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*

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

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

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.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Prevalence*

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

No abstract available.

This study was conducted to investigate the safety of the umbilical venous blood for antologous transfusion in the premature newborn babies. Umbilical venous blood was collected with aseptic technique immediately after delivery from 270 healthy mothers admitted to the Yeungnam University Hospital between March 1,1992 and August 31,1992 . The volume of the blood and the time taken for collecting the blood were measured. Also the hematological and biochemical changes of the blood during storage in the refrigerator of blood band and the incidence of bacterial contamination were studied. It took 67.6+/-25.9 seconds on the average for collecting the blood from an umbilical vein and the average volume of the blood was 77.1+/-23.2ml which would be sufficient volume for one time transfusion of 10ml/kg of packed red blood cells for the neonates. The hemoglobin and hematocrit values did not change significantly during storage for three weeks. Thus significant hemolysis did not seem to occur during storage. However, platelet counts decreased significantly from 248+/-59x10E3/mm3 to 193+/-47x10E3/mm3(p<0.01). Although plasma calcium level was not changed (8.4+/-0.9mg/dL), sodium was decreased significantly from 184.3+/-11.1mEq/L to 170.9+/-13.9mEq/L(p<0.01) and potassium was incresed from 5.0+/-1.0mEq/L to 26.7+/-4.8mEp/L.(p<0.01). Plasma glucose level was decreased from 521.7+/-106.7mg/dL to 294.3+/-120.8mg/dL (p<0.01), blood pH and bicarbonate concentrations were decreased significantly from 6.825+/-0.110 to 6.378+/-.087 and from 13.5+/-1.6mEq/L to 2.1+/-1.0mEq/L respectively (p<0.01). The smear of the umbilical venous blood and peripheral blood of the neonates stained by KleihauerBetke method revealed no significant differences in the percentages of adult red blood cells. Also there were no differences in the percentages of adult ted blood calls in the umbilical venous blood samples according to time for collection. The degree of decrement of hemoglobins (1.2gm/dL) after delivery in the mothers who had sampling of the umbilical venous blood was not different from that in the mothers who didn't hava sampling. The bacterial contamination rate of the umbilical venous blood was 3.5% (95% confidence interval was from 0.7 to 6.3). It seems to be safe to use the umbilical venous blood in the neonates for autologous transfusion but confirmation of bacterial contamination by culture is necessary.
Adult ; Blood Glucose ; Calcium ; Erythrocytes ; Hematocrit ; Hemolysis ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn* ; Mothers ; Plasma ; Platelet Count ; Potassium ; Sodium ; Umbilical Veins

No abstract available.
Fibrin Tissue Adhesive* ; Fistula*