Little is known about the prevalence of atopic dermatitis and food allergy outside North America and Europe. We evaluated the prevalence of atopic dermatitis and food allergy with the comparison of prevalence between 1995 and 2000 in Korea and evaluated the correlation of prevalence between atopic dermatitis and food allergy. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted on random samples of schoolchildren 6 to 14 yr at two time points, 1995 and 2000 throughout Korea. The last twelve months prevalence of atopic dermatitis in Korean school-aged children was increased from 1995 to 2000. The twelve-month prevalence of atopic dermatitis and food allergy were higher in Seoul than in any other provincial cities in 1995, but the prevalence of both diseases in Seoul and Provincial Centers became to be similar in 2000. The rate responded to food allergy of children with atopic dermatitis (9.5%) was lower than that of the western countries (60%). And our data demonstrated paternal and maternal allergy history is very significantly correlated to developing atopic dermatitis in their offspring. The further objective evaluations are required to confirm these outcomes because the environmental and risk factors may be different among the countries according to their living cultures.

The aim of this study is to investigate prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) among adolescents and difference in worry and stress between normal and IBS groups. Questionnaire survey was conducted at a girl's middle and high school. Students from seventh to eleventh grade participated in the examination on Rome II criteria, lifestyle and dietary habits. Worry and stress were measured with the Korean version Penn State Worry Questionnaire-Children and the Korean version Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument. Worry score was significantly higher in the IBS group (22.07 ± 9.38, P < 0.001) than in the normal group (18.65 ± 8.99) and was higher in high school students than in middle school students (P = 0.02). Stress score also was higher in the IBS group than in the normal group (P < 0.001) and was higher in the high school girls than in the middle school ones (P = 0.04). Of all the lifestyle factors influencing IBS preference for fatty foods, preference for salty foods, drinking alcohol and sleeping for less than six hours a day were found to be significant. Worry and stress seem to be associated with IBS symptoms. The findings of this study draw a clue that less worry and stress will help decrease IBS symptoms.

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome has been increasing rapidly worldwide. The functions of zinc may have a potential association with metabolic syndrome, but such associations have not been investigated extensively. Therefore, we examined the relationship between serum zinc levels and metabolic syndrome or metabolic risk factors among South Korean adults ≥20 years of age. The analysis used data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a cross-sectional survey of Korean civilians, conducted from January to December 2010. A total of 1,926 participants were analyzed in this study. Serum zinc levels in men were negatively associated with elevated fasting glucose (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.36–0.93) and positively associated with elevated triglycerides (aOR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.01–2.13). A difference in serum zinc levels was detected in women, depending on the number of metabolic syndrome components (p = 0.002). Furthermore, serum zinc levels showed a decreasing trend with increasing numbers of metabolic syndrome components in women with metabolic syndrome. These findings suggest that serum zinc levels might be associated with metabolic syndrome or metabolic risk factors. Further gender-specific studies are needed to evaluate the effect of dietary or supplemental zinc intake on metabolic syndrome.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that is characterized by T-cell mediated immune response, and has been known to increase the risk of developing hypertension. However, the risk of psoriasis in patients with hypertension is not clear. Therefore, we investigated the risk of psoriasis in patients with hypertension. A total of 256,356 adults (42,726 in the hypertension group and 213,630 in the control group) were followed from 2003 to 2013 in a nationwide population-based cohort study. During the follow-up, 9,254 participants (3.6%) were found to have psoriasis (2,152 [5.0%] in the hypertension group and 7,102 [3.3%] in the control group). The hypertension group had a higher risk of psoriasis incidence (hazard ratio [HR] 1.54, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.47–1.61, P < 0.001), and the association remained significant after adjusting for comorbidities of diabetes and dyslipidemia, antihypertensive medication and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, and sociodemographic factors (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.08–1.28, P < 0.001). In conclusion, hypertension was significantly associated with an increased risk of psoriasis incidence. Further studies are needed to confirm whether hypertension is associated with the incidence of psoriasis.

