The association between periodontitis and obstructive sleep apnea: a preliminary study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Periodontitis is becoming a highly prevalent disease worldwide. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder that is characterized by repeated disruptions in breathing during sleep, and mouth breathing is a common characteristic among patients with OSA. We aimed to assess the hypothesis that OSA is associated with the onset and progression of periodontal disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of a total of 687 participants (460 men and 227 women), 47-77 years of age, who were examined between August 2009 and September 2010 as part of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study. The participants underwent standard polysomnography, clinical periodontal examination and health-screening examinations. Periodontitis was defined as clinical attachment level (CAL) ≥ 6 mm and probing pocket depth ≥ 4 mm. OSA was determined using the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), and an AHI score of ≥ 5 was the cut-off used to indicate the presence of OSA. RESULTS: The results showed that 17.5% of the participants had periodontitis, 46.6% had OSA and 60.0% who were diagnosed with periodontitis had OSA. In our study, old age, male gender, current smoking status, mouth breathing during sleep and high AHI were identified as risk factors for periodontitis. OSA was positively associated with periodontitis [odds ratio (OR) = 1.84, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.18-2.87], probing pocket depth (OR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.30-3.77) and CAL (OR = 1.86, 95% CI = 1.07-3.21) in a dose-response manner. Additionally, OSA was positively associated with periodontitis (OR = 2.51, 95% CI = 1.37-4.62) in subjects ≥ 55 years of age, but not in subjects < 55 years of age. CONCLUSION: There is a significant association between OSA and periodontal disease. Further research is needed to clarify the causal relationship between the two conditions.

Gender-specific association of androgenetic alopecia with metabolic syndrome in a middle-aged Korean population.

BACKGROUND: Although several previous studies have investigated the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and androgenetic alopecia (AGA), the study results have been inconsistent. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the presence of MetS and AGA according to gender in a middle-aged Korean population. METHODS: A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample from the Korean Genome Epidemiology Study. In total, 3408 subjects (1707 men and 1701 women) were enrolled between January 2008 and February 2010. The Norwood classification for men and Ludwig classification for women were used for assessment of the degree of hair loss. Information on components of MetS together with other possible risk factors was collected. RESULTS: In men, the risk of having Norwood type IV or greater was not increased for subjects with MetS compared with those without MetS. In women, the risk of having Ludwig type I or greater was significantly increased for subjects with MetS compared with those without MetS after controlling for age and smoking status (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.14-2.48; P=0.01). Similar results were also observed for the number of fulfilled components of MetS [odds ratio (OR) 1.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00-1.91; P<0.05]. When each component of MetS was considered individually, associations between AGA and all five components of MetS (waist circumference, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein-C, blood glucose, and blood pressure) were not statistically significant. When multiple regression was used to adjust for age, family history and smoking, there was no significant association between the prevalence of MetS and moderate to severe AGA in the male group. On the contrary, a statistically significant positive association was noted between the prevalence of MetS and AGA in the female group. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis of AGA and the prevalence of MetS in a large population-based cohort demonstrated quite different findings compared with previous reports. The different results according to gender suggest that there may be different mechanisms that are yet to be defined between male and female AGA.

Dietary patterns and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Korean women.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The role of dietary patterns in metabolic syndrome has not been adequately investigated in Asian women. We aimed to identify dietary patterns and to evaluate the cross-sectional relationship between dietary patterns and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Korean women. METHODS AND RESULTS: In a cross-sectional study of 4984 women aged 30-79 years, dietary patterns were derived from 16 food groups using factor analysis. Metabolic syndrome was defined based on the Adult Treatment Panel III of the National Cholesterol Education Program (ATPIII NCEP) criteria as having three or more risk factors using a modified obesity index. Logistic regression was used to estimate the association between dietary pattern and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Three dietary patterns (Western, healthy and traditional) were identified. Higher consumption of the healthy pattern was inversely associated with metabolic syndrome (OR [95% CI] for highest vs. lowest quartile: 0.58 [0.50-0.91]; P for trend = 0.012) and most components of metabolic syndrome. In a stratified analysis by menopausal status, the inverse association of the healthy dietary pattern and metabolic syndrome was statistically significant only among postmenopausal women (OR [95% CI] for highest vs. lowest quartile: 0.60 [0.40-0.86]; P for trend = 0.004). The Western and traditional patterns showed no association with metabolic syndrome, but were related to some individual risk factors for metabolic syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the healthy dietary pattern is associated with a reduced risk for metabolic syndrome in Korean women, particularly in postmenopausal women.

The psychosocial needs of the Chinese elderly.

Changing Chinese family patterns caused by immigration have contributed to the breakdown of traditional community and familial control in Chinese-American families. As a result, the Chinese-American elderly are faced with unique psychosocial problems that workers must consider when providing services to this population.