PURPOSE: This study developed a self-report measure for easy assessing of the health literacy of Asian immigrant women in South Korea. METHODS: After a literature review, focus group interviews, and content validity evaluation, 14 preliminary items were generated. These were translated into Chinese, Vietnamese, and English. Data were collected from 229 Asian immigrant women. Validity and reliability tests were conducted. RESULTS: Factor analysis yielded final 10 items in three factors: primary functional and interactive health literacy, secondary functional and interactive health literacy, and critical health literacy, which explained 61.90% of the total variance of health literacy. In known-group comparisons, health literacy was significantly lower in recent immigrants, those with a low education level, and those with low Korean language proficiency. For convergent validity, health literacy was positively associated with health specific self-efficacy and maternal health knowledge. For criterion-related validity, health literacy was positively associated with the REALM-SF. The overall reliability coefficient (Cronbach's alpha) of the instrument was .773. CONCLUSION: The Health Literacy Assessment Scale for Asian Immigrant Women (HLAS) represents a multidimensional construct which encompasses functional, interactive, and critical health literacy. This self-report HLAS can be a useful and convenient method for appraising the health literacy of Asian immigrant women.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Education ; Emigrants and Immigrants* ; Female ; Focus Groups ; Health Literacy* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Maternal Health ; Reproducibility of Results

Fluoride is one of the most reactive elements in nature, and commonly used in toothpaste since it helps to prevent cavities. Despite this advantage, excessive ingestion of fluoride can cause acute toxicity and gastric disturbance from hydrofluoric acid that was formed in the stomach. We report a case of previously healthy, 41-month-old girl who visited the emergency department with persistent abdominal pain and hematemesis after ingestion of fluoride-containing toothpaste. Though the ingested dose of fluoride was below the toxic dose, serious symptoms developed. We performed esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and confirmed a hemorrhagic gastritis caused by hydrofluoric acid. The girl was uneventfully discharged on day 3 after receiving conservative care. When managing children who ingested fluoride-containing toothpaste, physicians need to consider their symptoms, not the ingested amount. In addition, parents should be cautious when their children use fluoride-containing toothpaste.

Fluoride is one of the most reactive elements in nature, and commonly used in toothpaste since it helps to prevent cavities. Despite this advantage, excessive ingestion of fluoride can cause acute toxicity and gastric disturbance from hydrofluoric acid that was formed in the stomach. We report a case of previously healthy, 41-month-old girl who visited the emergency department with persistent abdominal pain and hematemesis after ingestion of fluoride-containing toothpaste. Though the ingested dose of fluoride was below the toxic dose, serious symptoms developed. We performed esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and confirmed a hemorrhagic gastritis caused by hydrofluoric acid. The girl was uneventfully discharged on day 3 after receiving conservative care. When managing children who ingested fluoride-containing toothpaste, physicians need to consider their symptoms, not the ingested amount. In addition, parents should be cautious when their children use fluoride-containing toothpaste.

No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Basal Cell*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify health literacy levels of Asian immigrant women in Korea and factors related with health literacy in them among other sociodemographic characteristics. METHODS: Data were drawn from 671 immigrant women who came from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and other Asian countries (M age=28.1+/-5.89) using REALM-R, which consisted of 8 medical words and was translated into Korean (score range: 0~8). Data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 20.0 program for descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test and multiple regression. RESULTS: The average score of health literacy was 5.0+/-2.61. Time since immigration, country of origin, education level, and Korean language proficiency significantly predicted levels of health literacy in Asian immigrant women (adjusted R square=.200, p<.001). CONCLUSION: When health care professionals provide health care services and health education, they should consider levels of health literacy and factors related with health literacy in Asian immigrant women.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; China ; Delivery of Health Care ; Education ; Emigrants and Immigrants* ; Emigration and Immigration ; Female ; Health Education ; Health Literacy* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Philippines ; Vietnam

PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of health status and health behaviors on depression in married female immigrants in South Korea. METHODS: Sampling 316 immigrant women from the Philippines, Vietnam, China, and other Asian countries, a cross-sectional research design was used with self-report questionnaires that assessed sociodemographic characteristics, health status, health behaviors, and depression. RESULTS: There were significant differences in stillbirth experience, induced abortion, morbidity, perceived health status, meal skipping, and physical activity between depressed and nondepressed immigrant women. After adjusting for sociodemographic variables, stillbirth experience, poorer perceived health status, more meal skipping, and less physical activity were associated with greater depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Both health status and health behaviors had significant impacts on depression, suggesting that development of nursing interventions and educational programs should be targeted towards improving maternal health, healthy lifestyle, and subjective health perception to promote married female immigrants' psychological well-being.
Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group/ethnology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depressive Disorder/*epidemiology ; Emigrants and Immigrants/statistics & numerical data ; Female ; *Health Behavior ; *Health Status ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; *Marriage ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; Rural Health ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Urban Health ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of poisoning drug ingested by younger children, and to compare the clinical outcome by drug forms.METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis based on medical records from the Emergency Department based Injury In-depth Surveillance (EDIIS) registry in Korea from January to December 2015. Patients aged 7 years or younger visiting the emergency department (ED) with drug poisoning were included. We classified the forms of drugs as tablets or syrup, and analyzed the characteristics by size, color, and shape. In addition, clinical outcomes and ED length of stay were compared according to the drug forms.RESULTS: A total of 308 cases were collected, and 202 patients finally were analyzed. Tablets and capsules (TACs) were more common than syrup (67.3% vs. 32.7%). Regarding clinical outcomes, patients who took TACs had higher admission rate (17.6% vs. 7.6%, P = 0.040) without a significant difference in ED length of stay compared to those who took syrups. While commonly ingested drugs in TACs were hormones, sedative and analgesics, frequent drugs in syrup were antihistamines and cold drugs. In 136 case of TACs, median long and short axes were 0.85 cm (interquartile range [IQR], 0.7–1.1 cm) and 0.72 cm (IQR, 0.59–0.82 cm), respectively. Chromatic TACs were 80 cases (58.8%) and more common than achromatic TACs. Round shapes were preferred than angular ones (96.3% vs. 3.7%).CONCLUSION: In younger children poisonings, the TACs showed higher incidence and admission rate compared to syrups. Especially, chromatic TACs and round shapes were preferred. Therefore, drugs with these characteristics need to be stored more carefully.
Analgesics ; Capsules ; Child ; Dosage Forms ; Drug Compounding ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Histamine Antagonists ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Length of Stay ; Medical Records ; Poisoning ; Retrospective Studies ; Tablets