Introduction A nonspecific symptom, fatigue accompanies a variety of diseases, including cancer, and can have a grave impact on patients' quality of life. As for multidimensional instruments, one of the most widely used is the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). This study aims to verify the reliability and validity of the MFI Korean (MFI-K) version. Materials and Method This study was performed at four university hospitals in the Republic of Korea. Among outpatients visiting the Department of Family Medicine, those complaining of fatigue or visiting a chronic care clinic were enrolled in this study. A total of 595 participants were included, and the mean age was 42.2 years. Results The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the MFI-K was 0.88. The MFI-K had good convergent validity. Most subscales of the MFI-K were significantly correlated with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). In particular, general and physical fatigue had the greatest correlation with the VAS and FSS. Although the English version of MFI had five subscales, the factor analysis led to four subscales in the Korean version. Conclusion This study demonstrated the clinical usefulness of MFI-K instrument, particularly in assessing the degree of fatigue and performing a multidimensional assessment of fatigue.

BackgroundThe deep subcutaneous adipose tissue (dSAT) is closely related to the obesity-associated complications similarly to the characteristics of visceral adipose tissue (VAT). However, the association between dSAT and metabolic syndrome (MS) is unclear. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the association of distinct abdominal adipose tissue with the cardiometabolic risk factors and MS.MethodsAbdominal computed tomography (CT) images were obtained in 365 asymptomatic subjects (187 subjects with MS and 178 without MS). The axial images segmented into superficial and deep SAT by manually tracing the fascia superficialis at L4–5 levels. The concentrations of serum inflammatory cytokines and adipokines were also measured.ResultsThe MS group had significantly lower adiponectin levels but significantly higher levels of resistin, leptin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), and oxLDL than the control group (p < 0.05). All inflammatory cytokines and adipokines were associated with the sum of VAT and dSAT areas (VDAT) (P for trend < 0.05), but no significant correlation was found between inflammatory cytokines and sSAT. dSAT was significantly associated with MS in both men and women (OR 2.371; p < 0.001) whereas the ORs between sSAT and MS were not significant (p = 0.597). The age-adjusted ORs between VDAT and MS (OR of 8.359 in men and 3.183 in women, p < 0.001) were higher than those of VAT (OR of 7.941 in men and 2.570 in women, p < 0.05) and dSAT (OR of 2.954 in men and 1.856 in women, p < 0.05).ConclusionsWe demonstrated that dSAT was associated with increased inflammation and oxidative stress, suggesting that dSAT is an important determinant of MS. Therefore, abdominal subcutaneous fat should be considered as two functionally distinct compartments rather than a single entity.

BackgroundOsteoporosis has become a major public health issue. Among various factors affected bone health, not only dietary calcium and phosphorus intakes, but also the dietary calcium/phosphorus ratio could relate to bone health. Therefore, we evaluated whether dietary calcium and phosphorus intakes, and dietary calcium/phosphorus ratio are associated with bone mass in Korean adults ≥ 20 years of age.MethodsThe analysis used data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a cross-sectional survey of Korean civilians, conducted from January to December 2010. A total of 4,935 participants (2,309 men and 2,626 women) were analyzed in this study. Dietary calcium and phosphorus intakes of the participants were estimated using 24-h dietary recall. Bone mass densities for the whole body, femoral neck, and lumbar spine were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.ResultsDietary calcium intake and dietary calcium/phosphorus ratio were positively related to bone mass density for femoral neck in men ≥ 50 years of age (p = 0.046 and 0.041, respectively). Dietary calcium intake showed positive associations with bone mass density for whole body in premenopausal women (p = 0.022).ConclusionsIncreased calcium intake and high dietary calcium/phosphorus ratio might have favorable effects on bone mass in Korean adults. Additional gender- and age-specific studies are needed to further identify the influence of calcium and phosphorus intakes, and the dietary calcium/phosphorus ratio on bone mass.

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