Erratum agreed to by all authors, editor in chief, publisher, and scientific society.

OBJECTIVE: Codeine may result in death or respiratory depression in children, particularly who are rapid metabolizer of CYP2D6, therefore it should be used cautiously among children under 12 years of age. This study was to investigate the prescribing pattern of codeine among children according to the age group, prescribed diagnosis, type of medical service and medical specialties. METHOD: We used Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service-National Patient Sample (HIRA-NPS) database. Study subjects included inpatients or outpatients, who were prescribed codeine between January, 1, 2011 and December, 31, 2011. Contraindicated use of codeine was defined as the use of codeine at least one times under aged 12. Age groups were sub-classified according to the <2 years, 2-4 years, 5-8 years, and 9-11 years. Frequently prescribed diagnosis (ICD-10), type of medical service, and medical specialties were also described among codeine users under aged 12. RESULTS: Codeine users were 6,411 inpatients (9,958 prescriptions), and 3,397 outpatients (6,258 prescriptions), respectively. Codeine prescription under 12 years of age were 2.1% (210 prescriptions) among inpatients, and 12.3% (776 prescriptions) among outpatients (p-value<0.05). Outpatient prescriptions of codeine under 12 aged were issued mostly from primary care clinics and frequent diagnosis were unspecified bronchopneumonia (51.6%), and vasomotor rhinitis (23.7%). CONCLUSION: This study found prescribing of codeine under 12 aged is common in outpatient and primary clinics. Nationwide and community-based efforts should be needed to reduce inappropriate prescribing among children.
Bronchopneumonia ; Child* ; Codeine* ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2D6 ; Diagnosis ; Drug Utilization Review ; Humans ; Inappropriate Prescribing ; Inpatients ; Insurance, Health ; Korea* ; Outpatients ; Prescriptions ; Primary Health Care ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Rhinitis, Vasomotor

No abstract available.
Blood Pressure* ; Pancreatectomy* ; Subclavian Artery* ; Subclavian Steal Syndrome*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between vitamin C, vitamin D, and periodontal diseases in adults. METHODS: The data used for analysis were obtained from the sixth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2014). Subjects were 2,702 adults aged from 19 to 64 years. Complex Chi-square tests and complex logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association between vitamins and periodontal status. RESULTS: There is no statistically significant association between vitamin C intake and periodontal status. Periodontal status of subjects with a low vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) level was better than that of the subjects with a high level (P<0.05). However, multivariate analysis demonstrated that this association is not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: More follow-up studies are necessary to determine the association of the vitamins C and D with the periodontal diseases.
Adult ; Ascorbic Acid ; Cross-Sectional Studies* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Multivariate Analysis ; Nutrition Surveys ; Periodontal Diseases ; Vitamin D ; Vitamins*

BACKGROUND: The inflammatory nodules on the legs are often difficult to distinguish because of clinical variations and similarity of histopathologic features. Both erythema nodosum and erythema induratum are known to be associated with various conditions, especially tuberculosis. In Korea where tuberculosis is still a major health problem, it may be a cause for the inflammatory nodules on the legs. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to establish the correlation with Mantoux test and inflammatory nodule and evaluate the efficacy of antitubercular therapy in Korea. METHODS: We performed the prospective study of 26 patients with inflammatory nodules on the legs. All patients preformed Mantoux test and skin biopsy. The patients who had strongly positive Mantoux reaction were treated with antitubercular therapy. RESULTS: The ages of the 26 patients (Male 4:Female 22) ranged from 12 to 76 years. All patients had recurrent painful, tender subcutaneous nodules on the legs. Fourteen patients of total 26 patients had a strongly postive Mantoux reaction (induration > or = 20 mm). They were treated with combination antitubercular therapy. After antitubercular therapy, skin lesions subsided in 12 patients within 2 months and in the remaining 2 patients, subsided within 4 months. The therapy was well tolerated except for flu-like symptom in one patient and drug induced hepatitis in the other patient. CONCLUSION: We suggest that antitubercular therapy is effective in the management of patients with a strongly positive Mantoux reaction with chronic recurrent inflammatory nodules on the legs in Korea.
Biopsy ; Erythema Induratum ; Erythema Nodosum ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Korea ; Leg* ; Prospective Studies ; Skin ; Tuberculosis

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between restricted activity due to oral diseases and oral health behaviors among adolescents. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used. The subjects were 238 middle school students and 231 high school students; a total of 469 students from 15 different schools located in 7 regions of Bucheon in Gyeonggi Province, Daejeon, and others. The adolescents who participated in the survey were chosen by convenience sampling. The association between restricted activities due to oral diseases and oral health behaviors was analyzed using multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The annual experience rate of oral diseases stood at 1.4 percent, while the number of days absent and early departures from school was 0.15 days per student. The rate of middle school students who were disturbed by oral disease with respect to sleep, eating, speaking, and/or schoolwork was 33.1 percent. In high school students, it was 40.6 percent. Dental pain and gingival bleeding were identified as major factors to the restriction of activities, and being disturbed while eating was related to cariogenic beverages. CONCLUSIONS: It would be of great social interest to support and promote oral health programs among adolescents. Therefore, a national survey of the status of activity restrictions due to oral diseases in adolescents should be implemented in order to make specific future plans.
Adolescent ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Eating ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Oral Health

