The study aims at appraising gender differences in health-related practices, and health behaviour among university students of the Khon Kaen University, northeast Thailand, using a self-administered questionnaire. Of 539 university students, there were 155 males, 384 females, with mean ages 19.7 (+/- 1.2) and 19.6 (+/- 1.1) years, respectively. Persistent health problems were not significantly different between male and female students (12.9% vs. 15.4%). An average body mass index (BMI) was significantly different between male and female students (20.2 +/- 2.1 vs. 19.8 +/- 2.1). Female students reported positive health habits, in terms of drinking, smoking, sun protection, tooth brushing, fruit consumption, conscious efforts to avoid fat and cholesterol, over men, while regular exercise and safety belt use were more likely practised among male students. Using ANOVA and pairwise multiple comparisons, female students demonstrated better health eating habits than men (p = 0.0001). Coronary heart disease preventive habits between the medical and nonmedical faculty was greater for female students than for male students (p = 0.0006 for gender; p = 0.0001 for faculty). Health behaviour (combination of health eating habits, deliberate nutritional practices and coronary heart diseases preventive behaviour) was found to be better practised among women than men (p = 0.0001). These findings, therefore, should focus attention on university students as a target group for health education.

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A case-control study on the relationship between alcohol dehydrogenase-2 (ADH2), aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2) and male probable alcohol use disorders (AUD) was performed in Khon Kaen, north-east Thailand. One hundred and fifty-three paired cases (probable AUD) and controls (non-probable AUD) were sampled from villagers aged 18-65 years using the modified Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test -Thai version, controls being matched for gender, age ( ± 4 years) and village. All of the cases and 86.9% of the controls were current drinkers. The percentage of ADH2*1/1 among cases was 47.1%, being significantly larger than the 29.4% among controls, and yielding a univariate odds ratio (OR) of 2.421* (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.419-4.132) for developing probable AUD. The ALDH2*1/1 proportion among cases, 92.8%, was comparable to the 92.2% among controls, yielding a univariate OR of 1.100 (95%CI = 0.757-1.599). Multivariate analysis based on a conditional logistic regression model and a hierarchically well-formulated model strategy revealed that: (i) the OR of developing probable AUD due to 1 g increment of daily ethanol drinking was 1.110* among farmers (95%CI = 1.054-1.170); (ii) OR due to 1 g increment of daily ethanol drinking was 1.329* among non-farmers (95%CI = 1.109-1.593); (iii) OR due to either ADH2*1/1 or ALDH2*1/1 was insignificant; and (iv) the daily amount of smoking is independently associated with probable AUD. The present findings suggest that one of the genetic factors that may be related to probable AUD among Thai males living in the northeast is the ADH2 gene.

Purpose of this study was to survey subjective health problems occurring among Japanese nursing students. Data collected with the self-administered Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire Japanese version (JCMI) from 102 Japanese first year nursing students were analyzed . The total CMI score (section A-R) ranged from 2-108 with an average of 23.1 (SD=15.9). The mean CMI for physical (section A-L) and psychological health complains (section M-R) were 15.7 (SD=11.8) and 7.3 (SD=6.1), respectively. Two-way analysis of variances with multiple comparison of means revealed significant relationships between age and psychological health complaints and both physical and overall health complaints. The older nursing students reported more physical and overall health complaints than the youngest. The nursing students who reported more complaints about psychological health also reported significantly more physical and overall health complaints . A comparison of Fukamachi's and Brodman's criteria for classification of neurotic traits is discussed. Findings from this study support the hypothesis that psychological health is somewhat reacted to physical health.

Summary: This report describes physical, psychological and overall health complaints of 513 female Thai nursing students obtained by using the Cornell Medical Index questionnaire (C.M.I.) Thai version. The subjects were 17 to 24 years old in their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year-class of nursing school in the northeast region of Thailand. The Pearson correlation coefficient shows an adequate internal consistency of the C.M.I. The observed C.M.I. scores ranged from 1 to 110 with a mean of 36.6. The highest percentages of yesresponse, among physical and psychological complaints, were observed in the questions concerning the genitourinary system, and sensitivity respectively. A statistically significant inverse correlation was observed between year of nursing school and C.M.I. scores in physical, psychological and overall health complaints: the mean C.M.I. score on physical and overall health complaints of the 1st and the 3rd year-class students were significantly higher than those of the 2nd and the 4th year-class.