• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2024

Background: In recent years, studies have shown conflicting results regarding the benefits of dietary supplements in reducing healthcare expenditures. This study aimed to address this inconsistency by examining the association between supplement consumption and health expenditures using nationally representative data from the Korea Health Panel Survey (2019-2020). Methods: A 1:1 matched case-control dataset was established using propensity score matching technique based on supplement consumption. Then, total annual healthcare expenditures were compared between the two groups. In addition, a multivariate regression analysis (Proc Surveyreg) was performed to determine the association between the supplement consumption and medical costs. Results: The supplement user group spent about 1.72 million Korean won, while the non-user group spent about 1.43 million Korean won on medical services (p=0.0186). The results of multivariate regression showed that the costs were approximately 26.15% higher in the user group than in the non-user group (p=0.0004). Conclusion: Contrary to the previous studies that have shown the benefits of supplement use in reducing healthcare costs, this study showed that those who consistently consumed supplements spent more on medical services. This can be interpreted in the same context as previous studies suggesting that dietary supplement intake is a healthy behavior for managing one's health. However, we caution against drawing firm conclusions due to data limitations. Further analysis using patient-level epidemiologic data is needed.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.11-24
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• 2024

Purpose : This study aims to identify the factors influencing health-related quality of life through machine learning of the general characteristics of patients with hypertension and to provide a basis for related research on patients, such as intervention strategies and management guidelines in the field of physical therapy for health promotion. Methods : Annual data from the second Korean Health Panel (Version 2.0) from 2019 to 2020, conducted jointly by the Korea Health and Social Research Institute and the National Health Insurance Service, were analyzed (Korea Health Panel, 2024). The data used in this study was collected from January to July 2020, and the data was collected using computer-assisted face-to-face interviews. Of the 13,530 household members surveyed, 1,368 were selected as the final study participants after removing missing values from 3,448 individuals diagnosed with hypertension by a doctor. Results : The results showed that walking (P2) was the most significant factor affecting health-related quality of life in random forest, followed by perceived stress (HS1), body mass index (BMIc), total household income (TOTc), subjective health status (SRHc), marital status (Marr), and education level (Edu). Conclusion :To prevent and manage chronic diseases such as hypertension, as well as to provide customized interventions for patients in advanced stages of the disease, research should be conducted in the field of physical therapy to identify influencing factors using machine learning. Based on the findings of this study, we believe that there is a need for additional content that can be utilized in the field of physical therapy to improve the health-related quality of life of patients with hypertension, such as diagnostic assessment and intervention management guidelines for hypertension, and education on perceived stress and subjective health status.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.349-358
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• 2023

Objectives: We used the 2019 Korea Health Panel Annual Data to analyze factors related to visits to Korean medicine (KM) outpatient clinics among patients with mood disorders in Korea. Methods: Individuals aged 19 years or older, with depressive or bipolar disorders, and with a record of using Western medicine (WM) and/or the KM medical service were included. The 266 subjects were classified into the WM group or the integrative medicine (IM) group. The Andersen healthcare utilization model was used to analyze factors that potentially influenced the subjects' healthcare utilization. Binomial logistic regression analysis was used to analyze factors influencing the use of IM medical services. Results: Among the subjects, 75.56% (n=201) were in the WM group, and 24.44% (n=65) were in the IM group. Statistically significant differences were observed in residential areas, total annual income, the presence of disability, and the level of pain/discomfort between the two groups. Regression analysis found that residential areas and pain/discomfort were factors related to the use of IM services. Specifically, reporting "a lot" of pain/discomfort compared to "no" pain/discomfort showed a significant positive relationship with the use of IM (odds ratio=4.57, 95% confidence interval=1.79 to 11.70). Conclusions: This study was the first to analyze the status of KM medical service use and related factors among patients with mood disorders in Korea. The finding that the presence of pain/discomfort was positively correlated with the use of KM services is potentially related to medically unexplained physical symptoms or somatization phenomena.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.232-239
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• 2021

