• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.65-78
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• 1998

This study was conducted to find out the factors which have an effect on the rural aged's natural history by disability in Activities of Daily Living(ADL) and ADL decline with 475 old people which were chosen except the dead 90 and unconfirmable 56 old people by performing follow-up survey for 4 years since 1993 on the basis of presurveyed data about 621 home old people over 60 years residing in 13 villages at Kangdong-myon, Kyongju-city, Kyongsangbuk-do Province, Korea. Such activities of daily living as bathing, dressing, going to toilet, transfer, feeding and continence were examined. 1. In the follow-up survey for 4 years, the ADL distribution of the dead was remarkably lower than the subject group. 2. It was also shown in the 4-year follow-up survey that 82.1% of high ADL group maintained high ADL while 77.8% of low ADL group died within 4 years. 3. The occurrence percentage of disabilities of each group by ADL item for 4 years appeared high in such an order as bathing, continence, dressing, going to toilet, transfer and feeding. 6.7%(8.1% for female and 4.6% for male) of the old people who were the high ADL group at the time of the first survey had disabilities that occurred after 4 years. 4. In the change of ADL according to general characteristics used to analyse the factors which have an effect on ADL decline, there was a significant difference in age and job, that is, the jobless old people had the higher degree of ADL decline. In the change of ADL according to behavioral pattern, for the male old people there was a significant difference in support of living expenses and subjective health condition. In this case, the degree of ADL decline was higher if they depended on their sons & daughters or spouses and felt that they were not healthy.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.32-44
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• 1987

The purpose of this survey was to find out the knowledge and the disease management of the Tuberculosis patients by themselves among the first grade middle and high school students in Seoul city during the period of June 15-July 19, 1986. Questionaires were used to collect the data and were analysed from answers of 188 students at the 113 schools. The results were as follows: 1. The ages of the students were distributed as follows: in middle school, 13 years old was $70.0\%$. 14 years old, $20.0\%$, and 15 years old, $6.7\%$. In high school, 16 years old was $66.5\%$, 17 years old, $18.4\%$, and 15 years old, $10.1\%$. 2. In X-ray mass examination by school, the rate of execution was $50.4\%$ in middle school and $96.7\%$ in high school, and in X-ray mass examination by student, it was $50.1\%$ in middle school and $97.3\%$ in high school. 3. The prevalence of Tuberculosis among the middle school students was $00.3\%$and high school students, $0.15\%$. 4. Of the total, $77.1\%$ of the respondents did not realized Tuberculosis bdore X-ray mass examination 5. The perfect cure rate of the respondents was $52.7\%$. 6. General characteristics of the respondents: a. The educational background was varied as follows: of the total $47.9\%$ of the fathers had the level of high school education and $37.2\%$ of the mothers had the level of middle school education. The educational background of the parents had no statistical significant to the medical cure rate of Tuberculosis. (P>0.05). b. The average monthly income of the family was as follows : above five hundred thousand won was $21.8\%$, three or four hundred thousand won was $22.9\%$, and below two hundred thousand won was $10.6\%$. The most frequent family size was 5-6 persons. $(59.6)\%$. 7. The actual situation of Tuberculosis control and the variables related to the treatment: a. $69.1\%$ of the respondents wanted mental support from their surroundings. $48.7\%$ of the respondents answered that their parents or the other family helped treatment as mental supporter, b. As a medical service, $53.2\%$ of the respondents were treated at Health Center, $38.8\%$ were treated at a hospital. A medical service was statistically significant to the medical cure (P<0.01). c. Family members of $61.7\%$ of the respondents had checked chest X-ray. A X-ray examination of family was statistically significant to the medical cure (P<0.005). d. $73.9\%$ of the respondents had taken the Anti-Tuberculosis-drugs regularly. Regular taking of Anti-Tuberculosis drugs was statistically significant to the medical cure (P<0.005). e. $89.4\%$ of the respondents had received a regular examination during the treatment. A regular examination was statistically significant to the medical cure (P<0.05). f. The period of perfect cure was that $50.0\%$ of the respondents took from half a year to one year, $25.2\%$ took below half a year and $16.2\%$ took from one year to one year and a half. g. The rate of the respondents who abhored to let anyone know their disease was $93.1\%$. 8. Knowledge related with Tuberculosis: a .$63.3\%$ of the respondents answered that Tuberculosis is a communiable disease. b. $89.9\%$ of the respondents answered that there is a preventive method of Tuberculosis. Among them, $28.4\%$ answered that it is B.C.G. vacination. c. $96.8\%$ of the respondents belived they can be cured perfectly. d. $42.4\%$ of the perfect curer answered that they had have permanent immunity of Tuberculosis. According to the results of above study, it is desired to be practiced X-ray mass examination to the total middle school students. Nurse teachers and the responsible persons who participated to the helping of disease management to the Tuberculosis patients must make an offer knowledge of Tuberculosis to the Tuberculosis patients. And also, it will be very helpful to the cure of Tuberculosis patients if they do their best and to have a mental supporter.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2007

