Low body weight was one of the risk factors of osteoporosis. Little is known about the correlation between body weight change and bone mineral density (BMD) in Korean women. Therefore, this study was designed to reveal the impact of body weight change on BMD of the lumbar spine in perimenopausal women.
105 healthy perimenopausal women aged between 44 and 50 years old were enrolled from August 2002 to March 2009. BMD was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Partial correlation coefficients between body weight change and BMD change were calculated after the adjustments for several variables. BMD changes among groups based on BMI and the percentage change in body weight during 1-year follow-up period were compared.
At both baseline and year 1, BMD of lumbar spine tended to be associated more with body weight. There was a significant association between body weight change and BMD change in lumbar spine during 1-year follow-up period. The weight gain group relatively showed an increase in BMD of lumbar spines than weight loss group. There was no BMD change in BMI less than 23 kg/m2 group, but in case of BMI more than 23 kg/m2 group, BMD in weight gain group increased more than the weight maintaining group.
This study demonstrated that body weight change is associated with change in BMD of lumbar spine in perimenopausal women especially if they are overweight.
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It is important to know the current level of primary care performance in order to evaluate and plan for desirable health policy. We tried to compare patient's assessment of primary (family physician, general practitioner, internist, pediatrician, and general surgeon) and non-primary (the other specialties) care physicians.
Study subjects were physicians of primary care clinics in Seoul. The study subject evaluators were Seoul citizens who were selected by a list-assisted random digit dialing sampling method and who had visited their primary care clinic on six or more occasions over a period of more than 6 months as a usual source of care. The modified version of the Korean Primary Care Assessment Tool was used for the evaluation of primary care performance. The data were collected with the aid of a computer-assisted telephone interview system from June 29 to July 22, 2009.
The data on 260 individuals were used for analysis. The mean scores of primary and non-primary care physician group were respectively 1.19 and 0.85 in the comprehensiveness domain, 1.00 and 0.83 in the coordination domain, 1.54 and 1.31 in the family/community orientation, and 1.24 and 0.99 as an average of 3 domains above. The scores in the comprehensiveness domain and the average of 3 domains were significantly higher in the primary than in the nonprimary care physician group.
Primary care physicians showed superior performance compared to non-primary care physicians in comprehensiveness domain and in the average of comprehensiveness, coordination, and family/community orientation domains.
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Depressive symptoms accompanied by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can be influenced by socioeconomic status, associated chronic diseases and the current smoking status. This study was conducted to assess factors that are associated with depressive symptoms accompanied by COPD, using the data obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutritional Survey (KNHANES) conducted in 2005 and 2008.
From the third (2005) and the fourth (2008) KNHANES, 407 (0.9%) with physician-diagnosed COPD were selected. Of the 407 subjects, only 180 (0.4%) who reported having depressive symptoms were included in this study. The associations of depressive symptoms with socioeconomic status, associated chronic diseases and smoking status were investigated.
Of the total 180 subjects, 45 (25%) had depressive symptoms. There were 102 males (55%) and 78 females (45%) with a slight predilection for males. In multivariate analysis, significant predictors of depressive symptoms were dependent activities of daily living (odds ratio [OR], 2.42; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.06 to 2.84) and association with number of chronic diseases (OR of one, two, and three, 1.40, 1.72, 2.60; 95% CI of one, two, and three, 1.20 to 1.63,1.41 to 2.10,1.99 to 3.39).
This study provides the basis for managing COPD patients in a clinical setting by understanding the number and characteristics of COPD patients with depressive symptoms. The results of this study suggest that primary physicians should manage COPD patients with consideration of risk factors for depressive symptom.
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Though adiponectin has been associated with insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk factors, the relationship between adiponectin and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) remains controversial. The aim of this study was to compare adiponectin level in women with PCOS and without PCOS, and to investigate the relationship between adiponectin level and metabolic variables including insulin resistance.
