Sang Hwa Lee

Association between metabolic syndrome and gallbladder polyps in healthy Korean adults.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the association between gallbladder (GB) polyps and metabolic syndrome. A total of 5,685 healthy subjects were included, and 485 of these subjects had GB polyps and 744 had metabolic syndrome. In this study, metabolic syndrome was diagnosed according to standards suggested by the AHA/NHLBI ATP III 2005, and abdominal obesity (≥ 90 cm in men and ≥ 85 cm in women for Korean) was diagnosed according to standards set forth by the Korean Society for Study of Obesity. Biphasic logistic regression adjusted for age and gender was used to evaluate the association between metabolic syndrome and GB polyps. Subjects who were male (OR, 1.493; 95% CI, 1.11-2.00) and hepatitis B suface Ag (HBsAg) positive (OR, 1.591; 95% CI, 1.06-2.38) were significantly more likely to have GB polyps. The metabolic syndrome group had a higher risk of GB polyps (OR, 1.315; 95% CI, 1.01-1.69) than the group without metabolic syndrome. In conclusion, subjects who were HBsAg positive and male appear to be associated with the risk of GB polyps. The presence of metabolic syndrome also appears to be associated with the risk of GB polyps in Koreans.

The level of vitamin D using the LC–MS/MS method and related factors in healthy Korean postmenopausal women

The main purposes of the study were (i) to evaluate serum vitamin D concentration in the forms of 25(OH)D2, 25(OH)D3 and total 25(OH)D in Korean postmenopausal women using the LC–MS/MS method, which offers increased sensitivity and selectivity; (ii) to determine the relationship between the bone turnover marker, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and 25(OH)D3, total 25(OH)D separately; and (iii) to determine the factors that may be associated with vitamin D deficiency using body composition analysis and laboratory blood tests.