Purpose: A pancreas-preserving total gastrectomy (PPTG) was introduced to decrease the postoperative complications due to pancreatic resection. However, some complications, such as leakage of pancreatic juice, are still reported. Thus, the purpose of this study was to propose a supplementary procedure based on the results of treatment for gastric cancer at our hospital. Materials and Methods: From Jan. 1997 to Dec. 2004, the cases of 141 patients who underwent a PPTG for gastric cancer were reviewed retrospectively. The patients were divided into Group A (38 cases), patients who were treated using a conventional PPTG, and Group B (103 cases), patients who were treated using a new and improved PPTG. Their postoperative complications were compared. Results: No statistically significant differences in clinicopathologic data were noted between the two groups. The comparison of complications showed for groups A and B, respectively, 4 and 0 cases of pancreatic fistula, 1 and 0 cases of intraabdominal abscess, 2 and 0 cases of intraoperative pancreatic necrosis, and 2 and 2 cases of minor leakage. The difference in the prevalence of complications between the two groups was statistically significant (P=0.0001). Conclusion: In order to reduce the risk of PPTG-related complications, we used vascular clamps to observe the necrosis of the pancreatic tail before dividing the splenic artery, and this method resulted in a significant decrease in postoperative complications. Thus, we conclude that our use of vascular clamps in a PPTG is a simple and useful method for preventing postoperative complications.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2004

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to study the possible differences in clinical and polysomnographic findings, depending on the presence or absence of subjective complaints of abnormal sleep behavior, in patients with RWA on polysomnography. Method: We reviewed patient records and polysomnographic data of patients referred to the Sleep Laboratory at Seoul National University Hospital from June 1996 through October 2002. We defined the manifest RBD group (n=32) as patients having both complaints of abnormal sleep behavior and RWA on polysomnography. The latent RBD group (n=20) consisted of patients who exhibited RWA on polysomnography but did not complain of abnormal sleep behavior. The clinical characteristics and polysomnographic findings between the two groups were compared and analyzed. Results: Fifty-two subjects had RWA, as detected by polysomnography (42 males and 10 females, mean age of $55.1{\pm}19.1\;years$). Subjects in the manifest RBD group were significantly older than those in the latent RBD group ($61.59{\pm}13.5$ vs. $44.70{\pm}2.76\;years$, independent t-test, p<0.01). More subjects in the manifest RBD group exhibited abnormal REM behavior on polysomnography than did subjects in the latent RBD group (81.3 vs. 50.0%, Fisher's exact test, p<0.05). No significant differences between the groups were found in the prevalence of brain disorders and primary sleep disorders, gender proportion, and sleep architecture. Conclusion: No difference in sleep architecture was found between the manifest and the latent RBD groups. Only age and the presence of abnormal sleep behavior on polysomnography differentiated the two groups. We suggest that RWA on polysomnography without complaints of abnormal sleep behavior may be early manifestation of manifest RBD. Attention to RWA on polysomnography is necessary to help prevent full-blown RBD from developing.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.63-74
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• 2005

