Hyeok-Hee Lee

Yonsei University · Department of Internal Medicine

Background: Most international guidelines recommend intensive blood pressure (BP) targets (e.g., <130/80 mm Hg) for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, the data supporting these recommendations are limited, particularly for those with concomitant diabetes. Hypothesis: Systolic BP (SBP) <130 mm Hg and diastolic BP (DBP) <80 mm Hg ar...

This cohort study examines the risk of heart failure in patients by smoking status after diagnosis of cancer.

INTRODUCTION Many individuals change their smoking habits after cancer diagnosis. We aimed to evaluate the association of post‐diagnosis smoking habit change with incident dementia in cancer survivors. METHODS We identified 558,127 individuals who were diagnosed with cancer at age ≥ 20 and survived for ≥ 3 years. Participants were classified into...

Introduction: The American Heart Association (AHA) recently updated the “Life’s Essential 8” (LE8) metrics for quantification of cardiovascular health (CVH). We investigated temporal trends of CVH status by LE8 metrics among Korean adults, using nationwide survey data. Methods: We analyzed data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examinati...

Introduction: The AHA recently highlighted the linkage of cardiovascular (CVD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) and the importance of promoting cardiovascular health (CVH) to prevent them. We hypothesized that attaining ideal CVH score or improving it in young adulthood is associated with low risk of cardiovascular-kidney events, but data are scarc...

Background: The Korea Hypertension Fact Sheet 2023, presented by the Korean Society of Hypertension, offers an overview of the prevalence and management of hypertension, along with recent trends. Methods: Data for the Fact Sheet were derived from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey spanning 1998 to 2021, and the National H...

OBJECTIVES The escalating burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a critical public health issue worldwide. CVD, especially acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke, is the leading contributor to morbidity and mortality in Korea. We aimed to develop algorithms for identifying AMI and stroke events from the National Health Insurance Service (N...

Objectives: Stroke remains the second leading cause of death in Korea. This study was designed to estimate the crude, age-adjusted and age-specific incidence rates, as well as the case fatality rate of stroke, in Korea from 2011 to 2020. Methods: We utilized data from the National Health Insurance Services (NHIS) from January 1, 2002, to Decembe...

Objectives: Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of mortality worldwide, and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is particularly fatal condition. We evaluated the incidence and case fatality rates of AMI in Korea from 2011 to 2020. Methods: We utilized data from the National Health Insurance Services (NHIS) to calculate crude, age-standardi...

Objective We explored clinical implications of the new definition of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) by assessing its prevalence and associated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Design From nationwide health screening data, we identified 9 775 066 adults aged 20–79 who underwent health examination in 2009. Partici...

Introduction In the rapidly growing population of cancer survivors worldwide, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of non-cancer mortality.¹ Promoting a healthy lifestyle is crucial in this population. Yet, little is known regarding the association of physical activity (PA), particularly post-diagnosis changes, with CVD among cancer su...

Background The Korean Society of Hypertension has published the Korea Hypertension Fact Sheet 2022 to provide an overview of the magnitude and management status of hypertension and their recent trends. Methods The Fact Sheets were based on the analyses of Korean adults aged 20 years or older of the 1998–2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Exa...

Background: Although drug-coated balloons (DCBs) and drug-eluting stents (DES) are frequently used for the treatment of femoropopliteal artery (FPA) disease, their mid- or long-term clinical efficacy in real-world practice is still limited. Objectives: From the K-VIS ELLA (Korean Vascular Intervention Society Endovascular Therapy in Lower Limb A...

Introduction Cancer survivors are rapidly increasing.¹ There is a need for strategies against cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death after surviving cancer.² Despite the well-known adverse health effects of tobacco use, ∼20% of individuals diagnosed with cancer smoke persistently after the diagnosis.3,4 Yet, data are scarce regard...

Background and objectives: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare but fatal disease. Recent advances in PAH-specific drugs have improved its outcomes, although the healthcare burden of novel therapeutics may lead to a discrepancy in outcomes between developing and developed countries. We analyzed how the epidemiology and clinical features...

Objectives: The adverse health effects of individual-level social isolation (e.g., perceived loneliness) have been well documented in older adults. However, little is known about the impact of collective-level social isolation on health outcomes. We sought to examine the association of group-level segregation with cardiovascular health (CVH) in ol...

Background: The development of cancer and its treatment often entail changes in body weight. This study aimed to investigate the association of post-diagnosis body weight change with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in cancer survivors. Methods: From the Korean National Health Insurance database, we identified 112,565 3-year cancer survivors who h...

