• Health Policy and Management
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.72-109
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• 1999

This study is conducted to investigate the current status on the utilization of health care and plan for solving this problem. The claims data of the fiscal tear 1995 obtained from the regional health insurance society are used for the study. The main findings of the study are summarized as follows. Indexes(The Extremal Quotient(EQ), coefficients of variance(CV's))which represent the regional difference in the admission rate of the tertiary medical diagnosis group report that there is difference in quantity and quality of utilization of health care. The admission rate is lower in the big city areas, Kyoungkido, Kangwondo and Chunlapukdo. Even after age-sex adjustment, the admission rate is still low in Kangwondo, Chunlapukdo and Kyoungsangpukdo. The big city areas tend to have higher rates in the expenses per claim, hospital days per claim, and daily expenses but the rates are still low in some area in Kangwondo, Chunlanamdo and Kyoungsangpukdo. This result remains as same after age-sex adjustment. There is a large regional difference in average utilization rate for the tertiary hospital of the tertiary medical diagnosis group: 57.2%(SD 11.53). The utilization rates for the tertiary hospital in their large catchment area are 96.34%, 83.19% and 73.22% in each Kyoungin, Kyoungnam and Kyoungpuk areas whereas it is lower in a Chungpuk and Chungnam areas. The regional differences of health care utilization of the tertiary medical diagnosis group gave some relationships with their geographical characteristics such as socio-economic characteristics and supply factors of medical services. It is important that many medical policies should be developed in order to minimize and balance out the regional differences of health care utilization. The service allocation policy should include the reconstruction of manpower policy, developing the resource allocating formula, finding the self-sufficient catchment area and reforcing of public health services. Moreover, in order to achieve the balanced development by region, they should investigate and consider each county's microscopic properties under the consistent macrocopic policy. The further studies to find causes of regional difference are needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.70-77
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• 2012

Objectives: Identify the characteristics related to the suicide rates in rural and urban areas of Korea and discover the factors that influence the suicide rate of the rural and urban areas. Methods: Using the data on causes of death from 2006 to 2008, the suicide rates were calculated and compared after age-standardization based on gender, age group and urbanicity. And, in order to understand the factors that influence suicide rate, total 10 local characteristics in four domains - public service, social integration, residential environment, and economic status - were selected for multiple regression analysis. Results: The suicide rates were higher in men than women, in rural areas than urban, and in older people than the younger. Generally, although there were variations according to age group and urbanicity, suicide rates were significantly related to residential environment and regional economic status but not related to regional welfare spending and social integration. In addition, the population over the age of 65 years, only regional economic status has significantly influence on their suicide rates. Conclusions: The influence of characteristics of regions on suicide rate is various by age-group, gender, and urbanicity. Therefore, in order to lower suicide rate and reduce the gap between regions, various approaches must be adopted by taking into account the socioeconomic characteristics of the regions.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.26-36
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• 2020

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between the regional characteristics and the age-adjusted cardio-cerebrovascular disease mortality rates (SCDMR) in 229 si·gun·gu administrative regions. Methods: SCDMR of man and woman was used as a dependent variable using the statistical data of death cause in 2017. As a representative index of regional characteristics, health behavior factors, socio-demographic and economic factors, physical environment factors, and health care factors were selected as independent variables. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were performed to identify their relationship. Results: OLS analysis showed significant factors affecting the mortality rates of cardio-cerebrovascular disease as follows: high-risk drinking rates, the ratio of elderly living alone, financial independence, and walking practice rates. GWR analysis showed that the regression coefficients were varied by regions and the influence directions of the independent variables on the dependent variable were mixed. GWR showed higher adjusted R² and Akaike information criterion values than those of OLS. Conclusion: If there is a spatial heterogeneity problem as Korea, it is appropriate to use the GWR model to estimate the influence of regional characteristics. Therefore, results using the GWR model suggest that it needs to establish customized health policies and projects for each region considering the socio-economic characteristics of each region.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.165-170
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• 2021

