• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1690-1698
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• 2012

As alcohol use is one of the most important risk factors for injuries, this study was intended to clarify and evaluate any relationship between drinking patterns and the incidence rates/specific characteristics of injuries in adult populations, using a widely accepted tool, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (chronic alcohol drinking behaviors measurement, hereinafter the AUDIT) developed by the World Health Organization to help to assess the behaviors in a more accurate and reliable manner. This study used the data collected from the 2009 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), in which 7,511 of 7,893 adult participants aged ${\geq}19$ years answered the questions about injuries, and excluding 104 non-respondents, 6,258 of participants in the questionnaire survey of drinking patterns were finally analyzed. The incidence rates and specific characteristics of injuries as classified by the AUDIT categories (i.e., body regions, types and mechanisms) were assessed and estimated in terms of their relative risk using t-test, ANOVA, and logistic regression. SPSS 19.0 statistical package software was employed for statistical analyses. These analyses indicate that the incidence rates of overall injuries were significantly higher in male respondents than in female respondents. The risks of alcohol use related injuries were 8.3 times higher in male respondents than in female ones. Regarding educational background, high school graduates showed the highest rates in the AUDIT with significant difference from the other groups. The married group and the group of respondents having monthly income estimated at KRW 2.01 to 3 million also showed the highest rates in the AUDIT compared to the other groups, indicating statistically significant difference. Significantly increased in problematic drinkers and those with alcohol dependence, the incidence rate of injuries body regions was 0.0371 in the head/neck, and with respect to the AUDIT and the mechanisms of external causes of injuries, transport accidents ranked first, followed by slippage, others, crash and fall. In regard to the classified types of injuries, it was statistically significant in others (e.g., laceration, contusion, addiction, or penetrating wound). In conclusion, the mechanisms of external causes of injuries as well as injuries attributed to alcohol use are very important, and a strategy is required to reduce such the injuries in the manner of decreasing the frequency of drinking after motivation by professional counsellors.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.135-141
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• 2015

According to the statistics, occupational fatal injuries by mobile cranes were about 12 per year in whole industrial. Mobile cranes are widely used in various parts of industries to improve the efficiency of the work. However considerable number of fatal injuries happen each year during the operation of the machines. In this study, the current regulations to be adequate in industrial site have to be renew in order to prevent the fatal injuries by mobile cranes. Fatal injury analyses were conducted with several accident cases by the mobile cranes. For each accident, the causes of the injuries were examined and proper safety measures were proposed. In this study, the mobile crane showed a high fatality rate in industrial accidents and no detailed cause analysis of fatal accidents was conducted in terms of unsafe acts or conditions. This study proposed a revision of the standard guideline as an accident prevention measures through in-depth analysis of fatal accidents. First, among the mainly five machines caused the accidents, mobile crane was higher for the second showed 0.6% for number of fatalities compared to number of mobil cranes and for the third showed 11% for number of fatalities compared to number of injuries. Second, main cause of cognitive engineering agenda was visibility, responsibility, affordance. As the measures to prevent accidents before starting operation, alternative revision for the fool proof including visibility, responsibility, affordance etc. for the fool proof measures was proposed. Third, alternative revision as cognitive accident prevention for the fail safe measures was proposed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.327-335
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• 2014

Objectives: Several epidemiological studies on medical care utilization prior to suicide have considered the motivation of suicide, but focused on the influence of physical illnesses. Medical care expenditure in suicide completers with non-illness-related causes has not been investigated. Methods: Suicides motivated by non-illness-related factors were identified using the investigator's note from the National Police Agency, which was then linked to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment data. We investigated the medical care expenditures of cases one year prior to committing suicide and conducted a case-control study using conditional logistic regression analysis after adjusting for age, gender, area of residence, and socioeconomic status. Results: Among the 4515 suicides motivated by non-illness-related causes, medical care expenditures increased in only the last 3 months prior to suicide in the adolescent group. In the younger group, the proportion of total medical expenditure for external injuries was higher than that in the older groups. Conditional logistic regression analysis showed significant associations with being a suicide completer and having a rural residence, low socioeconomic status, and high medical care expenditure. After stratification into the four age groups, a significant positive association with medical care expenditures and being a suicide completer was found in the adolescent and young adult groups, but no significant results were found in the elderly groups for both men and women. Conclusions: Younger adults who committed suicide motivated by non-illness-related causes had a higher proportion of external injuries and more medical care expenditures than their controls did. This reinforces the notion that suicide prevention strategies for young people with suicidal risk factors are needed.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.718-722
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• 2010

