PURPOSE: This study was conducted to compare the incidence rate of influenza-like illnesses between an influenza-vaccinated group and a non-vaccinated group of adults. METHODS: From July 1, 2015 to July 30, 2015, self-reporting questionnaires were given to 300 adults living in the Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, Korea. 265 survey questionnaires that had an earnest response were used for data analysis. The collected data were analyzed using the statistical software SPSS Win 18.0 version. RESULTS: 52.1% of the participants were vaccinated. The incidence rate of influenza-like illnesses was 11.3%. Within the influenza-vaccinated group, 12.3% experienced an influenza-like illness. On the other hand, in the non-vaccinated group, 10.2% experienced an influenza-like illness. There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of influenza-like illness depending on vaccination status. CONCLUSION: During the influenza season from Fall 2014 to Spring 2015, there was no significant difference on the prevalence of influenza-like illness between the study participants whether they were vaccinated or not. Thus, future studies should confirm and closely examine this fact, whether it was a matter of pandemic strain selection or whether there were differences in the effects of adult influenza vaccination as reported in previous studies.
Adult ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Influenza, Human ; Korea ; Pandemics ; Prevalence ; Seasons ; Seoul ; Statistics as Topic ; Vaccination

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to compare the recovery state of 6 month between s-ICH and s-SAH patients. The patients' recovery state was measured with 2 dimensions: functional and cognitive. METHODS: Non-experimental prospective design was adopted by including 108 hemorrhagic stroke patients(s-ICH: 52 vs s-SAH: 56) admitted to Intensive Care Unit of one university hospital. RESULTS: The study results showed that overall functional recovery state of s-SAH patients was better than that of s-ICH patients, and s-SAH patients also showed better recovery states in all of the sub-dimensions of functional recovery, such as feeding, grooming, and toileting, than those of s-ICH in 6 month. On the contrary, the study results showed that overall cognitive recovery states of 6 month between two groups were not significantly different. However, according to the results comparing the sub-dimensions of cognitive recovery, s-SAH patients' recovery states on attention, communication and memory were significantly better than those of s-ICH patients, while recovery states on problem solving, safety behavior, and social behavior between 2 groups were not significantly different. CONCLUSION: From the study results, it was noted that s-SAH patients showed better recovery states in cognitive dimension as well as in functional dimension compared with s-ICH patients.
Animals ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Grooming ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Memory ; Problem Solving ; Prospective Studies ; Social Behavior ; Stroke ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) is a rare disease characterized by typical clinical features and the transplacental passage of maternal autoantibodies, particularly anti-SSA/Ro. The major clinical manifestations are cutaneous lupus lesions, congenital heart block, hematological disorders, and hepatobiliary diseases. We report a case of NLE presenting with multiple round and oval target-like erythematous skin lesions and abnormal liver function, born to a clinically asymptomatic mother whose diagnosis was made retrospectively only after her newborn's diagnosis. Both the infant and the mother were positive for the anti-SSA/Ro and anti-SSB/La antibodies.
Antibodies ; Autoantibodies ; Heart Block ; Humans ; Infant ; Liver ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Mothers ; Rare Diseases ; Retrospective Studies ; Skin

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to identify how level of information affected intention, using the Theory of Planned Behavior. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The study was conducted survey in diverse community centers and shopping malls in Seoul, which yielded N = 209 datasets. To compare processed foods consumption behavior, we divided samples into two groups based on level of information about food additives (whether respondents felt that information on food additives was sufficient or not). We analyzed differences in attitudes toward food additives and toward purchasing processed foods, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions to processed foods between sufficient information group and lack information group. RESULTS: The results confirmed that more than 78% of respondents thought information on food additives was insufficient. However, the group who felt information was sufficient had more positive attitudes about consuming processed foods and behavioral intentions than the group who thought information was inadequate. This study found people who consider that they have sufficient information on food additives tend to have more positive attitudes toward processed foods and intention to consume processed foods. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests increasing needs for nutrition education on the appropriate use of processed foods. Designing useful nutrition education requires a good understanding of factors which influence on processed foods consumption.
Surveys and Questionnaires ; Dataset ; Education ; Food Additives ; Intention ; Seoul

