• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.263-272
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• 2022

Objectives: Infections with hepatitis B, C, and D virus (HBV, HCV, and HDV) are a major public health problem and lead to serious complications such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. We aimed to determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-HCV, anti-HDV immunoglobulin G, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and dual and triple hepatitis virus infections in Mongolia. Methods: A total of 2313 participants from urban and rural regions were randomly recruited for this cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was used to identify the risk factors for hepatitis virus infections, and the seromarkers were measured using immunoassay kits. Results: Among all participants, the prevalence of HBV, HCV, and HDV was 15.6%, 36.6%, and 14.3%, respectively. The infection rates were significantly higher in females and participants with a lower education level, rural residence, older age, and a history of blood transfusion. HBV and HCV co-infection was found in 120 (5.2%) participants and HBV, HCV, and HDV triple infection was detected in 67 (2.9%) participants. The prevalence of elevated AFP was 2.7%, 5.5%, and 2.6% higher in participants who were seropositive for HBsAg (p=0.01), anti-HCV (p<0.001), and anti-HDV (p=0.022), respectively. Elevated AFP was more prevalent in participants co-infected with HBV and HCV (5.8%, p=0.023), HBV and HDV (6.0%, p<0.001), and triple-infected with HBV, HCV, and HDV (7.5%) than in uninfected individuals. Conclusions: Nearly half (49.8%) of the study population aged ≥40 years were infected with HBV, HCV, or HDV, and 22.4% had dual or triple infections.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.283-293
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• 2015

Purpose: The aims of this study are to analyze and to visualize distribution of patients visiting at a dental college hospital, using geographic information system (GIS). The visualized data can be utilized in patient care and treatment planning, ultimately leading to the assessment of risk evaluation and prevention of dental diseases. Materials and Methods: Patient information data was obtained from Dankook University Dental Hospital including the unit number, gender, date of birth, and address from 2007 to 2014. Patient distribution was visualized using GIS. Statistical analyses were performed using SAS 9.3 and ArcGIS 10.1. Five factors including proximity, accessibility, age, gender, and socioeconomic status were investigated as the explanatory variables of the patient distribution. Results: The visualized patient data showed a nationwide scale of the patient distribution. There was a little difference in characteristics for each department. As closer at Dankook University Dental Hospital, visitors increased. And it strongly showed that elderly patients in rural areas tend to visit more. Conclusion: The distribution of patients has been shown to be significantly affected by the proximity, accessibility, age, gender and socioeconomic status. The underlying reason remains to be further studied.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to compare health status and activities for the pain and no-pain groups in the elderly. The study subjects included 189 elderly people(65 years and older) living in an urban area. They were surveyed at their homes through interview using a closed-ended questionnaire from Nov. 6th. to Nov. 16th. 1997. The instrument used in the study was selected after carefully reviewing pain-related articles and records well described the characteristics of the elderly. The data were analysed by using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests. The findings were as follows : Of the 189 subjects, 83.6% reported experiencing the pain for the last year. By the age, there were significant differences between the pain and no-pain group(${\chi}^2$=9.572, p=.023). The percentage of the pain complainers was the highest in 80 years and older(100.0%), followed by 70~74(89.1%), 75~79(81.3%), 65~69(76.8%) which presented crude increase according to age. By sex, men had lower pain prevalence(69.5%) than that of women(90.0%). The number of pain complainers was higher in women than men(${\chi}^2$=12.448, p=.023). There were significant differences between the pain and no-pain groups by spouse distribution(${\chi}^2$=10.736, p=.001), educational state(${\chi}^2$=13.020, p=.000), occupation(${\chi}^2$=18.807, p=.000). Pain prevalence in the subjects having no spouse(59.3%) was higher than those having spouse(40.7%), Illiteracy rate was higher in pain group(49.0%) than no-pain group(13.3%). The number of the subjects having occupation(full time or part time) was fewer in pain group than no-pain group. By health status, there were significant differences between two groups(${\chi}^2$=40.055, p=.000). : the pain group showed poor(61.4%), followed by moderate(22.1%), good(16.5%) while no-pain group showed good(64.5%), moderate(29.0%), poor(6.5%). By activities, there were significant differences between the pain and no-pain groups. The pain group was disturbed more severely than the no-pain group in movement(${\chi}^2$=57.829, p=.000), sleep(${\chi}^2$=12.785, p=.000), usual activities(${\chi}^2$=39.196, p=.000), receiving guests(${\chi}^2$=13.163, p=.000), and hobbies and recreation(${\chi}^2$=28.177, p=.000).

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.115-123
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• 2024

