• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.39-54
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• 2007

This study attempts to provide fundamental information for a health policy and health services by looking at the trends and types of the mortality rates in Korea and Japan. In this study, data of the death statistics of Korea and Japan over the 21-year period from 1983 to 2003 are analyzed. Mortality data are standardized ${\times}100,000$ to the 2003 Japan population, according to the direct method. In 2001/2003, the ranking of major causes of death in Korea and Japan has been greatly changed. In Korea, mortality rates from malignant neoplasms, diabetes mellitus, renal failure, falls and suicide have increased. In Japan, the mortality rates from pneumonia increase more than those from diabetes mellitus. In 2001/2003, the proportions of the mortality rates from chronic diseases are higher than those from acute diseases. In the Korean health promotion policy "Health Promotion 2020", a more intensive goal management is needed.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.265-274
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• 2008

Depression is common in patients with end-stage renal disease(ESRD) and has a negative effect on the quality of life, functional ability, and mortality of the patients, with a prevalence rate as high as 20-25%. Especially, the increasing tendency of mortality in ESRD patients is associated with recent or current depression, and the suicide rate is also increased by depression in patients with ESRD. Therefore, accurate detection and appropriate treatment of depression is very important in ESRD patients. Also, a deferential diagnosis is needed concerning uremic symptoms and depression in ESRD patients. However, there has been little data so far particularly in terms of randomized clinical trials. This review focused on the recent knowledge of depression in ESRD, and could encourage clinical study and trials in this field.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.193-203
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• 2008

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of acute poisoning cases admitted to a local emergency department in an urban-rural area. Methods: This retrospective study included all patients with acute poisoning who admitted the emergency department between June 2004 and May 2005. We analyzed the medical records for etiological and demographical characteristics of the acutely poisoned patients. Results: There were 155(1.0%) poisoning cases among 15,457 admitted to the emergency department. Of the admitted cases, 51.0% were female and 49.0% male. The poisoning made a peak in the age range of 30-39 and over 60. The seasonal distribution in poisoning patients suggested a peak in spring(38.1%) and summer(24.5%). The majority of exposures(95.5%) occurred in patient's home, 81.8% were deliberate. The most common agents of acute poisoning in deliberate causes were drugs(p<0.01). All of deliberate cases were suicidal attempts. The most common poisoning cases were pesticides in male, but in female were medications(p<0.01). Overall mortality rate of total cases were 12.9%. The overall mortality rate was higher in male(p<0.05), increasing age(p<0.05) and intentional ingestion(p<0.05), pesticides poisoning(p<0.05). Conclusions: The study forms a foundation for future work on poisoning epidemiology which hopefully will facilitate the allocation of preventive services in order to reduce the incidence as well as morbidity and mortality of toxic exposures.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.8728-8737
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• 2015

The purpose of this study compared the clinical features of suicidal attempters who visit in the past and present of an emergency medical center, used as a basic data for clinical severity and suicide prevention research of future patients. The author conducted a retrospective analysis of the changed characteristics of suicidal attempters who visit an emergency medical center of Wonkwang University Hospital between from January $1^{st}$, 1998 to December $31^{th}$, 1998 and from August $1^{st}$, 2013 to July $31^{th}$, 2015. Factors related to increased occurrence was changed from male(1.1:1) in 1998 to female(1.3:1) in 2013-2015, from age of $2^{nd}$, $3^{rd}$, and above $6^{th}$ decade in 1998 to $3^{rd}-5^{th}$ decade in 2013-2015. Poisoning was the most common method of suicidal attempt(90.8%;1998, 72.7%;2013-2015), Mortality rate was changed from 16.9%(male 23.1%, female 10.0%) in 1998 to 13.8%(male 18.1%, female 10.5%) in 2013-2015. Among the suicidal attempters(total=516), 37 patients has recurred. But consultant of neuropsychiatric department was 48.3%, All suicidal attempters in future were necessarily neuropsychiatric consultant and continuously follow-up because all patients had recurrent suicide attempt, psychologic disorder, suicide rates are higher than in the general population.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.125-134
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• 1972

