This study aimed to investigate the association between parks and green areas and hyperlipidemia in adults with groups stratified by moderate physical activity as a behavioral modification using the 2009 Korean Community Health Survey data and 212,584 participants enrolled in this study. The geographical codes of study participants were all matched on the basis of the amount of parks and green areas in each administrative district. Compared with participants living in the highest quartile of parks and green areas (Quartile 4), those living in the lowest quartile of green and park area (Quartile 1) were at an increased risk of physician-diagnosed hyperlipidemia and hyperlipidemia currently under treatment. Participants in the lowest quartile of parks and green areas were likely not to engage in any moderate physical activity. After classifying hyperlipidemia risk depending on the presence of moderate physical activity, those participating in moderate physical activity were less likely to have hyperlipidemia in all quartiles of parks and green areas than those not engaging in moderate physical activity. We found that parks and green areas were associated with decreased hyperlipidemia risk. Physical activity, which may benefit from the presence of parks and green areas, may reduce hyperlipidemia risk.

The association between longest-held lifetime occupation and late-life cognitive impairment: Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (2006–2016). Backgrounds: Our study hypothesized that occupation in adulthood may be one of the modifiable factors in cognitive performance. This follow-up study aimed to examine whether there was an association between the longest-held occupation in a lifetime and cognitive impairment. Methods: This study used data from the 2006, 2012, and 2016 waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, and a total of 1733 subjects aged over 65 were included. Longest-held occupation in a lifetime was classified into blue-collar, pink-collar, and white-collar. Cognitive function was evaluated using the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination. Results: In males, no significant associations were observed. In females, on the contrary, risk of cognitive impairment in the blue-collar occupation was consistently higher than in the white-collar occupation over the 10-year follow-up (2006, OR = 2.49, 95% CI 1.05–5.88; 2016, OR = 2.17, 95% CI 1.02−4.65). Conclusions: Lifetime occupation should be taken into consideration in the process of screening for cognitive decline in the elderly, especially females. This study needs to be interpreted cautiously in view of inherent data and methodological limitations.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether eating non-home-prepared meals (NHPM), including fast food, ready-to-eat foods, and frozen foods, was associated with self-reported infertility in the United States women. Data on diet and infertility from women aged 20-49 years who participated in the 2013-2014 and 2015-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were analyzed (n=2143). Dietary information, including the number and types of NHPM consumed, was obtained from a self-reported questionnaire, and infertility status was analyzed using the following question, "Have you ever attempted to become pregnant over a period of at least a year without becoming pregnant?" The frequency of NHPM consumption was positively associated with self-reported infertility after adjusting for confounding effects (odds ratio [OR], 2.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.48 to 5.38 of >1 vs. 0 NHPM/d). The odds of infertility were 2-3 times higher in women who consumed fast food than in those who did not consume fast food (OR, 2.73; 95% CI, 1.15 to 6.48 of >1 vs. 0 times/d). The frequency and types of NHPM may be a factor contributing to infertility. Although our findings require confirmation, they suggest that eating out may be deleterious to women fecundity.

Background: Although injured employees are legally covered by workers’ compensation insurance in South Korea, some employers make agreements to prevent the injured employees from claiming their compensation. Thus, this leads to underreporting of occupational injury statistics. Illegal compensation (called gong-sang in Korean) is a critical method used to underreport or cover-up occupational injuries. However, gong-sang is not counted in the official occupational injury statistics; therefore, we cannot identify gong-sang–related issues. Objective: This study aimed to analyze social media data using topic modeling to explore hidden knowledge about illegal compensation—gong-sang—for occupational injury in South Korea. Methods: We collected 2210 documents from social media data by filtering the keyword, gong-sang. The study period was between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2017. After completing natural language processing of the Korean language, a morphological analyzer, we performed topic modeling using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) in the Python library, Gensim. A 10-topic model was selected and run with 3000 Gibbs sampling iterations to fit the model. Results: The LDA model was used to classify gong-sang–related documents into 4 categories from a total of 10 topics. Topic 1 was the greatest concern (60.5%). Workers who suffered from industrial accidents seemed to be worried about illegal compensation and legal insurance claims, wherein keywords on the choice between illegal compensation and legal insurance claims were included. In topic 2, keywords were associated with claims for industrial accident insurance benefits. Topics 3 and 4, as the second highest concern (19%), contained keywords implying the monetary compensation of gong-sang. Topics 5 to 10 included keywords on vulnerable jobs (ie, workers in the construction and defense industry, delivery riders, and foreign workers) and body parts (ie, injuries to the hands, face, teeth, lower limbs, and back) to gong-sang. Conclusions: We explored hidden knowledge to identify the salient issues surrounding gong-sang using the LDA model. These topics may provide valuable information to ensure the more efficient operation of South Korea’s occupational health and safety administration and protect vulnerable workers from illegal gong-sang compensation practices.

