• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.141-150
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• 2010

Objectives: The study evaluated efficacy of the Gigong program in health promotion service programs using oriental medicine. Methods: The data were collected from 31 female participants who completed the Gigongprogram from February to May of 2009 in Eumsung-Gun. The questionnaires to measure efficacy of the Gigong program were composed of demographic items, past history, family history, why they joined the program, satisfaction with the Gigong program, lipid profile, etc. The lipid profiles were collected before and after the Gigong program. Results: Satisfaction with the Gigong lectures and program was 88.4%. Improvement of daily life after the Gigong program was 92.2%. Mood and exercise habits of daily life significantly improved. Conclusions: From these results, the Gigong program is worthwhile for promoting health, so further study is needed to determine its efficacy.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2002

The proportion and role of public sector in health care industry is very small in Korea. Asymmetric distribution of health care resources is one of the major health care concerns. This issue is so important that it raises a question of accessibility, availability, continuity of care and equity of rural area people's health care utilization. To solve these problems and to satisfy the basic demand of oriental medical service in rural areas, the oriental public health doctors were placed in rural health centers since 1998. The main objectives of this study are twofold: to measure the cognition and attitude of health center directors on the strategies for utilizing oriental public health doctors and to provide basic data for improving the health manpower management program. Data have been collected by way of the self-administrative questionnaires. Developing the questionnaire, the literature review on the previous studies and delphi method were carried out. The response rate was 38.7%. The results of this study are summarized as follows; 1. community people respond positively on the oriental medical service activity in health center. 2. In regard to workloads of oriental public health doctor, 'appropriate' was 81.1% and 'burdensome' was 18.2%, respectively. 3. The 94.0% of respondents thought that the oriental medical service will be continued. 4. To activate oriental medical service in health center, the sufficient budget and provision of aid workers is a necessity. 5. The 75.5% of health center directors respond positively on the allocation of oriental public health doctor to health sub-centers. 6. Health center directors agreed that oriental public health doctor should perform the clinical service as well as prevention and health promotion activity. These results recommend that oriental medical service in health center should be continued gradually, and oriental public health doctors working at health center perform their work efficiently. Undoubtedly, their activity should be more focused on health promotion and disease prevention than daily patient care. For achieving this objective, more support of governmental policy is essential for utilizing oriental public health doctor and better health of the rural area community people.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.419-429
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• 2017

Objectives: We conducted a public health promotion program in Korean medicine for participants suffering from chronic insomnia in 2016~2017. A significant improvement effect was obtained through the 8-week herbal medicine treatment program. The object of this study is to report the results of this public health promotion program. Methods: Seventy patients diagnosed with chronic insomnia participated in the program, 49 of whom completed the program. Participants were treated with the herbal medicine for insomnia treatment for 8 weeks. A sleep diary was used to assess the total sleep time, sleep latency, and number of times the participants woke. The treatment satisfaction was then evaluated. Results: Through the 8-week herbal medicine treatment program, the total sleep time was significantly increased by $109.59{\pm}70.77$ minutes, the sleep latency was significantly decreased by $63.53{\pm}47.79$ minutes, and the number of times the participants woke was significantly decreased by $1.54{\pm}1.19$ times compared to the baseline (all, p=0.000). Among the 24 patients who were examined for the treatment satisfaction, the average score was 4.33 points of a total of 5 points. Six patients had adverse events. Except for one patient, the symptoms of other patients were mitigated by changing or discontinuing the herbal medicine. Conclusions: For patients with chronic insomnia, the 8-week herbal medicine treatment program was effective, with few side effects and high treatment satisfaction. This study has significance as this is the first report in Korea on the effect of a herbal medicine treatment program for chronic insomnia through Korean medicine public health promotion.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.45-53
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• 2016

Objectives : The number of people in Mibyeong state that complain of physical and mental discomfort but without a clear medical diagnosis has rapidly increased, but the conventional medical system is insufficient to care for these people. By establishing an evaluation instrument for Mibyeong state, it will be possible to provide a research base for Mibyeong management system and expand the clinical area of integrative medicine. Methods : Mibyeong Index was designed to measure inconvenience and resilience of subject's complains including four physical symptoms (fatigue, pain, low sleep quality, indigestion) and mental distress include anxiety, anger, depression. A 21-item quality of healthy measure was developed and tested. We used results of a nation-wide stratified sampled adult data in Korea. Results and Conclusions : Mibyeong index had adequate internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha was 0.88 in general population(N=1,110). The correlation between establised quality of life questionnaires (including SF-12 and EQ-D5 VAS) and the Mibyeong index were from 0.468 to 0.493. The national promotion of advanced health for an aging society and original Mibyeong care technology based on traditional Korean medicine can be developed by a self-care system that enhancing health before suffering illness. We expect that this instrument could be contribute to health management of people in Mibyeong state.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.14-19
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• 2009

