• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.72-76
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• 2001

Essential hypertension is a heterogeneously multifactorial disease in which blood pressure is harmfully high without overt cause. Both genetic and environmental factors have been implicated in its etiology. In view of the regulatory role of this peptide in the carbohydrate metabolism and renin-angiotensin system, amylin gene has been proposed to a candidate gene for essential hypertension. Therefore, we scanned the amylin gene for mutations in 133 Korean normotensives and 61 essential hypertensives by single-strand conformational polymorphism, and found a single heterozygous S20G missense mutation. However, no significant difference was observed between normotensives and essential hypertensives in the distribution of allele and genotype frequencies of this mutation at the amylin gene (P>0.05). This finding suggests that S20G missense mutation of the amylin gene are unlikely to contribute to the etiology of essential hypertension in the Korean population.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.133-146
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to investigate the treatment status and its related factors of the newly detected rural hypertensives through community health promotion program. A questionnaire survey and blood pressure measurement were performed to 6,977 residents of a rural area, and 282 hypertensives detected by blood pressure measurement were selected as subjects of the study. The study employed the health belief model as a hypothetical model. The major results of this study were as follows: The proportion of person experienced treatment among hypertensives was 12.0%. Treatment experience rate was significantly related with age and educational level(p<0.01). That is, if they were older, lower educational level, the treatment experience rate was higher. The major reasons of no treatment were 'they had not hypertensive symptoms ' (45.6%), 'their blood pressure was not high so much that they received treatment ' (43.2%). The chief facilities for treatment were public health institutions(57.9%) such as health center and health subcenter, and hospital/ clinics(29.8%). The treatment experience rate was higher when they had higher perceived severity for hypertension, lower perceived barrier to treatment, although statistically not significant. Treatment experience rate was significantly related with cues to action and health education experience(p<0.05). That is, if they had hypertension related symptoms such as headache previously, patients suffered from hypertension complication and health education experience for hypertension, the treatment experience rate was higher. In multiple logistic regression analysis for treatment experience, having a cerebrovascular patient in their acquaintance and the experience of health education for hypertension were significant variables. On consideration of above findings, it would to be essential to provide knowledge about hypertension and its treatment, and severity of hypertension complications through health education.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.93-106
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• 2003

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the treatment status and its related factors of the rural hypertensives. Methods: A questionnaire survey was performed to 618 rural hypertensives during September, 2002. Results: The proportion of those who were compliant to the antihypertensive medication was 68.9%. The compliance rate to the antihypertensive medication was significantly related with sex and economic status(p<0.05). That is, if they were female, higher economic level, the regular antihypertensive medication rate was higher. The regular antihypertensive medication rate was higher when they had higher knowledge for hypertension, higher severity for hypertension of him or her(p<0.01). And the compliance rate to the antihypertensive medication was significantly related with hypertensives' own explanatory model for hypertension(p<0.01). The rate of drug use except antihypertensives was 12.5%. The rate of drug use except antihypertensives was higher when they experienced side effects of antihypertensive drug and when they had irregular medication for antihypertensive drug(p<0.01). The rate of medical equipment use was 18.9%. The utilization rate of medical equipment such as jade mat, germanium material was significantly related with age, experience of side effects of antihypertensive drug, medication status for antihypertensive drug(p<0.05). The rate of folk therapy use was 16.2%. The rate of folk therapy use was higher when they had no family, when they had knowledge about hypertension on the average, when they had hypertension over 10 years(p<0.05), and when they experienced side effects of antihypertensive drug and when they had irregular medication for antihypertensive drug(p<0.01). The rates of drug use except antihypertensives, medical equipment use, and folk therapy were significantly related with hypertensives' own explanatory model for hypertension(p<0.05). Conclusions: On consideration of above findings, it would be essential to provide knowledge about hypertension and its treatment, and severity of hypertension complications through health education.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.56-68
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• 2000

