Work-related infectious diseases among Korean workers compensated under the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Law, 2006-2011.

Background: Korea has no surveillance system for work-related infectious disease. However, these diseases are compensated by the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service (KCOMWEL).

Objectives: To understand the nature and distribution of compensated occupational infectious diseases in Korea.

Iron deficiency increases blood lead levels in boys and pre-menarche girls surveyed in KNHANES 2010-2011.

Introduction: We present data from the Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2010-11 on the distribution of blood lead levels, and examine their association with iron deficiency in a representative sample of the adolescent Korean population.

Methods: This study was based on data obtained from KNHANES, in which a rolling sampling design was used to perform a complex, stratified, multistage probability cluster survey of a representative sample of the non-institutionalized civilian population in South Korea. Serum ferritin was categorized into three levels: low (serum ferritin <15.

Familial interactions and physical, lifestyle, and dietary factors to affect bone mineral density of children in the KNHANES 2009-2010.

We examined familial bone mineral density (BMD) interactions between parents and children and lifestyle factors affecting BMD in the Korean general population of children under 20 and parents under 50 years of age. This cross-sectional study included 2,453 participants (667 daughters, 705 sons, 719 mothers, and 362 fathers) in the 2009-2010 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We calculated prevalence ratios and 95 % confidence intervals for BMD values of whole femur, femur neck, lumbar spine, and whole body excluding the head being in the low tertile in adolescents according to parental BMD tertile after adjusting for physical, lifestyle, and dietary factors.

Relationship between bone mineral density and moderate to severe chronic kidney disease among general population in Korea.

Recent studies in Western countries have reported a significant association between glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and bone mineral density (BMD) in the absence of dialysis among the general population. However, there have been few studies regarding renal function and BMD among Korean or Asian subjects with moderate to severe (stage 3 or 4) chronic kidney disease (MS-CKD). The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between MS-CKD and BMD in the general Korean population.

The Effects of Injury and Accidents on Self-rated Depression in Male Municipal Firefighters.

Objectives: The present study aims to determine the causal relationship between self-rated depression and experiences of injury and accidents in municipal firefighters.

Methods: A panel survey of 186 municipal firefighters measured with depressive symptoms according to the Beck's depression index (BDI) was conducted. The effects of job-related injuries and accidents were evaluated using self-administered questionnaires that were taken once in a 12-month period from 2005 to 2006.

Decision tree of occupational lung cancer using classification and regression analysis.

Objectives: Determining the work-relatedness of lung cancer developed through occupational exposures is very difficult. Aims of the present study are to develop a decision tree of occupational lung cancer.

Methods: 153 cases of lung cancer surveyed by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (OSHRI) from 1992-2007 were included.

[Lifestyle and metabolic syndrome among male workers in an electronics research and development company].

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the relationship between lifestyle-implementation and metabolic syndrome in an electronics research and development company, and to provide a foundation for health providers of health management programs for setting priorities.

Methods: From July 1 to July 16, 2008 we carried out a descriptive cross-sectional survey. Consecutive workers of one R & D company in Seoul, Korea (N=2,079) were enrolled in study.

Level of silica in the respirable dust inhaled by dental technicians with demonstration of respirable symptoms.

Dental technicians are exposed to various dusts in working laboratories. This study was conducted to measure level of silica in the respirable dust generated from dental fixed prosthodontics manufacturing processes using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and to compare their occurrence of respiratory symptoms with that of non-dental hospital workers (control group). Respirable dusts were personally sampled from dental technicians working at dental laboratories in Seoul Korea according to NIOSH Method 0600.

Analysis of factors associated with the workers' health status using periodic health examination data by size of enterprises.

This study was conducted to determine whether the size of an enterprise can make a difference to workers' health and to examine those factors, which influence workers' health. The subjects of this study included 26,324 workers employed in manufacturing industry who received medical examinations at the Industrial Health Center at Yonsei University in 1995, 1996 and 1997. Medical examination data were used as a measure of health.