PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the relationships among physical symptoms, activities of daily living, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: A stratified random sampling method was conducted to recruit participants from May 10 to August 17, 2007. Physical symptoms were measured using the Physical Health Questionnaire (PHQ), activities of daily living using the Late-Life Functional and Disability Instrument (LLFDI), and HRQoL using the Medical Outcomes Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) in 242 community-dwelling elderly Korean people. RESULTS: The HRQoL correlates with the physical symptoms (r=-.31) and the function component (r=.59). Of the two disability parts of the LLFDI, the limitation dimension correlates higher (r=.57) with HRQoL than the frequency dimension (r=.42). The HRQoL is significantly associated with the function component, and disability limitation in capability which explained 44.4% of variance in physical health. CONCLUSION: These results may contribute to a better understanding of physical symptoms, activities of daily living, and HRQoL in community-dwelling older adults. Therefore, health programs for prompting older adult's health should be planned based on results of the study.
*Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Disability Evaluation ; Female ; Health Status Indicators ; Humans ; Male ; *Quality of Life ; Questionnaires ; Residence Characteristics ; *Sickness Impact Profile

PURPOSE: This study was to identify predictors of quality of life in breast cancer patients. Physical and pscyhological factors like stress, mood, and fatigue with sociodemographic factors like education, income, job and stage of disease were used to predict quality of life. METHODS: One hundred eleven patients with breast cancer participated in this study? The functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast(FACT-B) was used to assess quality of life. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 46.7 years. The FACT-B mean score was 89.89 (SD:17.31) Education, income, job and stage of disease were significantly associated with QOL. In a regression analysis, mood, income, and fatigue were significant predictors for QOL: where as, stress was not significant. Among the subscales of QOL, physical well-being, functional well-being, emotional well-being, and the breast cancer subscale were included as predictors of QOL CONCLUSION: Physical and psychological factors were strong predictors of QOL. These results demonstrate the need for interventions to improve QOL in breast cancer survivors.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Adult ; Aged ; Breast Neoplasms/*psychology/therapy ; Female ; Health Status Indicators ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Personal Satisfaction ; Predictive Value of Tests ; *Quality of Life ; Sickness Impact Profile

No abstract available.
Health Status Indicators* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo further articulate the conceptual framework of sub-health by way of literature review.

METHODSPublished papers and relevant literature about sub-health were collected, the representative publishing about theoretical exploration and practical surveys were focused for analyzing and assessing the category of sub-health, investigative objects, assessing tools, conceptual framework, diagnostic criteria and its operability, foundation support, etc.

RESULTSSub-health conditions were categorized into three kinds in most documents, namely, the somatic, the mental and the social adaptative sub-health, and the relevant symptoms were classified into three levels. However, contents regarding the homogeneous issues, such as meaning and definition of sub-health, its diagnostic criteria and operability, in different documents were discrepant.

CONCLUSIONDiscrepancy exists between the theoretical and practical studies of sub-health. And detailed description is needed to articulate the problems respectively on specific and non-specific sub-health. The perspicuity of conceptual framework is the basis of sub-health researches. The authors recommended that to form the framework the four-level hierarchic structure should be adopted; in developing the assessing tool for sub-health diagnosis, besides the basic assessment on concrete conditions, the differential evaluation on the belonging of overall manifestations, subjective complain or objective symptom, should also be paid attention to.

Health ; Health Status Indicators ; Humans ; Terminology as Topic

BACKGROUNDComorbidity is one of the most important determinants of short-term and long-term outcomes in septic patients. Charlson's weighted index of comorbidities (WIC) and the chronic health score (CHS), which is a component of the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II, are two frequently-used measures of comorbidity. In this study, we assess the performance of WIC and CHS in predicting the hospital mortality of intensive care unit (ICU) patients with sepsis.

METHODSA total of 338 adult patients with sepsis were admitted to a multisystem ICU between October 2010 and August 2012. Clinical data were collected, including age, gender, underlying diseases, key predisposing causes, severity-of-sepsis, and hospital mortality. The APACHE II, CHS, acute physiology score (APS), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) and WIC scores were assessed within the first 24 hours of admission. Univariate and multiple Logistic regression analyses were used to compare the performance of WIC and CHS. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to predict hospital mortality over classes of risk.

RESULTSOf all the enrolled patients, 224 patients survived and 114 patients died. The surviving patients had significantly lower WIC, CHS, APACHE II, and SOFA scores than the non-surviving patients (P < 0.05). Combining WIC or CHS with other administrative data showed that the hospital mortality was significantly associated with age, severe sepsis, key predisposing causes such as pneumonia, a history of underlying diseases such as hypertension and congestive cardiac failure, and WIC, CHS and APS scores (P < 0.05). The AUC for the hospital mortality were 0.564 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.496-0.631) of CHS, 0.663 (95% CI 0.599-0.727) of WIC, 0.770 (95% CI 0.718-0.822) of APACHE II, 0.856 (95% CI 0.815-0.897) of the CHS combined with other administrative data, and 0.857 (95% CI 0.817-0.897) of the WIC combined with other administrative data. The diagnostic value of WIC was better than that of CHS (P = 0.0015).