Background: Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) is an inflammatory condition of the lung that develops at least 48–72 h after admission. HAP is contracted by both intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU patients, but no studies have examined the risk of HAP in patients admitted to the emergency department (ED). This study investigated the risk of developing HAP in ED patients and compared the occurrence of HAP 3–10 days after the first day of hospitalization in patients hospitalized via ED with those hospitalized via outpatient clinics. Methods: We analyzed the 2010 National Inpatient Sample data collected by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in South Korea. After propensity score matching for age, sex, residential area, hospital, and diseases, 153,130 inpatients (76,565 admitted via ED and 76,565 admitted via outpatient clinics) were included in the analysis. The diagnosis of pneumonia was based on the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (Pneumonia, all (J12–J18); Pneumonia, bacterial (J13–J15); Pneumonia, non-bacterial (J12, J16, J17); and Pneumonia, unspecified (J18)). Results: The percentage of newly diagnosed cases of pneumonia in inpatients admitted via ED was significantly higher than that in inpatients admitted via outpatient clinics. After propensity score matching for baseline characteristics, the likelihood of developing pneumonia (excluding the category of ‘Pneumonia, non-bacterial’) in inpatients hospitalized via ED was significantly increased by 1.33–1.97-fold. The cumulative incidence of pneumonia was also significantly higher in patients admitted via ED than in those hospitalized via outpatient clinics. Conclusions: ED visits may be an important risk factor for the development of HAP.

Background: Self-employed persons work for themselves as owners of a business rather than for an employer. Although self-employed persons have autonomy and flexibility, they are vulnerable to workplace health and safety hazards. However, there has been little interest in the health of self-employed persons, especially in small business owners. This study investigated the health status of small self-employed business owners compared to standard workers. Methods: The third Korean Working Conditions Survey for a total of 32,630 workers aged 20-59 were analyzed. A small business was defined as self-employment with 0-4 workers. Standard employment included full-time employment with a permanent or one-year contract. Health outcomes included the presence of depressive symptom and 8 types of physical health; hearing problems, skin problems, backache, muscular pains (upper limbs), muscular pains (lower limbs), headaches/eye strain, injuries, and overall fatigue. Results: Among 32,630 workers, 10,652 (32.64%) were small business self-employed. Compared with standard employed workers, small business self-employed had a 1.2-fold [adjusted OR (Odds Ratio) =1.20, 95%CI (Confidence Interval) 1.09-1.32] increased likelihood for depression after adjustment for potential covariates. Small business self-employed was at higher risk of work-related physical health problems: backache (OR = 1.16, 95%CI 1.06-1.26), muscular pains in upper limbs (OR = 1.19, 95%CI 1.12-1.27), and muscular pains in lower limbs (OR = 1.14, 95%CI 1.07-1.22). Conclusions: Our study found health inequality of small business self-employed, showing higher odds for mental and physical health problems in small business self-employed than in standardly employed workers. Key messages: The current study showed vulnerability of self-employed in small business to health problems. Our study would be helpful to build up better working environment for small business owners and improve occupational health inequalities in South Korea.