• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.267-273
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• 2004

Objectives : This study was aimed at investigating the medical service utilization pattern of patients who use public medical aid compared to those who have health insurance. Methods : We selected every patient between the age of 18 and 69 who used public medical aid from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2001, in Gwangju metropolitan city, South Korea. For comparison, a list of patients with health insurance was gathered for same period. Then the medical records of those who had been hospitalized for acute appendicitis were selected among both groups. Of those records, we compared the number of cases of ruptured appendicitis to cases of whole acute appendicitis in both groups. Regarding coding for ruptured appendicitis, International Classification of Diseases - 10 (ICD-10) was used. Multiple logistic regression was used as a statistical tool to determine the effectiveness of risk factors. Results : Even after adjusting for risk factors, such as age and sex, the proportion of perforation of acute appendicitis among public medical aid patients was found to be significantly higher than among insured patients. Conclusions : This comparative study on ruptured appendicitis among public medical aid patients and insured patients, indicates that the proportion of perforation of acute appendicitis could be an index showing that these types of patients utilize medical services differently than insured patients. We know that when abdominal pain is not properly treated at the outset, it easily develops into ruptured appendicitis complicated with peritonitis. Considering this data analysis, we guess the public medical aid system to have significant problem with medical accessibility. So additional and systematic research on the pattern of utilization of medical services of public medical aid patients is needed.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.36-45
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• 2008

Purpose: We conducted this retrospective epidemiological study to assess the incidence and severity of lower extremity injuries in Korea Methods: For this study, we retrospectively reviewed nationwide lower-extremity injury data compiled from 2001 to 2003 based on the National Injury Database, what included National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC), Car Insurance, and Industry Insurance data. Data were standardized in terms of demographic characteristics, region, and socioeconomic status by using NHIC data. To assess the degree of the injuries, we used the Modified Abbreviated Injury Scale (MoAIS), what has been changed from the International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD-10) code. By using the Excess Mortality Ratio-adjusted Injury Severity Score (EMR-ISS), we classified the degree of severity into four categories: mild, moderate, severe and critical. Results: From 2001 to 2003, lower extremity injuries increased slightly, with a yearly average of 2,437,335. Insurance data should that lower-extremity injuries were the most common, followed by upper-extremity injuries. Significant difference were seen in the numbers of lower extremity injuries based on gender and age. As for provinces, Seoul and Gyeongi provinces had the highest numbers of cases. Junlabukdo had the highest rate of 55,282 cases per 1 million people for standardized gender and population. The annual incidence of the insured patients with lower extrimity injuries was higher than the employer's medical insurance contributions to the medical insurance program. Daily cases occur most often in May and June, with the lowest occurrences being in January and February. Conclusion: The result of this study shows that lower extremity injuries comprised common cause of all injuries. In addition, differences associated with gender, location and socioeconomic status were observed. Further studies are needed to find reasons and then this knowledge will allow strategies to prevent the lower extremity injuries.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.52-62
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• 2017

Objectives The purpose of this study is to review pre-existing clinical practice guidelines for autism spectrum disorders, and refer those in developing a new practice guideline. Methods A total of 9 existing clinical practice guidelines for autism spectrum disorder developed from 2010 to 2016 were searched by Google scholar and Pubmed, and were reviewed those literatures in three parts: general, diagnosis & evaluation, and intervention. Results There were no consistency in the recommendation methods of 9 clinical care guidelines (such as the method of rating and recommendation intensity for diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment). However, in the diagnosis and evaluation section, frequently used evaluation and diagnostic tools are mentioned in most clinical practice guidelines, and the types of pharmacologic and non-pharmacological treatments that are mainly recommended in treatment are equally mentioned in most clinical practice guidelines could confirm. Conclusions 1. Some guideline recommendations are graded according to each criterion. Recommendations presented in various databases were based on systematic reviews or other literatures. The most utilized database were PsycINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane. 2. DSM-5 and ICD-10 were the most common used diagnostic criteria, and DSM-IV was used as a diagnostic standard in the guideline published before 2013. The tools used for diagnosis and evaluation were also varied. However, most recommended ones were ADI-R, ADOS-G, and DISCO. 3. Treatment was largely divided into pharmacological intervention and non-pharmacological intervention. In some guideline, the interventions were divided into pediatric and adult. Most of the pharmacological interventions were not recommended due to lack of evidence, but in cases in which specific symptoms were aimed, they recommended to seek professional help. 4. In addition to interventions, each guideline referred to supportive interventions that may be helpful in the daily life of patients with ASD, which may need to be addressed in future clinical guidelines.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.4 s.55
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• pp.843-851
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• 1996

