BackgroundIt is a very important social issue for Korea to have a healthy old age as an aged society. Aging causes a lot of physical changes, especially sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is defined as a persistent decrease in skeletal muscle and muscle strength. Sarcopenic obesity is a phenomenon in which fat is replaced instead of muscle. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity in Korean elderly and to analyze the relationship with chronic disease.MethodsData from the 2008 to 2011 the Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey were used. A total of 3,492 patients were classified into 3 groups (non-sarcopenia, sarcopenia, sarcopenic obesity), and general, anthropometry, health behavior, nutrient intake and chronic disease status were compared by the statistical analysis.ResultsThe rate of moderate exercise was significantly lower in the sarcopenia and sarcopenic-obesity group than in the non-sarcopenia group (P=0.007). The sarcopenic obesity group had significantly higher energy (P=0.005), protein (P=0.046) and fat (P=0.001) intake than the sarcopenic group. The sarcopenic-obesity group had the highest ratio of diabetes (P=0.023) and dyslipidemia (P=0.004) in the 3 groups. Compared with the non-sarcopenia group, in the sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity groups, the odds ratios (ORs) of diabetes was increased by 1.24 and 2.16 while the ORs of dyslipidemia was increased by 1.12 and 1.50, respectively.ConclusionsRegular exercise and adequate nutrient intake (energy, protein and fat) are essential for the prevention of sarcopenia in Korean elderly, and management of chronic disease in sarcopenic obesity elderly is important.

The aim of this study was to compare the quality of life (QoL) depending on the postoperative survival period or nutritional status in gastric cancer patients. Surviving gastric cancer patients (n = 222) after the gastrectomy were included in the study at Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital from April 2010 to August 2012. The Korean versions of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) and a gastric cancer-specific module, the EORTC QLQ-STO22, were used to assess the QoL. The postoperative survival period of the patients fell into two groups; the less-than-1-year group or the more-than-1-year group, and the nutritional status of the patients fell into three groups by a score of patient generated-subjective global assessment (SGA)-A, B, and C. As a result, the rate of malnutrition was 34.5% in the less-than-1-year group and 19.8% in the more-than-1-year group, respectively. Score for the fatigue (p = 0.006), loss of appetite (p = 0.002), reflux (p = 0.027) and body image (p = 0.004) in which the QoL was significantly lower in the less-than-1-year group than in the more-than-1-year group. The score of QoL according to the nutritional status of all subjects, overall health status (p = 0.043), physical functioning (p = 0.016), fatigue (p = 0.006), pain (p = 0.028), loss of appetite (p = 0.017), reflux (p = 0.003), eating restriction (p = 0.002), anxiety (p = 0.010), and body image (p = 0.001) was significantly lower in the SGA-C group than in other SGA groups. These results suggest that the nutritional status of the gastrectomy patients with stomach cancer may impact on their QoL. It is necessary to to develop nutritional intervention to improve QoL in gastric cancer patients with postoperative malnutrition.

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to investigate the factors involved in the success of smoking cessation in heavy smokers enrolled in an intensive care smoking cessation camp program.MethodsHeavy smokers enrolled in the program were classified into a success (n = 69) or failure (n = 29) group, according to whether they maintained smoking cessation for 6 months after the end of the program. Demographics, smoking behaviors, and smoking cessation-related characteristics were analyzed.ResultsStatistically significantly more participants in the success group had a spouse (98.6%; p = 0.008) compared with participants in the failure group (82.8%). However, multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that having a spouse was not an independent factor in smoking cessation (p = 0.349). A significant difference in the frequency of counseling between the success and failure groups was observed (p = 0.001), with 72.5% of those who received counseling on 3–5 occasions for 6 months after the end of program successfully quit smoking, indicating that those who received more counseling had a higher likelihood of smoking cessation success. This was confirmed as an independent factor by multivariate logistic regression (p < 0.005). Furthermore, a graduate school level of education or higher, indicated a statistically greater success rate compared to those that were less well educated (p = 0.043). This was also observed as a significant independent factor using multivariate logistic regression (p = 0.046).ConclusionEducation level, marital status, and the number of counseling sessions were significant factors contributing to smoking cessation success.

ObjectivesThis study, different from the past researches, has been conducted in all age groups to understand the association between air pollutants, pollen risk indexes, and outpatients with allergic rhinitis (AR), asthma, and atopic dermatitis (AD).MethodsData on air pollutants, pollen risk indexes, and outpatients with each disease were collected from 2003 through 2011 to verify the association between them. All data are time-series materials that have been observed by time (day) and region, and are in a nonlinear shape. In particular, the total number of outpatients per day is a count data that had a Poisson distribution as the response variable. SAS 9.3 was used to make a statistical model, generalized additive model, with lag effects for the analysis.ResultsFor allergic diseases during spring (April–May) and fall (September-October), a significant association was shown between the variables of air pollutants, pollens, and the number of outpatients. Especially, the estimates of NO2 [AR (43.00967 ± 0.11284), asthma (52.01837 ± 0.06452), AD (52.01837 ± 0.06452), p < 0.001] in spring and SO2 [AR (43.00967 ± 0.11284), asthma (52.01837 ± 0.06452), AD (52.01837 ± 0.06452), p < 0.001] in fall were highly significant and showed a positive association with all diseases.ConclusionDomestically and even internationally, various studies on the allergic diseases are being conducted. However, not many studies related to similar studies. In the need of creating grounds to back up these efforts, additional studies on allergic diseases, as well as researches utilizing pollen data, air pollution data, and claims data provided by the Health Insurance Corporation that has no problem in the representativeness of the data that have close relationships to the allergic disease will be needed.

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