• Title/Summary/Keyword: Medical Costs

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Proposed Application Design for Community-Based Rehabilitation Services Access in Community Care System: Occupation and Activity Based (커뮤니티케어 제도 내 지역사회중심재활 서비스 접근을 위한 애플리케이션 디자인의 제안 : 작업과 활동 중심으로)

  • Bae, Seong-Hwan;Jang, Yeon-Sig;Baek, Ji-Young
    • Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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    • v.15 no.4
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    • pp.325-335
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    • 2021
  • Chronic diseases have been increasing recently as the average life expectancy of humans has been extended, and this trend has caused problems such as the widespread demand for health and rehabilitation services and rising medical costs. In order to solve this problem, the community-based rehabilitation has been developed and strengthened in Korea and gradually promoted since 2019. It is important to secure access to clients who want to use services to revitalize community-based rehabilitation. So in this study, as part of the community-based rehabilitation, intends to devise smartphone applications designs and develop a prototype to secure access to community-based occupational therapy services based on occupation and activities. For Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF), International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), and Allen Diagnostic Module-2 (ADM-2) were used to devise and categorize occupation and activity based application content, and link OTPF, ICF, and ADM-2 through prior research analysis and expert meetings. The derived content was visualized through literature review and activity analysis, and was implemented to enable direct playback within the application using the YouTube API, and finally developed a prototype application. The Android Studio 3.5.2 for Windows 64-bit was used to build the application prototype. In further research, converging various digital technologies for user convenience and additionally researching community-based occupational therapy service providers opinions and service user satisfaction will improve accessibility to community-based occupational therapy services for clients who have difficulty occupational performance in the community.

Comparing the Effects of Regional Household Expenditure Burden on Childbirth Intention of Married Women: The Case of Capital and Non-Capital Regions (지역별 가계지출 부담이 기혼여성의 출산 의사에 미치는 영향: 수도권과 비수도권 비교를 중심으로)

  • Lee, Da-Eun;Seo, Wonseok
    • Journal of Cadastre & Land InformatiX
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    • v.51 no.2
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    • pp.151-168
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    • 2021
  • This study compared and analyzed the effect of the burden of household expenditure in the metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas on the intention to childbirth intention to married women using a panel logit model. To this end, this analysis targeted married women aged 25 to 39 who are highly likely to be fertile. The main results are as follows; First of all, it was confirmed that the economic power of spouse can be an important factor in the childbirth intention regardless of region. Second, it was found that the higher the satisfaction of marriage had a positive effect on the childbirth intention, and also higher the value that children must have, the higher the childbirth intention. Third, it was confirmed that the burden of household expenditure is the most important factor in the willingness to childbirth intention, excluding factors such as the number of existing children. In particular, the burden on education spending in both the capital region and non-capital region was found to be a key reason for the decrease in the childbirth intention. Lastly, the burden of household expenditure showed different effects on childbirth intention on depending on the region. Specifically, in the capital region, medical spending and loans had a greater impact, while, in the non-capital region, transportation and communication costs had a greater impact on childbirth intentions. Through the results, this study confirmed the implication that easing the burden on household expenditure is continuously necessary to enhance childbirth, and that discriminatory policy approaches are required depending on the area of residence.

Elderly Sarcopenia and Vitamin B Deficiency: A Relationship? (비타민 B 결핍에 의한 노인성 근감소증)

  • Kisang Kwon;Hye-Jeong Jang;Sun-Nyoung Yu;Soon-Cheol Ahn;O-Yu Kwon
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.33 no.7
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    • pp.574-585
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    • 2023
  • Sarcopenia is a leading cause of increased medical and nursing care costs among the elderly. In Korea, preventive measures for sarcopenia are mostly targeted toward the general elderly population without specific diseases. However, it is also necessary to implement measures for elderly individuals living in nursing homes and hospitals, where the prevalence of sarcopenia is high. Currently, computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging are considered standard diagnostic tools. However, their complexity and time-consuming nature make them unsuitable for clinical use. The exact pathophysiological mechanisms of sarcopenia are unclear, as they involve various molecular biological pathways, including decreased exercise, protein and nutrient intake, changes in testosterone and growth hormone, and inflammation. Sarcopenia symptoms can lead to several diseases, such as osteoporosis, fractures, dementia, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Vitamin B deficiency is a significant factor in sarcopenia induction, with B vitamins being directly involved in energy and protein metabolism and nerve function. Vitamin B deficiency can lead to neuromuscular and neurogenic disorders, which often overlap with sarcopenia. Suboptimal intake of B vitamins, malabsorption, and anorexia are common among the elderly. This study aims to provide information on the role of water-soluble B vitamins in preventing and controlling muscle mass loss and deterioration among the elderly with sarcopenia. In addition, we discuss the potential of myokines from the B vitamin family in modulating sarcopenia.