As the importance of elderly's dietary life have increased, low-income elderly's meal should be taken care by social policies. Nevertheless, there is a lack of systematic management in home-delivery meal service. This study aims to investigate the elderly's experience on home-delivered meal service, especially identifying the symbolic meaning of home-delivered meal service on elderly's dietary life. Using an in-depth interview, qualitative data was collected from five elderly participants who received home-delivered meals. Data was analyzed based on Colaizzi's 6 steps method, deriving 148 significant statements, 18 formulated meanings, and 5 themes: , , , , and . Elderly participants regarded the home delivered meal as not only a decent meal but also felt appreciated. The home-delivered meals were found to be their only meal all day; thus, they considered these meals as a means of survival. Home-delivered meals are considered as a lack of consideration for the elderly's physical condition, including their tastes, portion size, and cooking method. Also, these elderly seemed to lose their appetite due to aging and it caused the enjoyment of eating. The elderly have kept silence never expressing any opinions regarding the home delivered meals because they were offered for free. The results suggested that the home-delivered meal service should be developed with the multilateral evaluation methods to reflect the elderly's needs to improve the quality of the home-delivered meal service.
Aged* ; Aging ; Appetite ; Cooking ; Eating ; Humans ; Meals* ; Methods ; Portion Size ; Public Policy

BACKGROUND: In Korea, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the most common nosocomial pathogen, which is particularly prevalent in ICU. We performed this study to investigate the modes of transmission of MRSA and the role of nasal carriage of11RSA to subsequent MRSA infections in medical ICU. METHODS: All patients admitted to the medical lCU during 10 months were studied prospectively. Nasal swabs were done in all patients within 24 hours of admission and weekly thereafter. For patients who developed MRSA infections, additional cultures were done before start of antibiotics. Surveillance cultures of nostril, hands of health care workers and environment were done once at the end of the study. Bacterial typing was performed with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using Smal. RESULTS: Among 138 patients enrolled, 24 patients (17.4 %) were nasal colonizers, and 9 patients (6.5%) were already infected with MRSA prior to admission. New nasal colonization among patients, in whom follow up nasal cultures were done at the interval of 3 days or more, developed at 36.2 % (21/58 patients). New infections of MRSA in patients who were admitted for more than 3 days, developed at 11.7 % (13/111 patients). Patients in isolation room were infected with MRSA less frequently (P <0.05). No other risk factors for nasal colonization of MRSA or MRSA infections were found. There were no significant differences between nasal colonizers and non-colonizers in the incidence of MRSA infections. PFGE analysis of MRSA isolates from patients showed several major patterns, which were similar in both MRSA isolates obtained prior to admission and those acquired after admission. PFGE patterns of MRSA isolates from health care workers and environment were different from those of patients. CONCLUSION: Patients who were infected or colonized with MRSA seemed to be a major source for transmission of MRSA in medical ICU. In medical lCU, where MRSA were prevalent, nasal colonization was not related to the increased incidence of MRSA infections.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacterial Typing Techniques ; Colon ; Cross Infection ; Delivery of Health Care ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intensive Care Units ; Korea ; Methicillin Resistance* ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus* ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Staphylococcus aureus

BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the major pathogens of nosocomial infections. Especially in intensive care units (ICUs) and nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus has been known as a major risk factor of staphylococcal infections. In Korea, MRSA is the most common pathogen of nosocomial infections in ICUs. We performed this study to investigate the effects of conventional control measures and the additional effect of intranasal fusidic acid in prevention of MRSA nasal carriage and infection in ICUs of one educational hospital in Korea. METHOD: All patients admitted to medical ICU and surgical ICU in Samsung medical center from April to September 1999 were studied prospectively. Surveillance culture was done in all patients and health care workers by nasal swab culture. We tried to control MRSA infection by conventional methods in the first period April-June 1999) and by additional intranasal fusidic acid application in the second period (July-September 1999) RESULTS: Comparing the first with second periods, new nasal MRSA colonization rate among patients was significantly decreased from 14.8% to 1.8% in surgical ICU (P=0.016). Although there was no statistical difference between the first and second periods in medical ICU (14.6% vs 5.9%, P=0.192), the new nasal colonization of the first period was significantly decreased than that of the previous study which was performed in 1996 (14.6% vs 36.2%, P=0.015). And new MRSA infection rate was much more decreased than the previous study, but there was no statistical significance (11.7% vs 2.0%, P=0.066). CONCLUSION: Conventional methods for MRSA control decreased new MRSA nasal colonization of patients in ICUs. Application of intranasal fusidic acid was considered as an additional control measure for reducing MRSA nasal colonization. For evaluating effect of intranasal fusidic acid for preventing of MRSA infection in ICUs, further study with larger scale of study population is warranted.
Colon ; Cross Infection ; Delivery of Health Care ; Furosemide* ; Fusidic Acid* ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Korea ; Methicillin Resistance* ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus* ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Staphylococcal Infections ; Staphylococcus aureus

