BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis is a global public health concern owing to its increasing prevalence and socioeconomic burden. However, few studies have assessed the economic impact of atopic dermatitis in Korea. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a cost analysis of atopic dermatitis and evaluated its economic impacts on individual annual disease burden, quality of life, and changes in medical expenses with respect to changes in health related-quality of life. METHODS: The cost analysis of atopic dermatitis was performed by reviewing the home accounting records of 32 patients. The economic impact of the disease was evaluated by analyzing questionnaires. To handle uncertainties, we compared the results with the data released by the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Board on medical costs claimed by healthcare facilities. RESULTS: The direct cost of atopic dermatitis per patient during the 3-month study period was 541,280 Korean won (KRW), and expenditures on other atopic dermatitis-related products were 120,313 KRW. The extrapolated annual direct cost (including expenditures on other atopic dermatitis-related products) per patient was 2,646,372 KRW. The estimated annual indirect cost was 1,507,068 KRW. Thus, the annual cost of illness of atopic dermatitis (i.e., direct+indirect costs) was estimated to be 4,153,440 KRW. CONCLUSION: The annual total social cost of atopic dermatitis on a national level is estimated to be 5.8 trillion KRW.
Cost of Illness ; Costs and Cost Analysis ; Delivery of Health Care ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; Quality of Life ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Sialylated N-glycan isomers with α2-3 or 42-6 linkage(s)have distinctive roles in glycoproteins,but are difficult to distinguish.Wild-type(WT)and glycoengineered(mutant)therapeutic glycoproteins,cyto-toxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4-immunoglobulin(CTLA4-Ig),were produced in Chinese ham-ster ovary cell lines:however,their linkage isomers have not been reported.In this study,N-glycans of CTLA4-Igs were released,labeled with procainamide,and analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(MS/MS)to identify and quantify sialylated N-glycan linkage isomers.The linkage isomers were distinguished by comparison of 1)intensity of the N-acetylglucosamine ion to the sialic acid ion(Ln/Nn)using different fragmentation stability in MS/MS spectra and 2)retention time-shift for a selective m/z value in the extracted ion chromatogram.Each isomer was distinctively identified,and each quantity(＞0.1％)was obtained relative to the total N-glycans(100％)for all observed ionization states.Twenty sialylated N-glycan isomers with only α2-3 linkage(s)in WT were identified,and each isomer's sum of quantities was 50.4％.Furthermore,39 sialylated N-glycan isomers(58.8％)in mono-(3 N-glycans;0.9％),bi-(18;48.3％),tri-(14;8.9％),and tetra-(4;0.7％)antennary structures of mutant were obtained,which comprised mono-(15 N-glycans;25.4％),di-(15;28.4％),tri-(8;4.8％),and tetra-(1;0.2％)sialy-lation,respectively,with only α2-3(10 N-glycans;4.8％),both α2-3 and α2-6(14;18.4％),and only α2-6(15;35.6％)linkage(s).These results are consistent with those for α2-3 neuraminidase-treated N-glycans.This study generated a novel plot of Ln/Nn versus retention time to distinguish sialylated N-glycan linkage isomers in glycoprotein.

Purpose: We aimed to develop and validate individual prognostic models in a large cohort of cervical cancer patients that were primarily treated with radical hysterectomy. Materials and Methods: We analyzed 1,441 patients with early-stage cervical cancer treated between 2000 and 2008 from the Korean Gynecologic Oncology Group multi-institutional cohort: a train cohort (n=788) and a test cohort (n=653). Models predicting the risk for overall survival (OS), disease- free survival (DFS), lymphatic recurrence and hematogenous recurrence were developed using Cox analysis and stepwise backward selection and best-model options. The prognostic performance of each model was assessed in an independent patient cohort. Model-classified risk groups were compared to groups based on traditional risk factors. Results: Independent risk factors for OS, DFS, lymphatic recurrence, and hematogenous recurrence were identified for prediction model development. Different combinations of risk factors were shown for each outcome with best predictive value. In train cohort, area under the curve (AUC) at 2 and 5 years were 0.842/0.836 for recurrence, and 0.939/0.882 for OS. When applied to a test cohort, the model also showed accurate prediction result (AUC at 2 and 5 years were 0.799/0.723 for recurrence, and 0.844/0.806 for OS, respectively). The Kaplan-Meier plot by proposed model-classified risk groups showed more distinctive survival differences between each risk group. Conclusion We developed prognostic models for OS, DFS, lymphatic and hematogenous recurrence in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. Combining weighted clinicopathologic factors, the proposed model can give more individualized predictions in clinical practice.