A Study of Determinants on Institutionalization of Elderly using Home Care Services (노인장기요양보험 재가서비스 이용자의 시설서비스 이용 결정요인)

  • Han, Eun-Jeong;Kang, Im-Ok;Kwo, Jinhee
    • 한국노년학
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.259-276
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    • 2011
  • If frail elderly could use home care services adequately, quality of their life might improve and their costs of service would be decreased. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors on institutionalization of elderly using home care services in Korean long-term care insurance system. This study used the data of '2009 satisfaction survey of Korean long-term care system'. The survey proceeded using sampling data by region, level of long-term care need, and insurance type among beneficiaries from August 2009 to September 2010. The onset dates of institutionalization of 1,230 participants were ascertained from long-term care insurance claim data. This study calculated hazard ratio through Cox Proportional Hazard Model. The results showed that if elderly using home care services suffer a fracture, the hazard ratio of institutionalization is higher significantly. Although not significant, if older persons have more items of damaged cognitive functions, the hazard ratio of institutionalization is higher. The results have policy implications to supplement of home care service system and postpone institutionalization of elderly.

Relationship between Depression and Health Care Utilization (우울과 의료이용의 관계)

  • Hyo Eun Cho;Jun Hyup Lee
    • Health Policy and Management
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    • v.34 no.1
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    • pp.68-77
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    • 2024
  • Background: Depressive disorders can be categorized into daily depression and clinical depression. The experience of depressive disorder can increase health care utilization due to decreased treatment compliance and somatization. On the other hand, the clinical depression group may also experience social prejudice associated with the illness, which can limit their access to health care utilization. In terms of the significance of health care utilization as a factor in individual and social issues, this study aims to compare the health care utilization of the clinical depression group with that of the non-depressed group and the daily depression group. Methods: The analysis utilized the inverse probability of treatment weighting based on the generalized propensity score. Results: As a result of the analysis, clinical depression and daily depression were higher among women, low-income groups, individuals with low education levels, and so forth. The clinical depression group was also higher among individuals who were not economically active, did not have private health insurance, or had multiple chronic diseases. The number of outpatient department visits in the depression group was significantly higher than in the non-depressed group. In addition, the number of outpatient department visits for the clinical depression group was significantly higher than that for the daily depression group. Outpatient medical expenses were higher in the depression group than in the non-depressed group, and there was no significant difference between the clinical depression group and the daily depression group. Conclusion: Health care utilization was higher in the depression group than the non-depressed group, it was also higher in the clinical depression group than the daily depression group.

Electrochemical Characteristics of Pencil Graphite Electrode Through Surface Modification and its Application of Non-enzymatic Glucose Sensor (표면 개질된 샤프심 전극의 전기화학적 특성 고찰 및 비효소적 글루코스 센서 활용)

  • Min-Jung Song
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.62 no.2
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    • pp.147-152
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    • 2024
  • Most medical sensors are disposable products. In order to reduce inspection and diagnosis costs, it is more important to develop the inexpensive electrode materials. We fabricated the CuO NPs/PANI/E-PGE as an electrode material for disposable electrochemical sensors and applied it to a non-enzymatic glucose sensor. For surface activation of PGE, pretreatment was performed using chemical and electrochemical methods, respectively. Electrochemical properties according to the pretreatment method were analyzed through chronoamperometry (CA), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance (EIS). From these analytical results, the electrochemically pretreated PGE (E-PGE) was finally adopted. The non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on CuO NPs/PANI/E-PGE shows sensitivity of 239.18 mA/mM×cm2 (in a linear range of 0.282~2.112 mM) and 36.99 mA/mM×cm2 (3.75423~50 mM), detection limit of 17.6 μM and good selectivity. Based on the results of this study, it was confirmed that the modified PGE is a high-performance electrode material. Therefore, these electrodes can be applied to a variety of disposable sensors.

