• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2013

With Korea's rapid entry to aged society, elderly population has become a major age group both in the whole society and medical field and its importance will be constantly stressed out. Elderly population is also important in the field of oral medicine which deals with chronic and recurrent diseases in the orofacial region of non-dental origin but there exist few studies indicating epidemiology of elderly patients in this regards. This study aimed to investigate change of age distribution of new patients in a university-based dental hospital and oral medicine clinic for last decade and to investigate clinical epidemiology of elderly patients (${\geq}$ 65 years) of oral medicine clinic. This study was performed retrospectively using medical records of the new patients in Dankook University Dental Hospital in 2001 and 2011. According to the study, percentage of elderly new patients increased in both dental hospital and oral medicine clinic and degree of the increase was greater in oral medicine clinic than in the whole hospital (p=0.000). 13.5% of adult patients ${\geq}$ 18 years of oral medicine clinic were elderly patients ${\geq}$ 65 years. 83% of elderly patients were suffering from one or more systemic diseases. Although TMD was the most common reason for elderly patients who visited oral medicine clinic, oral soft tissue diseases, dry mouth, burning mouth syndrome and oromandibular dystonia was more frequently diagnosed in elderly patients compared to adult patients aged 18 to 64 years. Pain severity and interference of Brief Pain Inventory and depression and anxiety scores of Hospital Anxiety Depression Scales were higher in elderly patients than in the adult patients (p<0.05). Increase of elderly patients with chronic oral diseases and pain needs more attention of dentists and specialists of oral medicine to improvement of assessment and development of tailored management because large portion of the elderly patients have systemic diseases, polypharmacy and impaired communication, possibly restricting treatment options.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.46-52
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to examine dental personnels' concern for health, their personal protection manner, and whether or not they were inoculated against hepatitis B and made an inquiry of patients about that. It's ultimately meant to serve as a basis for the preparation of an anti-infection guide for the protection of dental personnels against all sorts of infectious diseases. After a survey was conducted from March 29 through May 9, 2001, the following findings were obtained: (1) The dental personnel group that had worked for 5 to less than 7 years took health examination the most, with 71.4%, before joining the hospital, and 61.5% of those who had served for 9 years or more, the greatest percentage, took medical checkup after joining the hospital(P<0.05). (2) The largest percentage of being inoculated against the anti-B type hepatitis after employment was 71.4% of the dental personnels over 35, and 57.7% of those with 9-year or more working experiences. Therefore, their age and service term made a significant difference(P<0.05). (3) There was no significant gap in personal protection practices between the dental hygienists and nurse aids(P>0.05). But the use of safety goggles for treatment was not properly done, with just 1.48 on the basis of 3 points, whereas the use of mask was scored 2.40 and the use of gloves was scored 1.96. (4) After a narcotic was used once, the leftovers were wasted by 89.7% of the dental hygienists and 70.0% of the nurse aids. More dental hygienists wasted them(P<0.05). (5) For hand washing, antibiotic liquid soap was used by 19.3% of the dental hygienists and 10.0% of the nurse aids, which were both very low percentage. And just 37.2% of the dental hygienists utilized a disposable paper towel to dry their hands, and only 36.0% of the nurse aids used the same(P<0.05).

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.133-152
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• 1998

This article considers the experimental foundations of geographical phenomena for the distribution of lodging houses and the development of lodging Information Systems in Shin-Chon Area. This system allows the rural students to find their lodging houses conveniently. We examine the geographical reality of lodging houses in Shin-chon area and explores the lodging information system, reflecting how students select the lodging houses. Criteria for selection of lodging houses are travel time to school, interior facilities, rent fee, members, owners of lodging houses, which are collected by field swvey. The lodging information system is built in integration of Visual Basic with spatial data which are created in Mapinfo and Arcview through MapObject, component GIS software. This system provide query tools to efficiently investigate data as well as interactive map display. Also it displays the characteristics of a selected lodging houses using the identify tool on the map.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.133-147
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• 2000

To provide data for the improvement of primary health care through the study on the utilization rate of community health practitioner(CHP) post and its related factors toward some rural residents in Mooan County Chollanamdo, a questionnaire survey was made from 382 persons during August 1999. Comparison was made between persons at the seaside area under difficult transportation and persons at the railroad area under convenient transportation. The results are as follows: 1. For the last one year, 83.3% of seaside area residents and 67.0% of railroad area residents used CHP post. As the purpose of visit to CHP post at seaside area, 94.3% visited for medical care, 25.3% for chronic disease control and 22.2% for health counselling and 14.1% for chronic disease control. 2. By simple analysis, sex, age, marital status, educational level, residence area, distance from living village to CHP post, presence of chronic diseases, satisfaction with CHP and confidence on CHP were related significantly with the utilization of CHP post for the last one year. 3. By multiple logistic regression, statistically significant variables related with the utilization rate of CHP post for the last one year were analyzed as age, sex, residence area and distance from living village to CHP post.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.465-473
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• 1995

