OBJECTIVES: We aimed to identify occupational groups at high-risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection in Korea, to estimate the number of such workers, and to examine the prevalence of protective resources by employment status. METHODS: Based on the sixth Standard Occupational Classification codes, 2015 census data were linked with data from the fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey, which measured how frequently workers directly come into contact with people other than fellow employees in the workplace. RESULTS: A total of 30 occupational groups, including 7 occupations from the healthcare and welfare sectors and 23 from other sectors, were classified as high-risk occupational groups involving frequent contact with people other than fellow employees in the workplace (more than half of the working hours). Approximately 1.4 million (women, 79.1%) and 10.7 million workers (46.3%) are employed in high-risk occupations. Occupations with a larger proportion of women are more likely to be at a high-risk of infection and are paid less. For wage-earners in high-risk occupations, protective resources to deal with COVID-19 (e.g., trade unions and health and safety committees) are less prevalent among temporary or daily workers than among those with permanent employment. CONCLUSIONS Given the large number of Koreans employed in high-risk occupations and inequalities within the working population, the workplace needs to be the key locus for governmental actions to control COVID-19, and special consideration for vulnerable workers is warranted.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to identify occupational groups at high-risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection in Korea, to estimate the number of such workers, and to examine the prevalence of protective resources by employment status. METHODS: Based on the sixth Standard Occupational Classification codes, 2015 census data were linked with data from the fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey, which measured how frequently workers directly come into contact with people other than fellow employees in the workplace. RESULTS: A total of 30 occupational groups, including 7 occupations from the healthcare and welfare sectors and 23 from other sectors, were classified as high-risk occupational groups involving frequent contact with people other than fellow employees in the workplace (more than half of the working hours). Approximately 1.4 million (women, 79.1%) and 10.7 million workers (46.3%) are employed in high-risk occupations. Occupations with a larger proportion of women are more likely to be at a high-risk of infection and are paid less. For wage-earners in high-risk occupations, protective resources to deal with COVID-19 (e.g., trade unions and health and safety committees) are less prevalent among temporary or daily workers than among those with permanent employment. CONCLUSIONS Given the large number of Koreans employed in high-risk occupations and inequalities within the working population, the workplace needs to be the key locus for governmental actions to control COVID-19, and special consideration for vulnerable workers is warranted.

Sudden cardiac death accounts for approximately half of all cardiovascular mortality in the industrialized countries and ventricular tachyarrhythmia is the most common mechanism for this event. Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) has been effectively used for prevention of sudden cardiac death in patients with life-threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias since 1980. Clinical experience with ICD device now exceeds 100,000 implants worldwide and the number of implantation is increasing. In Korea, there is also increasing trend of ICD implantation. The authors report the initial experience of of ICD implantation in 6 patients who had high risk of sudden cardiac death.
Death, Sudden, Cardiac ; Defibrillators, Implantable* ; Developed Countries ; Humans ; Korea ; Mortality ; Tachycardia

BACKGROUND: The presence of pain during interventional pain management such as prolotherapy and intramuscular stimulation is stressful to patients and can affect the treatment outcome. We studied the safety and efficacy of two drug regimens: midazolam alone and midazolam/alfentanil for sedation anesthesia during prolotherapy and intramuscular stimulation. METHODS: Fifty three patients received either midazolam 0.04-0.08 mg/kg (Group M) or midazolam 0.01-0.02 mg/kg with alfentanil 4-8microgram/kg (Group A) for prolotherapy or intramuscular stimulation. We recorded the pain response, sedation score and side effects during the procedure, as well as amnesia, satisfaction and time to discharge after the procedure. RESULTS: Both drug regimens had significant sedation scores, amnesia and overall provided patient satisfaction. The treatment of pain was superior in Group A. Respiratory depression of three patients occurred in Group A. The time to discharge was longer in Group M. CONCLUSIONS: Midazolam and midazolam/alfentanil used for sedation anesthesia during prolotherapy and intramuscular stimulation were both effective; however, midazolam alone was the safer approach.
Alfentanil ; Amnesia ; Anesthesia* ; Humans ; Midazolam* ; Pain Management ; Patient Satisfaction ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Treatment Outcome