Analysis of News Agenda Using Text mining and Semantic Network Analysis: Focused on COVID-19 Emotions (텍스트 마이닝과 의미 네트워크 분석을 활용한 뉴스 의제 분석: 코로나 19 관련 감정을 중심으로)

  • Yoo, So-yeon;Lim, Gyoo-gun
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.47-64
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    • 2021
  • The global spread of COVID-19 around the world has not only affected many parts of our daily life but also has a huge impact on many areas, including the economy and society. As the number of confirmed cases and deaths increases, medical staff and the public are said to be experiencing psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, and stress. The collective tragedy that accompanies the epidemic raises fear and anxiety, which is known to cause enormous disruptions to the behavior and psychological well-being of many. Long-term negative emotions can reduce people's immunity and destroy their physical balance, so it is essential to understand the psychological state of COVID-19. This study suggests a method of monitoring medial news reflecting current days which requires striving not only for physical but also for psychological quarantine in the prolonged COVID-19 situation. Moreover, it is presented how an easier method of analyzing social media networks applies to those cases. The aim of this study is to assist health policymakers in fast and complex decision-making processes. News plays a major role in setting the policy agenda. Among various major media, news headlines are considered important in the field of communication science as a summary of the core content that the media wants to convey to the audiences who read it. News data used in this study was easily collected using "Bigkinds" that is created by integrating big data technology. With the collected news data, keywords were classified through text mining, and the relationship between words was visualized through semantic network analysis between keywords. Using the KrKwic program, a Korean semantic network analysis tool, text mining was performed and the frequency of words was calculated to easily identify keywords. The frequency of words appearing in keywords of articles related to COVID-19 emotions was checked and visualized in word cloud 'China', 'anxiety', 'situation', 'mind', 'social', and 'health' appeared high in relation to the emotions of COVID-19. In addition, UCINET, a specialized social network analysis program, was used to analyze connection centrality and cluster analysis, and a method of visualizing a graph using Net Draw was performed. As a result of analyzing the connection centrality between each data, it was found that the most central keywords in the keyword-centric network were 'psychology', 'COVID-19', 'blue', and 'anxiety'. The network of frequency of co-occurrence among the keywords appearing in the headlines of the news was visualized as a graph. The thickness of the line on the graph is proportional to the frequency of co-occurrence, and if the frequency of two words appearing at the same time is high, it is indicated by a thick line. It can be seen that the 'COVID-blue' pair is displayed in the boldest, and the 'COVID-emotion' and 'COVID-anxiety' pairs are displayed with a relatively thick line. 'Blue' related to COVID-19 is a word that means depression, and it was confirmed that COVID-19 and depression are keywords that should be of interest now. The research methodology used in this study has the convenience of being able to quickly measure social phenomena and changes while reducing costs. In this study, by analyzing news headlines, we were able to identify people's feelings and perceptions on issues related to COVID-19 depression, and identify the main agendas to be analyzed by deriving important keywords. By presenting and visualizing the subject and important keywords related to the COVID-19 emotion at a time, medical policy managers will be able to be provided a variety of perspectives when identifying and researching the regarding phenomenon. It is expected that it can help to use it as basic data for support, treatment and service development for psychological quarantine issues related to COVID-19.

Clinical Use and Complications of Percutaneous Central Venous Catheterization in Very Low Birth Weight Infants (극소 저출생 체중아에서 경피 중심정맥 도관의 유용성과 합병증)

  • Kim, Hyang;Kim, Sun Hui;Byun, Hyung Suck;Choi, Young Youn
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.48 no.9
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    • pp.953-959
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    • 2005
  • Purpose : The administration of total parenteral nutrition(TPN) has become a standard procedure in the management of nutritionally deprived and critically low birth weight neonates. Sepsis remains the most frequent serious complication during TPN, resulting in increased morbidity, mortality and health care costs. This study was performed to evaluate the clinical efficacy and complications of percutaneous central venous catheterization(PCVC) in very low birth weight infants. Methods : A total of 56 very low birth weight infants below 1,500 g during the period from January 1998 to December 2003 were enrolled and their medical records reviewed. Study group(n=32) included the babies who had undergone PCVC and a control group(n=24) included babies who had not undergone PCVC. We compared the study group with the control group for factors such as subject characteristics and catheter-related complications. Results : There was no difference in subject characteristics, such as birth weight, gestational week, respiratory distress syndrome, duration of ventilator therapy, duration from tube to complete oral feeding, days at TPN and its total duration, body weight at discontinuation of TPN and the days taken to reach to 2,000 g. However, the morbidity rate due to patent ductus arterious, chronic lung disease, necrotizing enterocolitis, osteopenia, cholestasis, and sepsis showed no difference. The study group with infants below 1,000 g showed a higher incidence of sepsis compared to the control group of the same weight group. The study group with infants between 1,000 to 1,500 g showed significantly higher incidences of intraventricular hemorrhage and took longer reach the a body weight of 2,000 g. Conclusion : Considering the high incidence of sepsis in the PCVC group, every attempt should be made to minimize the length of TPN therapy and encourage early enteral feeding. We also recommend the use of PCVC carefully in patients requiring prolonged nutritional support.