The aim of this study is to evaluate appraiser's consistency and accuracy about pulse diagnosis (PD) in discrimination of eight-constitutions using Gage R&R study. Cumulative numbers of PD for discrimination of eight constitutions of three appraisers' experience were 75,000 cases, 50,000 cases, 1,100 cases, respectively. Three Appraisers diagnosed subject's eight-constitutions by PD with blinded method. Gage R&R study was used to verify the results. In the measurements of consistency, appraiser B (agreement = 80%, Value of k = 0.8276) was very good, appraiser A (agreement = 70%, Value of k = 0.7465) was good, and appraiser C (agreement = 50%, Value of k = 0.5365) was moderate. In the measurements of accuracy, appraiser B (agreement = 70%, Value of k = 0.6812) was good, appraiser A (agreement = 60%, Value of k = 0.6414) was good, and appraiser C (agreement = 0%, Value of k = -0.1000) was poor. The results suggest that accuracy of discrimination of constitutions relatively depend on experience and number of cases of PD. Further large controlled study is needed to evaluate the accuracy of PD.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.175-190
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• 2011

Objectives: Even though there has been no consensus on the concept of viscera organ between the oriental and western medicine, we tried to investigate the correlation between clinical biomarkers of five Jang and chronological age and develop the models for predicting five Jang biological ages by statistical analysis. Methods: We obtained data from about 120,000 subjects who visited health promotion centers for health promotion and disease prevention from January 2004 to June 2009. Participants were included if they were over 20 years old, and excluded if reported to have cardiovascular disease or other serious medical illness such as cancer, malignant hypertension, uncontrolled diabetes, cardiopulmonary insufficiency, liver disease, pancreatic disease or renal disease. Among the clinical biomarkers obtained, we selected the biomarkers which were associated with the function of 5 Jang in previous studies, or showed statistically significant correlation with age. Multiple regression models were used for building prediction models of biological age after adjusting for potential confounders for men and women, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to examine the linear relationship between age and various biomarkers, and multiple regression analysis was used for building the prediction models of five Jang biological ages for men and women, respectively. All statistical data analysis was performed by using SPSS Version 12.0 software and statistical significance was obtained if p<0.05. Results: For males, the best models were developed using 12, 2, 8, 3, and 4 biomarkers for predicting biological ages of heart, lung, liver, pancreas, and kidney, respectively (R2 = 0.57, 0.43, 0.11, 0.24, and 0.93, respectively). Similar to males, for the females, 10, 2, 8, 3, and 4 biomarkers were selected as the models respectively (R2 = 0.76, 0.44, 0.14, 0.38, and 0.89, respectively). Conclusions: As we have developed for the first time the models for predicting five Jang biological ages with common clinical biomarkers, it is expected that these models may be used as clinical supplementary tools in the evaluation of aging status and functional decline of five Jang according to age in health promotion centers and private clinics. At the same time, it is considered that the use as objective tools to evaluate aging status and functional decline of each Jang.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.145-151
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• 2005

Background and purpose: The cold-heat patternization is one of the most frequently use for diagnostic method in oriental medicine. But it is still an unclear scientific mechanism and the objective index. the aim of this study is to search the objective index of the cold-heat patternization, comparing with ordinary health test. Method: The study group comprised 101 Korean, male:female ratio 51:50, with a mean age of 49.74 years. The results of the questionnaires for cold-heat patternization were compared with the western health test that it consist of height, weight, muscle mass, body fat, WBC, Hb, ALT, AST, TG, Total cholesterol, glucose, HDL-cholesterol, free-T4 and TSH, measured in the health promotion center of the hospital of Chungnam university Result: The cold patternization were significantly higher in the women than the man. The somothing of the questionmaires for the heat patternization were positive correlated with TG, TSH, glucose, Hb, free T4, weight, musle mass(p<0.05). But there were no correlation in the gross. The somothing of the questionnaires for the cold patternization were negative correlated with the weight, musle mass, body fat, glucose, Hb and ALT(p<0.05), Especially there were strong negative correlation with the weight and muscle mass(p<0,01). Conclusion: The present study shows there is no definitive index for the cold-heat patternization in the ordinary health test. But the weight and muscle mass can be useful index of the cold patternization.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.107-115
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• 2010