To estimate the incidence of uterine cervix cancer among Korean women, we have conducted a study using the claim data on the beneficiaries of Korea Medical Insurance Corporation (KMIC). All medical records of the potential cases with diagnosis of ICD-9 180, 181, 182, 199, 219, 233 in the claims sent by medical care institutions in the whole country to the KMIC from January 1988 to December 1989, were abstracted and Gynecology specialist reviewed the records to identify the new cases of uterine cervix cancer among the potential cases during the corresponding period. Using these data, the incidence of uterine cervix cancer among Korean women was estimated as of July 1, 1988 to June 30, 1989. The crude rate was estimated to be 17.34(95% CI: $16.76\sim17.92$) per 100,000 and the cumulative rates for the ages $0\sim64\;and\;0\sim74$ were 1.7% and 2.2%, respectively. The age-adjusted rate for the world population was 19.93 per 100,000 which was higher than those of other Asian countries including China and Japan in $1983\sim1987$. The truncated rate for ages $35\sim64$ was 52.05 per 100,000 which was one of the highest in the world. With increasing age, the incidence rate increased to 78.11 per 100,000 in women aged $55\sim59$ years, then it decreased in the older groups. This finding suggests that detecting rate of uterine cervix cancer may decrease in women aged 60 years or older due to inadequate medical care seeking behavior. In the geographical area, the SIR of Jeju province was significantly low but it might be due to statistical unstability by small case numbers.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2006

Objectives: This study estimated the burden of disease especially caused by psychiatric disorders in Korea by using DALY, a composite indicator that was recently developed by the Global Burden of Disease study group. Methods: First, 11 of the major psychiatric disorders in Korea were selected based on the ICD-10. Second, the burden of disease due to premature death was estimated by using YLLs (years of life lost due to premature death). Third, for the calculation of the YLD (years lived with disability), the following parameters were estimated in the formula: the incidence rate, the prevalence rate and the disability weight of each psychiatric disorder. Last, we estimated the DALY of the psychiatric disorders by adding the YLLs and YLDs. Results: The burden of psychiatric disorder per 100,000 people was attributed mainly to unipolar major depression (1,278 person-years), schizophrenia (638 person-years) and alcohol use disorder (287 person-years). For males, schizophrenia (596 person-years) and alcohol use disorder (491 person-years) caused the highest burden. For females, unipolar major depression (1,749 person-years) and schizophrenia (680 person-years) cause the highest burden. As analyzed by gender and age group, alcohol use disorder causes a higher burden than schizophrenia in men aged 40 years and older. For females, unipolar major depression causes the highest burden in all age groups. Conclusions: We found that each of the psychiatric disorders that cause the highest burden is different according to gender and age group. This study's results can provide a rational basis to plan a national health policy regarding the burden of disease caused by psychiatric disorders.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.150-154
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• 2007

Objectives : The aim of this study is to identify factors determining the purchase of private health insurance under the mandatory National Health Insurance(NHI) system in Korea. Methods : The data were collected by the National Cancer Center in Korea. It includes cancer patients who were newly diagnosed with stomach (ICD code, C16), lung(C33-C34), liver (C22), colorectal cancer(C18-C20) or breast(C50) cancer. Data were gathered from the hospital Order Communication System (OCS), medical records, and face-to-face interviews, using a structured questionnaire. Clinical, socio-demographic and private health insurance related factors were also gathered. Results : Overall, 43.9% of patients had purchased one or more private health insurance schemes related to cancer, with an average monthly premium of \65,311 and an average benefit amount of \19million. Females, younger aged, high income earners, national health insurers and metropolitan citizens were more likely to purchase private health insurance than their counterparts. Conclusions : About half of Korean people have supple-mentary private health insurance and their benefits are sufficient to cover the out-of-pocket fees required for cancer treatment, but inequality remains in the purchase of private health insurance. Further studies are needed to investigate the impacts of private health insurance on NHI, and the relationship between cancer patients' burden and benefits.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2012

Objective : We investigated whether Posttraumatic stress disorder patients have a higher tendency to exaggerate the extent of their psychological symptoms compared to other psychiatric patients. Methods : Medical records of patients, who had received psychiatric treatment at four university hospitals in Korea between January 2009 and December 2010, were retrospectively reviewed. We compared a group of 37 patients diagnosed with PTSD, and another group of 41 patients diagnosed with neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders according to the ICD-10. To compare the extent of malingering in the two groups, we compared the validity scales of MMPI-2 and Personality Assessment Inventory. We determined the number of participants in both groups feigning their responses by using various cutoff scores of the validity indicators. Results : The PTSD group showed significantly higher scores on the F (p=0.001), F (B)(p=0.000), F (P)(p=0.030), F-K (p=0.003) scale of the MMPI-2 compared to the other group of psychiatric patients. The PTSD group had a significantly higher NIM score (p=0.001) but a lower PIM score (p=0.020) of the PAI compared to the other group of psychiatric patients. Using the cutoff scores, the PTSD group showed a significantly higher number of patients who feigned responses compared to the other group ($Fb{\geq}75$ (p=0.010), $F-K{\geq}1$ (p=0.005), $F-K{\geq}10$ (p=0.011) from the MMPI-2, and $NIM{\geq}80$ (p=0.001) from the PAI). Conclusion : These results suggest that PTSD patients have a tendency to exaggerate their symptom. This group of patients overreported the severity of their condition during standardized personality assessment that included the MMPI-2 or PAI compared to patients diagnosed with other psychiatric disorders. Additional research is required to determine the factors influencing symptom exaggeration in PTSD.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.34-43
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• 1996

