The Trends in Research on the Health of North Korean Refugees

PURPOSE: This study aims to identify the general characteristics, subjects, and methods of research on the health of North Korean refugees through a systematic literature review. METHODS: A total of 140 studies on health were reviewed using the analytical framework developed by the researchers. RESULTS: The quantitative research comprised 90.7% of the studies, whereas the qualitative research were 7.9% of them. Approximately 81.4% of those reviewed have publication dates spanning 2006 to 2015. Only 13.6% of the studies were conducted with the approval of an institutional review board. The subjects of studies were psycho-social health (151.8%), behavioral health (28.5%), cognitive health (15.0%), physical health (12.2%), integrated health (7.8%), and spiritual health (2.8%). Within the quantitative studies reviewed, the most commonly used study design was survey research (86.0%). The two sampling methods used most often were convenience sampling (53.5%) and snowball sampling (19.4%), and the most commonly used data-collection method were questionnaires (94.6%). As for the qualitative studies, the most commonly used study design was phenomenology. CONCLUSION: The results suggested that the reviewed studies focused on physical health more than psycho-social health, and physiological measurement more than questionnaires. Ethical considerations need to be expanded.

Effects of Dietary and Physical Activity Interventions on Metabolic Syndrome: A Meta-analysis

PURPOSE: This study identified effects of dietary and physical activity interventions including dietary interventions or physical activity interventions alone or combined dietary-physical activity interventions to improve symptoms in metabolic syndrome including abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low high density lipoprotein cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and elevated fasting glucose through meta-analysis. METHODS: Articles on metabolic syndrome X published from 1988 to 2013 were searched through electronic databases, Google Scholar, and reference reviews. Methodological quality was assessed by the checklist, SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network). RESULTS: In the meta-analysis, there were 9 articles reporting 13 interventions with 736 participants. Using random effect models, the dietary and/or physical activity interventions showed a lower mean difference in waist circumference ( - 1.30 cm, 95% CI: - 2.44~ - 0.15, p =.027). The combined dietary-physical activity interventions showed a lower mean difference in waist circumference ( - 2.77 cm, 95% CI: - 4.77~ - 0.76, p =.007) and systolic blood pressure ( - 5.44 mmHg, 95% CI: - 10.76~ - 0.12, p =.044). Additionally, interventions of over 24 weeks yielded a lower mean difference in waist circumference ( - 2.78 cm, 95% CI: - 4.69~ - 0.87, p =.004) and diastolic blood pressure ( - 1.93 mmHg, 95% CI: - 3.63~ - 0.22, p =.026). CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that dietary and/or physical activity interventions for metabolic syndrome reduce central obesity with no adverse effects. This finding provides objective evidences for dietary and physical activity management on metabolic syndrome as an efficient intervention.