Mediators of the Effect of Obesity on Stroke and Heart Disease Risk: Decomposing Direct and Indirect Effects.

Background: The prevalence of overweight and obesity are well known risk factors of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). We aimed to examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and ASCVD over a 23-year follow-up in young adults. We also qualified how much of the effects of obesity on ASCVD were mediated through blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose.

The Insignificant Correlation between Androgen Deprivation Therapy and Incidence of Dementia Using an Extension Survival Cox Hazard Model and Propensity-Score Matching Analysis in a Retrospective, Population-Based Prostate Cancer Registry.

This study aims to evaluate the effect of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) on the incidence of dementia, after considering the time-dependent survival in patients with prostate cancer (PC) using a Korean population-based cancer registry database. After excluding patients with cerebrovascular disease and dementia before or within the 3-month-ADT and those with surgical castration, 9880 (19.3%) patients were matched into ADT and non-ADT groups using propensity-score matching (PSM) among 51,206 patients registered between 2006 and 2013.

Clinical impact of follow-up imaging on mortality in Korean breast cancer patients: A national cohort study.

Background: As the incidence of breast cancer has increased and the survival rate has improved, supporting the optimal follow-up strategy has become an important issue. This study aimed to evaluate follow-up imaging usage after breast cancer surgery and the implications on mortality in Korea.

Methods: This study included 96,575 breast cancer patients diagnosed during 2002-2010 and registered in the Korea Central Cancer Registry, Statistics Korea, and Korean National Health Insurance Service.

Validation of Cancer Diagnosis Based on the National Health Insurance Service Database versus the National Cancer Registry Database in Korea.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the feasibility of operational definitions of cancer patients in conducting cancer-related studies using the claims data from the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS).

Materials And Methods: Cancer incidence data were obtained from the Korean Central Cancer Registry, the NHIS primary diagnosis, and from the rare and intractable disease (RID) registration program.

Results: The operational definition with higher sensitivity for cancer patient verification was different by cancer type.

Survival in untreated hepatocellular carcinoma: A national cohort study.

This study aimed to analyze the proportion, characteristics and prognosis of untreated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients in a large representative nationwide study. A cohort study was conducted using the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) database in Korea. A total of 63,668 newly-diagnosed HCC patients between January 2008 and December 2013 were analyzed.

Trajectory of smoking and early bladder cancer risk among Korean young adult men.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the risk of bladder cancer according to the trajectory pattern of amount of smoking among Korean young adult men.

Methods: Smoking status was assessed with a standardized questionnaire in the Korean Life Course Health Study (KLCHS). Trajectory analyses were performed among young adult men using seven repeated surveys of cigarette per day (CPD) every two years from 1992 to 2005.

Use of Gadoxetic Acid-enhanced Liver MRI and Mortality in More than 30 000 Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Nationwide Analysis.

Background The impact on survival of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI in addition to multiphase contrast material-enhanced CT for initial staging in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unknown. Purpose To compare all-cause mortality in patients with HCC who underwent CT only, CT plus non-gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI, or CT plus gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI as part of their initial diagnostic work-up. Materials and Methods The authors performed a nationwide retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with HCC in South Korea between January 2008 and December 2010.

High-resolution metabolomics study revealing l-homocysteine sulfinic acid, cysteic acid, and carnitine as novel biomarkers for high acute myocardial infarction risk.

Background: Identifying changes in serum metabolites before the occurrence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is an important approach for finding novel biomarkers of AMI.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, serum samples obtained from patients at risk of AMI (n = 112) and non-risk controls (n = 89) were tested using high-resolution metabolomics (HRM). Partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), along with univariate analysis using a false discovery rate (FDR) of q = 0.

Causal Associations Between Serum Bilirubin Levels and Decreased Stroke Risk: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.

Objective: A number of epidemiological studies have reported that decreased serum bilirubin, an endogenous antioxidant, is associated with cardiovascular disease. However, previous Mendelian randomization analyses conducted using a single sample have shown no evidence of association. Approach and Results: A 2-sample summary Mendelian randomization study was performed by obtaining exposure and outcome data from separate nonoverlapping samples.

Radiotherapy can increase the risk of ischemic cerebrovascular disease in head and neck cancer patients: A Korean population-based cohort study.

Background And Purpose: Several reports suggested that radiotherapy (RT) was related to an increased risk of cerebrovascular disease (CVD) in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients, but other risk factors of CVD were not properly considered in estimating the risk of RT. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of RT on the risk of CVD in HNC patients.

Materials And Methods: The Korean Central Cancer Registry data and Korean National Health Insurance Service data were used.

Trajectory of Smoking and Incidence of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease among Korean Young Adult Men.

: Smoking among young adults is associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in middle age. Our aim was to analyze the trajectory of smoking in young adults and analyze the effects of the trajectory group on incident ASCVD. This study was conducted among 60,709 young adult men aged 20-29 years who received health screening every two years from 1992-2004.

Smoking and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk in young men: the Korean Life Course Health Study.

Objective: To examine the effect of smoking on risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in Korean young men and to examine whether serum total cholesterol levels could modify the effect of smoking on ASCVD.

Design: A prospective cohort study within a national insurance system.

Setting: Health screenings provided by national insurance in 1992 and 1994.

Oral health and later coronary heart disease: Cohort study of one million people.

