10–20% of COVID (Corona Virus Disease)-19 cases proceed to a severe stage, and age and the presence of comorbidity increased the risk of death from COVID-19. The identification of risk factors on progression to the severity stages is essential in providing more efficient and suitable management to COVID-19 patients. However, there is insufficient study on risk factors for severity stages of COVID-19 patients. In this study, 2959 confirmed COVID-19 patients were analyzed while using national data, COVID-19 patients Clinical Epidemiological Information provided from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The epidemiological variable, hospital room, periods from confirmation to release, initial symptom and vital signs, underlying comorbidities, and initial blood variables were used to verify the relation with progression to severity stages of COVID-19 and severe COVID-19. The chi-square test, welch test, multiple regression and logistic regression analysis were performed. The ICU (Intensive Care Unit) admission rate of patients having characteristics, such as older age, male, abnormal BMI (Body Mass Index), high heart rate, high body temperature, fever, cough, sputum, sore throat, rhinorrhea, fatigue, dyspnea, change of consciousness, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic artery disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer, dementia, abnormal hemoglobin, abnormal hematocrit, abnormal lymphocyte, abnormal platelets, and abnormal white blood cell were high. The risk factors for severe COVID-19 were older age, shorter hospitalization, abnormal lymphocyte, abnormal platelets, dyspnea, change of consciousness, and dementia. Whereas, significant predictors for progression to severity stages of COVID-19 were older age, longer period from confirmation to release, higher BMI, higher body temperature, abnormal lymphocyte, abnormal platelets, fever, no sore throat, dyspnea, no headache, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), and dementia. Therefore, classifying patients with a high risk of severe stage of COVID-19 and managing patients by considering the risk factors could be helpful in the efficient management of COVID-19 patients.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) education for schoolchildren is emphasized, as bystander CPR is a vital key to increasing the survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) victims. This study was conducted to verify the effect of CPR education on knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and confidence of Korean elementary school students in performing CPR. Data were collected through structured questionnaires before and after CPR education and analyzed using descriptive statistics, T-tests, and hierarchical regression. Significant improvements in CPR knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and confidence in performing CPR were found after CPR education, with the greatest increase observed in confidence (p = 0.000). The influencing factors on confidence in performing CPR were school grade, attitude, and self-efficacy. Although a significant increase in schoolchildren’s CPR knowledge after education was shown, knowledge did not affect confidence in performing CPR. Therefore, early CPR education which focuses on improving confidence in performing CPR is recommended. CPR education might raise attitude and self-efficacy leading to increased confidence in performing bystander CPR. In conclusion, early and regular CPR education for elementary school students is crucial and should be conducted repeatedly.

[Purpose] The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an exercise intervention on the balance ability and muscle function of elderly women. [Subjects] The subjects were randomly divided into a control group (n=10) and an exercise group (n=10). [Methods] The subjects participated in an elastic band exercise program lasting for 8 weeks, exercising for 40 minutes, four days a week with resting terms of 60 sec. Subjects used a band corresponding to 60% of the strength of the color band with which repetitive exercise was possible up to twelve times. The subjects performed elastic band exercises, with variations to the number of band exercises according to the improvement of their physical fitness levels. When fifteen repetitive elastic band exercises could be performed with no damage of the body, we changed the band for one which was one level up from the former one and subjects used the same band for the upper body and lower body. [Results] Leg muscular strength measured as sit-stand repetitions in 30 s significantly increased in the exercise group after the intervention compared to before the intervention. Leg muscular endurance measured as the number of knee ups in 2 minutes significantly increased in the exercise group after the intervention compared to before the intervention. Balance measured by one-leg standing time with the eyes open significantly improved in the exercise group after the intervention compared to before the intervention. [Conclusion] Balance ability and muscle function significantly improved in the exercise group and showing that the intervention is effective at improving balance, muscle strength, and muscle endurance of elderly women.

OBJECTIVES:We investigated the risk of dementia in older adults with chronic periodontitis according to the severity of periodontitis.METHODS: Data on patients with chronic periodontitis were extracted from the National Health Insurance Service-Senior cohort database from 2002 to 2014. Among 52,728 subjects eligible for inclusion, 11,953 subjects had newly diagnosed mild chronic periodontitis (MCP), and 40,775 subjects had newly diagnosed severe chronic periodontitis (SCP). Two 1:1 propensity score matched cohorts were created with 8,624 patients each in the MCP and SCP groups. To analyze the risk of dementia, a Cox proportional-hazard model was used to calculate hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).RESULTS: In the Kaplan-Meier curve, the disease-free probability was significantly lower in the SCP group than in the MCP group (p for log-rank=0.001). In the multivariable-adjusted model, the HR for the occurrence of dementia in the SCP group compared to the MCP group was 1.15 (95% CI, 1.04 to 1.27; p=0.009). A subgroup analysis revealed a significant association between dementia and the severity of periodontitis, especially in subjects who were male, aged ≥70 years, and had comorbidities.CONCLUSIONS: Reducing the severity of chronic periodontitis can help to reduce the risk of dementia. Therefore, it is necessary to aggressively conduct early dementia-prevention programs for males under the age of 70 that include dental health to prevent the progression of periodontitis from mild to severe.

OBJECTIVES:The aim of this study was to determine whether the development of chronic periodontitis is more likely among patients who have been newly diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) through an analysis of representative data from the general population.METHODS: A nationwide, population-based, retrospective cohort study was conducted using patient records from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database. For the period 2004-2019, patient data were categorized into 2 groups: a diagnosis of OSA (747 subjects) and no diagnosis of OSA (1,494 subjects). Subsequently, 1:2 propensity score matching was performed to ensure the homogeneity of the 2 groups. To analyze the risk of incident chronic periodontitis, a Cox proportional-hazards model was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).RESULTS: In the Kaplan-Meier curve, the disease-free probability was significantly lower in the OSA group than in the non-OSA group (p for log-rank test=0.001). The crude HR for the association between OSA and chronic periodontitis was 1.29 (95% CI, 1.16 to 1.43). The multivariable-adjusted HR was calculated at 1.28 (95% CI, 1.15 to 1.42).CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed a relationship between OSA and chronic periodontitis. Therefore, OSA patients require oral care to prevent the progression of chronic periodontitis from mild to severe.

Although the correlation between periodontal condition and hyperlipidemia was shown by previous researches, it remains disputed. This study was based on data from the seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016–2018. Data included 14,068 subjects’ demographic characteristics, total cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, and periodontal conditions. We analyzed the correlation between periodontal disease and blood lipid levels using complex-sample chi square tests and complex-sample logistic regression. The results of chi square tests showed a significant difference in demographic characteristics according to total cholesterol level and triglyceride level. The results of logistic regression, adjusted for the subjects’ demographic characteristics such as age, gender, house income, marital status, home ownership, number of persons living together, health insurance coverage, and economic activity, showed that prevalence of periodontal disease was 1.048-fold (confidence interval (CI) 0.827–1.133) higher in the high-total-cholesterol group and 1.499-fold (CI 1.576–1.983) higher in high-triglyceride group. We found that not high total cholesterol but high triglyceride level was connected with periodontal disease. Therefore, management of triglyceride level could be a possible precaution of periodontal disease.