In adolescence, the symptoms of depression are more various and different from those of adult. Conduct behaviours are frequently represented in adolescent's depression. The patients who have the depression and conduct disorder are defined as depressive condor disorder in ICD-10. We hypothesized that there might be different parental rearing patterns between the patients with depression alone and the depressive conduct disorder. We applied children's depression inventory (CDI), parental rating form for conduct disorder based on DSM-III-R, and parental bonding instrument (PBI) to patients and normal control adolescent group. The results were as follows : 1) There were no significant differences in severity of depressive symptoms, maternal care, maternal overprotection, and paternal care. 2) Paternal overprotection showed significant higher scores in depressive conduct disorder group than depression group and normal control group. 3) There were positive correlations in the severity of depressive symptoms and behavior problems in all subjects. 4) There were no correlations in maternal care and overprotecion with conduct problems, but with depressive symptoms in all subject. 4) There were no correlations in paternal care with conduct problems and depressive symptoms in all subjects. 5) There were significant correlations in patienral overprotective, intrusive attitudes with conduct problems, not with depressive symptoms in all subjects.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.10
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• pp.1061-1067
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• 2005

Purpose : We studied a clinical analysis of pediatric patients who visited the emergency medical center of Yeungnam University Hospital to compare the characteristics of pediatric emergency patients after year 2000 with the previous studies. Methods : We reviewed 7,034 children under the age of 15 years who visited the emergency medical center of Yeungnam University Hospital during the 2 year period from January 2001 to December 2002, and then we performed a clinical and statistical analysis. We analyzed the pediatric patients according to gender, age, season, day of the week, time of the visit, the disease classification and the final disposition of the patients. Results : Among the patients who visited the emergency room, 15.6% of the total emergency patients were under the age of 15. The male to female ratio was 1.6 : 1. Among the 7,034 pediatric patients, the most common age group was between 1 year and under 3 years of age(26.9%). The peak seasonal incidence was early summer and spring, especially during June(11.2%) and May(10.6 %). The peak incidence day of the week was Sunday(24.8%) and the peak time when the emergency pediatric patients visited the emergency room was between 20 and 24 o'clock(28.8%). The distribution of diseases, according to ICD-10 system, were injury and poisoning(30.4%), diseases of the respiratory system(22.8%), and diseases of the digestive system(14.6%). 30% of total pediatric patients were admitted to the hospital. Conclusion : After year 2000, as compared with the previous studies, the proportions of emergency pediatric patients has decreased. The distribution of diseases was not much different from the previous studies and the proportions of non-urgent diseases, such as acute nasopharyngitis or acute gastroenteritis, were still high. These result have come about due to the declining birth rate and changes of the medical system in Korea.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.150-157
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• 1991

The purpose of the this study was to assess the morbidity pattern of urban residents in the poor area by health screening for the community diagnosis. The items of health screening were history taking and physical examination by medical doctor and hearing test, check blood pressure, test for hematocrit, liver function(sGOT, sGPT), urine sugar and protein, and chest X-ray. The examinee in health screening were 437 persons and they occupied 16.9% of total residents in the poor area. Male examinee were 129 persons(9.9% of total residents) and female examinee were 308 persons(23.9% of total residents). Age group of above sixty years old, 42.0% of total residents in the poor area were participated, but only 5.9% were participated in age group of 10 to 19 years old. Among the 437 examinee, 191 persons(43.7%) had one or more abnormal findings in health screening. In male 38.7% had abnormal findings, and some what lower than that of female(45.8%). Age group of above sixty years had most high rate of abnormal findings(69.8%), in contrast to age group of 10 to 19 years old (10.9%). Diseases of the digestive system was the most common and which occupies 23.7% of total abnormal findings. And diseases of the circulatory system occupied 19.7%. Low hematocrit(14.6% of total participants of 437 persons) occupies the most common abnormal findings for screening test(hematocrit, blood pressure, hearing test, sGOT/sGPT, urine protein and urine sugar, chest X-ray) and high blood pressure(10.1%) occupied second, third; hearing impairment (5.5%), fourth ; abnormal liver function (4.1%), fifth ; sugar in urine (2.3%), sixth ; protein in urine(1.4%) and lastly abnormal chest X-ray (0.9%). The positive rate of abnormal findings in health screening was very high compared with morbidity rate by health interview. It is supposed that some portion of this high rate is by selection bias in examinee in health screening specially high participating rate in older age, and the other portion is due to the low socioecomic status and bad environment of the residents of the poor area. These findings will be good information for the research and development of health care system in the urban poor area.