To investigate patterns and severity of hunting-related emergency traumatic injuries in wild boar hunting dogs. One hundred wild boar hunting dogs with emergency traumatic injuries sustained during wild boar hunting as a result of wild boar attack and accidental shooting of ensnarement in a trap. The retrospective study involved 100 dogs brought to CAMC for treatment of emergency traumatic injury sustained during wild boar hunting in Jeon-buk province from August 2007 to April 2008. Medical information obtained from the medical records included signalment; cause of injury; number, location and severity of injuries; and mortality. The 100 patients displayed 136 injuries (single injury in 71 dogs and multiple injuries in 29 dogs). Causes of the emergency traumatic injuries were wild boar attack (n = 92), accidental shooting (n = 7), and entrapment (n = 1). The thoracic area was the most common site of injury. The most common injury severity score (ISS) was code 2. The mortality rate was 9%, and all deaths involved thoracic injury. Emergency traumatic injuries sustained during wild boar hunting are most commonly thoracic injuries caused by prey attack. The nature of the injuries can differ from those typically encountered by small animal veterinarians.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 1990.10a
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• pp.48-49
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• 1990

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.715-722
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• 1987

A clinical analysis was performed on 823 cases of the chest trauma experienced at department of thoracic & cardiovascular surgery, Kyung Hee University Hospital during the past 8 years from Jan, 1978 to Aug. 1986. 1. the ratio of male to female patient of the chest trauma was 3:1 in male predominance. 2. The common age groups were 3rd, 4th and 5th decades. 3. The most common causes of the chest trauma was traffic accidents [79.8%] were injured due to non-penetrating injuries and the remainders [166/823, 20.2%] were injured due to penetrating injuries 4. The frequently injured site of the chest trauma was left side of the chest [46%], and the right side was 42% 5. The most common injury from non-penetrating trauma was rib fracture [77.5%], and the incidence rate of flail chest was 59% of all cases of rib fractures. 6. The incidence rate of hemopneumothorax was 42.9% in non-penetrating traumas, and 84.3% in penetrating traumas. 7. The most common method of surgical treatment was closed tube thoracostomy [37.3%], and open thoracotomy was performed in 71 cases [8.6%]. 8. the overall mortality was 2.2%, and common causes of death were cerebral damage, respiratory insufficiency, and hypovolemic shock.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.605-622
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• 1996

Needle stick injury, in which blood-borne pathogens including Human Immune-Deficiency virus and hepatitis B virus are transmitted, is one of the major occupational hazards that health professionals face everyday. In order to provide basic data for the development of educational programs for health professionals aimed at preventing and effectively managing needle stick injuries, a retrospective descriptive study was carried out .The subjects of the study were 630 health professionals, 499 nurses and 131 physicians, from two university hospitals in Seoul, Korea. Data on episodes of needle stick experiences over the past is months September 1994 through August 1995, were collected between September 1 and 7, 1995. A Questionaire developed by the researcher was used. The frequencies and the percentile score for episodes of needle stick injuries were calculated using the PC-SAS program. The differences and similarities in reference to the structure, career, and specialty variables were analysed by X$^2$-tests. Results are as follows : 1. Of the sample, 521(82.7%) reported a needle stick injury, 33.4% reported 3 or more episodes of needle stick injuries. 2. The needle stick injuries occured in the following processes : process of percutaneous venepuncture for intra-venous injection and infusion(55.3%), medical examination and treatment(48.9%), per-cutaneous venepuncture for blood sampling (46.3%) and intra-muscular injection(42.2%). 3. The study showed that needle stick injuries occured before(19%), during(25%), and after (56%) client treatment. The major causes of needle stick injuries were perceived to be hastiness(82.2%) and carelessness(48.3%). Of these injuries, 91.8% occured in emergency situations. 4. Follow of care for the injury consisted of : treating the injured site immediately using disinfectants(89.7%), reviewing the clinical records of the patient involved(84.2%), immunological investigation for the status of antibodies(11.1%) and self-medication of antibiotics (10.7%). Only 16.3% of the total episodes were founded to have been reported to the administrative unit. 5. The length of clinical experience of the nurses, clinical specialty and length of clinical experience in physicians were found to have influenced the episodes of needle stick injuries ; nurses with less than 1 year and with more than 6 years of clinical experiences had significantly lower levels (X$^2$=25.04, P=.00), surgeons had significantly higher levels (X$^2$=9.89, P=.02) compared to that of internists and interns, higher(X$^2$=4.54, P=.03)than residents.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.265-271
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• 2008

