| Seung Kwon Myung | 4 Articles |
Background: This study reports findings from the ITC Korea Survey, which was conducted to evaluate the characteristics in Korean adult smokers as part of the ITC Project. Methods: Adult male and female smokers were randomly selected using telephone survey from November to December 2005. The ITC Korea Survey contained a wide range of questions on smoking behavior and smoking history. The data reported are weighted on the basis of age and gender, and they are nationally representative of smokers in Korea. Results: A total of 1,002 smokers among the selected 1,402 subjects (71.5%) were interviewed; 96.2% were males. Daily smokers comprised 94.5% of the sample. The mean of cigarettes per day was 17.9. The average minutes after waking before the first cigarette was smoked was lower (50.6 minutes) than it was in other countries of the ITC Project. Over 90% considered themselves addicted to cigarettes and 86.5% expressed regret over smoking. Smokers reported that the norms against smoking in Korea were very strong both personal norms (89.4%) and perceived norms in Korean society (86.3%). Among the smokers, 80.8% had tried to quit smoking, and 76.1% were planning to quit. Only 5.8% of the Korean smokers indicated that the warning labels made them a lot more likely to quit smoking. When the price of cigarettes increased by 500 won (25%) in December 2004, 34.3% reported trying to quit smoking. Only 17.7% supported a complete workplace ban and 15.8% supported a complete ban in restaurants. Although knowledge of the harms of smoking was high, nearly 80% of the Koreans wrongly believed that "nicotine causes most of the cancer in smokers." Finally, the great majority (85.2%) of smokers in Korea believed that "the government should do more to tackle the harm done by smoking" and 62.5% believed that "tobacco products should be more tightly regulated." Conclusion: The results from the baseline wave of the ITC Korea Survey have identified where tobacco control in Korea has been done. Future waves of the ITC Korea Survey will be able to evaluate the impact of important tobacco control policies that Korea will be required to implement over the next few years, as a party to the FCTC. (J Korean Acad Fam Med 2008;29:844-853)
Background
: The current various case-finding instruments for detecting depression in Korea are too cucumbersome and time-consuming for routine use in primary care or student and soldier groups because of too many questions. We carried out this study in order in to investigate the validity of the two-question case-finding instrument for detecting depression easily in the primary case or the mentioned groups. Methods : We selected one boy high school in Seoul and 155 sophomer students answered the questionnaire by self-report. The questionnaire included two questions about depressed mood and anhedonia: (1) "During the past month, have you often been bothered by feeling down, depressed or hopeless" (2)"During the past month, have you often been bothered by little interest or pleasure in doing things(e.g., studying, playing or talking with friends) ?" And then a resident of family medicine interviewed them and made a diagnosis for depression using the diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV. Simultaneously we compared the test characteristics of a two-question case-finding instrument with those of a previously validated Beck Depression Inventory as a currently world-wide used screening instrument for depression. Results : The prevalence of major depression as determined by the interview was 6.6%(10 of 151). The two-question case finding instrument had a Cronbach's α of 0.663-internal consistency, a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 54.6%, a positive likelihood ratio of 2.20 and a negative predictive value predictive value of 1.00.(A "yes" answer to either of the two questions was considered a positive test.) And the BDI had a sensitivity of 90%, a specificity of 68.1%, a positive likelihood ratio of 3.63 and a negative predictive value of 0.99(cut-off point=15). Area under the ROC curves of the two-question case-finding instrument was 0.882, greater than that of the BDI, 0.834. Conclusion : The test characteristics of a two-question case-finding instrument were higher compared to those of BDI for major depression. Therefore, the two-question case-finding instrument is a useful measure for detecting depression and less time-consuming in primary care and certain groups.
Background
: Korea is an endemic area of viral hepatitis B. In spite of the HBV vaccination program since 1983, the prevalence of HBV antigen had remained high, which was 3.9% in male, 2.7% in female in 1994. But there is no approved management guideline on isolated anti-HBc and the meaning of which is not clear except the evidence of past infection. Therefore, we tried to investigate the factors which influence th seroconversion of anti-HBs during follow-up period. Methods : Medical records of 239 subjects with isolated anti-HBc, who visited a health promotion center from 1995 to 1997 and who were retested at least once during the 1-3 years' follow-up period, were analyzed. Results : The seroconversion rate of anti-HBs was 45.61%(109/239) on the follow-up test. The number of newly vaccinated or non-newly vaccinated subjects during the follow-up period was 156 and 72, respectively. the seroconversion rate of anti-HBs of each group were 57.69(90/156) and 22.22%(16/72) respectively(P<0.01). The subjects without previous history of HBV vaccination was 103. Among them the seroconversion rate of anti-HBs of the newly vaccinated or the non-newly vaccinated group were 59.70%(40/67) and 22.22%(8/36), respectively(P<0.01). Sex, age, BMI, smoking, previous history of HBV vaccination did not influence significantly on th seroconversion rate of anti-HBs among the subjects with isolated anti-HBc. Conclusion : The seroconversion rate in people with isolated anti-HBc was significantly higher in the newly vaccinated than the non-newly vaccinated regardless of the previous history of HBV vaccination in this study. In spite of the nondifferentiation of anamnestic response from primary antibody response, we can expect to benefit from HBV vaccination in those with isolated anti-HBc.
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