Pulmonary resectlon has evolved as the treatment of choice in certain pulmonary tuberculosis cases. This study represents an analysis of 640 cases of pulmonary resections between March, 1953 and August, 1966 and 370 cases of 13 years follow-up results at the 36th Army Hospital. 1] The ages ranged from 20 to 45 years and all cases were males. 2] The extent of disease revealed 116 Far advanced, 472 Moderate advanced and 52 Minimal Cases. 3] The extent of resections were 373 lobectomies, 130 segmental resections, 58 pneumonectomies,25 multlple lobectomies, 25 lobectomies with thoracoplasties, 22 lobectomies with segmental resections, and 7 wedge resections. 4] The postoperative complications occurred in 71 cases[11.09 percent]. Of these complications,bronchopleural fistula occurred in 13 cases [2.03 percent]. 5] The early operative mortality within 24 hours was 2.0 percent and late mortality within 6 months was 1.4 percent, a total mortality from all causes of 3.4 percent: 15.5 percent following pneumonectomy, 2.1 percent following lobectomy, 1.5 percent following segmental resectlon. 6] All 370 patients were followed for periods ranging from 6 months to 5 years and 5 years to 13 years. Of these former group of 241 patients, 73.3 percent of the cases had returned to full active llfe and remained well, while 15.4 percent were still under treatment. Of these latter group of 129 patients, 76.0 percent of the cases were well and 4.7 percent were still under treatment. 7] In the follow-up results according to extent of disease, the cure rate was greatest in cases of minimal group and lowest in cases of far advanced group. 8] In the results by extent of resection, the cure rate was greatest in cases of lobectomy group. 9] Through the all follow-up periods, 11 patents [3.0 percent] were died. Of these, 3 were suicide and 8 were unknown causes.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2012

Objectives: Recently injury has become a major world-wide health problem. But studies in Korea about injuries were very few. Thus, this study was conducted to analyze the trend of major injuries from 1991 to 2006 and to provide basic data for preventing injuries. Methods: This study was based on the National Statistical Office data from 1991 to 2006 and calculated to estimate the burden of major injuries by using the standard expected years of life lost (SEYLL) and total lost earnings equation. Results: For transport accidents, mortality, SEYLL and total lost earnings were increased from 1991 to 1996 and decreased from 2000 to 2006. On the other hand, for suicides, these were increased gradually. Since 2003, falls were included in ten leading causes of death. This study showed that injury causes major social and economical losses. Conclusions: We could reduce injury related premature death through active interest in injury prevention program.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2013

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the related factors which decide the percentage of health care expenditure of the total fiscal expenditure of local governments and to provide the basic data to contribute for the efficient allotment of healthcare budget. Methods: This study was conducted by the percentage of health care expenditure for 3 years by classifying a total of 230 local governments into the metropolitan cities (gu, 69), the counties (si, 75), and the boroughs (gun, 86) all over the country. With the collected data, the general characteristics of independent variables and the dependent variable were analysed using SPSS ver. 18.0, The correlation analysis and multivariate regression analysis were conducted for the characteristics of variables according to regions by year. Results: In correlation between health care expenditure by year and other variables, there was a significant positive correlation with unemployment rate, metropolitan cities (gu) and other regions, the percentage of health center personnel, health care expenditure in last year as a independent factors. On the other hand there was no correlation with social assistance recipients and the percentage of aging population, financial self-reliance, industrialization rate, suicide rate, cardiac disease mortality, cerebrovascular mortality on health care expenditure. Conclusion: The study clearly shows that health care expenditure of local governance was not correlated with health care need factors comparing social welfare expenditure.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.61-68
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• 2010

