Background. This study investigated the association between insulin resistance (IR) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in children. Methods. A cross-sectional study involving 1036 healthy children aged between 7 and 13 years was conducted. Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was calculated as an index of IR. Participants were classified according to the HOMA-IR quartiles. Results. Incremental, linear trends were found in age (p<0.001), body mass index (BMI) (p<0.001), body fat (p<0.001), waist circumference (p<0.001), resting blood pressures (BP) (p<0.001), triglycerides (TG) (p<0.001), total cholesterol (TC) (p<0.001), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) (p<0.001), FBG (p<0.001), and insulin (<0.001) according to incremental HOMA-IR categories (from the 1st to 4th quartile). Compared with children in the 1st HOMA-IR quartile, children in the 4th HOMA-IR quartile had significantly higher odd ratios (ORs) of abnormalities in systolic (p=0.051) and diastolic BP (p=0.005), FBG (p<0.001), TG (p<0.001), TC (p=0.016), and HDL-C (p=0.006) even after adjustments for age, gender, BMI, and body fat percentage. Children in the 3rd HOMA-IR quartile had significant abnormalities in FBG (p<0.001), TG (p=0.001), and HDL-C (p=0.010) even after adjustments for the covariates. Conclusion. The current findings suggest that IR is significantly associated with the clustering of MetS risk factors in children in Korea.

This study examined the association between lifestyle risk factors and all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in 9945 Korea adults (56% women) aged 45 years and older. Smoking, heavy alcohol intake, underweight or obesity, physical inactivity, and unintentional weight loss (UWL) were included as risk factors. During 9.6 ± 2.0 years of follow-up, there were a total of 1530 cases of death from all causes, of which 365 cases were from CVD. Compared to a zero risk factor (hazard ratio, HR = 1), the crude HR of all-cause mortality was 1.864 (95% CI, 1.509–2.303) for one risk factor, 2.487 (95% confidence interval, CI, 2.013–3.072) for two risk factors, and 3.524 (95% CI, 2.803–4.432) for three or more risk factors. Compared to a zero risk factor (HR = 1), the crude HR of CVD mortality was 2.566 (95% CI, 1.550–4.250) for one risk factor, 3.655 (95% CI, 2.211–6.043) for two risk factor, and 5.416 (95% CI, 3.185–9.208) for three or more risk factors. The HRs for all-cause and CVD mortality remained significant even after adjustments for measured covariates. The current findings showed that five lifestyle risk factors, including smoking, at-risk alcohol consumption, underweight/obesity, physical inactivity, and UWL, were significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause and CVD mortality in Korean adults.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal tumors and usually presented with locally advanced and distant metastasis disease, which prevent curative resection or treatments. In this regard, we considered identifying molecular subtypes associated with clinicopathological factor as prognosis factors to stratify PDAC for appropriate treatment of patients. In this study, we identified three molecular subtypes which were significant on survival time and metastasis. We also identified significant genes and enriched pathways represented for each molecular subtype. Considering R0 resection patients included in each subtype, metastasis and survival times are significantly associated with subtype 1 and subtype 2. We observed three PDAC molecular subtypes and demonstrated that those subtypes were significantly related with metastasis and survival time. The study may have utility in stratifying patients for cancer treatment.

Background: The association between physical activity (PA) and all-cause mortality may be modulated by potential confounders. Aim: To investigate the association between weekly PA and all-cause mortality in a population-based prospective study. Subjects and methods: The study sample included Korean older adults aged 60 years and older who participated in baseline assessments (n = 15 416) in 2008 and completed follow-up visits in 2011 (n = 14,976). Primary outcome was 3-year all-cause mortality. Results: Compared with sufficiently active individuals (with Hazard Ratio (HR) = 1), completely inactive and insufficiently active individuals had a significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality (HR = 2.086, 95% CI = 1.639–2.655, p < 0.00 and HR = 1.644, 95% CI = 1.013–2.668, p = 0.044, respectively), even after adjustments for age and sex, health-related behaviour factors (i.e. smoking, alcohol intake and nutritional risk), cognitive impairment and components of frailty phenotype (i.e. involuntary weight loss, exhaustion and slowness). In addition, the inverse association between PA and all-cause mortality is differently modulated by potential confounders, including age, sex, smoking, depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment and involuntary weight loss. Conclusion: PA was inversely and independently associated with all-cause mortality in Korean older adults.

Background: Little is known regarding the role of gender as a possible modulator in determining the associations between lifestyle risk factors and depression in older adults. Objectives: This study examined whether gender modulates the relationship between depression and lifestyle risk factors in Korean adults aged 65 years and older (n = 3700). Methods: Data were obtained from the 2016 and 2018 Korea National Health and Examination Survey. The primary outcome was depression, assessed with the patient health questionnaire-9. As exposures, smoking habits, at-risk alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity were assessed with a standardized questionnaire. In addition, mean adequacy ratio (MAR) as an indicator of overall nutritional inadequacy was assessed with dietary intakes of macro- and micronutrients. Results: In men only, either two or three and more risk factors were significantly associated with higher depression risk (OR (95% confidence interval, CI) = 2.886 (1.003–8.299) and OR (95% CI) = 3.109 (1.064–9.097), respectively). In women only, either two or three and more risk factors were also significantly associated with higher depression risk (OR (95% CI) = 1.505 (1.067–2.124) and OR (95% CI) = 2.828 (1.527–5.239), respectively). In particular, the presence of smoking habits and MAR were the major determinants of depression (OR (95% CI) = 1.835 (1.09–3.10) and OR (95% CI) = 1.585 (1.125–2.233), respectively) in women only. Finally, a moderation analysis with the Hayes PROCESS Macro showed a significant moderating effect of gender (β (95% CI) = 0.633 (0.206 ~ 1.060)) on the relationship between risk factors and depression. In addition, the slope of the relationship was much steeper in women than in men. Conclusion: Current findings suggest that lifestyle risk factors are more closely associated with depression risk in women than in men.