Aims Systematic reviews report an association between poorer oral health and an increased risk of coronary heart disease. This contentious relationship may not be causal but existing studies have been insufficiently well powered comprehensively to examine the role of confounding, particularly by cigarette smoking. Accordingly, we sought to examine the role of smoking in generating the relationship between oral health and coronary heart disease in life-long non-smokers.

The J-curve between Diastolic Blood Pressure and Risk of All-cause and Cardiovascular Death.

Background And Objectives: The J-curve phenomenon between diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mortality has been reported repeatedly in treated patients. However, the baseline risk of low DBP has not been fully explored. This study was to examine the relationship between DBP and risk of mortality from all-cause, atherosclerotic vascular diseases (ASCVD), and ischemic heart disease (IHD) using a prospective cohort of general population.

Prediagnosis Body Mass Index and Risk of Secondary Primary Cancer in Male Cancer Survivors: A Large Cohort Study.

Purpose Male cancer survivors have a higher risk of cancer than the general population, which might be caused by an increased prevalence of obesity or susceptibility to obesity-related carcinogenesis. We assessed the effects of obesity before the diagnosis of a first cancer on the development of secondary primary cancers (SPCs). Methods The study population consisted of 239,615 Korean male cancer survivors between January 2003 and December 2010.

Clinical Conversion or Reversion of Mild Cognitive Impairment in Community versus Hospital Based Studies: GDEMCIS (Gwangju Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment Study) and CREDOS (Clinical Research Center for Dementia of South Korea).

Background: In keeping with increasing interest in dementia, few recent studies suggest that clinical course of mild cognitive impairment vary across different studies with hospital-based subjects showing higher rates of conversion than community-based subjects.

Objective: The main objective of the present study was to assess whether the clinical conversion or reversion rates differ according to recruitment source.

Methods: The baseline study subjects comprised of patients who were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in community-based GDEMCIS or hospital-based CREDOS.

Hazard Ratio of Smoking on Lung Cancer in Korea According to Histological Type and Gender.

Purpose: Using nationwide cancer incidence data, we examined whether the strength of the association of cigarette smoking with lung cancer risk differs according to major histological type and gender, taking account of other risk factors in the Korean population.

Methods: The study population derived from government employees and teachers aged 20 years and over who participated in a national health examination program in 1998 or 1999. Total study subjects were 1,357,447.

Frontal Lobe Function and Risk of Hip Fracture in Patient With Alzheimer Disease: An Analysis of Linked Data.

To determine the association between frontal lobe function and risk of hip fracture in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD).Retrospective cohort study using multicenter hospital-based dementia registry and national health insurance claim data was done. Participants who had available data of neuropsychological test, national health insurance claim, and other covariates were included.

Differential effects of white matter hyperintensity on geriatric depressive symptoms according to APOE-ε4 status.

Background: We aimed to examine differential effects of WMH on progression of depressive symptoms according to APOE ε4 status in the elderly.

Methods: We obtained data from elderly Korean subjects (n=707) aged 60 years or older at baseline from the CREDOS study from November 2005 to July 2014. A linear mixed model stratified according to APOE genotype (APOE ε4 carrier vs.

Participation in Physical, Social, and Religious Activity and Risk of Depression in the Elderly: A Community-Based Three-Year Longitudinal Study in Korea.

Background: We examined the longitudinal association between participation in individual or combinations of physical, social, and religious activity and risk of depression in the elderly.

Methods: Elderly subjects aged ≥ 60 years who completed the Living Profiles of Older People Survey in Korea (n = 6,647) were included. The baseline assessment, Wave 1, was conducted in 2008, and a follow-up assessment, Wave 2, was conducted in 2011.

Effect of Psychotropic Drugs on Development of Diabetes Mellitus in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease.

We aimed to examine risk of diabetes mellitus (DM) among older adults with Alzheimer's disease receiving 3 types of psychotropic drugs, that is, antipsychotics, antidepressants, and sedative anxiolytics. We retrospectively analyzed data from a hospital-based Clinical Research Center for Dementia of South Korea (CREDOS) study conducted between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2012. Participants (n = 3042) with Alzheimer's disease were aged 65 or older and had no preexisting history of DM.

Severity of White Matter Hyperintensities and Length of Hospital Stay in Patients with Cognitive Impairment: A CREDOS (Clinical Research Center for Dementia of South Korea) Study.

Background & Objective: White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) contribute to aggravation of dementia or geriatric syndrome, thereby resulting in functional impairment. However, evidence of direct association between WMHs and medical resource utilization indicated by length of hospital stay (LOS) is scarce in patients with cognitive impairment. This study aimed to examine the relationship between the severity of WMHs and LOS in patients with cognitive impairment.

Increased plasma levels of heat shock protein 70 associated with subsequent clinical conversion to mild cognitive impairment in cognitively healthy elderly.

Background And Aims: Heat shock proteins (HSPs) have been regarded as cytoprotectants that protect brain cells during the progression of neurodegenerative diseases and from damage resulting from cerebral ischemia. In this study, we assessed the association between plasma HSP 70/27 levels and cognitive decline.

Methods: Among participants in the community-based cohort study of dementia called the Gwangju Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment Study, subjects without cognitive impairment at baseline, who then either remained without impairment (non-conversion group), or suffered mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (conversion group) (non-conversion group, N = 36; conversion group, N = 30) were analyzed.