Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Soo Young Chung

3 Articles

Area-Based Occupational Disease Surveillance in Incheon, Korea: Results of an 11-year Data Survey: Jeong Hoon Kim, Shin Goo Park, Jong Han Leem, Jong Uk Won, Sang Hwan Han, Soo Young Chung, Sang Hoon Kim, Hwan Cheol Kim, Yun Chul Hong, Cheol Woo Kim, Chang Hwan Kim, Dong Hyun Kim, Dong Hoon Lee, Seung Jun Lee, Young Joong Kang, Woo Seok Kwak, Jeongbae Rhie; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2010;22(3):183-199. Published online September 30, 2010; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2010.22.3.183

OBJECTIVES
Between Jan 1998 and Dec 2008, area-based occupational disease surveillance in Incheon was used to collect data on occupational diseases. The long-term data was used to estimate the scale of disease, to analyze disease characteristics, and to achieve surveillance in order to determine development tasks.
METHODS
For a period of 11 years, occupation-related disease surveillance was performed on an annual basis for employees of Incheon industries. All cases of occupational disease were reported by means of the Incheon Occupational Disease Information Network (IODIN) web site, downloaded, and analyzed, subsequently.
RESULTS
Between Jan 1998 and Dec 2008, 1577 cases of occupational disease were reported. Of these, there were 1043(66.1%) cases of occupational musculoskeletal disorders, 172(10.9%) cases of occupational asthma, 162(10.3%) cases of occupational dermatoses, 135(8.6%) cases of occupationally-related cancers, 30(1.9%) cases of pneumoconiosis, 27(1.7%) cases of toxic hepatitis, and 8(0.5%) cases of occupational neuronal disease.
CONCLUSION
In the Incheon area, small and medium industries comprise 99% of business. The composition of the industry by category, in Incheon, is similar to the country on the whole. In actually, the data on occupational diseases in Korea are almost workers' compensation data. Thus, the survey of occupational disease based in Incheon, Korea, can serve as an estimate of the trends and size of the occupational disease throughout the entire country.

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Repeated measures study of the association between musculoskeletal symptoms and mental health in subway workers
Yun-Sik CHO, Jae-Bum PARK, Soojeong KIM, Kyungjong LEE
Industrial Health.2019; 57(6): 721. CrossRef
Work-Related Asthma in Korea - Findings from the Korea Work-Related Asthma Surveillance (KOWAS) program, 2004-2009
Soon-Chan Kwon, Jaechul Song, Yong-kyu Kim, Geoffrey M. Calvert
Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research.2015; 7(1): 51. CrossRef

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Acoustic Calibration of Clinical Audiometers Used for Special Periodic Health Examination: Kyoo Sang Kim, Yong Lim Won, Soo Young Chung, Seong Kyu Kang; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2004;16(4):381-390. Published online December 31, 2004; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2004.16.4.381

Abstract PDF

OBJECTIVES
Various problems are encountered during audiometric testing. Deviation from reference threshold levels for supra-aural earphones is often a serious problem when hearing levels are measured. This paper reports the acoustic calibration of clinical audiometers used for special periodic health examination.
METHODS
ANSI S3.6-1996 Specification for Audiometers represents our most current and best resource for information regarding audiometers. The acoustic calibration was measured in 211 clinical audiometers and compared with the ANSI S3.6-1996 reference threshold levels for supra-aural earphones.
RESULTS
Among 211 clinical audiometers, 56 (26.5%) exceeded the permitted deviation from reference threshold levels at any test frequency in ANSI S3.6-1996 for left supra-aural earphones, and 54 (25.6%) for right. An exhaustive calibration was required for 16 audiometers (7.6%) in both supra-aural earphones. The absolute difference in dB deviation from reference threshold levels by performed acoustic calibration at least annually were statistically significant at any test frequency (p<.05).
CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study strongly indicate that clinical audiometry is being conducted with pure-tone audiometers having unallowable sound pressure levels deviations for supra-aural earphones. The validity of audiometric hearing thresholds are significantly affected by these deviations from the acoustic calibration levels of audiometers. Therefore audiometer calibration need to be checked functionally daily and acoustically at least annually.

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Development of Linux based Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer for Puretone Audiometer
Deok-Hun Kang, Bum-Joo Shin, Gye-Rok Jeon, Soo-Geun Wang
Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society.2011; 12(6): 2830. CrossRef

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Assessment of Neurobehavioral Performance Among Rotogravure Printing Workers Exposed to Toluene: Soo Young Chung, Seong Kyu Kang, Dae seong Kim, Se Hoon Lee; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2004;16(2):115-128. Published online June 30, 2004; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2004.16.2.115

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OBJECTIVES
The aims of this study were to investigate the occupational exposure level to toluene among rotogravure printers and neurobehavioral effects among them.
METHODS
Fifty rotogravure printers and 147 controls participated in this study. Environmental and biological monitoring was performed for the investigation of toluene exposure level, and neurobehavioral performance test were performed by using the Behavioral Assessment and Research System with Korean language instructions(BARS-K).
RESULTS
The major results were as follows; 1. Geometric mean toluene concentrations in the ambient air of 5 rotogravure printing workplaces were 10.5 (GSD 5.9)~181.9 (GSD 17.7), with a grand total of 56.7 (GSD60.9) ppm. 2. The geometric mean urinary hippuric acid level for rotogravure printers of 5 workplaces were 0.31 (GSD 0.11)~5.14 (GSD 0.55), with the grand total of 1.87 (GSD 2.06) g/g creatinine. 3. There was a linear correlation between hippuric acid levels in urine and the exposed toluene in air: urine hippuric acid (g/g creatinine)=0.03 toluene (ppm) + 0.15 (r=0.899, p<0.01, n=50). 4. After adjustment for confounders, significant associations were found between toluene exposure and Digit span forwards, Digit span backwards, Tapping preferred hand, Symbol digit and Selective attention trials.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Rotogravure printers were occupationally exposed to relatively high concentration to toluene, and their neurobehavioral performances were decreased. 2. The BARS neurobehavioral testing program, which minimizes the use of text in the instructions, was very effective in overcoming the cultural barriers in neurobehavioral testing.

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Evaluation of environmental and biological monitoring methods for toluene exposure assessment in paint industry
Mansour A. Balkhyour, Radhouane Chakroun, Faycal Faidi
Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences.2023; 30(2): 103538. CrossRef

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