Background: The prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis has decreased progressively after the control of the tuberculosis began as national control. But as diabetes, malignancy, immunodeficiency disease recently tend to be increased, the tuberculosis become to the important national health problem. So, this study was designed to observe the state and the change of the prevalence and the clinical status of pulmonary tuberculosis for recent 10 years at one women's university. Method: We retrospectively investigated the epidemiology and the clinical status of 612 patients who were registered at the Ewha Womans University Health Center by analyzing records from 1983 to 1992. Results: 1) The prevalence rate had been steadily decreased from 0.63% in 1983 to 0.11 % in 1992. The prevalence of freshman and the incidence rate according to the entrance year while in the university significantly decreased since 1989. 2) In classifying by registered source, 45.6% of students were detected by annual periodical health examination, 34.5% by entrance physical examination, 12.0% by hospital, 5.4% by health center clinic, 2.5% by reentrance physical examination, sequentially. 3) The students with past history of tuberculosis were 70(11.4%) and 61(10%) suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis. The patients with family history of tuberculosis were 142(23.3%). 4) There were 530(86.6%) with minimal disease, 79(12.9%) with moderate and only 3(0.5%) with far advanced, when classified by the severity of disease. 5) The initial symptoms were mild breathing difficulty in 30.1%, sweating in 14.9%, fatigue in 14.3%, febrile sense in 11.7%, hemoptysis in 8.2%, sequentially. 6) The duration of treatment was $10.6{\pm}3.6$ months in mild group, $14.9{\pm}5.2$ months in the moderate group(P<0.05). 7) The side reactions of the drug were GI trouble in 7.2%, hepatitis in 1.8%, skin rash in 0.8% and streptomycin side in used patients in 9.1%. Conclusion: The prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis among the students in one women's university was significantly lower than that of university students and 20-24 year-old age group announced in tuberculosis survey on a national scale, and significantly decreased since 1989. The treatment effect was desirable in student's group managed by university health center.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.569-592
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• 2018

This study purported to investigate the current state of human rights of older adults residing in rural areas of Korea. The study utilized, as an analytic framework, 4 priority directions (1. "older persons and development", 2. "rural area development", 3. "advancing health and well-being into old age", and 4. "ensuring enabling and supportive environments") with 13 task actions recommended by Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA). Furthermore, the study examined gender differences in all items included in the analytic framework. Data was collected by the face-to-face survey on 800 subjects aged 65 and over. Statistical analyses were conducted using STATA 13.0 program. The main results were summarized in order of 4 priority directions as follows. First, average working hours per day were 6.2, and men reportedly participated in economic activities and needed job training more than women, while women participated in lifelong education programs more than men. Awareness of fire and disaster prevention facilities was low in both genders. Second, accessibility to the support center for the elderly living alone as well as protective services for the vulnerable elderly was found to be low. IT-based services and networking were used more by men than women, and specifically, IT-based financial transactions and welfare services were least used. Third, medical check-ups and vaccinations were well received, while consistent treatments for chronic illnesses and long-term care services were relatively less given. In addition, accessibility to mental health service centers was considerably low. Fourth, although old house structures and the lack of convenience facilities were found to be circumstantial risk factors for these elders, experiences of receiving housing support services were scarce. The elderly were found to rely more on informal care, and concerns for their care were higher in women than men. Plus, accessibility to elderly abuse services was markedly low. Based on these results, discussed were implications for implementing policies and practical interventions to raise the levels of the human rights for this population.

• Journal of the Korean Society of International Agriculture
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.257-268
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• 2018

Recently, the international standardization of ISO in the field of Oriental Herbal Medicine has been progressing rapidly under the direction of China's promotion. China's intention to promote international standardization is to extend its influence to the world and beyond the domestic market. The Oriental medicine system in East Asia has similar roots in academic terms, but the medicines that can be supplied and received in each country are different and have developed independently. The international standardization of medicinal herbs is expected to function in a direction that weakens such differentiation and independence. From a commercial point of view, international standardization is no different from creating evaluation criteria for oriental medicinal products, and it is expected that its potential impact on domestic and overseas markets and producers will be large. In particular, the international standardization centered on China can lead to favorable evaluation criteria for China, which may further negatively affect the market competitiveness of domestic raw materials, which have been pushed back by Chinese manufacturers. If the domestic production base is weakened, not only will the farmers suffer but the supply and demand of raw materials will also be manipulated, safety management control will be reduced, and the development of oriental herbal products using domestic raw materials will be hurt. Therefore, in the promotion of international standardization, it is necessary not only to reflect the value of Korean herbal medicine but also to provide strategic responses to protect the domestic production base. However, in the case of recent initiatives, there is no precedent in analyzing influence on the production partners and the related industries. In addition, there are few related papers and reports on the subject, so the publicity process has not been done sufficiently. In response to this, this study will examine the countermeasures against the international standardization of herbal medicines through reviewing its present status and evaluating the agenda of the Korean initiative.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2021