PURPOSE: To develop Korean Menstrual Symptom Scale (KMSS) for university students and test its reliability and validity. METHODS: The scale was developed by intensive literature review, development of preliminary items, verification of content validity, development of secondary items, verification of construct validity, and extraction of final items. Thirty-nine items were constructed. Data for validity and reliability testing were collected with a questionnaire survey from 391 university students. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and reliability coefficients (Cronbach's α) with the SPSS program. RESULTS: There were 37 final items which were sorted into six factors: ‘negative affection (8 items)’, ‘change of activity level (7 items)’, ‘physical symptom (9 items)’, ‘mood change (9 items)’, ‘change in concentration level (4 items)’, and ‘body water retention (5 items)’. The cumulative percent of variance was 63.3%. Regarding the reliability of the scale, its Cronbach's α was 0.96. Cronbach's α values for these factors ranged from 0.75 to 0.91. CONCLUSION: The KMSS demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability. Repeated research is needed to measure menstrual symptom experienced by women of variable ages.
Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Female ; Humans ; Menstruation ; Reproducibility of Results ; Water ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: This study was done to evaluate quality of reports of non-randomized controlled quasi-experimental study articles published in the Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing (KJWHN). METHODS: A search was done for experimental studies assessing intervention effects among all articles published in the KJWHNfrom 2008 to 2013. Original articles were reviewed and analyzed according to the 22 checklist items of the guidelines for Transparent Reporting for Evaluations with Non-randomized Designs (TREND). RESULTS: Thirty-five articles on experimental studies were identified. The evaluation of the quality of reporting in these experimental studies found that there was a wide variety in the level of satisfying the TREND checklist. In particular, according to TREND topics, low levels of reporting quality were found for "title & abstract (only for information on how units were allocated to the intervention)", "outcomes in methods", "assignment in methods", "blinding in methods", "recruitment in results", "baseline data in results", "interpretation in discussion (especially intervention mechanism and success or barriers), "generalizability in discussion". CONCLUSION: Results indicate that adherence to TREND guidelines varied in experimental studies published in the KJWHN suggesting the recommendation that for higher levels of complete reporting, TREND guidelines be used in reports on experimental studies.
Checklist ; Female ; Humans ; Clinical Trial* ; Methods ; Nursing Research ; Nursing* ; Research Design ; Women's Health*

PURPOSE: Disturbances of mineral metabolism are common during the course of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and may lead to serious and debilitating complications unless properly treated. The purpose of this study is to quantify the prevalence of secondary hyperparathyroidism and vitamin D deficiency in non-dialysed chronic kidney disease 3, 4, and 5 in Korea. METHODS: This study included patients who had documented eGFR<60 mL/min/1.73m2 and non-dialysed and had not received any vitamin D compounds. eGFR was calculated by simplified MDRD (Modification of Diet in Renal Disease study) equation. Blood samples were collected for serum creatinine, calcium, phosphate, intact PTH and vitamin D metabolites between May 2006 and April 2007. RESULTS: According to K/DOQI guideline, the prevalence of hyperparathyroidism was 46.9% (15/32) in stage 3 (iPTH>70 pg/mL),45.9% (17/37) in stage 4 (iPTH>110 pg/mL) and 20.5% (9/44) in stage 5 patients (iPTH>300 pg/mL). The prevalence of 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency (25(OH)D3<15 ng/mL) was 86.2% (25/29) in stage 3, 75.7% (28/37) in stage 4 and 88.4% (38/43) in stage 5. There was a negative correlation between eGFR and intact PTH (r=-0.531, p=0.000) and a positive correlation between eGFR and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (r=0.587, p=0.000). Conclusions: So far as non-dialysed CKD patients in Korea are concerned, quantification of the prevalence of abnormality of intact PTH and vitamin D deficiency has been described in this study. More research should be conducted in the future in a prospective, multi-center community cohort study, of which subjects include the early stages like CKD 1 and 2.
Calcium ; Cohort Studies ; Creatinine ; Diet ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Hyperparathyroidism ; Hyperparathyroidism, Secondary ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Korea ; Parathyroid Hormone ; Prevalence ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Vitamin D ; Vitamin D Deficiency ; Vitamins

