Business owners in the Republic of Korea must take part in the workers’ general health examination. However, there have been few formal analyses of the uptake of this examination by employees. In the present study, we examined the rates of participation in medical examinations according to age group, health insurance type, and enterprise size, and then compared these results with those of the national general health screening. Furthermore, we determined the distribution of patients with abnormal results for diabetes and hypertension, and outlined the significance and history of domestic health examinations. We started by comparing participation rates extracted from the among health examination data of the National Health Insurance Service from 2006–2013 by sex, age, insurance type, and enterprise size of workplace health insurance beneficiaries (i.e., those whose insurance is provided by their workplace). In addition, we analyzed the prevalence rates of abnormal results for hypertension and diabetes, and explored the history and significance of health examinations in the Republic of Korea. The overall participation rate in the primary health examination in 2006 was 56%, and this increased to 72% in 2013. However, the rates of the secondary screening did not increase much. Among workplace policyholders (i.e., those whose insurance is provided by their workplace), the participation rates of workers in enterprises with less than 50 employees were lower than were those in enterprises with 50 or more employees. Notably, the rates and odds ratios of patients with abnormal results for diabetes and hypertension were relatively high, particularly among those working in smaller enterprises. Although the workers’ general health examination has been replaced with the national general health screening, it remains necessary to ensure uniform health management services among all workers in the Republic of Korea. This can, in turn, promote occupational health and improve working conditions throughout the Republic of Korea.

The research aim was to identify demographic characteristics, chronic diseases, and unhealthy behaviors predicting ill health retirement in South Korea. Data were collected from 15,407 individuals enrolled in the first through the fifth phases of the Korea Health Panel Survey (2008–2012) using structured questionnaires examining retirement, morbidities, and health-related behaviors. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to examine demographic and clinical characteristics’ effects on ill health retirement. Lost years of working life expectancy were calculated for demographic and clinical characteristics. Older, female, and manual workers were more likely to experience ill health retirement, as were respondents reporting poor health-related habits (e.g., heavy drinking, irregular meals, less sleep hours, obesity, and no regular exercise). The chronic diseases most closely associated with ill health retirement were, in order, psychiatric disease, ophthalmologic disease, neurologic disease, infectious disease, and musculoskeletal diseases. The average reduction in working life expectancy was 9.73 years. Our study results can help contribute to the development of strategies for reducing the risk of ill health retirement and promoting sustainable labor force participation in an aging society.

Objectives: The prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and related factors were investigated by a structured questionnaire among male steel workers at a large steel company in Korea including a number of aged employees and workers with prior acute injuries. Methods: Of an eligible 2,093 workers, 1,836 responded to the survey. Among 39 job groups, 8 major job groups (1,068 subjects) were selected to evaluate the potential risk factors of musculoskeletal symptoms. Results: The prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms was 19.1% for the upper extremities, 7.6% for the back, and 7.7% for the lower extremities. Regardless of body part, the prevalence was 25.5%. In logistic regression analysis, among workers of 8 major job groups, those who experienced prior acute injuries were more likely to have musculoskeletal symptoms in the same region as that of the injury (for the upper extremities, odds ratio [OR] 2.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.51-3.16; for the back, OR 7.35, 95% CI 4.01-13.48; for the lower extremities, OR 4.20, 95% CI 2.33-7.57), after adjusting for age, duration of employment, and job contents. Conclusions: The effect of job contents differed according to the presence of prior acute injury. Among workers with prior injuries, the relationship between job contents and musculoskeletal symptoms was not statistically significant in general. Among workers with no prior injuries, job contents was a significant variable for the musculoskeletal symptoms of the upper extremities and back, after adjusting for age and duration of employment. These findings suggest that prior acute injuries are a potential risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders in the workforce. More detailed and specific strategies for managing musculoskeletal disorders including prevention of musculoskeletal injuries is needed.

We report 2 cases of hepatotoxicity in cleanroom workers due to high retained chloroform air concentrations. The women, aged 34 and 41 years, who had been working in a medical endoscopic device manufacturer as cleanroom workers for approximately 40–45 days suffered severe liver damage. Two measured time-weighted averages of the chloroform concentration in the air in the cleanroom were 82.74 and 64.24 ppm, which are more than 6 times the legal occupational exposure limit in Korea. Only 7% of the cleanroom air was newly introduced from outside. The clinical courses of these cases and workplace inspection, led us to conclude that both cases of hepatotoxicity were caused by chloroform exposure.

Kang YJ, et al. J Korean Med Sci. 2018 Mar;33(14):e106. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2018.33.e106

Objectives: Our prospective study aimed to elucidate the effect of long‐term experience of nonstandard employment status on the incidence of depression in elderly population using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) study.Methods: This study used the first‐ to fourth‐wave cohorts of KLoSA. After the exclusion of the unemployed and participants who experienced a change in employment status during the followup periods, we analyzed a total of 1,817 participants. Employment contracts were assessed by self‐reported questions : standard or nonstandard employment. The short form of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES‐D) served as the outcome measure. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models to evaluate the association between standard/nonstandard employees and development of depression.Results: The mean age of the participants was 53.90 (± 7.21) years. We observed that nonstandard employment significantly increased the risk of depression. Compared with standard employees, nonstandard employees had a 1.5‐fold elevated risk for depression after adjusting for age, gender, CES‐D score at baseline, household income, occupation category, current marital status, number of living siblings, perceived health status, and chronic diseases [HR=1.461, 95% CI=(1.184, 1.805)]. Moreover, regardless of other individual characteristics, the elevated risk of depression was observed among all kinds of nonstandard workers, such as temporary and day workers, full‐time and part‐time workers, and directly employed and dispatched labor.Conclusions: The 6‐year follow‐up study revealed that long‐term experience of nonstandard employment status increased the risk of depression in elderly population in Korea.