• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the magnitude of and the factors associated with the downward mobility of first-episode psychiatric patients. Methods: This study used the claims data from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The study population included 19 293 first-episode psychiatric inpatients diagnosed with alcohol use disorder (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision [ICD-10] code F10), schizophrenia and related disorders (ICD-10 codes F20-F29), and mood disorders (ICD-10 codes F30-F33) in the first half of 2005. This study included only National Health Insurance beneficiaries in 2005. The dependent variable was the occurrence of downward mobility, which was defined as a health insurance status change from National Health Insurance to Medical Aid. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess factors associated with downward drift of first-episode psychiatric patients. Results: About 10% of the study population who were National Health Insurance beneficiaries in 2005 became Medical Aid recipients in 2007. The logistic regression analysis showed that age, gender, primary diagnosis, type of hospital at first admission, regular use of outpatient clinic, and long-term hospitalization are significant predictors in determining downward drift in newly diagnosed psychiatric patients. Conclusions: This research showed that the downward mobility of psychiatric patients is affected by long-term hospitalization and medical care utilization. The findings suggest that early intensive intervention might reduce long-term hospitalization and the downward mobility of psychiatric patients.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1883-1895
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• 2018

Alcohol dependence is a global public health problem, yet the mechanisms of alcohol dependence are incompletely understood. The traditional view has been that ethanol alters various neurotransmitters and their receptors in the brain and causes the addiction. However, an increasing amount of experimental evidence suggests that gut microbiota also influence brain functions via gut-to-brain interactions, and may therefore induce the development of alcohol use disorders. In this study, a rat model of alcohol dependence and withdrawal was employed, the gut microbiota composition was analyzed by high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and the metagenome function was predicted by PICRUSt software. The results suggested that chronic alcohol consumption did not significantly alter the diversity and richness of gut microbiota in the jejunum and colon, but rather markedly changed the microbiota composition structure in the colon. The phyla Bacteroidetes and eight genera including Bacteroidales S24-7, Ruminococcaceae, Parabacteroides, Butyricimonas, et al were drastically increased, however the genus Lactobacillus and gauvreauii in the colon were significantly decreased in the alcohol dependence group compared with the withdrawal and control groups. The microbial functional prediction analysis revealed that the proportions of amino acid metabolism, polyketide sugar unit biosynthesis and peroxisome were significantly increased in the AD group. This study demonstrated that chronic alcohol consumption has a dramatic effect on the microbiota composition structure in the colon but few effects on the jejunum. Inducement of colonic microbiota dysbiosis due to alcohol abuse seems to be a factor of alcohol dependence, which suggests that modulating colonic microbiota composition might be a potentially new target for treating alcohol addiction.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 2015

Objective : To translate Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) into North Korean language and to examine its reliability and validity Methods : North Korean defectors (n=207) recruited from the call center for North Korean defectors participated. Psychiatrists and psychiatric residents interviewed the participants and made the psychiatric diagnoses. Subsequently, the participants completed the CES-D, Impact of Event-Scale-Revised-North Korea (IES-R-NK), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-North Korea (AUDIT-NK), and Brief Psychological State Inventory for North Korean Refugees (BPSI-NKR) questionnaires. Of the original participants, 143 subjects participated in test-retest reliability study after one week. Results : Cronbach's alpha coefficient of CES-D-NK was superior in both males (0.91) and females (0.93). The test-retest correlation coefficient was high (males, 0.64 ; femals, 0.79). Good convergent validity was evident by significant correlations with IER-R-NK, BPSI-NKR-Depression and BPSI-NKR-PTSD, respectively. CES-D-NK had no or weak correlations with AUDIT-NK and BPSI-NKR-Alcohol, showing its discriminant validity. Conclusion : CES-D-NK could be a reliable and valid tool for screening and assessing depressive symptoms of North Korean defectors.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2020