This study analyzed the effect of housing price changes on the performance of Korean regional banks using DOLS model. The analysis shows that housing price changes does not have a statistically significant effect on the loan growth, profitability and soundness of regional banks. Among macroeconomic variables, only short-term interest rates have a significant positive effect on any model. This means that a rise in short-term interest rates significantly increases loans by regional banks, which leads to a significant increase in profitability, but has a significant negative impact on soundness. On the other hand, bank characteristics variables are found to have a significant negative effect on the loan growth, profitability and soundness of Korean regional banks.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.66-82
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• 2003

China shows body size differences owing to varied climates, economic development, living standards, and ethnic distribution from region to region. That's why some regional research regarding body sizes is necessary for the advancement of clothing goods into China. Here, the materials of the Chinese standard "GB/T 1335-1997 Clothing Sizes" are analyzed to reveal the somatotypes of Chinese adults. Height, chest girth and waist girth were differently noticed in six areas. 1. The distribution rates of four body types (Y, A, B, C) were diverse in six regions. 2. Regional differences were seen as follows: 1) As for the height of male adults, areas 1(Northeast, Hwabuk) and 2(Central Western) were larger than the national mean. Areas 3(Gwangdong, Gwangseo, Bokgeon), 4 (Unnam, Gwiju, Sacheon) and 5(Downstream Jang River) were rather small. 2) As for the height of female adults, areas 1, 2 and 6 (Midstream Jang River) were larger than the national mean. Areas 3 and 4 were smaller than the average. 3) As for the bust girth of male adults, area 1 was the only area that exceeded the national mean. Areas 3 and 4 turned out smaller than the average. 4) As for the bust girth of female adults, areas 1, 2 and 6 exceeded the national average. The other three areas were lower. 5) As to the waist girth of adult males, areas 1 and 2 exceeded the national average. The other four areas were lower. 6) As to the waist girth of adult females, areas 1, 2 and 6 exceeded the national average. Areas 4 and 5 were lower. 7) In the height, bust girth and waist girth of male and female adults, most regions showed differences in means, regional distribution and regional rates.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.4874-4880
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• 2014

This study examined the effects of cultural facilities and city parts on the regional suicide rates in Korea. Data of theaters, exhibition facilities, libraries and city parts was collected in 143 local areas governments. The number of theaters and the size of city parts had a significant effect on decreasing the regional suicide rates in the areas, and the number of exhibition facilities had partial impacts. This result suggests that the dynamic components of a culture and arts environments may work more effectively to relieve depression and stress and decrease the suicide rates. This study suggests that the cultural welfare environments can be found to solve the problem of the high suicide rates in Korea.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.23-32
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• 2012

This study applied an exploratory analysis based on Self Organizing Map and GIS to cause specific age-standardized regional death rates data related to ten types of male cancers to find meaning patterns in the data. Then the patterns revealed from the exploratory analysis was evaluated to investigate possible relationship between these patterns and regional socio-economic status represented by regional educational attainment levels of head of household. The results from this analysis show that SI-GUN-GUs in Korea can be clustered to eighteen unique clusters in the stand point of male cancer death rates and these clusters are also spatially clustered. Also, the results reveal that regions with higher socio-economic status show lower level of the death rates compared with the regions with lower socio-economic status. However, for some cancer types, the regions with higher socio-economic status show relatively higher death rates. These patterns imply that the prevention, detection, and treatment of male cancers might be strongly affected by regional factors such as socio-economic status, environmental factors, and cultures and norms in Korea. Especially, one of the eighteen clusters, which includes Gangnam-Gu and Seocho-Gu, shows lower death rates in many of male cancer types. This implies that socio-economic status may be one of the most influential factors for regional cancer control.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.260-268
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• 2024

Objectives: Regional disparities in cardiovascular care in Korea have led to uneven patient outcomes. Despite the growing need for and access to procedures, few studies have linked regional service availability to mortality rates. This study analyzed regional variation in the utilization of major cardiovascular procedures and their associations with short-term mortality to provide better evidence regarding the relationship between healthcare resource distribution and patient survival. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using nationwide claims data for patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), stent insertion, or aortic aneurysm resection in 2022. Regional variation was assessed by the relevance index (RI). The associations between the regional RI and 30-day mortality were analyzed. Results: The RI was lowest for aortic aneurysm resection (mean, 26.2; standard deviation, 26.1), indicating the most uneven regional distribution among the surgical procedures. Patients undergoing this procedure in regions with higher RIs showed significantly lower 30-day mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.73; 95% confidence interval, 0.55 to 0.96; p=0.026) versus those with lower RIs. This suggests that cardiovascular surgery regional availability, as measured by RI, has an impact on mortality rates for certain complex surgical procedures. The RI was not associated with significant mortality differences for more widely available procedures like CABG (aOR, 0.96), PCI (aOR, 1.00), or stent insertion (aOR, 0.91). Conclusions: Significant regional variation and underutilization of cardiovascular surgery were found, with reduced access linked to worse mortality for complex procedures. Disparities should be addressed through collaboration among hospitals and policy efforts to improve outcomes.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.186-191
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• 1991

