• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.298-307
• /
• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyze the recent trends in patients with work-related musculoskeletal disorders in South Korea and to check the major results by reviewing the literature on the risk factors and prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases related to work. Methods: Industrial disaster data from the Ministry of Employment and Labor from 2012 to 2021 were used, and the literature was reviewed regarding risk factors for musculoskeletal diseases related to work using PubMed and RISS. Results: The trend of patients with work-related musculoskeletal disorders has increased overall since 2017 after declining until 2016, with a particularly notable increase in the average annual number of patients with physical burden work. The average annual rate per ten thousand people for patients with body burden work, non-accidental lower back pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome among work-related diseases was high in the mining industry. The average annual rate per ten thousand people for patients with accidental lower back pain was the highest in the fishing industry. Within the manufacturing field, it was the highest in the shipbuilding and ship repair industry. As a result of the literature review, the search rate for work-related musculoskeletal disease papers in unstructured work was high. In addition, physical stress factors were high among risk factors, and pain areas showed a high rate for the waist. Conclusion: Even after the institutional implementation of a hazard investigation system related to musculoskeletal diseases is implemented, the number of patients with occupational musculoskeletal disorders continues to increase. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct regular surveys and implement effective improvement activities for vulnerable industries or occupations.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.1-15
• /
• 2023

Purpose : This study investigates the effectiveness of digital therapy for stroke patients in Korea. Methods : A comprehensive database search was performed using KCI, Science on, e-article, RISS, KISS and Korea OpenMed databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that studied the effects of digital therapy on patients who had a stroke. This study includes RCTs published from January 2000 to July 15, 2022, which fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total 697 studies were screened and 30 studies were included in the final analysis. Methodological quality was assessed with the Cochrane's RoB (risk of bias) tool. Meta-analysis was performed using CMA 4.0 software. Results : A total of 56 effect sizes were calculated from the 30 selected studies. As a result of the analysis, the overall effect size of digital therapy was .59 (95 % CI=.43-.74). When classified according to type of intervention, VR (virtual reality) (g=.58, 95 % CI=.40-.75), and CACR (computer assisted cognitive rehabilitation) (g=.62, 95 % CI=.30-.95) were statistically significant. VR showed medium to large effect sizes in cognitive function (g=.78, 95 % CI=.20-1.37), psychosocial function (g=.63, 95 % CI=.20-1.07), and physical function (g=.61, 95 % CI=.38-.83). In the CACR, there was a large effect size in cognitive function (g=.84, 95 % CI=.52-1.15), but there was no significant difference in psychosocial function. Also, there was no significant difference between the two interventions in activities of daily living and no significant difference in the effect size of both interventions according to the intervention session. Furthermore, medium to large effect sizes were found for subacute and chronic stroke patients according to the duration of disease. Conclusion : This study presents evidence that digital therapy has a positive effect on various functions of stroke patients in Korea. The researchers expect to actively accept the new paradigm of digital therapy and continue to apply digital therapy in clinical practice.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.92-110
• /
• 2023

Background: Digital therapeutics are software medical devices that provide evidence-based treatments to prevent, manage, and treat disease. Digital therapies have recently been shown to be effective in motivating children with cerebral palsy as a tool in neuropsychological therapy. Digital therapies improve postural control, balance and gait in children with cerebral palsy. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of digital therapies on balance and gait in children with cerebral palsy and to provide guidelines for prescribing digital therapies for children with cerebral palsy. Design: A Systematic Review Methods: This study searched for English-language articles published in medical journals from January 2000 to July 2023 using PubMed and MEDLINE based on the year of initiation of the digital therapy. The search terms used in the study were 'digital technology' OR 'digital therapeutic' OR 'mobile application' OR 'mobile health' OR 'virtual reality' OR 'game' AND 'cerebral palsy', 'balance' 'gait' as the main keywords. The final article was assigned an evidence level and a Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) score to assess the quality of clinical trials studies. Results: The digital therapies applied to improve balance and gait in children with cerebral palsy are game-based virtual reality training and the Nintendo Wii Fit program. Both digital therapy interventions had a significant effect on improving balance in children with cerebral palsy, and virtual reality training significantly improved balance and gait. However, there were no significant improvements in balance and gait within two weeks of treatment, regardless of the type of digital intervention. Conclusion: The study suggests that this data will be important in building the evidence base for the effectiveness of digital therapies on balance and gait in children with cerebral palsy and in advancing clinical protocols.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.302-311
• /
• 2023

