Australia ; China ; Health Services Accessibility ; organization & administration ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Mental Health Services ; organization & administration ; statistics & numerical data ; Models, Theoretical ; Organizational Objectives

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the differences in employment status and self assessed health in Korea. METHODS: We analyzed 4 year follow-up data generated by the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS), which was conducted on 1,207 men and 582 women who had undergone a change in employment status. The study subjects were placed into 1 of the following 4 groups based on their employment history; Non-precarious workers, Precarious to non-precarious workers, Non-precarious to precarious workers and Precarious workers. Logistic regression was then used to examine the relationship between the changes in employment status and self assessed health. RESULTS: When males were considered, self assessed health was better among the precarious to non-precarious workers (OR 1.58, 95% CI=1.57-1.60) and the precarious workers (OR 1.29, 95% CI=1.28-1.30) than in the non-precarious workers, after adjusting for age, socioeconomic status (education level, occupational class, marital status, average equivalent household income and average number of hours worked per week), health behavior (smoking, drinking and exercise) and medical service access (regular medical examination, have chronic disease or hospitalized within 1 year). When female workers were considered, the precarious to non-precarious workers (OR 1.89, 95% CI=1.86-1.92), non-precarious to precarious workers(OR 1.24, 95% CI=1.23-1.26) and precarious workers (OR 1.27, 95% CI=1.25-1.28) all reported poorer health than the non-precarious workers after adjusting for the aforementioned factors. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that changes in employment status were associated with differences in self assessed health among men and women. Specifically, the results of this study showed that a corresponding positive outcome based on self assessed health was greater for employees that changed from precarious to non-precarious jobs and for male employees with precarious jobs, whereas female employees with non-precarious jobs had higher self assessed health. However, additional longitudinal studies on the health effects of employment status should be conducted.
Adult ; Employment/*statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Health Behavior ; Health Services Accessibility/*statistics & numerical data ; Health Status ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sex Factors ; Socioeconomic Factors

OBJECTIVES: Due to the assumptions of homogeneity as well as challenges in the socioeconomic position of the elderly, they have been relatively neglected in studies of health inequalities. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the social inequalities in preventive services among elderly men and women. METHODS: Data were obtained from a nationally representative sample of 342 men and 525 women aged 65 and over collected during the 2001 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Age adjusted proportions and logistic regression were used to identify the social patterning of preventive services among elderly Koreans using various social position indicators. RESULTS: The findings of this study generally supported the presence of social gradients in preventive services among the Korean elderly. The likelihood of using the service becomes progressively higher with social position. Educational level, income, and self-rated living status were significantly associated with increased medical checkups and cancer checks. In addition, logistic regression detected educational inequalities only among older women receiving BP checks. After being stratified based on health status and chronic disease status, social disparities still existed when educational level and self-rated living status were considered. Among unhealthy individuals, place of residence was observed as a barrier to medical checkups. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated strong and consistent associations between socioeconomic position and preventive services among the elderly in Korea. The results indicate that public health strategies should be developed to reduce the barriers to preventive services encountered by the elderly.
Aged ; *Blood Pressure ; Chronic Disease ; Female ; Health Services Accessibility/*statistics & numerical data ; Health Status ; Humans ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Neoplasms/*diagnosis ; Physical Examination/*statistics & numerical data ; Preventive Health Services/*statistics & numerical data ; Residence Characteristics ; Sex Factors ; Socioeconomic Factors

OBJECTIVETo investigate the epidemiological factors of tuberculosis (TB) in eastern Sudan.

METHODSThe socio-demographic and clinical data was retrieved from the database at Kassala hospital during the year of 2011. The medical file of consequent patients who was discharged from the same ward in the hospital was reviewed to act as control for the TB patients.

RESULTSA total of 670 patients were registered at Kassala hospital with clinical, laboratory and radiological evidence proven TB. Pulmonary TB accounted for 73.4% while extra-pulmonary TB was reported in 26.6% of all TB patients. The mean age (SD) was not significantly different between the cases and controls (670 in each arm). TB patients were those who had less education, and the infection more likely common among male patients.

CONCLUSIONSIntervention from outside the health field in particular awareness of associated risk factors and improvement of the educational level potentially will strengthen TB control.