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) omicron (B.1.1.529) variant reduced the risk of severe disease compared with the original strain and other variants, but it appeared to be highly infectious, which resulted in an exponential increase in confirmed cases in South Korea. As the number of confirmed cases increased, so did the number of pediatric patients’ hospitalization. This study aims to evaluate the frequency and clinical features of febrile seizure associated with the COVID-19 omicron variant in children. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of children aged under 18 years with febrile seizure who were tested for COVID-19 from February 2020 to April 2022 at Ajou University Hospital, South Korea. Based on the dominant variants, we divided the period into the pre-omicron (from February 2020 to December 2021) and omicron periods (from January 2022 to April 2022) and compared the clinical characteristics between the two. Also, we compared the clinical characteristics of febrile seizure between COVID-19 positive and negative group during the omicron period. Results: Among the 308 children, 211 patients (9.2 patients/months) and 97 patients (24.3 patients/months) were grouped into pre-omicron and omicron periods, respectively.Compared with the pre-omicron period, patients in the omicron period showed significantly higher mean age (pre-omicron vs. omicron, 22.0 vs. 28.0 months; P = 0.004) and COVID-19 positive results (pre-omicron vs. omicron, 0.5% vs. 62.9%; P < 0.001). As the COVID-19 confirmed cases in the omicron period increased, the number of COVID-19 associated febrile seizure also increased. In the omicron period, 61 children were confirmed to be positive for COVID-19, and COVID-19 positive group showed statistically significant higher mean age (positive vs. negative, 33.0 vs. 23.0 months; P= 0.003) and peak body temperature than the negative group (positive vs. negative, 39.1°C vs. 38.6°C; P = 0.030). Despite the lack of significance, COVID-19 positive group showed longer seizure time, multiple seizure episodes, and higher prevalence of complex febrile seizure. Conclusion The frequency of COVID-19 associated febrile seizure increased in the omicron periods. In addition, in this period, children with febrile seizure diagnosed with COVID-19 had a higher mean age and higher peak body temperature.

Recently, the number of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases has increased remarkably in South Korea, so the triage clinics and emergency departments (ED) are expected to be overcrowded with patients with presumed infection. As of March 21st, there was a total of 8,799 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 102 related deaths in South Korea that was one of the top countries with high incidence rates [1]. This sharp increase in infection is associated with 1) outbreaks in individual provinces, 2) deployment of rapid and aggressive screening tests, 3) dedicated healthcare staffs for virus screening tests, 4) quarantine inspection data transparency and accurate data reporting, and 5) public health lessons from previous Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreaks. This commentary introduces innovative screening tests that are currently used in South Korea for COVID-19, e.g., Drive-Through and Walk-Through tests, and compare the advantages and disadvantages of both methods.

BACKGROUND: In patients with leprosy, paralysis of the facial nerve results in the lower eyelid ectropion and lagophthalmos as a sequela even when the leprosy is cured. Paralytic ectropion causes many functional and cosmetic eye problems, leading to blindness if left untreated. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the efficacy of surgical correction of paralytic ectropion, the lateral tarsal strip, in patients with leprosy. METHODS: Between 2010 and 2015, 40 Korean patients (44 eyelids) with paralytic ectropion who had visited Korean Hansen Welfare Association Hospital were treated with the lateral tarsal strip. Four-point patients' global assessment scale, local complications, and recurrence were assessed at the end of follow-up period. The average follow-up period was 12 months. RESULTS: In the 44 eyelids, recurrence was observed in 5 cases (5/44, 11.4%). There were no serious postoperative complications except mild size discrepancy of both eyes. Most patients were satisfied with the results and mean satisfaction scale was 2.6/3. CONCLUSION: The lateral tarsal strip is a simple, safe, and effective treatment method for the dermatologic surgeon to correct paralytic ectropion of mild to moderate degree in patients with leprosy.
Blindness ; Ectropion* ; Eyelids ; Facial Nerve ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leprosy* ; Methods ; Paralysis ; Postoperative Complications ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies