This study was conducted for the purpose of obtaining basic information on the patterns of medical care expenditures, and identifying some determinants of medical care expenditures in the rural Korea. Nine guns were chosen from the eight porvinces, excluding Cheju island. One gun in each province and two villages were selected from the each myon or ub within the selected guns. The total number of households was 1,789 and the sample size was 9,826 non-institutionalized people. Followings are the major findings of the study. 1) Medical care expenditures increase proportionally with age in terms of cost per patient, per episode of illness, per treated case, and per person. Averagely, it cost 2,756 won per patient, 2,614 won per spell of illness, 4,361 won per treated case, and 413 won per person. 2) Medical care expenditures increase proportionally with educational level of patients. College graduates spent the most, 4,726 won per patient, 5,987 won per treated case, and 670 won per person. 3) The male spent a little more than the female in terms of per patient, per episode, and per person. For example, a male spent 23 won more than a female. 4) Those who were suffering from illnesses longer than 1 year spent three times mort than that had illnesses of less than 1 year duration. 5) The simple correlation coefficient between activity restriction and medical care expenditures was the highest among others, 0.491. The next was 0.294 between duration of illness and medical care expenditures. 6) Attempts are made to identify the explanatory variables in medical care expenditures. Thirty one per cent of the variances in the expenditures can be accounted for by the selected 15 predictors. Those predictors belonged to clinical conditions, such as activity restriction, duration of illness, and nature of conditions, are proved to be the most potent independent variables. Level of education and monthly family income are also significant in terms of beta coefficient. Further studies are called for to unreveal the determinants of medical expenditures.
Education ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Firearms ; Health Expenditures* ; Humans ; Jeju-do ; Korea ; Male ; Sample Size

No abstract available.
Chromatography* ; Mass Screening* ; Porphobilinogen*

To clarify the characteristics of HBV-associated renal lesions, renal biopsies obtained from 22 HBsAg seropositive patients(M:F=32:1) were studied. Other than two(age 4 and 12), all were adults(17-77 y.o.). Twelve of the patients had nephrotic syndrome(NS), 5 NS and hematuria(H), 10 proteinuria and H, one gross H, one microscopic H, and 4 normal urinalysis at the time of biopsy. Light microscopy showed minimal change lesion(MCL) in 9 cases, mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis(MSPGN) in 6, MPGN type I in 7, MPGN type III in 6, and mebranous nephropathy(MGN) in 5 cases. There were variable immunofluorescent(IF) findings of 25 cases studied; IF staining were predominant with IgG in 10 cases, with IgA in 5 and with IgM in 2 cases. Complements tended to be more strong for C1 &/or C4 than C3. In electron microscopic(EM) studies of MCL group, rare mesangial deposits were noted(3/5). In MSPGN, aside from mesangial deposits, there were occasional subendothelia(2/4) or subepithelial(1/4) deposits. In MPGN type I, in addition to the usual EM features of MPGN, some subepithelial deposits were also observed in 5 cases. In MGN, 3 out of 4 showed subendothelial deposits. Among 7 cases stained for HBsAg all were negative with IF and 2 were positive with PAP method. It is concluded that clinico-pathological findings of HBV-associated nephropathy are variable and partly show lupus-like features, different from primary glomerulopathy.
Adult ; Male ; Female ; Humans ; Biopsy

No abstract available.
Spine* ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

No abstract available.
Spine* ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

No abstract available.
Endocrine Cells* ; Fetus* ; Humans* ; Immunohistochemistry*

No abstract available.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Prevalence*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Aneurysm, False*

Hospitals have been very susceptable to changes in external environment. Accordingly, they have been experiencing great financial difficulty due to low insurance rates and increasing competition. As a remedy, hospitals have attempted to use computer in a strategic manner. Such system is called strategic information system (SIS) , and order communication system (OCS) is an example of SIS in hospital setting. While OCS has known to be effective in reducing waiting time for outpatients, many hospitals are reluctant to introduce this system mainly because there are no real data or methods for justifying the cost of the system. Cost-benefit analysis has been traditionally used for such purpose, but this method deals with limited portion of benefits and therefore not very useful for analyzing the economic feasibility of SIS. In this paper, information economics tools which expand cost with value was used to analyze the economic feasibility of OCS. To assist the analysis, financial simulation model was developed using simulation package, called IFPS (Interactive Financial Planning System).
Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Humans ; Information Systems ; Insurance ; Outpatients