PURPOSE: This research was aimed to analyze the reports of qualitative researches published in Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing (KJWHN). METHODS: Twenty qualitative researches using in-depth interviews or focus groups published in KJWHN during from 2002 to 2011 were selected for analysis. Selected reports were analyzed by consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ), which were a reporting guideline for qualitative researches, and consisted of thirty two items and three domains, i.e., (1) research team and reflexivity, (2) study design, and (3) data analysis and reporting. RESULTS: Personal characteristics related to credentials, gender and interviewer's bias or assumption were less reported than other items in the 1st domain. In the 2nd domain, descriptions such as a presence of non-participants, pilot test for interview guide development, and transcript return to participants were less reported than other items. In the 3rd domain, items related to number of data coder, participants checking of the finding, and clarity of minor themes were less reported than other items. CONCLUSION: It could be concluded that COREQ is a useful guideline for reporting of qualitative studies. From these results, we suggest that full items of COREQ should be considered and described when researchers report qualitative research.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Female ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Qualitative Research ; Reflex ; Statistics as Topic ; Women's Health

BACKGROUND: Although patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) experience excess mortality compared with the general population, the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for Korean patients on dialysis has not yet been investigated. In this study, we evaluated the SMR among all Korean ESRD patients on maintenance ialysis in 2009 and 2010, and compared it according to age categories, sex, and dialysis modality. METHODS: We used data from all patients on maintenance dialysis between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010 in Korea using the database of the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, and the SMR was determined by calculating of the ratio between the number of actual deaths and expected deaths. RESULTS: A total of 45,568 patients in 2009 and 48,170 patients in 2010 were included in the analysis. The overall age- and sex-adjusted SMR was 10.3 [95% confidence interval (CI), 10.0-10.6] in 2009 and 10.9 (95% CI, 10.7-11.2) in 2010. The SMR for females was much higher than for males. The SMR gradually decreased with increasing age groups. The overall SMR for maintenance hemodialysis patients was lower than that of peritoneal dialysis patients. CONCLUSION: The SMR among Korean ESRD patients is likely to be higher than in other countries. Further evaluation is needed to attempt to improve the outcomes.
Dialysis* ; Female ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Korea ; Male ; Mortality* ; Peritoneal Dialysis ; Renal Dialysis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the quality of reports on observational studies published in the Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing (KJWHN). METHODS: Forty-six studies using cross-sectional designs published in KJWHN from January 2011 to June 2013 were selected for analysis. Selected articles were reviewed and evaluated by three reviewers using the 22 items of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement. As some of 22 items had more than one check point, further broken down, 34 checklist items were used for analysis. RESULTS: Overall, the reviewed studies provided sufficient descriptions for many STROBE items. Seven of the 34 items were found to be not applicable, and 15 of the remaining 27 items (55.5%) were evaluated as 'sufficient' in reporting. Only one study included a flow diagram illustrating participation and this lack of flow diagram was the weakest area of reporting in this review. CONCLUSION: Clearer reporting of cross-sectional studies can be attained by attention to vulnerable areas of reporting, such as including a flow diagram of participants, descriptions of sources of bias and reason for non-participation, and describing limitations of the study. Issues regarding the application of STROBE statement items should be actively discussed in order to aid future revision and clarification of items included in STROBE statement.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Checklist ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Epidemiology ; Nursing* ; Women's Health*