This study aimed to update suicide-related indicators including suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and the number of suicidal deaths. Based on up-to-date information, we observed the trends of suicide-related indicators. In this study, five data sources were used to observe the trends of suicide-related indicators: Statistics Korea (1983-2019), Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination (KNHANES, '07-13, '15-19), Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS, '08-09, '13, '17), Korean Wealth Panel Study (KOWEPS, '12-19), and Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, '10-13, '16-17). The suicide rate, which peaked in 2011, declined until 2017 and then started to rise again from 2018, recording a suicide rate of 26.9 per 100,000 people in 2019. The rate of suicidal ideation estimated based on the recently available data was 4.62% (KNHANES, '19), 3.51% (KHP, '16), 2.87% (KHP, '17), and 1.70% (KOWEPS, '19). That of suicide attempt as recent year was 0.43% (KNHANES, '19), 0.07% (KOWEPS, '19). Annual percentage change of death by intentional self-harm was -2.11% (Statistics Korea), and that of suicidal ideation was -14.7% (KNHANES), -2.5% (KCHS), -10.6% (KOWEPS), and -11.3% (KHP). Annual percentage change of suicide attempt was -5.0% (KNHANES), -4.4% (KCHS), and -11.3% (KOWEPS). The lower the income level, the higher the probability of experiencing suicide ideation and suicide attempts. Considering the recent increase in suicide rate in contrast to the continuing decline in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, continuous data observation and appropriate policies regarding suicide prevention are needed.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.147-158
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• 2016

Objectives : The aim of this study was to investigate predictors of cognitive function decline among community dwelling elderly. Methods : Data were analyzed from the Survey of Living Condition of Elderly panel study. Cognitive function was measured with the MMSE-KC at baseline and year 3. The study subjects were 5,464 community dwelling people aged 65 years or older who had no disability at baseline. Logistic regression analysis was used to predict cognitive function decline. Results : From 2008-2011, 4,417(80.8%) elderly people had no cognitive decline, and 1,074(19.2%) showed cognitive function decline measured by the MMSE-KC. After adjusting for demographics and baseline MMSE-KC score, the best predictors for cognitive function decline at 36 months were diabetes mellitus, smoking, low intensity physical activity, relationship with relatives and friends. Conclusions : Health promotion programs that are focused on the elderly are essential in preventing cognitive function decline. Promoting regular physical activity, and social relationships should be included in health promotion for elderly. When treating patients with diabetes, preventing cognitive impairment should be considered through education and counseling.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.611-621
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• 2020

Objectives: This study aimed to verify the impact of dental health care insurance coverage policy by analyzing the changes in dental care utilization and expenditures over 5 years from 2012 to 2016, when the dental health insurance coverage expansion policy was implemented. From the national cohort data collected by the Korea Health Panel Survey, a retrospective study was conducted for all household members using dental services. Methods: This study statistically verified the difference in the dependent variables by frequency analysis, chi-square test, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance (SPSS version 22, IBM Co. USA, p<0.05). Results: The annual utilization rate steadily increased from 23.4% to 26.1% between 2012 and 2016. Although there were differences in utilization rates by gender, age, and income level, patients kept using the dental services in 2016 regardless of the type of health insurance. The average annual copayment for patient expenditures (out-of-pocket amount) increased from ￦463,844 to ￦537,401 in 2012 and 2016, respectively. Of the dental care expenditures over 5 years, the ratio of uninsured expenses by the elderly decreased from 38.5% to 25.9%, and the national health insurance service coverage increased from 40.3% to 49.1%. Conclusions: Although this policy did not reduce overall patient expenditures, it has been found that there was a positive effect on the elderly and low-income groups; it increased the utilization and access to dental services.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.2144-2145
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• 2011

