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©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Health behaviors of Korean adults with hepatitis B: Findings of the 2016 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Yu-Hyeon Yi, Yun-Jin Kim, Sang-Yeoup Lee, Byung-Mann Cho, Young-Hye Cho, Jeong-Gyu Lee
Yu-Hyeon Yi, Yun-Jin Kim, Young-Hye Cho, Jeong-Gyu Lee, Department of Family Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan-si 50612, South Korea
Yu-Hyeon Yi, Yun-Jin Kim, Byung-Mann Cho, Jeong-Gyu Lee, Medical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan 49241, South Korea
Yu-Hyeon Yi, Jeong-Gyu Lee, Busan Tobacco Control Center, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan 49241, South Korea
Sang-Yeoup Lee, Department of Medical Education, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan-si 50612, South Korea
Sang-Yeoup Lee, Young-Hye Cho, Family Medicine Clinic, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan-si 50612, South Korea
Byung-Mann Cho, Department of Preventive Medicine and Occupational Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan-si 50612, South Korea
Author contributions: Yi YH, Kim YJ, Lee SY, Cho BM, Cho YH, Lee JG contributed to study conception and design; Yi YH and Lee JG contributed to data analysis and interpretation, and drafting of manuscript; Lee SY and Cho BM contributed data management; Yi YH, Kim YJ, Lee SY, Cho BM, Cho YH, Lee JG contributed to reviewing and final approval of article; Lee JG contributed to revising manuscript and finalizing submission.
Supported by two-year research Grant of Pusan National University.
Institutional review board statement: Our study design was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Pusan National University Hospital (approval ID: H-1805-017-067)
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jeong-Gyu Lee, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan-si 50612, South Korea. jeklee@pnu.edu
Telephone: +82-51-2407834 Fax: +82-51-2407843
Received: May 28, 2018
Peer-review started: May 28, 2018
First decision: June 15, 2018
Revised: June 20, 2018
Accepted: June 28, 2018
Article in press: June 28, 2018
Published online: July 28, 2018
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Chronic viral hepatitis B (CHB) is popular chronic condition in Asia-Pacific region. CHB is established risk factor of primary liver cancer that is second leading cause of cancer-related death. Health-related behaviors like as smoking, alcohol, body weight and physical activity are critical determinants of chronic illness. Most hepatitis B patients perceive that they are healthy because of asymptomatic and nonspecific nature of CHB. Such misunderstanding may cause inappropriate health behavior.
Research motivation
For the prevention of liver cancer, it seems important to manage these modifiable health behaviors. But few studies have described the health-related behaviors of chronic hepatitis B patients.
Research objectives
Our study evaluated the frequencies of five health-related behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, body weight, sleep duration, and physical activity) in Korean adults with CHB and association between these health behaviors and subjective health status.
Research methods
Data were obtained from 5887 subjects (2568 males, 3319 females) over 19 years old enrolled in the 2016 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A self-administered questionnaire and medical examination were performed to assess health-related behaviors. A chi-squared test was performed for comparisons of health behaviors between the CHB and negative groups. A t-test using a general linear model was used to compare selfperceived health status between the two groups.
Research results
Among males, the current smoking rate in the HBsAg positive group was higher than that in the negative group (45.5% vs 38.5%). In the positive group, the rates of monthly and high-risk alcohol use were 70.4% and 17.6% in males and 45.9% and 3.8% in females, respectively. The rate of alcohol use was similar between the two groups. In the HBsAg positive group, 32.3% and 49.9% of males and 26.5% and 49.6% of females were overweight and physically inactive, respectively. High-risk alcohol consumption and physical inactivity were significantly associated with self-perceived health status.
Research conclusions
Our study revealed that a large-percentage of Korean adults with chronic hepatitis B have poor health behaviors, particularly regarding tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption. These individuals must be encouraged to improve their health behaviors and to participate in appropriate education programs.
Research perspectives
These findings will facilitate the development of alternative strategies to prevent liver cancer in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Future prospective study is required to confirm our findings.
