Objectives: Adequate awareness of cardiovascular disease (CVD) may help in its prevention and control. Therefore, we evaluated knowledge among the general population of stroke and heart attack symptoms and determined the factors associated with poor understanding of CVD. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 228,240 adults (102,408 males, 125,832 females) who participated in the 2017 Korean Community Health Survey. Data on sociodemographic characteristics and cognizance of the warning signs of CVD events (stroke and heart attack) were examined. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate factors associated with poor understanding of CVD. Results: The stroke and heart attack warning signs that were identified least often by respondents were “sudden poor vision in one or both eyes” (66.1%) and “pain or discomfort in the arm or shoulder” (53.8%). Of the subjects, 19.0% had low CVD knowledge scores (less than 4 out of 10) with males having lower scores than females. In the multivariate analysis, poor understanding of CVD warning signs was significantly associated with older age, male gender, lower education level, lack of regular exercise, unmarried status, unemployment, poor economic status, poor health behaviors (high salt diet, no health screening), poor psychological status (high stress, self-perceived poor health status), and the presence of hypertension or dyslipidemia. Conclusions: Specialized interventions, including those based on public education, should focus on groups with less knowledge of CVD.

The present study aimed to investigate the mental health status in patients with asthma and assess the effects of asthma on suicidal ideation and attempts using a representative sample from Korea. Individual-level data were obtained from 228,744 participants (6372 with asthma and 222,372 without asthma) of the 2013 Korean Community Health Survey. Demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, physical health status, and mental health status were compared between patients with asthma and population without asthma. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to investigate the independent effects of the asthma on suicidal ideation and attempts. A depressed mood for 2 or more continuous weeks was reported by 12.0% of subjects with asthma and 5.7% of controls (p < 0.001). Suicidal thoughts were reported by 21.4% of patients with asthma and 9.8% of controls (p < 0.001). Suicidal attempts were reported by 1.0% of the patients with asthma and 0.4% of controls (p < 0.001). Following adjustment for age, sex, income, education, job, marital status, smoking, alcohol, exercise, and presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, stroke, arthritis, and depression, the ORs for suicidal ideation with asthma were 1.53 (95% CI 1.42–1.65) and that for suicidal attempts was 1.32 (95% CI 1.01–1.73). We found that asthma increased the risk for suicidal ideation and attempts, even controlling for the effects of socioeconomic status, physical health status, comorbid chronic medical diseases, and depressive mood. Our finding suggests that asthma per se may be an independent risk factor for suicidality.

Chang Hoon Han, Jae Ho Chung. Ann Geriatr Med Res 2018;22:145-50. https://doi.org/10.4235/agmr.2018.22.3.145

Background: We investigated the associations between hand grip strength (HGS) and spirometric parameters. Methods: A total of 5,303 participants over 40 years of age, who underwent spirometry and HGS testing, were selected from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2014–2015. Outcome measures were forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁), forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV₁/FVC, and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Unadjusted and adjusted linear regressions were used for the analyses. Results: Mean HGS in the obstructive group was: male: 38.9±6.9 kg; female: 24.2±4.8 kg, which was significantly less than that in the normal group (male: 42.2±7.2 kg, P<0.001; female: 26.0±4.6 kg, P<0.001). In a multiple linear regression model, HGS was significantly associated with FEV₁ (male: β=0.18, P<0.001, female: β=0.21, P<0.001), FVC (male: β=0.23, P<0.001, female: β=0.24, P<0.001) and PEFR (male: β=0.13, P<0.001, female: β=0.14, P<0.001) after adjustment. Conclusions: We found associations between muscle strength as evaluated by HGS and spirometric pulmonary function parameters.