Background: Oral health is an important element of well aging. And oral health also affects overall health, mental health, and quality of life. In this study, we sought to identify oral health influencing factors and research trends for well-aging through text analysis of research on well-aging and oral health over the past 12 years. Methods: The research data was analyzed based on English literature published in PubMed from 2012 to 2023. Aging well and oral health were used as search terms, and 115 final papers were selected. Network text analysis included keyword frequency analysis, centrality analysis, and cohesion structure analysis using the Net-Miner 4.0 program. Results: Excluding general characteristics, the most frequent keywords in 115 articles, 520 keywords (Mesh terms) were psychology, dental prosthesis and Alzheimer's disease, Dental caries, cognition, cognitive dysfunction, and bacteria. Research keywords with high degree centrality were Dental caries (0.864), Quality of life (0.833), Tooth loss (0.818), Health status (0.727), and Life expectancy (0.712). As a result of community analysis, it consisted of 4 groups. Group 1 consisted of chewing and nutrition, Group 2 consisted oral diseases, systemic diseases and management, Group 3 consisted oral health and mental health, Group 4 consisted oral frailty symptoms and quality of life. Conclusion: In an aging society, oral dysfunction affects mental health and quality of life. Preventing oral diseases for well-aging can have a positive impact on mental health and quality of life. Therefore, efforts are needed to prevent oral frailty in a super-aging society by developing and educating systematic oral care programs for each life cycle.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.51-69
• /
• 2024

Objectives This scoping review aimed to suggest a Korean medicine approach by analyzing domestic and international clinical studies targeting the thoracic sympathetic ganglia. Methods This study was conducted based on Arksey and O'Malley's five steps and guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses extension for scoping reviews checklist and appendix. We searched seven electronic databases for studies on thoracic sympathetic ganglia reported untill August 23, 2023. The search terms used were 'thoracic sympathetic chain', 'thoracic paravertebral sympathetic ganglia', and 'thoracic paravertebral ganglion'. Results One hundred twenty-nine studies were finally selected. 90 papers were non-comparative studies (69.8%). The most common disease or symptom was hyperhidrosis (n=109, 66.9%), associated with the T1-7 levels of thoracic sympathetic ganglia (n=107, 65.6%). There were 17 studies (13.2%) of percutaneous approaches targeting the thoracic sympathetic ganglia, five studies (3.1%) targeting the mid-lower thoracic sympathetic ganglia. Conclusions This study broadly analyzed trends in domestic and international research targeting the thoracic sympathetic ganglia and attempted to propose a future Korean medicine approach. Further studies are needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.57 no.1
• /
• pp.47-54
• /
• 2024

Objectives: This study was conducted to systematically summarize trends in research concerning patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as reported in Korean medical journals. Methods: We performed a literature search of KoreaMed from January 2020 to September 2022. We included only primary studies of patients with COVID-19. Two reviewers screened titles and abstracts, then performed full-text screening, both independently and in duplicate. We first identified the 5 journals with the greatest numbers of eligible publications, then extracted data pertaining to the general characteristics, study population attributes, and research features of papers published in these journals. Results: Our analysis encompassed 142 primary studies. Of these, approximately 41.0% reported a funding source, while 3.5% disclosed a conflict of interest. In 2020, 42.9% of studies included fewer than 10 participants; however, by 2022, the proportion of studies with over 200 participants had increased to 40.6%. The most common design was the cohort study (48.6%), followed by case reports/series (35.2%). Only 3 randomized controlled trials were identified. Studies most frequently focused on prognosis (58.5%), followed by therapy/intervention (20.4%). Regarding the type of intervention/exposure, therapeutic clinical interventions comprised 26.1%, while studies of morbidity accounted for 13.4%. As for the outcomes measured, 50.7% of studies assessed symptoms/clinical status/improvement, and 14.1% evaluated mortality. Conclusions: Employing a systematic approach, we examined the characteristics of research involving patients with COVID-19 that was published in Korean medical journals from 2020 onward. Subsequent research should assess not only publication trends over a longer timeframe but also the quality of evidence provided.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.73-79
• /
• 2024

Background: Career preparation behavior is a challenge among nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nursing students' adaptation to a non-face-to-face educational environment, lack of interaction with others, and fear of infectious disease may affect career preparation behavior. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influence the career preparation behavior in the non-face-to-face educational environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data were collected in October 2022 from 130 nursing students from a college in City A. A total of 119 questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, a one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: The findings show that major satisfaction had a significant positive correlation with career preparation behavior (r=0.56, p<0.001). Nursing professionalism showed a significant positive correlation with career preparation behavior (r=0.57, p<0.001). The factors influencing career preparation behavior included major satisfaction, nursing professionalism, and satisfaction with clinical practice. Nursing professionalism was the most influential factor (β=0.35), followed by major satisfaction (β=0.33). Together they had an explanatory power of 37%. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that nursing college students who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic should search for ways to increase their major satisfaction and nursing professionalism programs should be increased to improve career preparation behavior.