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of growth exercise program based on Korean medicine. Methods : We recruited fifty two elementary students in a rural area, and measured height, weight, BMI, WHR, and bone age. Questionnaire on sleep, exercise, symptoms based on Korean medicine was performed. Students exercised TaeGuk(太極) Health Gigong(氣功), a growth exercise program 11 times in 6 weeks. Results : Height, weight, BMI and WHR of the subject students were lower than those in the Korean CDC(Center for Disease Control and Prevention) growth chart. There was significantly negative correlation between time of sleep and bone age(p=0.028), but no correlation between time of exercise and bone age(p=0.668). According to diagnosis based on Korean medicine, many students were in weakness of spleen and lung, and bone age according to deficiency of organ showed no significant difference(p=0.774). Satisfaction, impact on time of exercise after program, ideal time for program and impact on reparticipation of program were strong in the questionnaire after growth exercise program(TaeGuk(太極) Health Gigong(氣功)). Conclusions : Korean medicine promotion of health has a salutary effect on elementary school students in rural area by collecting growth and health data and educating easy exercise based on Taichi.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2006

Recently, there has been prevailing of the combined utilization (CU) with herbs and prescribed drugs in medical therapies in the world. But the information about frequency, efficacy and safety of this CU has not well known in Korea, yet. This study aimed to identify the status of CU by Koreans, and to inquire which side effects of CU represent to those people. A self-completed questionnaire survey was performed through each health examination center in twenty general hospitals and one oriental hospital. Of the initial 2,100 health examinees, 1,851 were participated in this survey, resulting in a response rate of 88.1%. The proportion of CD was 26.3%. The most commonly mentioned reason of CD was 'to promote general health and well-being' (17l persons, 35.5%). The main route of taking CD was self-purchase at drugstore or at herbs market, followed by the prescription of (oriental)physicians. 33.0% (151 persons) of those who took the CD rated it as effective. 93 respondents (19.8%) were experienced several adverse effects including nausea, fatigue, and dizziness. The growing simultaneous use of herbal products and pharmaceutical drugs by Korean consumers may be continuously increased the risk of herb-drug interactions. The medical professionals should be provided with comprehensive and up-to-date information about potential benefits and risks of herbs and prescribed drugs. In the future studies it may be recommended to deal common cold, health promotion, indigestion, headache, and hypertension for the effect and safety of the CD by well-organized prospective study design.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.17-26
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• 2016

Objectives : We presented the results of reliability study in advance, and analyzed agreement between Korean medicine doctors(KMDs)' diagnosis and cold-heat pattern identification questionnaire(CHPI)'s diagnosis. Methods : This survey was conducted from May 16 to 17, 2015. The subjects were 93 adults living in rural society. Diagnosis of CHPI was performed by 2 KMDs who have clinical experience more than 5 years. The KMDs' diagnosis was set as a reference index, and then we compare 23 items(cold pattern 11 items and heat pattern 12 items) of CHPI questionnaire and 15 items(cold pattern 8 items and heat pattern 7 items) that were brief form of it. We had cut-off value by standard of KMDs' diagnosis using receiver operating characteristic-curve(ROC-curve), with which we calculated agreement including kappa value. Correlation analysis between CHPI evaluation score by KMDs and by the questionnaire was fulfilled as well. Results : Agreement about 11 and 8 cold pattern items showed 87.1% together, and the value of kappa each recorded 0.742 and 0.741. Agreement about 12 and 7 heat pattern items suggested 81.7% and 78.5%, and the value of kappa showed 0.634 and 0.570. Correlation coefficients were 0.803 of 11 items and 0.761 of 8 items about cold pattern. In addition, correlation coefficients were 0.789 of 12 items and 0.767 of 7 items about heat pattern. The significant probability (p-value) was under 0.001. Conclusions : We have developed CHPI questionnaire involving reliability and agreement based on usual symptoms, and hope additional complements so that Korean medicine diagnostics and Korean preventive medicine would be improved.