Objectives : To describe health behaviors related to hypertension in rural population of Korea and focused to identify inappropriate awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension. Methods : We surveyed 5,517 adults (2,288 males, 3,229 females) older than 30 years in 58 rural areas, purposely sampled nationwide from December 1996 to February 1997. Blood Pressure was checked twice af the time of the first visit. For those who showed high blood pressure using the JNC-6 criteria at their initial visit, we followed up their blood pressure one week later. Also information on the health behavior related to hypertension was collected through the person-to-person interview using structured questionnaire at the first visit. Results : For the past one year, females had more experiences of checking their blood pressure than males (77.3% versus 69.5%, p=0.001). Through the results of consecutively checked blood pressure, only 51.7% of the hypertensives were aware of their condition. Of the hypertensives who aware of their condition, 44.4% did not receive any medication and/or recommendation. And 50.4% of the hypertensives who had anti-hypertensive medication were classified as still having hypertensive blood pressure by 160/95 mmHg criteria. Of the medicated, 54.8% were found to take medication regularly for the past six months. Among the medicated, only 11.4% knew the name of anti-hypertensive drug they had. Conclusions : 'Rule of halves', which works in the situation of no special efforts for hypertension control, was identified. This study showed that much efforts to control hypertension would be required in the rural population of Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.215-225
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• 2000

Objective : The purpose of this study was to examine the therapeutic compliance and its related factors in the rural hypertensives. Method : A questionnaire survey and blood pressure measurement were performed to 3,876 residents of a rural area, and 660 hypertensives were selected as subjects of study. The study employed a hypothetical model which was composed of constructs from the health belief model and KAP model. The analysis techniques employed included contingency table analysis and structural equation modeling. Result : The proportion of those who were compliant to the treatment of hypertension was 44.2% of subjects. As the result of structural equation modeling, when patients had more favorable attitude toward treatment, higher perceived benefit, or lower perceived barriers to treatment, the therapeutic compliance was significantly higher(T>2.0). When patients had more knowledge about hypertension, or higher perceived severity of hypertension, the attitude toward the treatment of hypertension was more favorable significantly(T>2.0). And when patients had the support for treatment from family or neighbor, the attitude toward treatment was more favorable(T>2.0). When patients had experience of health education, they had more knowledge, higher perceived susceptibility of complication, perceived severity for hypertension, and perceived benefit of treatment, compare to patients without health education(T>2.0). Conclusion : In consideration of above findings, in order to improve the therapeutic compliance in the rural hypertensives, it would be necessary to change attitude, perception, knowledge about hypertension and its treatment, by various methods such as effective health education and programs for maintaining the supportive environment for hypertension treatment.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.36-49
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• 1997

Background : Hypertension is one of the most important risk factors of the cerebrovascular accident and coronary artery disease which are the major causes of mortality in Korea. In Korea, the quality of care provided by office-based physicians has not been evaluated formally. The purpose of this study is to assess the quality of hypertension management of office-based physicians. Method : Self-administered questionnaires were mailed to the office-based physicians with the speciality of internal medicine, general surgery, family medicine, and general practitioners. Among 2,045 physicians, 981 doctors(48.0%) replied the questionnaires. Contents of questionnaires were based on the recommendation from the JNC-V report(the Fifth Report of the Joint National Committee on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure), and included the criteria of diagnosis, treatment, follow-up interval, and other characteristics of physicians(age, sex, type of speciality, and location of practice). Results : Eighty four percent of the office-based physicians made diagnosis of hypertension with less than 3 times of blood pressure measurements. The performance rate of required examination for hypertensives was very low in most items. Rate of fundoscopic examination is the lowest one among them(5.9%). The performance rate of laboratory examination was also low in most items. Internists tended to order more frequent laboratory examinations than any other type of physicians. Only 11.4% of the physicians did appropriate treatments for the mild hypertension case. The antihypertensives selected by the physicians as a first line drug were in the order of beta blocker(26.4%), calcium channel blocker(23.4%), diuretics(23.1%), ACE inhibitors(14.3%). The visit interval for established hypertensives was very short. Proportion of physicians with follow-up interval longer than 4 weeks was only 4.3%. Conclusions : The overall quality of hypertension management of office-based physicians in Korea is very problematic in many aspects. So further investigations to find out the reasons of low quality arid quality of care should be initiated.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.25-33
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• 2003

lridology, a form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), is the diagnosis of medical conditions through noting irregularities of the pigmentation in the iris. lridological constitution has a strong familial aggregation and is implicated in heredity. Apolipoprotein E (apoE) gene polymorphism is one of the most well studied genetic markers of vascular disease. I investigated the relationship between iridological constitution and apoE polymorphism. I classified 87 hypertensive patients with family history of cerebral infarction and 79 controls according to iris constitution, and determined apoE genotype. Neurogenic type in hypertensives was 32.2% compared with 16.5% in controls (P<0.001). No differences in the apoE genotypes frequencies were observed in patients compared with those in controls ($x^2=0.726$, df-=2, P=0.696). However, in a population with ${\varepsilon}3/{\varepsilon}4$ genotype, the frequency of neurogenic constitution was significantly higher in hypertensives than in controls (60% vs. 0%) ($x^2=5.265$, df=l, P=0.022). These results could imply that apoE ${\varepsilon}3/{\varepsilon}4$ genotype and neurogenic iris constitution are risk factors for hypertension.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.39-57
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• 1999

Essential hypertension is a typical chronic disease requiring adequate and continuous management. And many studies supported that self-care was the essential factor to promote the wellbeing. The purpose of this study is to identify and understand the behavior patterns of self-care in hypertensives. As a research method, 35 Q-statements were collected through Individual interviews and review of the related literatures. 21 subjects were interviewed and the data were analyzed by the PC QUANL program with principal component analysis. There were 6 different self-care types classified as follows 1) Type 1 was the self-oriented control type, monitoring the blood pressure and taking the low salt diet. But they didn't take the anti -hypertensive drug and visit the health agency regularly. 2) Type 2 was the stress-control type. Their main activities were meditation to relieve the stress and communication with family. 3) Type 3 was called daily-life control type. This type tried to make their mind comfort and think positively. They also preferred walking and exercise regularly. 4) Type 4 was the medical-oriented control type, taking the anti-hypertensive drug, visiting the medical personnel and following the medical regimens. 5) Type 5 was the medication-oriented type. They only took the anti -hypertensive drug regularly and didn't any other self-care like as monitoring the blood pressure, taking the low salt diet and exercise. 6) Type 6 was called non-medication control type. This type had no medication, but tried to visit the health agency and health personnel. From the above results, it can be concluded that the self-care types were very various and self-care education have to provide individually according to the characteristics of self-care type. Another repeated study can be recommended to improve the nursing intervention the self-care behavior in chronic patient like as diabetics or rheumatoid arthritis.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.126-143
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• 1996

Background : Little work has been carried out regarding quality assessment research in a primary care setting, comparing with that of hospitals. This study aims to evaluate the process of diagnosis and management of hypertension by public health doctors on the basis of pre-established clinical guideline, and to identify several modifying factors associated with them. Methods : Hypertension was selected as the target disease, because it is a chronic disease which is of great public health importance. Self-administered questionnaires were mailed to public health doctors practicing at health centers and health subcenters across the nation. The response rate was 20.9%. The questionnaire included the diagnosis and management process such as measuring blood pressure, history taking, physical examinations, and treatment approches and potentially modifying factors such as level of training, duration of practice as a public health doctor, and education on management of hypertension. Results : Public health doctors pay little attention in measuring BP, hypertension related history taking, performing physical examination and laboratory examination. But they devoted much effort in diagnosing hypertension exactly and giving nonpharmacological treatment. Among various antihypertensive drugs, calcium-channel blockers were the most preferred agent(50.9%). Level of training, duration of practice ad a public health doctor, and education on management of hypertension made no difference on quality of care(p>0.05). Conclusion : These public health doctors showed poor compliance with the pre-established clinical guidelines, which leaves much to be desired in diagnosing and managing hypertensive patients by public health doctors. This study might be able to contribute to develop some strategies, such as educational programs, which would be able to improve the process of care in hypertensives.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.12-21
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• 2002

Genetic polymorphisms of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) have been associated with hypertension in various ethnic groups, but no relation between these polymorphisms and hypertension has yet been systematically evaluated. To assess the relationship between allelic variation of RAS genes and hypertension, we performed the case-control studies using genetic markers in Korean normotensives and hypertensives. The allele and genotype frequencies of RAS genes in Korean population were not significantly different between normotensives and hypertensives. To investigate the distribution of allele frequencies among various populations, the data obtained in this study were compared to those in other ethnic groups studied previously. Except for T174M polymorphism of angiotensinogen (AGT) gene, allele frequencies of RAS genes were different among racial groups. The reason for these differences may be due to the difference in various genetic or environmental background or due to the effects by various sample size studied. In addition, it can be emphasized that carefully designed studies are required to minimize the ethnic heterogeneity of the case and control populations.