Efforts for the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in workers have been actively pursued. Obesity is one of the important risk factors related to CVDs. Obesity has various metabolic characteristics, and some individuals can be metabolically healthy. Body composition including skeletal muscle mass is known to have protective effect in obesity. The study aims to investigate the association between skeletal muscle mass and Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) CVD risk among obese male manufacturing workers in Korea and to identify appropriate indicators of skeletal muscle mass for predicting risk of CVDs.
The study was conducted on 2,007 obese male workers at a manufacturing industry aged more than 19 years. Skeletal muscle mass, skeletal muscle index (SMI), skeletal muscle mass percent (SMM%) and skeletal muscle to body fat ratio (MFR) were used to evaluate body composition and these indicators were divided into quartiles. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the KOSHA CVD risk groups according to quartiles of skeletal muscle mass indicators were estimated using ordinal logistic regression analysis.
The OR for the KOSHA CVD risk groups in the highest quartile of SMI was 1.67 (95% CI: 1.42–1.92), while the ORs for the KOSHA CVD risk groups in the highest quartiles of SMM%, SMM/body mass index (BMI), and MFR were 0.47 (95% CI: 0.22–0.72), 0.51 (95% CI: 0.05–0.76), and 0.48 (95% CI: 0.23–0.74), respectively.
We found that high SMI increase the likelihood of high risk of CVDs, while high SMM%, SMM/BMI, and MFR lower the likelihood of high risk of CVDs. Accurate evaluation of skeletal muscle mass can help assess the cardiovascular risk in obese male workers.
Cardio-cerebrovascular diseases (CVDs) are the most common cause of death worldwide. Various CVD risk assessment tools have been developed. In South Korea, the Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency (KOSHA) and the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) have provided CVD risk assessments with health checkups. Since 2018, the KOSHA guide has stated that NHIS CVD risk assessment tool could be used as an alternative of KOSHA assessment tool for evaluating CVD risk of workers. The objective of this study was to determine the correlation and agreement between the KOSHA and the NHIS CVD risk assessment tools.
Subjects of this study were 17,485 examinees aged 20 to 64 years who had undergone medical examinations from January 2021 to December 2021 at a general hospital. We classified subjects into low-risk, moderate-risk, high-risk, and highest-risk groups according to KOSHA and NHIS’s CVD risk assessment tools. We then compared them with cross-analysis, Spearman correlation analysis, and linearly weighted kappa coefficient.
The correlation between KOSHA and NHIS tools was statistically significant (
In this study, KOSHA and NHIS tools showed a moderate correlation with a fair agreement. The NHIS tool showed a tendency to classify participants to higher CVD risk group than the KOSHA tool. To prevent CVD more effectively, a higher estimation tool among verified CVD risk assessment methods should be selected and managements such as early intervention and treatment of risk factors should be performed targeting the high-risk group.
The current 52-hour workweek in South Korea consists of 40 hours of regular work and 12 hours of overtime. Although the average working hours in South Korea is declining, it is still 199 hours longer than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 1,716 hours per year. In view to this, the South Korean government has now proposed to reform the workweek, mainly intending to increase the workweek to 69 hours when the workload is heavy. This reform, by increasing the labor intensity due to long working hours, goes against the global trend of reducing work hours for a safe and healthy working environment. Long working hours can lead to increased cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, industrial accidents, mental health problems, and safety accidents due to lack of concentration. In conclusion, the Korean government’s working hour reform plan can have a negative impact on workers’ health, and therefore it should be thoroughly reviewed and modified.
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Although working hours have decreased in Korea, they are still high compared to that of other countries. In Korea, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (CCVDs) related to overwork in Korea continually occur, and the social burden from overwork is estimated to be high. This study investigated the amendment of regulations affecting the approval rate of occupational CCVDs.
The change in approval rate of occupational CCVDs and related regulations were investigated using the Act and public notice on the standards for recognition of occupational CCVDs and the yearbooks of the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The CCVD mortality was estimated using data on the number of deaths according to the cause of death, the number of employed people, and resident registration population aged 15–64 years. The cumulative mortality of CCVDs was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
Since the establishment of the standards for recognition in Korea in 1982, the scope of occupational diseases has been expanded to include intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, myocardial infarction, and aortic dissection. In 2013, the concept of working hours was introduced in chronic overwork. The approval rate of occupational CCVDs was 44.7% in 2006, which decreased to 12.9% in 2011. After the improvement of related regulations, the approval rate increased to 41.3% in 2018. From 2000 to 2017, the CCVD mortality of both the unemployed and employed tended to decrease, and their cumulative CCVD mortalities were 549.3 and 319.7 per 100,000 people, respectively.
CCVDs are recognized as occupational diseases in Korea. The amendments to the standards for recognition, the introduction of the Occupational Disease Adjudication Committee, the principle of presumption, and the reduction of working hours have changed the approval rate of occupational CCVDs. A strategic approach is needed to further reduce the incidence of CCVDs.
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Depression is considered as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and associated with changes in individuals' health status that might influence CVD risk. However, most studies have scrutinized this relationship on a rather narrower and specific study population. By focusing on general population of Korea, we sought to inspect the association of depression with CVD risk and cardiovascular risk factors.
The data from the first year (2016) of the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was used. Participants were classified by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score as such: normal group (PHQ-9 score 0–4), mild depression (MD) group (PHQ-9 score 5–9) and moderate and severe depression (MSD) group (PHQ-9 score 10–27). General linear model was used to analyze differences and the trend of mean CVD risk according to depression level. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) were calculated by logistic regression to identify the association between depression and cardiovascular risk factors after adjusting for age.
Mean CVD risk of MSD group was higher than that of normal group (
We suggest that depression is associated with increased risk for CVD occurrence in general population of Korea.
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This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between night work and cardiovascular diseases among wage workers in Korea.
The study was based on the 3rd Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS; 2011). This study included 29,711 wage workers. We used the chi-squared test and logistic regression to examine the association between cardiovascular diseases and night work and cumulative night work.
Among all of the paid workers, 12.5% reported doing night work ≥ 1 day per month. Night work was significantly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (odds ratio [OR] 1.58, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-2.25). Also, compared to the group that did not do night works, the group with higher cumulative night work demonstrated an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.19-2.74).
This study suggests that night work is significantly associated with cardiovascular diseases.
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