The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) is a national program designed to assess the health and nutritional status of the noninstitutionalized population of South Korea. The KNHANES was initiated in 1998 and has been conducted annually since 2007. Starting in the latter half of 2008, ophthalmologic examinations were included in the survey in order to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of common eye diseases such as visual impairment, refractive errors, strabismus, blepharoptosis, cataract, pterygium, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, dry eye disease, and color vision deficiency. The measurements included in the ophthalmic questionnaire and examination methods were modified in the KNHANES IV, V, and VI. In this article, we provide detailed information about the methodology of the ophthalmic examinations in KNHANES in order to aid in further investigations related to major eye diseases in South Korea.
*Epidemiologic Methods ; Eye Diseases/*epidemiology ; Humans ; Nutrition Surveys/*statistics & numerical data ; Ophthalmology/*methods ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; *Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) has been a standard treatment for ventricular fibrillation (VF) cardiac arrest survivors to improve neurological outcomes. However, there is a lack of evidence that TH has a neuroprotective effect to asphyxial cardiac arrest, which is one of the most prevalent causes of sudden death besides VF cardiac arrest. We studied whether TH improves the neurological outcomes after resuscitation from asphyxial cardiac arrest. METHODS: We included asphyxial cardiac arrest survivors from January 2002 to December 2010. Clinical and neurological outcome data of 24 consecutive patients undergoing TH were compared with 18 patients who did not undergo TH (11 historical controls and seven refusal of TH by patient's next-of-kin). Neurological outcome was assessed at discharge according to the Cerebral Performance Category scale. The incidence of complications after asphyxial cardiac arrest was compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics except arterial pH after recovery of spontaneous circulation were not different between the TH group and the non-hypothermic group. Good neurological outcome was similar between the TH group and the non-hypothermic group (8.3% vs 0.0%, p=0.498). The TH group included 18 hypokalemic patients, while non-hypothermic group included eight hypokalemic patients (p=0.044). The rate of other complication did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Therapeutic hypothermia was not associated with good neurological outcome in asphyxial cardiac arrest survivors and was not associated significantly with the incidence of complications after asphyxial cardiac arrest. However, the findings are not conclusive because of a lack of patients, lack of randomization, and uncertainty of appropriateness of therapeutic hypothermia method to asphyxial cardiac arrest.
Asphyxia ; Coma ; Death, Sudden ; Disulfiram ; Heart Arrest ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Hypothermia ; Hypothermia, Induced ; Incidence ; Neuroprotective Agents ; Random Allocation ; Resuscitation ; Survivors ; Uncertainty ; Ventricular Fibrillation

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to report on preliminary data regarding the prevalence of major eye diseases in Korea. METHODS: We obtained data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nation-wide cross-sectional survey and examinations of the non-institutionalized civilian population in South Korea (n = 14,606), conducted from July 2008 to December 2009. Field survey teams included an ophthalmologist, nurses, and interviewers, traveled with a mobile examination unit and performed interviews and ophthalmologic examinations. RESULTS: The prevalence of visual impairment, myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism in participants over 5 years of age was 0.4 +/- 0.1%, 53.7 +/- 0.6%, 10.7 +/- 0.4%, and 58.0 +/- 0.6%, respectively. The prevalence of strabismus and blepharoptosis in participants over 3 years of age was 1.5 +/- 0.1% and 11.0 +/- 0.8%, respectively. In participants over 40 years of age, the prevalence of cataract, pterygium, early and late age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma was 40.2 +/- 1.3%, 8.9 +/- 0.5%, 5.1 +/- 0.3%, 0.5 +/- 0.1%, 13.4 +/- 1.5%, and 2.1 +/- 0.2%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first nation-wide epidemiologic study conducted in South Korea for assessment of the prevalence of eye diseases by both the Korean Ophthalmologic Society and the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This study will provide preliminary information for use in further investigation, prevention, and management of eye diseases in Korea.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Eye Diseases/*epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nutrition Surveys/*statistics & numerical data ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: To investigate the care patterns for radiation therapy and to determine inter-hospital differences for patients with laryngeal carcinoma in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 237 cases of laryngeal carcinoma (glottis, 144; supraglottis, 93) assembled from 23 hospitals, who underwent irradiation in the year of 1998 and 1999, were retrospectively analyzed to investigate inter-hospital differences with respect to radiotherapy treatment. We grouped the 23 hospitals based on the number of new patients annually irradiated in 1998; and designated them as group A (> or =900 patients), group B (> or =400 patients and <900 patients), and group C (<400 patients). RESULTS: The median age of the 237 patients was 62 years (range, 25 to 88 years), of which 216 were male and 21 were female. The clinical stages were distributed as follows: for glottis cancer, I; 61.8%, II; 21.5%, III; 4.2%, IVa; 11.1%, IVb; 1.4%, and in supraglottic cancer, I; 4.3%, II; 19.4%, III; 28.0%, IVa; 43.0%, IVb; 5.4%, respectively. Some differences were observed among the 3 groups with respect to the dose calculation method, radiation energy, field arrangement, and use of an immobilization device. No significant difference among 3 hospital groups was observed with respect to treatment modality, irradiation volume, and median total dose delivered to the primary site. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that radiotherapy process and patterns of care are relatively uniform in laryngeal cancer patients in Korean hospitals, and we hope this nationwide data can be used as a basis for the standardization of radiotherapy for the treatment of laryngeal cancer.
Female ; Glottis ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Korea ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; Male ; Retrospective Studies