Diagnostic Performance of Routine Objective Tests and Cost-Effective Approach for Chronic Cough (만성 기침의 진단 성적과 경제적 접근 모델)

  • Jeon, Gang;Jang, Seung Hun;Song, Hae Geun;Ha, Jun-Wook;Eom, Kwang-Seok;Bahn, Joon-Woo;Kim, Dong-Gyu;Shin, Tae Rim;Park, Sang Myon;Park, Yong Bum;Kim, Chul-Hong;Hyun, In-Gyu;Jung, Ki-Suck
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.57 no.6
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    • pp.535-542
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    • 2004
  • Background : Despite the clinical clues of bronchial asthma, some chronic coughers fail to be diagnosed due to negative test results. This study was aimed at evaluating the diagnostic performance of routine objective tests and identifying a cost-effective approach for asthmatics with a chronic cough. Methods : Patients with a chronic cough of more than 3 weeks duration, and showing normal chest radiograph and spirometry were enrolled. On the first visit, objective tests, composed of serum total IgE, peripheral blood eosinophil count, spontaneous sputum eosinophil count, methacholine bronchial provocation test (MBPT) and paranasal sinus radiograph, were performed, with the simultaneous administration of oral prednisolone (0.5mg/kg) for one week. The final diagnoses were made on the basis of the test results, and the patients grouped according to their steroid responsiveness. The role of the etiologic diagnosis tests was evaluated, and the medical costs of the final management plan simulated with respect to three assumed models. Results : Sixty chronic coughers were finally analyzed. The final diagnoses were as follows: bronchial asthma 21.7%, eosinophilic bronchitis 6.7%, paranasal sinusitis 18.3%, presumptive allergy 8.3% and non-diagnostic case 45.0%. Ninety percent were steroid responder. With the bronchial asthma cases, the positive rate of MBPT was 38.5%, with sputum eosinophil count in 84.6%, serum total IgE in 38.5%, and a peripheral blood eosinophil count rate of 30.8%. When the test results and steroid responsiveness data were applied to the 3 models, the chest radiograph, spirometry, sputum eosinophil count and paranasal sinus radiograph test results, and simultaneous short term steroid treatment seemed to have acceptable diagnostic performances, which could be used as a further guide to cost-effective planning. Conclusion : Objective tests, composed of chest radiograph, spirometry, paranasal sinus radiograph and sputum eosinophil count, with simultaneous short term steroid treatment, are suggested as cost-effective approaches for asthmatics with a chronic cough.

The Study on U.S. GARA and Aircraft Products Liability (일반항공에서의 제조물책임에 관한 연구 - 미국 일반항공진흥법(GARA)을 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Chang-Jae
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.55-86
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    • 2014
  • The U.S. General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (the "GARA") created a statute of repose that bars any claims arising from an aviation product or component more than 18 years after its date of delivery. The statute was enacted to protect general aviation aircraft manufacturers from the excessive product liability costs. The GARA included four exceptions: (a) medical emergency patients, (b) those not on the aircraft, (c) those based on written warranties, and (d) those causally related to a "knowing misrepresentation" made by the manufacturer to the FAA. The GARA also incorporates a provision for revised starting point of reckoning to which any repairs or replacements of an aviation product. This note aimed to discuss General Aviation and GARA in depth including the meaning of statue of repose, its exceptions. The various precedents about GARA were also reviewed in here as well. From the GARA, as a comparative legal issue in aviation product liability, there can be some suggestions for revision of Korean Products Liability Act. First, it seems to be reasonable to regulate the specific statute of repose provisions for various category of products. In GARA, the period of 18 years is reasonable concerning to the average aircraft life. Second, in order to avoid exhausting debate and for the judicial economy, it needs to clarify when the statute begins to run. GARA's 18 year limitation period begins to run on the different date whether it was delivered to its first purchaser or a person engaged in the business of selling the aircraft. Last but not least, proper exceptions should be added into the law for equity matter of the statute of repose does not apply. For example, a manufacturer is not protected by GARA if it knowingly misrepresents certain safety information to the FAA.