60 women with PCOS were enrolled along with a control group of 80 healthy women, matched for age and body mass index (BMI). We measured hormonal and metabolic parameters, as well as the plasma adiponectin concentration of each participant. We estimated the insulin sensitivity according to the quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI).
The PCOS group displayed significantly lower level of adiponectin (P < 0.001) after adjustment for age, BMI, mean blood pressure, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and several metabolic parameters. Adiponectin levels were positively correlated with QUICKI in the PCOS group (P < 0.001) and the control group (P = 0.03). Following step-wise multiple regression analysis, however, adiponectin level was positively correlated with QUICKI in the control group only (P = 0.03). In addition, adiponectin level was found to be independently associated with HDL-cholesterol level (P < 0.001) and BMI (P = 0.02) in the PCOS group and independently associated with HDL-cholesterol (P = 0.02) in the control group.
We report decreased adiponectin level in PCOS patients in relation to controls independently of insulin resistance or other metabolic factors. And adiponectin is associated with both lipid metabolism and obesity, which, in turn, is related to insulin resistance in PCOS. Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanism of adiponectin in PCOS.
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Frailty is considered to be a clinical syndrome characterized by decreased physiological reserves associated with a greater risk of health-related problems, hospitalization, and death. The current study examined hospitalization, falls, cognitive decline and disability between robust, prefrail and frail elderly in one year.
110 participants aged 65 or more who visited two senior welfare centers in Seoul from February 2008 to June 2008 were surveyed again from March 2009 to June 2009 with demographic characteristics, number of chronic diseases and medication, study of osteoporotic fractures (SOF) frailty index, instrumental activity of daily living (IADL), depression, mini-mental state examination-Korean version (MMSE-K), falling history and admission history within one year. These results were compared with participants' previous survey done one year ago.
Among total 110 subjects, 48 (44%) robust, 30 (27%) prefrail, and 32 (29%) frail subjects changed to 26 (24%), 54 (49%), and 30 (27%) respectively over the year. There were statistical significances in age, number of chronic disease, depressive mood, MMSE, falls, hospitalization, IADL disability contributing to frailty (P < 0.05). Frailty defined by SOF frailty index was associated with greater risk of adverse outcomes. Frail subjects had a higher age-adjusted risk of cognitive function decline (odds ratio [OR], 3.57), disability (OR, 9.64), fall (OR, 5.42), and hospitalization (OR, 4.45; P < 0.005).
The frailty index like SOF frailty index might predict risk of falls, disability, hospitalization, and cognitive decline in the elderly, emphasizing special attention to the individuals showing frailty in outpatient examination.
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Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGID) are rare conditions characterized by eosinophilic infiltration of the bowel wall and gastrointestinal symptoms. These disorders can present with various manifestations, depending on the specific site of the affected gastrointestinal tract and specific layer of the affected gastrointestinal wall. The pathogenesis and etiology of EGID remain unclear. The present case report describes a 76-year-old woman who presented with chronic diarrhea and lower abdominal pain. The patient was successfully treated with corticosteroid and restriction of some food allergens. One needs to consider these rare disorders during the differential diagnosis of unexplained gastrointestinal symptoms, especially when they are associated with peripheral eosinophilia.
The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence, types, and trends of dietary supplement (DS) use. We analyzed the Dietary Supplement Questionnaire data of Korean aged 19 years old or older from the Nutrition Survey of the 4th Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey. Each reported DS was coded based on ingredients according to the 2010 Korean Food and Drug Administration Notification. The prevalence (standard error) of current DS use was 20.6% (0.7) for men, 32.2% (0.7) for women. Those with DS use for longer than two weeks during previous one year were 27.2% (0.7), and 40.2% (0.8), for men and women respectively. Vitamin mineral supplement (221.6/103 persons) was the most frequently consumed DS in Korean adults. The trend for DS use in Korean adults is changing as well as increasing.
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