A Longitudinal Study on Major Adult Chronic Disease Prevalence in Korean Employees between 2001 and 2010

Abstract

The Korean GDP per capita was doubled during the last 10 years. As GDP increases, the Korean health behaviors such as, eating, drinking, smoking and exercise habits were changed also. While the diagnostic technologies and therapeutics in Korea have been remarkably advanced during the last decade, the leading causes of death were scarcely changed. Among the leading causes of death, cerebrovascular disease, heart disease, diabetes, liver disease and hypertension are closely related with the health behaviors. Many Korean employees are exposed to the heavy workload, stressful condition, physical inactivity and frequent office dinners in their work, which can harm their health. Accordingly, the authors performed a longitudinal study for the prevalence rates and the trends of major chronic adult diseases among the 2,721 workers along with their health behavior using the database of medical check-up between 2001 and 2010. Among the diagnostic test items, fasting blood sugar, cholesterol and BMI levels were steadily increased and the three test items showed linear trends (p<0.001). The average levels of blood sugar and cholesterol were coming close to the alarming level and that of BMI in male has already reached the overweight level intimating the possibility of Obese Class I level