Objective : The suicide mortality rate among Koreans was ranked first among the OECD countries in 2018. Alcohol consumption is a significant risk factor for suicidal behavior. This study examined the relationship between the severity of subjects' drinking habits and the suicidal ideation among Koreans according to gender and age. Methods : The data of 113,602 people who visited the Kangbuk Samsung Hospital Health Screening Center from January 2013 to December 2014 were used. The severity of subjects' harmful drinking habits was assessed using the Korean version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-K). The relationship between the severity of harmful drinking and suicidal ideation was compared using logistic regression analyses. We also examined the tendency through p for trend to identify a trend. Results : Of the 113,602 study subjects, 6,586 (5.8%) responded that they had thought of committing suicide. After controlling for gender, marriage, education, body mass index (BMI), depression and anxiety, the results showed that the higher the level of harmful drinking, the higher the suicidal ideation. Conclusion : This study found that, even after controlling depression and anxiety, the severity of drinking could be a significant risk factor for suicidal ideation.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.77-83
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• 2019

Objective : This study aims to investigate the relationship between negative sexual experience and psychiatric symptoms by gender and compare the effects of sexual assault and unwanted sexual experiences on psychiatric symptoms in patients with depression or anxiety disorders. Methods : A total of 204 respondents who have had negative sexual experiences of outpatients diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders were evaluated with AUDIT, PSS, STAI, BDI, and SSI. Independent samples t-test was performed to compare the psychiatric symptom scale scores between male and female and identify the difference of the psychiatric symptom scale scores between those who have had sexual assault and those who have had only unwanted sexual experience. Results : There was no difference in psychiatric symptom scale scores except for AUDIT between male and female in 204 patients with negative sexual experience. There was also no significant difference in AUDIT, PSS, and STAI scores between those who experienced sexual assault and those who experienced only unwanted sexual experiences. BDI and SSI scores are significant higher in those who experienced sexual assault than those who experienced only unwanted sexual experiences. Conclusion : This suggests that male and female may have similar levels of psychiatric symptoms after experiencing negative sexual experiences. Psychiatric symptoms caused by sexual assault may have differences from the psychiatric symptoms caused by unwanted sexual experience. Understanding the differences in psychiatric symptoms according to the type of negative sexual experience may helpful to direct the therapeutic plans.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1551-1560
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• 2017

The aim of this review is to analyze the trend of using Virtual Reality (VR) in addiction treatment by categorizing the types of addictions and methods of Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT) for substance use disorders. VR has been utilized as a new paradigm for treating various mental and psychological problems. In recent years, a number of researches have been done to demonstrate the effectiveness of VRT for addiction treatment, specifically substance use disorders. In order to comprehend the tendency of these researches, the current study performed a systematic review of published book and journal articles using the following bibliographical databases: ScienceDirect, MEDLINE, ProQuest, and Embase. Forty-five (45) articles were retrieved; out of these researches, nicotine/smoking has garnered the highest number of studies (73%, n=33); alcohol (18%, n=8); cannabis/marijuana (2%, n=1); and other drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine (7%, n=3). This paper analyzed the results of those studies, found some limitations as well as strengths, and made suggestions for further research on VRT for addiction treatment.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.15-26
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• 2014

Objectives: This study investigates the drinking state of the homeless, including the factors that influence this state, and the related services that the homeless require. Methods: A total of 163 adults residing in homeless shelters in Incheon, were recruited from November 15 to December 28, 2013. The Korean version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test was used. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, chi-square, and logistic regression. All analyses were conducted using SPSS 18. Results: Among the respondents, 59.5% engaged in normal drinking, 17.2% engaged in problem drinking and 23.3% suffered from high risk drinking. Alcohol Problems of homeless were found to increase along with total drinking periods. And high risk drinker were more likely to have 3.2 times of loneliness, 6.5 times of insomnia, and the reason for homeless is alcohol problem 14.0 times higher. Conclusions: Alcohol problems among the homeless are chronic and difficult to solve through temporary measures and short-term interventions. Therefore, the development of appropriate services and policies for the homeless is important. The results of the study can be used as a basis for the development of management measures tailored to the distinctive needs of the homeless.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.127-144
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the drinking behavior of university students in Jeju for the safe campus life. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 549 students in 4 universities in Jeju. The data were analyzed by t-test, one way ANOVA, and multiple regression using SPSS Win 19.0 program. The questionnaire instruments consisted of Alcohol Use Disorders of Identification Test-Korea (AUDIT-K) and Life Stress Scale for College Students adapted by Chon. Results: The alcohol consumption rate of participants accounted for 96.2%. The binge drinking rate in female students were 33.9% and that in male students was 29.5%. The result by scoring AUDIT showed that 30.7% of participants were normal drinking group, 36.0% were hazardous drinking group, and 33.3% were estimated alcohol abuse group. The average score of stress was 1.45 by Likert 4 point scale. The female students tended to have more stresses than male. The most important influencing factors on drinking behavior were the first alcohol drinking(${\beta}=-.250$, p< .001), gender(${\beta}=.202$, p< .001), and relationship problem(${\beta}=.116$, p < .05). Conclusion: The drinking rate of university students revealed higher than that in other age groups. So the early systematic education is strongly recommended to prevent the physical and mental side effects.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.58-67
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• 2019

