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BACKGROUND Few studies have reported on the trends in influenza vaccination rates among cancer survivors in Korea. We investigated these trends over a recent 11-year period (2005-2015). METHODS Data were obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) III- VI (2005-2015). After excluding individuals younger than 40 years of age, the participants included 2,210 cancer survivors (861 men and 1,349 women). We categorized these study participants into four groups according to age and sex. RESULTS The influenza vaccination rate decreased significantly among male cancer survivors, with rates of 74.8, 64.7, 56.2, and 55.2% (β coefficient=-0.257, P for trend

Aging has become a global problem, and the interest in healthy aging is growing. Healthy aging involves a focus on the maintenance of the function and well-being of elderly adults, rather than a specific disease. Thus, the management of frailty, which is an accumulated decline in function, is important for healthy aging. The adaptation method was used to develop clinical practice guidelines on frailty management that are applicable in primary care settings. The guidelines were developed in three phases: preparation (organization of committees and establishment of the scope of development), literature screening and evaluation (selection of the clinical practice guidelines to be adapted and evaluation of the guidelines using the Korean Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II tool), and confirmation of recommendations (three rounds of Delphi consensus and internal and external reviews). A total of 16 recommendations (five recommendations for diagnosis and assessment, 11 recommendations for intervention of frailty) were made through the guideline development process. These clinical practice guidelines provide overall guidance on the identification, evaluation, intervention, and monitoring of frailty, making them applicable in primary care settings. As aging and “healthy aging” become more and more important, these guidelines are also expected to increase in clinical usefulness.

Background: The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL) as a known carcinogen. This study aimed to investigate the association between exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) and NNAL concentrations in non-smokers.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study based on data from the 2016 to 2018 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Urine NNAL concentrations were categorized into tertiles of 3,615 study participants who were non-smokers. All sampling and weight variables were stratified, and analyses to account for the complex sampling design were conducted.Results: The overall, male, and female percentages of SHS exposure among non-smokers were 22.4%, 29.2%, and 20.4%, respectively. The geometric means of urine NNAL concentrations were 1.896±0.098 pg/mL and 1.094±0.028 pg/mL in the SHS exposure and non-exposure groups, respectively. After adjusting for confounding variables, in the total group, the geometric mean of urine NNAL concentrations was significantly higher in the SHS exposure group than in the SHS non-exposure group (adjusted P-value

Background: We examined the relationship between vitamin D status and health-related quality of life, and explored other related factors in the general Korean population. Methods: We used data from the 2007–2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey on 14,104 adults, aged 20–49 years, who had consented to serum vitamin D measurement and answered health-related quality of life questions. EuroQol-5 was used for measurement. Serum vitamin D levels were measured at intervals of 0–9.99, 10–19.99, 20–29.99, and ≥30 ng/mL. Results: Participants with higher serum vitamin D (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D) levels were significantly less likely to report problems with depression and anxiety. After adjustment for age, gender, income level, education level, marital status, alcohol consumption, smoking status, and the existence of depressive disorders, the odds ratio for reporting a problem with depression and anxiety was 0.60 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.39–0.91). The odds ratio for the prevalence of any problem was 0.69 (95% CI, 0.53–0.89) before adjustment, but was not statistically significant after adjustment. No significant associations were observed for problems with mobility, self-care, usual activity, or pain and discomfort. Conclusion: This is the first study to examine the associations between vitamin D and health-related quality of life for the general Korean population. Vitamin D status was not significantly associated with the dimensions of EuroQol-5 except for depression and anxiety problems.