CONCLUSIONSThe WIC and CHS scores might be independent determinants for hospital mortality among ICU patients with sepsis. WIC might be an even better predictor of the mortality of septic patients with comorbidities than CHS.

APACHE ; Adult ; Aged ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Organ Dysfunction Scores ; Sepsis ; mortality ; pathology ; Severity of Illness Index

Viewing from the concept of health and several basic characteristics of health outlook of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), assimilating the thinking and procedure of modern scientific research concerning operationalization, in this paper, the TCM concept of health and its measurement operationalization as well as their relevant things were expounded. And the frame, related domain, indexes and items of health assessment scale based upon TCM theory were tried to be established using opertionalization method.
Health ; Health Status Indicators ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

OBJECTIVETo assess the reliability and validity of the Sub-health Measurement Scale Version 1.0 (SHMS V1.0).

METHODSA spot trial sampling of 2000 individuals was conducted to study the test-retest reliability, Cronbach alpha coefficient, split-half reliability, contract validity, content validity and criterion-related validity of SHMS V1.0.

RESULTSThe spot trial results indicated a test-retest reliability of SHMS V1.0 of 0.644 (P<0.001) with a Cronbach α coefficient of 0.917 and a split-half reliability of 0.831. The results showed a close correlation between each item of SHMS V1.0 and its dimension, but a low correlation between a particular item and other dimensions. The dimension score was significantly correlated to its subscale scores, but not to other subscale scores. The results of factor analysis matched the theoretical conception of SHMS V1.0. The correlation coefficient between SHMS V1.0 and SF-36 was 0.664 (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONSHMS V1.0 has a good reliability and validity, and is a reliable and valid measurement scale for sub-health evaluation.

Health Promotion ; methods ; Health Status ; Health Status Indicators ; Humans ; Reproducibility of Results ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Radical surgery of gastric cancer (D2 lymph node dissection) as the standard operation is widely used in clinical practice and satisfactory prognosis can be obtained in patients who receive radical gastrectomy. But surgical invasion can cause high morbidity of complications and mortality. The data of large-scale evidence-based medical clinical trials and large databases in Japan and Korea showed that anastomotic leakage, pancreatic leakage and abdominal abscess were the most common complications after gastrectomy, and the morbidity of complication was about 20% and mortality was about 1%. The risk factors such as elderly, obesity, and comorbidities may increase the morbidity of complications and mortality, and these factors were regarded as poor predictors after operation. Postoperative complications criteria of gastric cancer surgery is mainly used with Clavien-Dindo classification of surgical complications as international standard, and this criteria is also used in Korea. The postoperative complications are evaluated with the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE v4.0) and Japanese Clinical Oncology Group(JCOG) postoperative complications criteria for grading definitions of postoperative complications after gastric surgery in Japan. These classifications of postoperative complications criteria were adopted widely in Japan with large-scale evidence-based medical clinical trials of gastric cancer. PS, ASA, POSSUM, E-PASS, APACHE-II(, Charison weighted index of comorbidities (WIC), Frailty Score was used in predicting postoperative mortality and morbidity in gastric cancer patients. These risk factors were assigned points in scoring systems to objectively evaluate risk of surgery, and surgical operation method was one of the risk factors on the basis of these scoring systems. We can use these scoring systems for choosing reasonable surgical methods and proper perioperative management.
APACHE ; Gastrectomy ; adverse effects ; methods ; Health Status Indicators ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea ; Lymph Node Excision ; adverse effects ; Patient Care Planning ; standards ; Perioperative Care ; methods ; Postoperative Complications ; classification ; diagnosis ; mortality ; prevention & control ; Prognosis ; Risk Assessment ; methods ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms ; complications ; surgery

Assessment of mental health service refers to the process of using the indicator system and methods to reflect the quality or performance of mental health. Mental health evaluation can effectively promote the development of mental health system and service quality. Scientific and comprehensive indicator system is key to assessment. After long-term practice and exploration, there have been many successful assessment schemes in foreign countries, which may be used in establishing the assessment system and screening indicators in China.
China ; Health Status Indicators ; Humans ; Mental Disorders ; rehabilitation ; Mental Health Services ; standards ; Quality Indicators, Health Care ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Health Risk Appraisal(HRA) is usually defined as a process by which we expect of individual's chances of death or acquiring specific diseases within a defined period of time. The concept of worksite as an area of health maintenance and promotion is newly developing. Our movement for health promotion of employees has been increasingly known in the worksite. The aim of this study is to develop health risk appraisal tools about health promotion at the worksite for employees. We performed this study by two steps: one step was to develop a HRA questionnaire of worksites in Korea, another was to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire. For developing HRA questionnaire, we reviewed scientific examples at first, and then weighted the score by delphi. To evaluate the reliability of developed questionnaire, we carried out survey by test-retest method. A total of 131 employees completed HRA questionnaire on two times. The results are as follows. The total score of health risk in unhealthy workers was higher than that of healthy workers. The range of test-retest reliability of responses to the questionnaire was 0.57-0.94. Therefore it seems that this questionnaire was very suitable to assess the health behavior of workers. In conclusion, the developed HRA questionnaire can be used as a tool for evaluating health behavior and for providing health counseling materials.
Counseling ; Health Behavior ; Health Promotion ; Health Status Indicators* ; Korea ; Questionnaires ; Workplace*