Objectives: The present study aimed to provide the fundamental data for guiding establishment of measures among the rural elderly population with physical disabilities. The specific goals of this report are to reveal the prevalence of their disabilities, its tendency according to their increasing age, and to assess the background explanations. Methods: The self-administered questionnaires have been performed 432 persons of rural residents age 40 and greater in Kumsan-Gun and Chongyang-Gun, Chungchongnamdo Province. The questionnaire items included presence or not. of disabilities. specific causes for disabilities, anthropometric measures, and amount of physical activities. Results: The proportion of disabilities was higher in women than men, and the functional degree of their limbs decreased with the increasing age. The proportion of disabling extremities was higher in the lower extremities than in the upper ones. Joint diseases were the most prevalent causes for disabilities of extremities. Concerning the degree of depression, 41.2% of study subjects were normal, 47.5% had mild depression, 6.3% moderate, and 5.1% severe depression, with no statistical difference based on age and sex. The worse are the functional degree of both extremities, the greater the degree of depression the subjects had. The odds ratio for presence of disabilities of extremities was 2.6 times higher in women than in men for sex and for age, 50's were 3.5 times, 60's 4.3 times, 70's 4.9 times than 40's, respectively, with increasing tendency with increasing age. The odds ratio for depression was 1.2 times greater in subjects with disabilities than in normal population with no statistical difference. Conclusions: More efforts are needed to establish elderly specific measures for providing proper public health services centering on maintenance of physical functioning among elderly population.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.116-129
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• 2013