BACKGROUND: Post-Herpetic Neuralgia(PHN) is the most common and serious complication of herpes zoster(H-Z). Especially in the elderly, intractable chronic pain is caused by PHN and it affects the quality of life severely. The study examined the predictive factors of PHN for its prevention and treatment. METHODS: 691 cases of patients with herpes zoster who visited department of dermatology were studied of Kwang Ju Christian Hospital during the five years from Jan. 1991 to Dec. 1995 Retrospective chart review was used to compare occurrence of PHN according to age, sex, residential area of patients, inpatients or outpatients status, nerve dermatome, interval of treatment, methods of treatment associated conditions and duration of PHN. The authors compared the incidence of patients with PHN and patients with H-Z according to above variables. For statistical analysis, we used Chi-square and t-test through SPSS/PC+ (P<0.05). RESULTS: The incidence of PHN was 22.9% (159/691) and increased with age. The incidence of patients under 60 years of age was 16.5%, more than 60 was 30.7% (P<0.05). There was no statistical significance concerning sex, residential area of patients, dermatome, method of treatment, associated conditions in the incidence of PHN compared to patients with H-Z. The significant difference In the incidence of PHN was shown between inpatients and outpatients status(20.5%, 27.3% respectively) (P<0.05). Anatomical site of PHN of the highest incidence was the opthalmic branch of trigeminal nerve(27.1%), followed by cervical(26.0%), thoracic(24.4%) and sacral(22.2%) in order of sequence. Associated conditions or diseases of PHN were observed in 80 patients(24.7%) including hypertension(39.5%), tuberculosis(39.3%), malignancy (34.5%), COPD(33.3%), Chronic hepatitis(22.7%), DM(15.4%). The interval between the onset of H-Z and the initiation of treatment showed that significant difference in the incidence of PHN was on the fourth day with less than and more than 4 days showing 18.5% : 25.1% respectively(P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The important factors affecting the incidence of PHN were interval between the onset of H-Z and the initiation of treatment age and inpatients or outpatients status. The methods of treatment(acyclovir or steroid), sex, residential area of patients, associated conditions and nerve distribution were not significant factors.
Aged ; Chronic Pain ; Dermatology ; Gwangju ; Herpes Zoster* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Inpatients ; Neuralgia* ; Outpatients ; Quality of Life ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: The social environment of easy access to medicines and arbitrary personal decisions leading to overdose aggravate unintentional medicine poisoning. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of patients who visited emergency departments with unintentional medicine poisoning and reasons for poisoning based on age group. METHODS: We retrospectively collected patients who experienced unintentional medicine poisoning based on data from the national injury surveillance system between 2013 and 2016. Subjects were classified into three groups based on age (0-14 years, 15-64 years, and ≥65 years). We identified sex, insurance, time of poisoning, place, alcohol co-ingestion, hospitalization, death, and reason for poisoning in each age group. RESULTS: A total of 27,472 patients visited an emergency department with poisoning during the study period; 1,958 patients who experienced unintentional poisoning were enrolled in this study. Respiratory medicine was the most frequent medicine in those younger than 15 years of age, and sedatives and antipsychotic drugs were the most common in patients older than 15 years of age. In total, 35.1% of patients older than 65 years were hospitalized. The most common reasons for poisoning were careless storage of medicine in those younger than 15 years of age and overdose due to arbitrary decisions in those older than 15 years of age. CONCLUSION: Unintentional medicine poisoning has distinct characteristics based on age group, and strategies to prevent poisoning should be approached differently based on age.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Drug Overdose ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Hypnotics and Sedatives ; Insurance ; Poisoning* ; Pulmonary Medicine ; Retrospective Studies ; Social Environment

The aim of this study was to assess the potential of a prone chest CT for the evaluation of esophageal cancer, as compared with a routine supine chest CT. 69 patients (67±18 years old) with pathologically confirmed esophageal cancers underwent MDCT in the supine and prone positions. The supine CT was performed first, followed by the prone position. Localization and staging of individual esophageal lesions on both the prone and supine CTs were assessed by two thoracic radiologists, using a scoring system that consisted of three confidence scales, and the results were correlated with the endoscopic and surgical findings. The mean confidence score for the detection of esophageal cancer was higher in the prone position (2.58±0.74) than that in the supine position (2.42±0.83) with statistical significance (p=0.002). The mean confidence score for predicting local invasion in the selected patients (n=18) who underwent esophagectomy was also higher in the prone position (2.39±0.85) than that in the supine position (2.06±0.73) with statistical significance (p=0.01). In 10 of 11 cases that showed definitive determination for periesophageal infiltration or adjacent organ invasion on the prone CT (score 3), the corresponding findings were also observed in the post-operative evaluations. In conclusion, prone chest CT for evaluating esophageal cancer could have advantages in regards to the localization of esophageal cancer and predicting local invasion compared to that of routine supine CT and can improve the diagnostic accuracy of chest CTs.

Mucormycosis encompasses a range of fungal infections that can impact various organs. Although pulmonary mucormycosis is relatively rare, it poses a significant threat, particularly to individuals with compromised immune systems. Pulmonary mucormycosis presents with various radiological manifestations. Notably, the involvement of the angioinvasive pulmonary artery in pulmonary mucormycosis cases has seldom been documented. In this report, we showcase the radiological characteristics of angioinvasive mucormycosis, which can mimic pulmonary thromboembolism or a pulmonary artery tumor, in a patient diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome.