Effects of environmental cadmium exposure on liver function in adults.

BACKGROUND: There is inconsistency regarding the effects of cadmium exposure on liver function between the positive results found in animal studies and the negative results highlighted in epidemiological studies. We investigated whether environmental cadmium exposure is associated with an elevation in serum liver enzyme activity in Korean adults. METHODS: This cross-sectional study evaluated adult participants without liver disease from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 2008-2009. Multiple linear regression was conducted to investigate the association between blood cadmium concentration and the serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) adjusting for age, sex, body mass index and the amount of alcohol consumption. Subjects were stratified into quartiles by their cumulative cadmium exposure rank. We estimated the multivariate-adjusted ORs for liver enzyme elevation using logistic regression models with the first quartile as the reference group. RESULTS: Total number of the subjects in the analysis was 3914. The blood cadmium concentrations were significantly associated with liver enzyme levels (AST, ß=2.677, p value <0.0001; ALT, ß=3.696, p value <0.0001; ALP, ß=11.730, p value <0.0001). As the cadmium levels approached higher quartiles, the ORs for an elevated AST, ALT and ALP was increased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Environmental cadmium exposures are associated with an elevation in serum liver enzyme levels in Korean adults.

Prevalence and Comorbidities of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Among Adults and Children/Adolescents in Korea.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the prevalence and comorbidities of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among adults and children/adolescents in Korea. METHODS: This study used data from the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service collected from 2008 to 2018. Study participants comprised patients with at least one diagnosis of ADHD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Provisions, 10th revision code F90.0). Prevalence rates and psychiatric comorbidities were also analyzed. RESULTS: We identified 878,996 patients diagnosed with ADHD between 2008 and 2018. The overall prevalence rate of diagnosed ADHD increased steeply from 127.1/100,000 in 2008 to 192.9/100,000 in 2018; it increased 1.47 times in children/adolescents (≤ 18 years) and 10.1 times in adults (＞ 18 years) during this period. Among adult and children/ adolescent ADHD patients, 61.84% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 61.74-61.93) and 78.72% (95% CI 78.53- 78.91) had at least one psychiatric comorbidity, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that the prevalence rate of diagnosed ADHD has increased in Korea; however, it is lower than the global average. Further studies are required to identify and treat vulnerable populations appropriately.

Long working hours and cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a meta-analysis from published studies to evaluate the relationship between long working hours and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). METHODS: Among a total of 341 published studies found from publicly accessible databases, five cohort studies and six case-control studies were analyzed for the study. RESULTS: Statistically significant heterogeneity has been observed (P = 0.037). The effect of longer working hours was significantly associated with the risk of CVD in the random-effects model of all 11 studies (odds ratio, 1.37; 95% confidence interval, 1.11 to 1.70). On the basis of meta-regression analysis, the result was not affected by the mean age, region, or the study year. The P value using Eager test was 0.701 suggesting this analysis was unlikely to have any publication bias. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence of increased CVD with long working hours.