• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.19 no.1 s.19
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• pp.85-90
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• 1986

This study was conducted in July-August, 1984, to define the causes of chronic gastrointestinal symptoms in rural population and to provide data for the management of such patients. A household survey was conducted to identify all the residents of Youngchun and Sungiu counties in Kyungpook province who were over 20 years of age, had chronic upper gastrointestinal symptoms for over the last 6 months, never had medical examination for the symptoms, and volunteered to participate in the gastroscopic examination. Gastroscopy was done for 106 males and 108 females. Gastric ulcer was found in 16.8% of all the examinees, duodenal ulcer in 15.4%, gastritis in 14.0%, and gastric cancer in 3.7%. No lesion was found by gastroscopy in 52.3%. Gastric ulcer more common in male(26.4%) than in female(7.4%) (p<0.01) and the same was true for duodenal ulcer(20.8% of male, 10.2% of female). Gastric cancer was found in 7.5% of the male while none of the female had gastric cancer. A higher proportion of the female (68.5%) showed normal finding in the gastroscopy than the male(35.9%) (p<0.01). No significant association was found between the upper gastrointestinal symptoms and the gastroscopic findings. The higher prevalence rate of gastric ulcer than that of duodenal ulcer in this study which is the reverse of the study findings of urban area in Korea and western countries may be related in part with the dietary habit and social environment of the rural population. Although early diagnosis is the most important for the treatment of gastric cancer, many of the people with chronic upper gastrointestinal complaints defer the diagnosis and treatment. It is may be due to lack of the knowledge of diseases and the health care attitude of the rural people. A national program for the health education and mass screening for the gastric cancer should be developed.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.226-236
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to get descriptive statistics of the contributing factors for early childhood caries and to predict the relationship of dietary, behavior factors and health status factors of the mother and child at pregnancy and after birth. 411 first caregivers of 5-year-old children in 12 kindergartens in Kangnung city were selected by stratified random cluster sampling. They were asked to fill out questionnaires and 364 of them responded. The obtained results were as follow: 1. Over the three-Fourth of children used nursing bottle or had breast feeding habit beyond the age of 1 year. 2. 8.7% of respondents didn't recognize the necessity of the preventive measures immediate after eruption of primary tooth, and only 35.1% replied that they had begun tooth cleaning. 3. Over 90% of children brush the teeth more than once per day. But over half (614%) of them brush their teeth without parents instruction. Sixty percent of children eat between the meals as often as 1-3 time(s) a day and the remainder at any times. 4. The first time of dental visit was for most children (87%) at over 3 years, recommending the earlier dental visit. Notwithstanding the rate of routine dental visit experience was relatively high(40.2%), implicating positive parents' attitude about oral health at Kangnung area. 5. The relationships between oral health state of the parents and the variables such as the timing of the first tooth cleaning, the frequency of brushing, the time of first dental visit, and the reason of first dental visit were not statistically significant. Together, there was no statistically significant difference between rural and urban area, private and public kindergarten, and boy and girl($x^2-test$, p>.05 or Fisher's exact test, p>.05).