Purpose: Poisoning is a major health problem for the elderly, and poisoning can cause fatal side effects. However, the characteristics and clinical features of elderly patients with acute poisoning have not been well studied in the previous domestic research. So, we tried to analyze the clinical characteristics and toxic substances of the patients who were 65 years old or older and who were admitted to the regional emergency medical center due to acute poisoning. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and poisoning protocols of the patients who were 65 years of age or older and who had with acute poisoning and who visited the ED in our emergency center from January 2005 to December 2009. We collected the demographic information, the gender, the underlying diseases, the causes and toxic substances, the initial presentation, the treatment and the outcomes. Results: A total of 2179 poisoned patients visited the hospital during 5 years, and among them 244 were 65 years of age or older (11.2%). The mean age was $75.6{\pm}6.9$ years and the male:female ratio was 1:1.7. The most common cause of poisoning was suicide (73.4%) and the most common source of poisonous substances was their own drugs. Of the substances used for poisoning, benzodiazepine was the most common drug (25.8%), followed by sedatives other than benzodiazepine (25.4%), insecticide (12.7%), chemical agents (12.3%) and herbicides (8.2%). The most common initial presentation was mental change (64.8%). When comparing the factors between the three elderly groups, there was no difference in gender, the cause, the substances and the underlying disease. The outcomes of treatment included ICU admission (56.1%), a good condition at discharge (12.7%) and admission to a general ward (12.7%). The overall mortality rate was 10.2% for the elderly patients. Conclusion: In this Korean study, unlike the foreign studies, the most common cause of poisoning in elderly patients was intentional poisoning. The admission rate was 68.8% and mortality rate was 10.2%.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.164-173
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• 1991

Clinical observations were made on 349 cases of acute drug intoxication who were visited to emergency room of Yeungnam University Hospital during recent 7 years from January 1984 to December 1990. The following results were obtained 1) Total number of cases of acute drug intoxication was 349 which was 0.39% of the total patients of the emergency room during the same period. 2) The ratio of male to female was 1.1 : 1. The age incidence was highest in the third decade(26.7%). The monthly incidence was hightest in May. Higher frequency was observed in summer season. 3) The most common drug of the intoxication was pesticides and herbicides(71.9%), the remainders were miscellaneous drugs(11.2%), sedatives(7.7%), rodenticides(6.3%) and unknown drug(3.2%) in orders. 4) The most common cause of drug intoxication was suicide(69.1%) and the others were accident, unknown cause, intention in orders. 5) Main clinical manifestations were the impairment of consciousness, nausea, vomiting and convulsion. Physical examination revealed increased pulses, increased blood pressure, miosis of the pupil and sweating. Above symptoms and signs were more prominent in pesticide intoxication. Leukocytosis, glycosuria and abnormal LFT were common findings in acute intoxications. 6) The complications were developed in 18.3% among 349 cases and the most common complication was respiratory failure, pneumonia, cardiovascular collapse and pulmonary edema in orders. 7) Overall mortality rate was 8.3% of total cases and mortality rate was highest in herbicide intoxication(22.2%).

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2020

Objective : The suicide mortality rate among Koreans was ranked first among the OECD countries in 2018. Alcohol consumption is a significant risk factor for suicidal behavior. This study examined the relationship between the severity of subjects' drinking habits and the suicidal ideation among Koreans according to gender and age. Methods : The data of 113,602 people who visited the Kangbuk Samsung Hospital Health Screening Center from January 2013 to December 2014 were used. The severity of subjects' harmful drinking habits was assessed using the Korean version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-K). The relationship between the severity of harmful drinking and suicidal ideation was compared using logistic regression analyses. We also examined the tendency through p for trend to identify a trend. Results : Of the 113,602 study subjects, 6,586 (5.8%) responded that they had thought of committing suicide. After controlling for gender, marriage, education, body mass index (BMI), depression and anxiety, the results showed that the higher the level of harmful drinking, the higher the suicidal ideation. Conclusion : This study found that, even after controlling depression and anxiety, the severity of drinking could be a significant risk factor for suicidal ideation.