Adult onset Still's disease (AOSD) is an uncommon acute systemic inflammatory disease of unknown origin. The clinical features include high spiking fever, arthralgia or arthritis, transient maculopapular rash, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and serositis. The laboratory findings include leukocytosis(neutrophilia), elevation of AST, ALT, ESR, CRP and serum ferritin, and negative rheumatic factor and anti-nuclear antibody. We report a case of a 52-year old woman whom symptom is subsided after steroid use.
Adult* ; Arthralgia ; Arthritis ; Exanthema ; Female ; Ferritins ; Fever ; Humans ; Leukocytosis ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Middle Aged ; Serositis ; Still's Disease, Adult-Onset*

Botryomycosis is a rare bacterial infection that may mimic fungal disease both clinically and histologically. Cutaneous botryomycosis usually appears as nodules, sinuses, fistulae, abscesses, and ulcers with seropustular secretion. Histopathological findings are characterized by chronic nonspecific inflammatory lesions composed of neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils and plasma cells. The characteristic suppurative foci contained granuloma with a basophilic center and an eosinophilic periphery. Successful treatment often requires a combination of both surgical debridement and long-term antimicrobial therapy. The predisposing factor included skin trauma, postoperative complication, diabetus mellitus, liver disorder, long-term steroid therapy, alcholism, and cystic fib rosis. Here we report a patient who had suppurative nodule with induration at the axilla. Staphylococcus aureus was cultured from the lesion. Our patient responded to systemic antimicrobial therapy and surgical debridement.
Abscess ; Axilla* ; Bacterial Infections ; Basophils ; Causality ; Debridement ; Eosinophils ; Fistula ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* ; Liver ; Lymphocytes ; Neutrophils ; Plasma Cells ; Postoperative Complications ; Skin ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Ulcer

Intravenous vasopressin is a commonly used modality for the control of bleeding of the esophageal varices. The ischemic cutaneous necrosis by vassopressin can be occurred at extravasated sites, or proximal to an intravenous catheter site, or at isolated pressure points. We report a case of cutaneous necrosis which occurred at intravenous catheter sites and at distant sites from direct intravenous flow during vasopressin therapy.
Catheters ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices ; Hemorrhage ; Necrosis* ; Skin* ; Vasopressins

Keratolytic winter erythema is an autosomal dominant skin disorder of unknown etiology. It is charaterised by cyclical erythema, hyperkeratosis, and peeling of the skin of the palms and soles, arresting at major skin creases. The symptoms are noticeable during winter. We present clinical and histological data of a 22-year-old male with the attributes of keratolytic winter erythema.
Erythema* ; Humans ; Male ; Skin ; Young Adult

In our country the ICD-10(International classification of disease) is used to classify disease. But it has many problems in classifying and managing statistics in the field of dermatology. For instance, there are many diseases that are not included in the ICD-10, and the classification is not organized. Also, in many cases the classification of ICD-10 has problems in computerizing. Even though we need a classification overcoming these problems, National health insurance corporation is using the ICD-10. In this study, we corrected the problems of the ICD-10 to make an improved ICD-10 to use in dermatologic fields. To do this, we had to search all the dermatologic disease code contained in the ICD-10, and find all the disease listed in the book of domestic and foreign. We had to compare and analyse these. Subsequently, we add the diseases that are not contained in the ICD-10, organized the classification and improved the dermatologic disease code of ICD-10. This classification would be useful for the management of disease in the dermatologic field.
Classification* ; Dermatology ; International Classification of Diseases ; National Health Programs

Scedosporium(S). apiospermum is the asexual stage of Pseudallescheria boydii. This ubiquitous fungus causes not only mycetoma but also infection of a variety of body sites including the skin. Localized skin infection without grain production due to this organism is much rarer than mycetoma. We report a case of cutaneous S. apiospermum infection which occured in a 75-year old female. She had multiple suppurative nodules with pustules on a dark red plaque at the dorsum of the right forearm. Cultural isolation for definitive diagnosis showed typical S. apiospermum. The patient was treated successfully with oral terbinafine 250mg daily for 1 week and oral itraconazole 200mg daily for 3 weeks.
Aged ; Edible Grain ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Forearm ; Fungi ; Humans ; Itraconazole ; Mycetoma ; Pseudallescheria ; Scedosporium* ; Skin*