Objectives: This study was performed to identify the associations of social capital with suicidal thoughts and attempts in Korean communities with poor health. Methods: We used the data from community health interviews conducted at 40 administrative sections (dong, eup, or myeon) with high mortality from August to October in 2010, 2011, and 2012 as part of the Health Plus Happiness Plus Projects in Gyeongsangnam-do Province. The 8,800 study subjects composed of 220 adults systematically sampled from each administrative section were asked if they had thought about suicide or had attempted suicide within 1 year. The social participation was measured with 'participation in formal and/or informal group' and trust using responses to three questions about trust of others. Results: The prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt within 1 year were 10.4% and 0.8%, respectively. The logistic regression analysis revealed that those who participated in only informal groups, or had highest trust level reported less suicidal ideation, or attempt after adjusting for socio-demographic factors (sex, age, marital status, occupation, and food affordability), self-rated health, and health behaviors (smoking, alcohol drinking, and exercise). Conclusions: This study suggested social capital such as social participation and trust was associated with less suicide ideation and attempt. More studies are warranted for the association of social capital with suicidal behavior.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.33-47
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to investigate weight control practices and cardiovascular risk in middle-aged women. 304 middle-aged women were selected as subjects from thirties to fifthies living at J city in Chung-Buk Do. Data were collected using a questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, BP & total cholesterol level in serum from April 1, to June 30, 2003. The results of this study were as follows: The middle-aged woman's age is average $43.95{\pm}7.09yr$ and mean BMI(body mass index) was $23.54{\pm}3.09\;kg/m^2$. Underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese women were 3.0%, 39.5%, 27.9% and 29.6%respectively. Subjects perceived own as 'Slim' 5.9%, 'ordinary' 45.7%, 'Fat' 48.4%. Their weight perception coincide their own actual body weight but as many as 41.8% of overweight and 9.0% of obese perceived themselves as being 'ordinary'. Middle age women with past weight control experience were 55.6%, and only 35.5% was doing weight control at present. Of these subjects, 71.4% reported wanting to lose weight and the primary reason of weight control was to improve their appearance(39.53%). The most frequently reported weight control behavior was 'exercise' followed 'dieting', but 39.6% reported using 'diet food', 12.4% 'behavior modification', 12.4% 'fasting', and 'diet-drug'(3.6%) or 'smoking'(3.6%). Effective weight control methods were thought regular exercise(97.1%) & dieting (79.3%). And behavior modification(71.4%) or diet camp(60%) were effective, too. An average waist circumference was $79.80{\pm}9.47cm$, waist/hip ratio was $86.63{\pm}6.78$, waist/height ratio was $50.43{\pm}6.10$. In the index of abdominal obesity, 79.7 % of middle-aged women was waist/height ratio over 0.46, 65.3% was waist/hip ratio over 0.85, 28.4% was waist circumference over 85cm. There were significant differences in the degree of abdominal obesity according to age and BMI. In the index of cardiovascualr risk, 10.9% of middle aged women was systolic hypertension over 140mmHg, 18.7% was diastolic hypertension over 90mmHg and 10.6% was hypercholesterolemia over 200mg/dl. There was significant difference in systolic hypertension ratio according to age. There was significant difference in diastolic hypertension ratio according to age and obesity. There were significant differences in hypercholesterolemia accorting to obesity. The abdominal obesity indices and the levels of T-cholesterol in the serum, systolic and diastolic BP increased significantly according to age. T-cholesterol in serum was predicted 2.6% by waist/height ratio. And systolic BP was predicted 15.2% by waist/height, add BMI to 16.8%. Subject's diastolic BP was predicted 12.1% by BMI. Therefore waist/height ratio and BMI were significant factors for the predictors of cardiovascular risk. There was significant correlation between index of obesity and cardiovascular risk. T-cholesterol in serum had correlation with waist/eight ratio(r=0.174) and waist circumference(r=0.48). Systolic BP had correlation with waist/height ratio(r=0.387), and BMI(=0.371). diastolic BP correlation had correlation with BMI(r=0.343) and waist/height ratio(r=0.327). In conclusion, The prevalence of obesity was 29.6% in 304 cases, and increased as age after menopause increased. Middle-aged women's weight perception and actual BMI coincide but some of them did not. Trial to reduce weight was attempted. But most of them did not actually. Undesirable weight control method such as using drugs, fasting, smoking was used by some women. It is important to educate about health weight control methods and raise their awareness of exact body figures. High frequency of abdominal obesity in middle-aged women had correlation with hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. Abdominal index such as waist/height ratio, waist circumference, waist/hip ratio was used. Women's hypertension, hypercholesterolemia significantly related to body mass index and abdominal obesity.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1234-1244
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• 1997

Background : Nowadays drug resistant tuberculosis is making problems in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis and its number is increasing. Several reasons for this are considered including irregular medication, poor drug compliance and wrong regimens. But there are treatment failure cases in spite of regular medication with short-term standard regimens. We reviewed clinical data of 50 patients to find out possible causes of this. Method : Subject of this study was 50 patients who failed in the primary treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis in spite of regular medication with short-term standard regimens. All of them were under treatment with secondary regimens in National Masan Tuberculosis Hospital on Oct 1996. The patient's records were analyzed retrospectively and direct interviews with patients were done. Results : There were relatively more patients in the age of 20th. Male overwhelmed in number. There were smoking in 22 patients and drinking in 24 patients during medication. 17(34%) patients had family history of tuberculosis. Public health center was the most common site for the initial diagnosis among medical institutes. 42 patients had subjective symptoms for pulmonary tuberculosis. 38 patients got sufficient explanation from medical institute about tuberculosis and medication courses. 24 patients had bilateral lesions on chest X-ray film and 43 patients had cavitary lesions. 29 patients had past history for pulmonary tuberculosis with regular medication. The results of drug sensitivity test showed resistance in 41 patients of whom we could get the results. Conclusion : Main cause of treatment failure of pulmonary tuberculosis in spite of regular medication with short-term standard regimens was drug resistance. Several factors were considered to be related to high prevalence of drug resistance, including age of 20th, male, family history for tuberculosis, bilateral lesions or remaining cavitary lesion on chest X-ray film.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.404-415
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• 1998