Background: In this study, we aimed to investigate the drinking behaviors and drinking-related problems of college students in South Korea to produce national alcohol statistics. Methods: We carefully examined the questionnaires and previous research developed in the previous research project and selected questions that reflect the special environment and culture of college students. In order to stratify a nationally representative sample of college students, the distribution of students around the country were found through the educational statistics database of the Korea Educational Development Institute. Based on this information, we conducted a survey in collaboration with Gallup (Korea) to survey and analyze the drinking behaviors of 5,024 Korean students. Results: A nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2017, for Korean college students. A total of 5,024 students were recruited and analyzed. The monthly drinking rate was 78.0% for male students and 72.9% for female students. The high-risk drinking rate was 23.3% for male students and 17.2% for female students. The most popular category for number of drinks per drinking session was 'more than 10 glasses' per drinking session for both male (44.1%) and female (32.8%). On the alcohol use disorders identification test, the greatest proportion of male students were in the high-risk drinking category (score 8 to 15) 43.8%, followed by the 'low-risk drinking' (score 0 to 7) in 43.6%, 'alcohol abuse' (score 16 to 19) 7.2%, and 'alcohol dependence' (greater than 20) 5.4% categories, respectively. For female students, the greatest proportion of female students were in the 'low-risk drinking' in 49.6%, followed by 'high-risk drinking' 37.1%, 'alcohol abuse' 8.4%, and 'alcohol dependence' 4.9% categories, respectively. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that the drinking behavior of Korean college students was excessive. Overall, it was found that the college population has a greater high-risk drinking behaviors than general adult population. Furthermore, these problem drinking behaviors were prominent among female college students. Results from the present study suggest that it is necessary to monitor the drinking behavior of college students with constant interest and to prepare policies and strategies suitable for these circumstances.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2019

Objectives: Insomnia is not only the most common sleep-related disorder, but also is one of the most important. Knowledge of the comorbidities of insomnia is essential for proper treatment including pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods to prevent disease chronification. This study aimed to determine sleep clinic patients' knowledge of insomnia. Methods: This study recruited 44 patients (24 males and 20 females; mean age $54.11{\pm}16.30years$) from the sleep clinic at National Center for Mental Health. All subjects were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire about their reasons for visiting a sleep clinic and about their knowledge of treatment and comorbidities of insomnia. Results: The reasons for visiting the sleep clinic were insomnia symptoms of daytime sleepiness, irregular sleeping time, nightmares, snoring, and sleep apnea, in that order. Of the responders, 72.7% had a comorbidity of insomnia, and 22.7% showed high-risk alcohol use. In addition, 70.5% of responders chose pharmacological treatment of insomnia as the first option and reported collection of information about treatment of insomnia mainly from the internet and medical staff. More than half (52.3%) of the respondents reported that they had never heard about non-pharmacological treatments of insomnia such as cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT-I) or light therapy. The response rate about comorbidities of varied, with 75% of responders reporting knowledge of the relation between insomnia and depression, but only 38.6% stating awareness of the relation between insomnia and alcohol use disorder. Of the total responders, 68.2% were worried about hypnotics for insomnia treatment, and 70% were concerned about drug dependence. Conclusion: This study showed that patients at a sleep clinic had limited knowledge about insomnia. It is necessary to develop standardized insomnia treatment guidelines and educational handbooks for those suffering from insomnia. In addition, evaluation of alcohol use disorders is essential in the initial assessment of sleep disorders.