Although upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy is highly sensitive for the detection of esophago-gastroduodenal lesions, pain and discomfort during the procedure cause examinees to experience stress and anxiety. Moreover, there have been only a few studies on relief of pain and discomfort during UGI endoscopy through preparatory interventions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between a preparatory education program and the discomfort and retching experienced by examinees during endoscopy.

A total of 306 examinees who visited a health promotion center and underwent non-sedated endoscopy from May 13 to July 3, 2009 were included in this study. After they were assigned to experimental (n = 154) and control groups (n = 152), their discomfort and retching were measured with a visual analogue scale. The preparatory education program consisted of cognitive intervention, behavioral intervention and information.

The preparatory education program relieved discomfort during endoscopy in male subjects, in subjects aged 60 and over, or in subjects with previous endoscopic experience with statistical significance (P < 0.05). It also relieved retching during endoscopy in subjects aged 60 and over with statistical significance (P = 0.023). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the preparatory education program significantly relieved the discomfort of examinees during endoscopy (P = 0.028).

We found that the preparatory education program used in this study could significantly relieve the discomfort caused by endoscopy, particularly in subjects aged 60 and over, or in male subjects with a high incidence of stomach cancer in Korea.

For an early detection and prevention of dementia, there are growing concerns about the high-risk group for dementia and mild cognitive impairment. With an increase of obesity and its complications, obesity has become a major public health problem. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between obesity and the high probability of dementia.

This study was done with subjects aged 60 to 89 years who visited a health promotion center, from April 1, 2008 to April 30, 2008. A total of 293 subjects (164 males and 129 females) were included in the evaluation of cognitive function using the Korean version of the Seven Minutes Screen test. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between obesity and the high-risk group for dementia.

Among a total of 293 subjects, 71 subjects (29 males and 42 females) had a high probability of dementia. When compared to normal body mass index (BMI) group, overweight and obesity groups had about a 2.2-fold and 2.4-fold higher probability of dementia (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97 to 4.99 and 95% CI, 1.07 to 5.46, respectively). When compared to non-obese and non-abdominal obesity group, non-obese and abdominal obesity group and obese and abdominal obesity group had about a 1.5-fold and 2.0-fold higher probability of dementia (95% CI, 0.59 to 3.95 and 95% CI, 1.09 to 3.84, respectively).

This study shows that as the BMI increased, subjects had a higher probability of dementia; additionally, it suggests that abdominal obesity could be related to a higher probability of dementia.