Objectives: This study was conducted to estimate the cumulative incidence rate (CIR) of unintentional injuries in Korean daily life and to describe the pattern of unintentional injuries. Methods: The study population was the people who used the National Health Insurance because of injuries (ICD code: S00$\sim$T98) during 2006. The stratified sample according to gender, age and the severity of injury (NISS, New Injury Severity Score) was randomly selected. The questions on the questionnaire were developed as a reference for an international classification tool (ICECI, International Classification of External Causes of Injury). The questions included the locations of injury, the mechanisms of injury and the results of injury. Moreover, we used age, gender, region and income variables for analysis. Results: The CIR of unintentional injuries that occurred in daily life for 1 year per 100,000 persons was 17,606, and the CIR of severe injuries was 286. Many injuries were occurred at home (29.6%), public places (19.0%), school (13.7%) and near home (12.0%). The major mechanisms of injuries were slipping (48.8%), contact (14.0%), physical over-exertion (13.8%), and fall (6.6%). Infants and old aged people were vulnerable to injuries, and those who lived rural area and who were in a low income level were vulnerable too. Conclusions: We signified the risk groups and risk settings of unintentional injuries in Korean daily life. These results could contribute to establishing strategies for injury prevention and implementing these strategies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 1986

This study was conducted to analyse the exact causes of occupational accidents in Korean construction industry and to contribute to the accident prevention programs. The results and conclusions of the field survey are as follows ： 1) The accidents caused by hazardous conditions are 96 percent, and those by unsafe acts are 97.3 percent. The accidents caused simultaneously by two categories are nore than 96 percent. 2) The injured workers who were employed less than 3 months are 71.1 percent. Safety training for newly recruited workers should be required. 3) More than 40 percent of all accidents were occurred in the morning and more than 30 percent were in summer. Required caution should be paid for the time and season. 4) Fracture, cut/laceration/puncture and multiple injuries in the lower extremeties, upper entremeties and head as well as many kinds of injuries by the fall from elevation mainly occurred. Safety. shoes, safety gloves, safety helmets, safety glasses, face shields and safity belts should be used 5) As the sources of injuries, each of building/structure and materials is one third of all sources, and machinery is a quarter. 6) The use of hazardous methods/procedures, defects of agencies and inadequate guarding of builing/structure, materials' and machinery mainly caused the accident types, such as s truck by, struck against, fall from elevation, and fall on same level. Such a hazardous conditiion should not be used and be correctet 7) The unsafe acts, such as improper use of hands or body parts, the operation or working at unsafe speed and improper use of equipment mainly caused accidents. Safety training for the control of such a unsafe acts should be strengthened.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.403-407
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• 2005

Following a transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous(TRAM) flap breast reconstruction, denervated state of the flap causes the flap skin prone to thermal injury, calling for special attention. During the last 5 years, 69 breast reconstruction with 72 free TRAM flaps, were performed. Four out of thesse 69 patients sustained burn injury. Heat sources were a warm bag(n=2), heating pad(n=1) and warming light (n=1). The thermal injuries occured from 2 days to 3 months following the reconstruction. Three patients healed with conservative treatment, but one patient required debridement and skin graft. Initially 3 out of 4 patients with the burn had shown superficial 2nd degree burn with small blebs or bullae. However all 4 patients healed with scars. Mechanism of burn injuries of the denervated flap are known to be resulting from; 1) loss of behavioral protection due to denervation of flap with flap elevation and transfer, 2) loss of autonomic thermoregulatory control with heat dissipation on skin flap vasculature contributing to susceptibility of burn injury. 3) changes of immunologic and normal inflammatory response increasing thromboxane, and a fall in substance P & NGF (nerve growth factor). Including the abdominal flap donor site, sensory recovery of the reconstructed breast varies individually from 6 month even to 5 years postoperatively. During this period, wound healing is delayed, resulting in easier scarring compared to that observed in the sensate skin. Patients should be carefully informed and warned of possible burn injuries and taught to avoid exposure to heat source at least until 3 years postoperatively.