Background: The population of Gangneung City in South Korea has shown a gradual increase in the proportion of individuals aged 65 years and older, and the most frequently reported diseases for several years have consistently been periodontal diseases, including gingivitis and periodontitis. The regional imbalance in the distribution of dental personnel and resources has emerged as a problem of inequality in the use of dental care. It has been advocated to identify areas with disadvantages in dental care and develop public dental policies based on that. This study aimed to develop a customized oral healthcare program for local seniors based on a Public-Private-Academic Partnership, and to evaluate the oral health status of older adults in Gangneung City. Methods: The participants were residents aged 60 years and above in Gangneung City. A questionnaire including general information, systemic health status, and oral health status was administered to the participants. In addition, oral healthcare and education tailored to each individual's health status were provided once or twice based on their oral health status. The collected data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 for descriptive statistical analysis. Results: Among the older adults in Gangneung City, 75% had at least one prosthesis and exhibited symptoms of gingivitis or periodontitis. Additionally, the modified sulcus bleeding index decreased among participants who underwent the program twice. Over 90% of the participants expressed satisfaction with the program. Conclusion: The program appeared to contribute positively to the oral health promotion among local seniors. Further oral healthcare programs should focus on seniors in rural and old urban areas to reduce disparities in oral health across regions.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.69 no.2
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• pp.117-141
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences of the factors affecting the entry of depression by generations and to present a practical strategy for preventing of depression by life-cycle. For this purpose, we analyzed the factors influencing the depression of adults, middle-aged and elderly people through the discrete-time hazard model. The results of this study are as follows: First, the lower the self-esteem, the lower the income satisfaction and the family satisfaction people have, the higher the likelihood of entering the depression they have. In addition, age, educational level, health status, presence of chronic diseases, employment status, regional area, and leisure life satisfaction were variables that showed difference by generation. In the case of adulthood(aged 20 ~ 39), unemployed persons are more likely to enter the depression than younger workers. On the other hand, the middle-aged(40 ~ 64 year olds) are more likely to enter the depression if they are older, have poor health status, have no chronic disease, and have low leisure satisfaction. Finally, older people(aged 65 and over) are more likely to enter the depression when the education level is higher, the health condition is worse, and the leisure satisfaction is lower. If they lived in an urban and rural complex, they are more likely to enter the depression. Based on these results, it is necessary to establish a support plan reflecting the characteristics revealed by generations in order to prevent the entry of depression.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.138-150
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine the regional disparity of ambulatory health care utilization considering spatio-temporal variation in South Korea during 1996-2008(precisely, in 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2008) using bayesian hierarchial spatio-temporal model. The spatial pattern uses an intrinsic gaussian conditional autoregressive (CAR) error component. Ornstein-Uhlenbeck method was applied to detect the temporal patterns. The results showed that substantial temporal-geographical variation depending on diseases exists in Korea. On the Contrary to the pattern of total outpatient utilizations, for example, the areas that chronic diseases distributed relatively high were most in rural where the proportion of elderly population was higher than in the urban. Chungcheongnam-do, Junlabuk-do, and Kyeongsangbuk-do had higher risks in hypertension, whereas arthritis was higher risk in the Kyeonggi-do, Chungcheongbuk-do, Junlanam-do, and Junlabuk-do. The results of this study suggested that the effective health intervention programmes needed to alleviate the regional variation of health care utilization. These outcomes also provided the foundation for further investigation of risk factors and interventions in these high-risk areas.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 1997

This study was carried out to reveal the status of health examination among farmers and to attract more attention to the health care system for farmers. Ten pre-trained medical students interviewed the rural residents 18 years of age and older in eight villages which were randomly selected from a county near Taegu city in Korea, in August 1996. Finally 751 persons were interviewed of whom the percentages of male and female were 41.8%, 58.2% respectively. Among the subjects, 361(48.3%) were fully engaged in farming, 184(24.4%) were partly engaged, and the remaining 206(27.3%) were not engaged in farming at all. The overall prevalence of farmer's disease was 23.0% and there was no significant difference between the group of fully engaged in farming(23.3%) and the group of not-fully engaged(22.9%). But the prevalence of farmer's disease in female subjects(27.8%) was significantly higher than that in male(16.2%)(p<0.01). Among the 288 farmer engaged in spraying pesticide, 113(39.2%) had experienced one or more pesticide related symptoms during last one year, but only 18(15.9%) of them had visited medical facilities due to their symptoms. The experience of receiving education about pesticide was significantly correlated with the degree of wearing protectors during pesticide spraying(p<0.001). Among the 736 persons excluding non-respondents, 281(38.2%) received health examination during last one year ; 176(62.6%) of them received free health examination, and 105(37.4%) received charged one. Among the 533 persons 40 years age and older, only 124(23.3%) had received the 'health examination for the elderly' during last one year, which is provided for the 40 years age and older by Korea medical insurance corporation and medical insurance societies. Most of all beneficiaries of self-employed medical insurance thought the imposed contributions as very expensive(77.4%) or moderately expensive(13.2%). The great majority of farmers are exposed to various health risk factors including pesticide, high temperature, overwork etc. comparable to industrial workers. But farmers are excluded from the regular yearly worker's health examination because of not belonging to a company despite they pay relatively more medical insurance contributions compared with the industrial workers and the urban self-employed medical insureds. It is necessary to develop special health management program for farmers such as the special health examination for the industrial workers exposed harmful agents.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.93-106
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• 1984

Today, elderly people has desperately felt isolation and desolation due to the loss of activity at home and society by the change of social structure and the tendancy of nuclear family. The mutual-relationship between parants and their children is important to solve the problem of eldery people's isolation and desolation. The present study was conducted to investigate the status of mutual-communication by visiting, telephone and letter on 678 parents over 55 years of age and 1,316 their adult children from September 1st to 30th, 1982. It was investigated with questionaire by students. The frequency of communication from children to parents was highest in 25.4% by telephone and 21.6% by visiting, 4 times a month. Correspondence of letter showed only 18.1% in a year. The frequency of communication from parents to children was highest 16.1％ by telephone and 15.6％ by visiting, 4 times a month. Correspondence of letter showed only 11.3％ in a year. Urban parents showed higher frequency than rural parents by visiting and telephone, but lower by letter. The older age group of children showed higher frequency than the younger by visiting and telephone but 3rd decade was highest by letter. The younger age group of parents showed higher frequency than older age group. Mother was showed higher frequency than father by visiting and telephone, but father by letter. Higher education level group showed higher frequency than lower education level group. Merchants and factory workers showed the highest frequency by visiting and telephone, but officials by letter. Upper class group in socio-economic status showed higher frequency than lower class group generally, but lower class group dy letter from parents to children. The group within samedistrict between parents and children showed the highest frequency by visiting and telephone, but the group within long distance by letter.