• Hip & pelvis
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.73-87
• /
• 2023

The aim of this review is to conduct an analysis of existing literature on outcomes of application of various methods of joint decompression in management of septic arthritis of the hip in children. A search of literature in PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar was conducted for identification of studies reporting on the outcomes of intervention for septic arthritis of the hip in children. Of the 17 articles selected, four were comparative studies; two of these were randomized controlled trials while the rest were single arm studies. Statistical difference was observed between the proportion of excellent clinical and radiological outcomes in arthrotomy (90%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 81-98%; 89%, 95% CI 80-98%), arthroscopy (95%, 95% CI 91-100%; 95%, 95% CI 90-99%), and arthrocentesis (98%, 95% CI 97-100%; 99%, 95% CI 97-100%), respectively. The highest overall rate of additional unplanned procedures was observed in the arthrocentesis group (24/207, 11.6%). Patients who underwent arthrocentesis had a statistically greater chance of excellent clinical and radiological outcomes, although the highest level of need for additional unplanned surgical intervention was observed in the arthrocentesis group, followed by the arthroscopy group and the arthrotomy group. Future conduct of a prospective multi-centric study focusing on the developed and developing world, along with acquisition of data. such as delay of treatment and severity of disease will enable assessment of the efficacy of one technique over the other by surgeons worldwide.

• Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.265-290
• /
• 2023

Rare but serious thrombotic incidents in relation to thrombocytopenia, termed vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), have been observed since the vaccine rollout, particularly among replication-defective adenoviral vector-based severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccine recipients. Herein, we comprehensively reviewed and summarized reported studies of VITT following the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination to determine its prevalence, clinical characteristics, as well as its management. A literature search up to October 1, 2021 using PubMed and SCOPUS identified a combined total of 720 articles. Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guideline, after screening the titles and abstracts based on the eligibility criteria, the remaining 47 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility and 29 studies were included. Findings revealed that VITT cases are strongly related to viral vector-based vaccines, which are the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (95%) and the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine (4%), with much rarer reports involving messenger RNA-based vaccines such as the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (0.2%) and the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine (0.2%). The most severe manifestation of VITT is cerebral venous sinus thrombosis with 317 cases (70.4%) and the earliest primary symptom in the majority of cases is headache. Intravenous immunoglobulin and non-heparin anticoagulant are the main therapeutic options for managing immune responses and thrombosis, respectively. As there is emerging knowledge on and refinement of the published guidelines regarding VITT, this review may assist the medical communities in early VITT recognition, understanding the clinical presentations, diagnostic criteria as well as its management, offering a window of opportunity to VITT patients. Further larger sample size trials could further elucidate the link and safety profile.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.613-622
• /
• 1996

Constrictive bronchiolitis, one of small airway diseases, is very rare and occupies one of the two arms of bronchiolitis obliterans together with proliferative bronchiolitis. Proliferative bronchiolitis, presenting the prototype with bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia(BOOP), can be easily taken into diagnostic consideration in terms of relatively rapid clinical course and radiologic presentation as if atypical pneumonia with interstitial and alveolar infiltrations. Meanwhile constrictive bronchiolitis is not only very Tare but also easily overlooked as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as emphysema, because it usually shows normal chest radiographic finding and obstructive pattern in pulmonary function test. In the aspects of the response to treatment, proliferative bronchiolitis showed dramatic response to the corticosteroid while constrictive bronchiolitis is intractable, which is easily explained on the basis of the pathologic characteristics of cicartrical replacement of bronchiolar walls. The bronchiolitis, both proliferative and constrictive, can be associated with diverse conditions such as inhalational injury, postinfectious process, drug of chemical induced reactions, connective tissue diseases, and organ trasplantation. And there is idiopathic type which has no associated condition. There is one explanation that both types of bronchiolitis lie on the same disease spectrum because the different disease pattern can be evoked from the same etiology. In contrast, another explanation is suggested that both types of bronchiolitis are one of nonspecific tissue reaction rather than a disease specific histologic finding because the various types of causes can provoke the same histologic findings. These dilemma remains for further investigation. With literature investigation, the authors report a case of constrictive bronchiolitis proven by open lung biopsy in 47 year old female who was diagnosed as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and simultaneously had relatively rapid progression of airflow obstruction and showed negative radiographic finding without the rise factors for the development of chronic obstructive lung disease. We consider it as idiopathic because we could not find any relationship between constrictive bronchiolitis and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on the literature search and it requires further investigation.