Analysis of Variance ; Educational Status ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Health Services Accessibility ; Humans ; Medical Records ; statistics & numerical data ; Public Health ; Sex Distribution ; Sudan ; epidemiology ; Tuberculosis ; epidemiology ; prevention & control

OBJECTIVES: To determine the disparity in the rate people undergo health examinations according to socioeconomic position (SEP) and the changes in this disparity with time. METHODS: Seoul citizens}health profile data from 1997 to 2005 were analyzed. The study subjects were 40 years old and over, and the total number of subjects was 6,601 in 1997, 8,994 in 2001, and 8,819 in 2005. Those aged 60 years and over were eliminated from the analysis of subjects}occupation. We used education, family income and occupation as indicators of SEP. The age-standardized health examination attendance rate for each year was calculated according to the education, family income and occupation. The odds ratios (ORs) from multiple logistic regressions were adjusted for age. RESULTS: The disparity in the rate of attendance according to the SEP decreased from 1997 to 2005 but still existed. Even though the disparities among the subgroups according to education, family income and occupation were not that high, the disparity between the group with the highest SEP and the other groups was considerable. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that unequal access to health examination services according to socioeconomic position still exists. This disparity has decreased recently but the disparity according to level of education was the greatest.
Adult ; Female ; Health Services Accessibility/*statistics & numerical data/trends ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Physical Examination/*statistics & numerical data/trends ; Socioeconomic Factors

OBJECTIVETo understand the current situation of maternal health care and the association between maternal health care and relevant factors.

METHODSAccording to a cross sectional study design, 1512 mothers having children under 3 years old were drawn under stratified random sampling method and interviewed at their households in 15 counties, Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

RESULTS77.6% of the pregnant women received at least one antenatal checkup with an average of 3.89 times while the rate of antenatal checkup over 5 times was 26.3%. The hospital delivery rate was 40.4% in this area. 83.9% of the women received education under the health care program during pregnancy and 66.2% of them were visited by health workers after delivery. Major factors of the antenatal checkups would include the resource of income, living in nomadic area, personal sanitation, antenatal health care education, mobilization of delivery at hospital, knowledge of antenatal health care etc.

CONCLUSIONSThere had been great improvement in women's health care in this area as compared with the status in 1999, but the frequency of receiving antenatal checkup was still not enough and the rate of hospital delivery was also low as compared with 46 counties in western areas of China. Poor knowledge of health care during pregnancy seemed to be the major factor that limited the utilization of antenatal health care. Knowledge on health and common sense of health care should be disseminated to improve the antenatal care and to enhance the hospital delivery rate.

Agriculture ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Health Education ; statistics & numerical data ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Health Services Accessibility ; Healthcare Disparities ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Maternal Health Services ; statistics & numerical data ; Pregnancy ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Tibet ; Transients and Migrants

OBJECTIVETo analyze the dental care utilization and expenditure of residents in Beijing, and to provide some basis on the policy of oral health insurance system.

METHODSA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,517 subjects (urban area) and 1,878 subjects (rural area) of all age groups in Beijing selected by stratified, clustering, random sampling. The data of oral health care utilization and expenditure were collected in their home.

RESULTSThe number of the people who visited a dentist in a year were low both in urban area and in rural area, but the expenditure for oral health care per visit were quite high. The value of utilization of dental care in rural residents was 1/3 of that in urban residents, while the value of expenditure in rural people was about 1/2 of that in urban people. 2.07% incomes of rural residents were used for dental care per year, the corresponding value of urban residents was 1.77%. There was significant difference on the expenditure among those with different demographic, socio-economic backgrounds.

CONCLUSIONSThe expenditure for oral health care was high in Beijing, which accounted for quite a lot in average incomes per year. The burden of expenditure for dental care on rural residents was heavier than that on urban residents. The level of expenditure for dental care could provide some references for oral health insurance system in Beijing.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Dental Health Services ; economics ; statistics & numerical data ; Fees, Dental ; Female ; Health Services Accessibility ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Insurance, Dental ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rural Health Services ; statistics & numerical data ; Urban Health Services ; statistics & numerical data