Introduction: Data are lacking on the association between long-term cumulative achievement of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) during young adulthood and midlife cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. We hypothesized that higher cumulative ideal CVH score during young adulthood is associated with lower risk of CVD events in midlife. Methods: We stud...

The Korean Society of Hypertension (KSH)- Hypertension Epidemiology Research Working Group has analyzed national big data to provide an overview of the magnitude and management status of hypertension and their recent trends. The analyses included data for Korean adults aged 20 years or older of the 1998–2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Exam...

Background The Korean Society of Hypertension has published the Korea Hypertension Fact Sheet 2021 to provide an overview of the magnitude and management status of hypertension and their recent trends. Methods The Fact Sheets were based on the analyses of Korean adults aged 20 years or older of the 1998–2019 Korea National Health and Nutrition Exa...

PURPOSE Despite the growing recognition of the importance of hypertension in patients with cancer, little is known about whether high blood pressure (BP) among patients with cancer is associated with incident heart failure (HF) and other cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and what BP levels are linked to these events. We examined the association o...

Background Results of preceding studies on the relationship between blood pressure (BP) and cancers have been confounded due to individuals taking antihypertensive medications or shared risk factors. We assessed whether medication-naïve high BP is a risk factor for incident cancers. Methods This retrospective observational study included 1,388,331...

Background The 2021 Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guideline recommends a systolic blood pressure (BP) target of <120 mm Hg for nondialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD). Objectives We sought to examine the potential implications of the 2021 KDIGO BP target, compared with the 2012 KDIGO and 2017 American College of Cardiology (AC...

Introduction: No specific guideline exists for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in cancer survivors. We hypothesized that CVD risk and its association with risk factors are comparable between cancer survivors and the general population, such that they may share currently available risk scores (e.g., Pooled Cohort Equation; PCE...

Background The Korean Society of Hypertension has published the Korea Hypertension Fact Sheet 2020 to provide an overview of the magnitude and management status of hypertension and their recent trends. Methods The Fact Sheets were based on the analyses of Korean adults aged 20 years or older of the 2007–2018 Korea National Health and Nutrition Exa...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Background Benefits of intensive blood pressure lowering on health outcomes have been demonstrated in high-risk patients. However, little is known about such benefits in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Objectives This study sought to investigate the association of on-treatment blood pressure with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk...

Background and objectives: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. To provide an overview of the temporal trends in the burden of CVD, the Korean Society of Cardiology has published the Korea Heart Disease Fact Sheet in 2020. Methods: We analyzed anonymized data of the Causes of Death Statistics, Nati...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and a major contributor to disability worldwide. Since the majority of cardiovascular events are preventable, identification of modifiable CVD risk factors and implementation of primordial prevention strategies should be a public health priority. In this aspect, the American Heart Associati...

Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate whether earlier extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support is associated with improved clinical outcomes in patients with refractory cardiogenic shock (CS). Background The prognosis of patients with refractory CS receiving ECMO remains poor. However, little is known about the association...

Objective: The Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis (KSoLA) has published the Dyslipidemia Fact Sheets in Korea 2020 to provide an overview of magnitude and management status of dyslipidemia and their recent trends therein. Methods: The Fact Sheets were based on the analyses of Korean adults aged 20 years or older of the 2007-2018 Korea N...

Background and objectives: Understanding the trends in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality is important for developing burden reduction strategies. Based on the Cause of Death Statistics, we examined the changing patterns of CVD mortality in Korea between 1983 and 2018. Methods: Causes of death were coded according to the International Classi...

Purpose: Thrombocytopenia (platelet count <150×10³/μL) is associated with poor outcomes in various critical illness settings. However, the prognostic value of platelet count in patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) remains unclear. Materials and methods: We enrolled 1202 patients between January 2014 and December 2018 from a multicenter retrospec...

Background: There is increasing concern regarding cardiovascular risk in individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This study was conducted to evaluate whether hepatic steatosis with or without fibrosis is associated with the progression of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: From a longitudinal cohort, w...

Background There is increasing concern regarding cardiovascular risk in individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This study was conducted to evaluate whether hepatic steatosis with or without fibrosis is associated with progression of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods From a longitudinal cohort, we enroll...

Background: There is increasing concern regarding cardiovascular risk in individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This study was conducted to evaluate whether hepatic steatosis with or without fibrosis is associated with the progression of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: From a longitudinal cohort, we e...

Objective: This study investigated whether serum bilirubin levels can predict the progression of carotid atherosclerosis in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: This observational study included 1,381 subjects with T2DM in whom serial measurements of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) were made at 1- to 2-year intervals for...