• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.33-45
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• 2013

Objectives: This study was aimed to find out the characteristics of ordinary symptoms between the control and patient groups, diagnosed as overweight or obesity, in Soyang, Taeeum, and Soeum Constitutions and among those 3 groups. Methods: As a prospective cross-sectional study based on medical records, 9213 patients, who visited Kyung Hee University Medical Center from May in 2007 to June in 2010, were included. To diagnose the constitution, Revised Questionnaire for the Sasang Constitution Classification II and examinations by oriental medical doctors who majored in Sasang Constitution Medicine were performed. Based on the World Health Organization criteria for Asian obesity assessment, body mass index (BMI) was classified into 3 groups; more than 25 as obesity, 23 to 25 as overweight, and less than 23 as normal. Ordinary symptoms questionnaire, which consists of 46 questions in 8 categories, were given to the subjects. One-way ANOVA test in continuous variables and chi-square test in categorical variables were carried out to analyze statistical significance. Results and Conclusions: 1) In general characteristics, we could find out the significant differences in age, sex, height, weight, BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, and hemoglobin A1c among the 3 Constitutional groups. 2) Soyang Constitution of overweight and obesity has tendency to have higher appetite, like cool or cold water, defecate more, swear more, dislike heat, and have warmer or hotter extremities in the ordinary symptoms, compared with the control group. 3) Taeeum Constitution of overweight and obesity has tendency to have higher appetite, like cool or cold water, defecate more, swear more, dislike heat, and have warmer or hotter extremities in the ordinary symptoms, compared with the control group. 4) Soeum Constitution of overweight and obesity has tendency to have higher appetite and less fatigue in the ordinary symptoms, compared with the control group. 5) Soeum Constitution showed the slightest increase in appetite, preference about room temperature water, less number of feces, and feeling of chill and warmer extremities in ordinary symptoms, compared with Soyang and Taeeum Constitutions. Taeeum Constitution showed the distinct increase in appetite and sweating in ordinary symptoms, compared with Soyang and Soeum Constitutions.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2024

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the specialty hospital system by comparing the medical use of inpatients who had artificial joint replacement surgery in specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals. Methods: This study utilized 2021-2022 healthcare benefit claims data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The dependent variable is inpatient medical use which is measured in terms of charges per case and length of stay. The independent variable was whether the hospital was designated as a specialty hospital, and the control variables were patient-level variables (age, gender, insurer type, surgery type, and Charlson comorbidity index) and medical institution-level variables (establishment type, classification, location, number of orthopedic surgeons, and number of nurses). Results: The results of the multiple regression analysis between charges per case and whether a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital showed a statistically significant negative relationship between charges per case and whether a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital. This suggests a significant low in charges per case when a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital compared to a non-specialty hospital, indicating that there is a difference in medical use outcomes between specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals inpatients. Conclusion: The practical implications of this study are as follows. First, the criteria for designating specialty hospitals should be alleviated. In our study, the results show that specialty hospitals have significantly lower per-case costs than non-specialty hospitals. Despite the cost-effectiveness of specialty hospitals, the high barriers to be designated for specialty hospitals have gathered the specialty hospitals in metropolitan and major cities. To address the regional imbalance of specialty hospitals, it is believed that ease the criteria for designating specialty hospitals in non-metropolitan areas, such as introducing "semi-specialty hospitals (tentative name)," will lead to a reduction in health disparities between regions and reduce medical costs. Second, it is necessary to determine the appropriateness of the size of hospitals' medical staff. The study found that the number of orthopedic surgeons and nurses varied in charges per case. Therefore, it is believed that appropriately allocating hospital medical staff can maximize the cost-effectiveness of medical services and ultimately reduce medical costs.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.54-67
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• 1992

The author studied the mental status of 497 patients admitted in non-psychiatric wards and 42 patients diagnosed as mental disorders by DSM-III-R criteria and admitted in three general hospitals located in Pusan city, using NADS and PSCS. The assessment were obtained from October, 1991 to March, 1992 and the results as follows: The mean ${\pm}$ SD of Anxiety-Depression scores were $34.4{\pm}10.4$ in non-psychiatric patients and $50.0{\pm}18.3$ in psychiatric patients. The psychiatric group had significantly higher scores than non-psychiatric group. The mean ${\pm}$ SD of Psychosis scores were $3.9{\pm}4.4$ in non-psychiatric patients and $20.3{\pm}9.8$ in psychiatric patients. The psychiatric group had significantly higher scores than non-psychiatric group. In the psychosocial factors, dissatisfaction in family atmosphere and acquaintanceship with parellts(P<0.001, relatively), pessimistic in future, present and past self-images(P<0.001, relatively), and yes in previous psychiatric treatment of admission(P<0.01, relatively) had common significant relationships to Anxiety-Depression and Psychosis scores. There were correlationships between NADS scores and PSCS scores(${\gamma}$ = 0.74), past and present self-images(${\gamma}$ = 0.45), present and future self images(${\gamma}$ = 0.45), past and future self-images(${\gamma}$ = 0.34) and family atmosphere and acquaintanceship with parents(${\gamma}$ = 0.49). The regression analysis revealed that present self-image, acquaintanceship with parents, future self-image, past self-image, and family atmosphere, in order of significance were to be descriptive or predicable variances for Anxiety-Depression status. The discriminant analysis according to Anxiety-Depression scores showed that the cases of incorrect classification were 22 for non-psychiatric patient group and 2 for psychiatric patient group.