We carry out a demonstration project to verify performance of a Home- Smart Cabinet Panel(H-SCP) at the child care facility. It is difficult to prevent an electrical disaster using a existing cabinet panel because electrical events are invisible and unforeseeable. So we construct a integrated information system with a Home-Smart Cabinet Panel(H-SCP) for management of low-voltage customers. The integrated information system with the H-SCP maintain the transmitted data from H-SCP, alert a electrical event to a administrator and show a state of customer health in real time respectively. A manager of electrical safety can prevent electrical disaster to maintain electrical facilities after analysis on the integrated information system.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.80-83
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• 2017

The proportion of people who reported unmet healthcare needs is an important indicator to measure the access problem in healthcare service. To examine current status and trends of unmet needs in Korea, we used data from four sources: the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHNES, '2007-2015); the Community Health Survey (CHS '2008-2015); the Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP '2011-2013); the Korean Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS '2006-2015). The proportion of individual reporting unmet healthcare needs as of 2015 was 12.6% (KNHNES), 11.7% (CHS), and 16.3% (KHP, as of 2013). Annual percent change which characterizes trend for follow-up period was -9.4%, -3.4%, and 7.6%, respectively. The proportion of individual reporting unmet healthcare needs due to cost was 2.8% (KNHNES), 1.7% (CHS), and 4.6% (KHP). The proportion of household reporting unmet healthcare needs due to cost was 1.2% (KOWEPS). Annual percent change was -9.0%, -14.9%, 9.4%, and -18.2%, respectively. Low income population reported about 5 times more unmet needs than high income population. Therefore for decreasing the unmet healthcare needs, strategies focusing on low income population were needed.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.41-53
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• 2024

Objectives: We used the Korea Health Panel Annual Data 2019 to analyze factors related to visits to both Korean medicine and Western medicine (WM) outpatient clinics among patients with overweight and obesity. Methods: The inclusion criteria for this study are as follows: 1) adults over 18 years of age, 2) overweight or obese with a body mass index of 25.0 or more, 3) visited WM outpatient clinics at least once during 2019. Total 2,963 individuals were included in WM group or integrative medicine (IM) group. Using the Andersen healthcare utilization model, factors related to healthcare utilization of the participants were classified. Binomial logistic regression analysis was used to analyze factors associated with IM use. Results: Among the participants, 80.49% (n=2,385) were assigned to WM group and 19.51% (n=578) to IM group. As a result of the regression analysis, factors significantly related to the use of IM included the elderly over 65 years of age, sex (men), college or higher education level, residential area (Gwangju/Jeolla/Jeju), presence of cancer, and presence of musculoskeletal disease. The main diagnosis associated with both WM and IM use was most frequently musculoskeletal conditions. Also, IM group received WM treatment for musculoskeletal conditions more frequently compared to WM group. Conclusions: This study is the first to analyze healthcare utilization patterns among overweight or obese patients in Korea. The current findings suggest that the presence of musculoskeletal conditions, especially in this population, may be strongly associated with concurrent use of IM services.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.49-61
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• 2014

Due to the rapid population's aging, the life span's expansion and social & cultural characteristics, the standards of age classes in senescence are changed. Thus, this study aimed to identify the influential factors on health care utilization in the elderly by age class, and targeted 2,937 adults in their ages over 55 years old from the Korea Health Panel's 2009 Yearly Integrated Data. This study investigated the target health care utilization in the elderly in relation with the gender, the education level, the health-care insurance type, the income, the current job state, the chronic disease. In order to analyze the influential factors on health care utilization in the elderly, the multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to the data. As the results from this study, Concerning the influential factors on the health care utilization, the income, the subjective health state, the chronic disease and the regularly meals for the young-old influenced. Concerning the influential factors on the health care utilization, the subjective health state for the old. Concerning the influential factors on the health care utilization, the subjective health state, the income for the older-old influenced. Concerning the influential factors on the health care utilization, the education level, the spouse, the economic activity and the drinking oldest-old influenced. Therefore, it will need to provide systemic health-care & medical services, to develop health-care & medical programs and the health-care & medical policies and to execute them according to the age classes in senescence.