Background: Sleep apnea syndrome, which occurs in 1~4 % of the adult population, frequently has different cardiovascular complications such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, cardiac arrythmia as well as sleep-wake disorder such as excessive daytime hypersomnolence or insomnia. Mortality and vascular morbidity are reported to be significantly higher in sleep apnea syndrome patients than in normal population. According to the recent studies, autonomic dysfunction as well as hypoxemia, hypercapneic acidosis, and increased respiratory effort, may playa role in the high prevalence of cardiovascular complications in patients with sleep apnea syndrome. However the cause and mechanism of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome are not well understood. We studied the existence of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome and factors which influence the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy. Method: We used the cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy(CAN) test as a method for evaluation of autonomic neuropathy. The subjects of this study were 20 patients who diagnosed sleep apnea syndrome by polysomnography and 15 persons who were normal by polysomnography. Results: Body mass index and resting systolic blood pressure were higher in sleep apnea group than control group. Apnea index(Al), respiratory disturbance index(RDI) and snoring time percentage were significantly higher in sleep apnea group compared with control group. But there were no significant differences in saturation of oxygen and sleep efficiency in two groups. In the cardiac autonomic neuropathy test, the valsalva ratio was significantly low in sleep apnea group compared with control group but other tests had no differences between two groups. The CAN scores and corrected QT(QTc) interval were calculated significantly higher in sleep apnea group, but there were no significant correlations between CAN scores and QTc interval. There were no significant data of polysomnography to correlate to the CAN score. It meant that the autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea was affected by other multiple factors. Conclusion: The cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy test was a useful method for the evaluation of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome and abnormalities of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy were observed in patients with sleep apnea syndrome. However, we failed to define the factors that influence the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy of sleep apnea syndrome. This study warrants futher investigations in order to define the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.392-398
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• 2005

Background : The last national tuberculosis survey was carried out in 1995. In 2000, the KTBS(Korean Tuberculosis Surveillance System) replaced a previous national survey. However, the KTBS does not show some of the important epidemiological indexes such as the prevalence of positive tuberculosis or the drug resistance rate. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical features of pulmonary tuberculosis patients admitted to a national tuberculosis hospital in 1995 and 2002. From this study, the authors expect to estimate the trend of the clinical features of tuberculosis in Korea even though it can not represent the Korean tuberculosis situation as a whole. Method : A cross sectional analysis of the clinical features for 331 pulmonary tuberculosis in-patients admitted to the National Masan Tuberculosis Hospital as of Dec. 2002, was carried out and these results were compared with those reported in 1995. Results : In comparison with the data reported in 1995, the mean age was increased by 3.6 years ($44.1{\pm}14.6$ vs $47.7{\pm}16.4$, p<0.01). The number of past tuberculosis history and used anti-tuberculous drugs prior to admission decreased from $2.0{\pm}1.7$ and $6.1{\pm}2.3$ to $1.7{\pm}1.8$ and $4.6{\pm}3.6$(p<0.05, p<0.001), respectively. While the resistance rate for anti-tuberculous drugs was similar (81.0% vs 77.6%), the initial resistance rate(10.5% vs 21.4%) and initial MDR rate(2.4% vs 16.5%) increased significantly(p=0.012, p=0.001, respectively). In 1995, the public health communities were in charge of approximately 65% of newly diagnosed tuberculosis cases, but this reduced to 40.5% in 2002(p<0.001). Conclusion : The existing national TB program (NTP) needs to be revised and strengthened in order to cope with the unfavorably changing situation of the domestic TB problem because the number of TB patients has not decreased and the initial resistance rate has increased greatly. Furthermore, the public and private sectors should cooperate each other to control the TB problem effectively because the private sector is now managing more than half of the TB patients.