemiology’ course for third-year medical students at Korea University College of Medicine. We provided online lectures and assigned readings as pre-class materials, and substituted group discussions and communicative activities for traditional lectures. We conducted pre- and post-course surveys to review students' perceptions. We also analyzed the pre-test results and final exam scores for quantitative comparison. RESULTS: Ninety-seven students out of 120 completed the course. Most students made use of the online lectures, but not the reading materials. Lack of time was the most frequently cited reason for under-preparedness. We observed improvements in preparedness, participation, and effectiveness at the end of the course, while changes in satisfaction were unclear. Students' perceptions of course relevance and difficulty were predictive of pre-test outcomes, but the effects of preparedness and length of materials were insignificant. The authors found no evidence of differing test scores before and after the course. CONCLUSION: This study supports the feasibility of the flipped classroom model even under a traditional, heavily scheduled medical curriculum. To encourage self-directed learning and achieve better learning outcomes, restructuring pre-existing curricular components should also be considered in parallel with new instructional methods.
Curriculum ; Education, Medical ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Korea ; Learning ; Lectures ; Methods ; Preventive Medicine ; Reading ; Students, Medical