Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Cohort Profile

Occupational and Environmental Health Screening Cohort of Yangsan Korea (OEC-YK): 2012–2023: Dongmug Kang, Eun-Soo Lee, Se-Yeong Kim, Youngki Kim, Youn Hyang Lee, Yoon-Ji Kim; Ann Occup Environ Med 2025;37:e32. Published online September 5, 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/aoem.2025.37.e32

Abstract Abstract in Korean PDF: The Occupational and Environmental Health Screening Cohort of Yangsan Korea (OEC-YK) was established to monitor long-term health outcomes in workers and environmental high-risk citizens through systematic periodic health examinations. The cohort integrates 623,402 examination instances from 105,768 participants at Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital (2012–2023), encompassing general health checkups, occupational exposure surveillance, cancer screenings, and others including asbestos-related surveillance. Examination types included general health examination (32.4%), cancer screening (20.6%), special health examination (16.2%), night-shift work examination (16.0%), chronic disease screening (4.8%), pre-placement examinations (2.1%), and asbestos-related surveillance (3.6%). At baseline, 59.0% were male and 75.5% were aged between 20 and 59 years. Follow-up rates reached 35.0% at 1 year, 31.9% at 2 years, and 3.2% at 11 years. Notably, the inclusion of systematic asbestos examinations, combined with a national asbestos job exposure matrix, allows detailed study of long-latency occupational diseases. This large-scale longitudinal dataset supports exposure-disease linkage analysis, job-exposure integration, and time-series modeling of worker health trajectories in Korea.; 양산 지역 직업 환경 건강검진 코호트(OEC-YK) : 2012-2023년
양산 지역 직업환경건강검진 코호트(Occupational and Environmental Health Screening Cohort of Yangsan Korea, OEC-YK)는 체계적이고 주기적인 건강검진을 통해 근로자와 환경적 고위험군 시민의 장기적인 건강 영향을 모니터링하기 위해 구축되었다. 본 코호트는 2012년부터 2023년까지 양산부산대학교병원에서 수행한 105,768명의 수검자로부터 수집한 623,402건의 검진 자료를 통합하였으며, 여기에는 일반건강검진, 직업적 노출 감시, 암 검진과 석면 관련 감시를 포함한 기타 사항이 포함되었다. 검진 유형으로는 일반건강검진(32.4%), 암검진(20.6%), 특수건강검단(16.2%), 야간 교대근무 작업자 건강진단(16.0%), 만성질환 검진(4.8%), 배치 전 건강진단(2.1%), 석면 관련 건강검진(3.6%) 등이 포함되었다. 기초 조사 시점에서 남성이 59.0%였고, 20세에서 59세 사이의 연령대가 75.5%를 차지하였다. 추적 관찰률은 1년 시점 35.0%, 2년 시점 31.9%, 11년 시점 3.2%에 도달하였다. 특히, 국가 단위 석면 직업 노출 매트릭스(Job Exposure Matrix)와 연계된 체계적인 석면 건강검진의 도입은 잠복기가 긴 직업성 질환에 관한 정밀한 연구를 가능하게 한다. 이러한 대규모 종단자료는 한국에서의 직업성 노출과 질병 간의 연관성 분석, 직업-노출 정보 통합, 근로자의 건강 경과에 대한 시계열 분석 등을 수행할 수 있는 유용한 자원을 제공한다.

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Review

Review of carcinogenicity of asbestos and proposal of approval standards of an occupational cancer caused by asbestos in Korea: Sanghyuk Im, Kan-woo Youn, Donghee Shin, Myeoung-jun Lee, Sang-Jun Choi; Ann Occup Environ Med 2015;27:34. Published online December 30, 2015; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40557-015-0080-1

Carcinogenicity of asbestos has been well established for decades and it has similar approval standards in most advanced countries based on a number of studies and international meetings. However, Korea has been lagging behind such international standards. In this study, we proposed the approval standards of an occupational cancer due to asbestos through intensive review on the Helsinki Criteria, post-Helsinki studies, job exposure matrix (JEM) based on the analysis of domestic reports and recognized occupational lung cancer cases in Korea. The main contents of proposed approval standards are as follows; ① In recognizing an asbestos-induced lung cancer, diagnosis of asbestosis should be based on CT. In addition, initial findings of asbestosis on CT should be considered. ② High Exposure industries and occupations to asbestos should be also taken into account in Korea ③ An expert’s determination is warranted in case of a worker who has been concurrently exposed to other carcinogens, even if the asbestos exposure duration is less than 10 years. ④ Determination of a larynx cancer due to asbestos exposure has the same approval standards with an asbestos-induced lung cancer. However, for an ovarian cancer, an expert’s judgment is necessary even if asbestosis, pleural plaque or pleural thickening and high concentration asbestos exposure are confirmed. ⑤ Cigarette smoking status or the extent should not affect determination of an occupational cancer caused by asbestos as smoking and asbestos have a synergistic effect in causing a lung cancer and they are involved in carcinogenesis in a complicated manner.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Assessing trends and burden of occupational exposure to asbestos in the United States: a comprehensive analysis from 1990 to 2019
Xujun Li, Xin Su, Li Wei, Junhang Zhang, Donglei Shi, Zhaojun Wang
BMC Public Health.2024;[Epub] CrossRef
A case of laryngeal cancer induced by exposure to asbestos in a construction site supervisor
Sooyong Roh, Soyong Park, Gyeong Tae, Jaechul Song
Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2016;[Epub] CrossRef

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