The adequacy of the urologist work force in Korea has never been investigated. This study investigated the geographic distribution of urologists in Korea. County level data from the National Health Insurance Service and National Statistical Office was analyzed in this ecological study. Urologist density was defined by the number of urologists per 100,000 individuals. National patterns of urologist density were mapped graphically at the county level using GIS software. To control the time sequence, regression analysis with fitted line plot was conducted. The difference of distribution of urologist density was analyzed by ANCOVA. Urologists density showed an uneven distribution according to county characteristics (metropolitan cities vs. nonmetropolitan cities vs. rural areas; mean square=102.329, P<0.001) and also according to year (mean square=9.747, P=0.048). Regression analysis between metropolitan and non-metropolitan cities showed significant difference in the change of urologists per year (P=0.019). Metropolitan cities vs. rural areas and non-metropolitan cities vs. rural areas showed no differences. Among the factors, the presence of training hospitals was the affecting factor for the uneven distribution of urologist density (P<0.001).Uneven distribution of urologists in Korea likely originated from the relatively low urologist density in rural areas. However, considering the time sequencing data from 2007 to 2012, there was a difference between the increase of urologist density in metropolitan and non-metropolitan cities.
Cities/statistics & numerical data ; Health Services Accessibility/*statistics & numerical data/trends ; Korea/epidemiology ; Physicians/*supply & distribution/trends ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Rural Health Services/*manpower/statistics & numerical data/trends ; Rural Population/statistics & numerical data/trends ; Urban Health Services/*manpower/statistics & numerical data/trends ; Urology/*manpower/*statistics & numerical data/trends

PURPOSE: Following legal reform in 2013, the annual number of asylum seekers entering South Korea has increased from 1,143 in 2012 to 5,711 in 2015. We interviewed six African refugee mothers of young children regarding their health needs and barriers to access maternal child health services. METHODS: We recruited mothers who had visited a clinic for immigrants between July 2013 and August 2015. Participants were African refugee women, aged over 18 years, who had given birth in Korea within the previous 5 years and had come to Korea over a year before recruitment. Interview questions examined participants' experiences in pregnancy and childbirth and concerns regarding their child's health status. Initial data analysis involved all researchers' immersion in the entire collection of transcripts. We then noted recurrent topics and themes and identified similar issues. RESULTS: At the time of giving birth, 5 participants were asylum seekers and one had undocumented status. The following barriers impeded their access to maternal child healthcare: socioeconomic factors (unstable social identity, low economic status, difficulty obtaining health insurance), language barriers (lack of linguistically appropriate health information, limited access to translation services), and cultural barriers (religious and cultural differences). Weak social support also hindered access to healthcare soon after migration; however, social links with the community emerged as a key coping strategy following settlement. CONCLUSION: We identified barriers to maternal and child healthcare and coping strategies among African refugee mothers in Korea. Future research should assess refugees' health status and improve health access and literacy among refugee mothers.
Child ; Communication Barriers ; Delivery of Health Care* ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Female ; Health Services Accessibility ; Humans ; Immersion ; Infant ; Korea* ; Literacy ; Maternal-Child Health Services ; Mothers* ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Refugees* ; Social Identification ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Statistics as Topic

OBJECTIVETo investigate the utilization of oral health services and to analyze the factors associated with oral health services for the community residents.

METHODSHousehold health interview and oral health condition survey were conducted to obtain information about oral health services. The respondents were recruited by a multi-stage random cluster sampling procedure. Multiple dummy regression analyses were performed for the assessment of the relative effect of behavioural factors on dental attendance.

RESULTSA total of 2003 families, 4459 people participated in this study. The people seeking dental treatment accounted for 11.3% (502/4459) per year. Young people (OR = 2.072), having medical insurance system (OR = 2.835), short distance to see dentist (OR = 3.535), oral health awareness (OR = 2.595), poor self-assessment of oral health status (OR = 2.014) were the main factors which influenced dental attendance of community residents.

CONCLUSIONSThe utilization of oral health service was low, particularly for middle-aged people and the elderly. Oral health education and medical insurance system should be strengthened.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Dental Care ; economics ; utilization ; Dental Health Services ; economics ; utilization ; Health Services Accessibility ; statistics & numerical data ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Humans ; Income ; statistics & numerical data ; Insurance, Dental ; statistics & numerical data ; Logistic Models ; Middle Aged ; Sampling Studies ; Self-Assessment ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Urban Health Services ; utilization ; Urban Population ; Young Adult