Radionuclide cardiac studies lend themselves exceptionally well to functional imaging. This is especially true for gated blood pool scan (GBP). Making functional images is also possible in radionuclide angiocardiography (RNAC). In this study we tried to validate the functional images obtained from RNAC by comparing it with GBP. Twenty three patients (16 patients with coronary artery diseases, 5 with hypertensive heart diseases, and 2 with nonspecific chest pains) underwent simultaneous RNAC and GBP at the same position (LAO $45^{\circ}$). From both studies, global ejection fraction, regional ejection fraction, phase image, amplitude image, stroke image, paradox image, maximum ejection and maximum filling rates were obtained. Global ejection fraction are almost same in both studies. Regional ejection fractions of apex and inferior portion of left ventricle calculated from RNAC are well correlated with those of GBP. Phase and paradox image, maximum ejection and maximum filling rates were obtained. Global ejection fraction are almost same in both studies. Regional ejection fractions of apex and inferior portion of left ventricle calculated from RNAC are well correlated with those of GBP. Phase and paradox images of RNAC are very similar to those of GBP. However, amplitude and stroke images are different. Regional ejection fractions of the left ventricular base, maximum ejection and maximum filling rates obtained from RNAC are significantly different from those of GBP. In conclusion, albeit all of functional images of RNAC is not same as GBP, regional walt motions and global left ventricular function are expected to be successfully analyzed by phase and paradox image and ejection fraction.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.157-183
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• 2008

'New Universities for Regional Innovation(NURI)' is a financial aid program designed to promote the development of universities as a major component of Regional Innovation System (RIS). In particular, this program emphasizes the role of regional universities to provide the qualified graduates for the regional economy. This paper is to evaluate the effect of NURI, focusing on the change of graduates' employment. The effect of the program can be evaluated by the quality of graduates' accumulated human capital, and graduates' employment performance represents the graduates' quality evaluated in the labor market. This is also believed to be a good performance indicator of the NURI program. We utilize the graduate employment survey of Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), and calculate the graduates' employment rates of the departments that received the financial support of NURI (treatment group). We also calculate the graduates' employment rates of the departments that applied for the support of the NURI program but were not selected (comparison group). By using difference-in-differences method, we compare the change of graduates' employment rates in treatment and comparison groups before and after the program came in effect. Compared with the employment rates in 2004 before the NURI program started, the graduates employment rates improved in both groups in 2005 and 2006. The improvement of the employment rates in the treatment group is larger than that in the comparison group. Moreover, the difference of improvement gets larger in the year 2006 than in 2005, which means those students who were affected more years by the NURI program are more likely to be employed. However, the difference is not statistically significant, and we cannot definetely conclude that NURI showed the desired effect on the quality of the college graduates. We calculate employment rates in two ways; whether to treat going on to graduate education as an employment or not. The result was qualitatively the same in both cases. We also tracked quality of employment by investigating the firm size where the graduates of the treatment group were employed. By utilizing data from the Employment Insurance Fund, we measure the firm size by the number of employees. We did not find any deterioration of employment quality between 2005 and 2006, though it deteriorates in 2007. Therefore, the improvement of employment rates until 2006, though not statistically significant, does not seem to come at the cost of employment quality. The interpretation of this result cannot help being very limited. First, this evaluation covers such a short time period. It only covers two years after the program started, 2005 and 2006. Second, the extent of the improvement in employment rates is not satisfactory considering the amount of financial support, even though it can be argued that the employment has improved since the inception of the program. Subsequent evaluation of the program is required to certify the NURI programs' longer term effectiveness.