BACKGROUND: Cost-benefit studies for hospital infection control and prevention (HICP) are often applied to improve the investment for infection control; however, an accurate cost measurement for HICP would be necessary before a cost benefit analysis and establishing a proper policy for HICP. The purpose of this study is to analyze the costs of HICP for the hospital in Korea. METHOD: The costs associated with HICP in the year 2004 were surveyed for 8 university-affiliated teaching hospitals in Seoul and Kyounggi province. The collected data included the costs for standard precaution materials including hand hygiene and personal protective equipments, hospital employee health service, maintenance of hospital facility and environmental control, and operating infection control office. RESULT: The average costs for HICP were estimated to be 785,115 won per one bed per year. Among the contributing factors to the total costs were the cost for patient isolation in private rooms (310,458 won), disinfectants (125,533), hand hygiene materials (99,007), maintenance of hospital environmental hygiene (90,773), operation of infection control office (65,811), personal protective equipment (58,099), and employee health care (35,434). CONCLUSION: We estimated the annual cost of HICP at a minimum of 96,723,000 won for a 100-bed hospital. This study contributes to establishing the basic and necessary data for a proper HICP compensation system by providing various HICP costs for the university hospital.
Compensation and Redress ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Cross Infection* ; Disinfectants ; Hand Hygiene ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Infection Control ; Investments ; Korea ; Occupational Health ; Occupational Health Services ; Patient Isolation ; Patients' Rooms ; Seoul

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to survey the nasal colonization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among the patients admitted in a medical intensive care unit (MICU) and analyze risk factors associated with the colonization. METHODS: The study was carried out on patients admitted into the MICU in a 1,250-bed tertiary care university hospital from January through December 2006. Nasal surveillance cultures were obtained from patients within 24 hours of admission to the unit. Data were analyzed retrospectively by the review of medical records. RESULTS: A total of 312 patients were screened with active nasal cultures; 36 patients (11.6%) were positive for MRSA. Of these, 22 (7.1%) were positive in the nasal cultures only and 14 (4.5%) were positive in the cultures of other specimens (13, sputum; 1, joint fluid) in addition to the nasal swabs. Among the risk factors for MRSA nasal colonization were sex (man), route of admission (from other ICUs or wards), a history of ICU admission during the recent 12 months, and prolonged hospital days in ICU. CONCLUSION: MRSA nasal carrier rate was found higher in this study than in those reported in the literature. Most of the patients colonized with MRSA in the nostril were not colonized with the organism elsewhere in the body. Whether or not active surveillance for MRSA should be performed would depend on the nasal colonization rate of the patients at the time of admission to the ICU.
Colon* ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units* ; Critical Care* ; Joints ; Medical Records ; Methicillin Resistance* ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sputum ; Tertiary Healthcare

PURPOSE: This study investigated the pattern of hematologic profile and eosinophilia for a month after birth in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. METHODS: The medical records of 141 VLBW infants (birth weight, <1,500 g) admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Konyang University Hospital. We collected complete blood cell counts (CBC) weekly for 4 weeks and studied hematologic profile and related factors of eosinophilia (> or =700/mm3). RESULTS: Overall, 50.4% of all infants had at least one instance of eosinophilia for a month after birth. There were 50.7% with moderate eosinophilia (1,000-2,999/mm3). White blood cell (WBC) counts and absolute neutrophil count (ANC) climaxed on 7th day of life, whereas eosinophilia mainly occurred on 21st day of life. The demographic data and perinatal characteristics of infants with and without eosinophilia were compared. Prevalence of eosinophilia was associated with gestational age and total parenteral nutrition on 21st day of life; total parenteral nutrition and transfusion on 28th day of life. Eosinophilia was closely associated with transfusion on logistic regression analysis (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Eosinophilia in VLBW infants occurs mainly on 21st day of life. Eosinophil counts showed a separate trend different from WBC counts and ANC. Transfusion was significantly associated with eosinophilia.
Blood Cell Count ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Intensive Care, Neonatal ; Leukocytes ; Logistic Models ; Medical Records ; Neutrophils ; Parenteral Nutrition, Total ; Parturition ; Prevalence