506C ardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a leading cause of death in the world. High blood pressure contributes to ≈54% of stroke and 47% of IHD worldwide.1 Managing blood pressure in hypertensive patients is important for the prevention of CVD and the reduction of mortality. 2,3 The use of antihypertensive drug therapy reduces the risk of stroke by an estimated 34% and the risk of IHD by 21%. 4 The definition of medication adherence is that patients take their medications as prescribed, as well as continuing to take a prescribed medication based on the treatment alliance established between the patient and the physician. 5 Adherence to medication among patients with chronic diseases is suboptimal, dropping most dramatically during the first year after the start of therapy. 6,7 For example, half of the patients who are prescribed an antihypertensive drug will discontinue their medication within 1 year of starting the therapy. [8][9][10] Patients with chronic diseases require a good partnership with their physician in order to achieve the long-term outcome goal. Patients who are adherent to antihypertensive drugs are more likely to achieve blood pressure control. A meta-analysis reported that patients adherent to antihypertensive medications showed better blood pressure control, compared with those who were nonadherent (odds ratio, 3.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.60-7.37).11 Evidence is mounting that patients who show poor adherence to antihypertensive medication have a higher risk of adverse outcomes, including allcause hospitalization and CVD hospitalization, 12,13 and they have higher healthcare costs 14 compared with patients with good adherence. 12,13,15 A recent cohort study 15 reported that a good-adherence group had a significantly lower incidence of acute cardiovascular events, compared with a group with poor adherence to antihypertension medication (hazard ratio [HR], Abstract-The importance of adherence to antihypertensive treatments for the prevention of cardiovascular disease has not been well elucidated. This study evaluated the effect of antihypertensive medication adherence on specific cardiovascular disease mortality (ischemic heart disease [IHD], cerebral hemorrhage, and cerebral infarction). Our study used data from a 3% sample cohort that was randomly extracted from enrollees of Korean National Health Insurance. Study subjects were aged ≥20 years, were diagnosed with hypertension, and started newly prescribed antihypertensive medication in 2003 to 2004. Adherence to antihypertensive medication was estimated as the cumulative medication adherence. Subjects were divided into good (cumulative medication adherence, ≥80%), intermediate (cumulative medication adherence, 50%-80%), and poor (cumulative medication adherence, <50%) adherence groups. We used time-dependent Cox proportional hazards models to evaluate the association between medication adherence and health outcomes. Among 33 728 eligible subjects, 670 (1.99%) died of coronary heart disease or stroke during follow-up. Patients with poor...

In a nationally representative sample of Korean men, insulin resistance and the fasting plasma insulin level were inversely associated with bone mass. Further studies are required to confirm this association and reveal the underlying mechanisms.

This article provides a state of the art on the emergence of non-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors and the extent to which their aid activities conform to OECD Development Assistance Committee norms (DAC-ability). It outlines the main dimensions and lines of debate regarding the relationship between the DAC, and those donors that are non-DAC members and situates the papers in this policy arena. It identifies the soft law that guides the DAC's norms and standards before summarising the key debates around non-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors perceived deviance form DAC norms and their impact on developing countries. Finally, it examines how these tensions might be resolved in the forthcoming High Level Forum in Busan, South Korea.

OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to assess the correlation between abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Korean adults after adjusting for the effects of visceral adipose tissue (VAT).RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSThe SAT/VAT ratio (SVR) was calculated using abdominal computed tomography in 2,655 subjects. We used regression analyses to assess whether the SVR predicted MetS.RESULTSFor both sexes, the prevalence of elevated triglycerides, reduced HDL, and elevated fasting glucose significantly decreased with increasing quintiles of SVR (P for trend < 0.05). The prevalence and odds ratios of MetS significantly decreased as the SVR increased (men: odds ratio 0.5 [95% CI 0.3–0.7]; women: 0.2 [0.1–0.5] for comparisons of lowest vs. highest quintile; P for trend < 0.05).CONCLUSIONSAfter adjustment for VAT, abdominal SAT was inversely correlated with the occurrence of MetS.

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