This study sought to investigate the distribution, antimicrobial resistance rate, and bacterial co-infection frequency of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in a single center in Incheon, South Korea. A total of 8,258 specimens submitted for tuberculosis (TB)/NTM real-time PCR tests during the years 2015 to 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. In total, 296 specimens (3.6%) were NTM positive, and the positivity increased from 2.5% (30/1,209) in 2015 to 3.8% (66/1,740) in 2020. Of 296 NTM specimens, 54.7% (162/296) were identified as the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) followed by the Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABC) 20.9% (62/296), M. fortuitum 6.4% (19/296) and M. flavescens 3.4% (10/296). Of the NTM-positive specimens, 76.7% (227/296) were tested for drug resistance. The results showed multidrug-resistant NTM in 40.1% (91/227) and extensively drug-resistant NTM in 59.9% (136/227) of these specimens. Of the 145 isolates taken for bacterial culture, bacteria/fungi co-infection with NTM accounted for 43.4% (63/145), in which the most common bacterial species was Klebsiella pneumonia (23.8%, 15/63). This study is the first report on the distribution and antimicrobial resistance of NTM in Incheon. As the proportion of NTM infections increases, active treatment and thorough infection control are required for effective management.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.65-77
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• 2023

Background: The shortage of dental hygienists as assistant is a great concern to dental clinics, while dental hygienists are rather pursuing the role of oral hygiene control and preventive treatments which is the main role for dental hygienists in the United States. The dental hygienist and dental assistant system in the United States can be a reference in these discussions. Methods: Educational requirements for licensure and work areas for dental hygienists and dental assistants were investigated through the information provided by the American Dental Association (ADA), American Dental Hygienists Association, National Board Dental Hygiene Examination (NBDHE), Dental Assistants Association of America (ADAA), and Dental Assistants National Board (DANB). Results: In the United States, each state has different systems, but in general, dental hygienists obtain licenses after completing 2~3 years of associate degree programs in dental hygiene after obtaining basic learning skills, and mainly perform tasks related to patient screening procedures, oral hygiene management and preventive care. Dental assistants can take the license test after completing a training course of 9~11 months to obtain a dental assistant certification. Additional expanded work typically requires passing state qualification tests, completing a training program, obtaining a degree, or gaining clinical experience for a certain period of time, depending on the state Conclusion: The scope of work of dental hygienists designated by the Medical Engineer Act and the Enforcement Decree in Korea includes both the work of dental hygienists and dental assistants in the United States, and if a dental assistant system like the United States is introduced to address the current shortage of dental assistants, institutional supplementation such as adjustment of the scope of work and expansion of the role of dental hygienists in oral hygiene management and prevention work is needed and in-depth discussion is necessary.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.165-184
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the difference and related factors with general characteristic and health behaviors, a experience of diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases between rural and urban among elderly in Korea. Methods: We used the data of Community Health Survey 2017 which were collected by the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The study population comprised 67,835 elderly peopled aged 65 years or older who participated in the survey. The chi-square test, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to analyze data. Results: We identified many significant difference of health behaviors, an experience of diagnosis and treatment with chronic diseases between rural and urban. Compared to urban elderly, the odds ratios (ORs) (95% confidence interval) of rural elderly were 1.136 (1.092-1.183) for diagnosis of diabetes, 1.278 (1.278-1.386) for diagnosis of dyslipidemia, 0.940 (0.904-0.977) for diagnosis of arthritis, 0.785(0.736-0.837) for treatment of arthritis, 1.159 (1.116-1.203) for diagnosis of cataracts, and 1.285(1.200-1.375) for treatment of cataracts. In the experience of diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases, various variables were derived as contributing factors for each disease. Especially, there were statistically significant difference in the experience of diabetes diagnosis, arthritis diagnosis, cataract diagnosis and dyslipidemia except for hypertension diagnosis (p <0.01) between urban and rural elderly. There were statistically significant differences in the experience of treatment for arthritis and cataract (p <0.01), but there was no significant difference in the experience of treatment for hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia between urban and rural elderly. Conclusion: Therefore, it would be necessary to implement a strategic health management project for diseases that showed significant experience of chronic diseases with diagnosis and treatment, reflecting the related factors of the elderly chronic diseases among the urban and rural areas.