The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among variables which are categorized by two groups : the first group consists of obesity, serum lipids, and blood pressure which were measured by physical index or physiological index, and the second group consists of demographic variables and variables related to lifestyle that is known to influence the first group. The canonical correlation analysis was conducted with the data collected from 400 male clients who visited one university hospital located in Inchon in a period, from May 1996 to December 1996, for physical examination. According to the results, blood pressure and HDL of the first group were shown to have strong relationship with age, alcohol, smoking, exercise of the second group. And total cholesterol, triglyceride, systolic, BMI of the first group were shown to have strong relationship with income status, education, exercise of the second group. And all of the serum lipids (total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL), BMI, and diastolic were shown to have relationship with education, smoking, alcohol. It should be noted that fat rate, which was one of the indices for obesity, was not significant in any of the canonical variates. From the comparative study results on which combination of indices of obesity, serum lipids and blood pressure was related to either alcohol or smoking more, it can be seem that smoking was more highly related to two blood pressure indices such as systolic and diastolic, and that alcohol was highly related to serum lipid indices such as HDL, total cholesterol, triglyceride. Also investigation on what differences exist between the combination of variables showing high relationship to systolic and the combination of variables showing high relationship to diastolic was conducted. Systolic turned out to have relationship with total cholesterol, triglyceride, obesity (fat rate), income status, education, exercise. And diastolic was related to HDL-c, total cholesterol, tryglyceride, obesity (BMI), education, smoking, alcohol. From this results, it could be seen that the combination of variables which have high relationship to systolic and diastolic have different patterns. Lastly, the investigation on what relationships exist between serum lipids and demographic variables/lifestyle variables was conducted. It turned out that HDL-c had high relationship with age, education, income status, alcohol, and that all of serum lipids (total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL) were shown to have high relationship with income status, education, age, exercise. From these results, it could be seen that the demographic variables were more influential both on HDL and on all of serum lipids than lifestyle variables were.
Arteriosclerosis* ; Blood Pressure ; Cholesterol ; Education ; Humans ; Incheon ; Life Style ; Male ; Obesity ; Physical Examination ; Risk Factors* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Triglycerides

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify comprehensive predictors of fatigue in cancer patients. METHODS: One hundred ten cancer patients visiting in-patient or out-patient clinics of a university hospital located in Incheon participated in this study. RESULTS: The hematologic indicators (WBC and Hemoglobin) were significant for explaining fatigue. The psychological factors of fatigue were statistically significant. Both anxiety and depression, included as psychological factors, were significant in explaining fatigue in cancer patients. The influence of physical factors on fatigue was also statistically significant. Among the variables included as physical factors, pain, nausea/vomiting/anorexia, and sleep disturbance were significant whereas, dyspnea was not significant. The influence of the daily activity factor on fatigue was statistically significant. Among the variables included as daily activity factors, regular exercise or not and the usual activity level were significant in explaining fatigue of cancer patients, while the level of rest was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: From the study results fatigue of cancer patients appeared to be influenced by multidimensional factors, such as physiological, physical, psychological, and activity related factors.
Activities of Daily Living ; Adaptation, Physiological ; Adult ; Aged ; Fatigue/etiology/*nursing ; Female ; Health Status ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Models, Nursing ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasms/complications/*nursing ; Sick Role ; Sickness Impact Profile

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study were to examine the nutritional status of severe brain injury adult patients in critical period, and to compare the nutritional states before and after tube feeding. METHODS: Data from 19 patients admitted to the SICU in a university hospital due to severe brain injury were analyzed. Nutritional states were measured by anthropometric and blood biochemical indicators. RESULTS: MAC and MAMC were significantly decreased only at 7 days after admission compared with those on the day of admission. TSF was significantly decreased from 7 days to 14 days after admission. Fat rate was significantly decreased from 3 days to 14 days after admission. Hb was significantly decreased only at 3 days after admission. Albumin was significantly decreased from 3 days to 14 days after admission. However, lymphocyte was significantly increased at 14 days after admission. TSF and Albumin became significantly worse even after initiating tube feeding. CONCLUSIONS: Nutritional status of severe brain injury patients in SICU became worse after admission whichever indicators were adopted to evaluate nutritional status, anthropometric or blood biochemical indicators, and became worse even after initiating tube feeding.
Adult ; Brain ; Brain Injuries ; Critical Period (Psychology) ; Enteral Nutrition ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; Nutrition Assessment ; Nutritional Status ; Tosyl Compounds

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to develop a comprehensive cognitive rehabilitation program that can be easily applied to brain injured patients by family members or nurses in community or hospital settings. METHODS: A Systemic literature review design was used. Thirty-three related studies were reviewed. RESULT: Based on the results of the literature review, the training tasks for attention were designated to enhancing 4 hierarchical areas, i.e., focused, selective, alternating, and divided attention. On the other hand, the memory rehabilitation tasks mainly consisted of mnemonic skills, such as the association method which helps patients memorize given information by linking together common attributes, the visual imagery method, and self-instruction method. The problem solving rehabilitation program included a task of games or plays which stimulated the patients' curiosity and interest. The training tasks for problem solving were to encourage the process of deriving reasonable solutions for a problematic situation resembling real problems that the patients were faced with in their everyday life. CONCLUSION: It is expected that the cognitive rehabilitation program developed from this study could help patients having difficulty in their every day life, due to a reduced cognitive ability resulting from brain injury, to effectively adapt to every day life.
Problem Solving ; Memory ; Humans ; *Cognitive Therapy ; Cognition Disorders/etiology/*rehabilitation ; Brain Injuries/complications/nursing/*rehabilitation

The purpose of this study was to use meta-analysis to analyze result of 17 studies which investigated the effects of integrated programs, and 11 studies which examined the effects of exercise programs on pain, depression, and disability. The 28 studies analyzed in this work were selected from the following sources: MEDLINE Search, bibliographies of related studies, main academic journals of nursing in Korea, and journals on arthritis issues. For the analysis of the data, homogeneity of effect sizes which were calculated based on data in the 28 studies was tested and its average effect size was computed by using meta analysis software package which was developed by Song(1992, 1998). the results can be summarized as follows: 1) Homogeneity tests were conducted on integrated programs on pain. In the preliminary homogeneity tests on effect size of all 17 studies, no homogeneity was found. When homogeneity tests on the effect size of the remaining 15 studies were performed, excluding two studies which had extremely larger effect size compared to other studies, the 15 studies were found to be homogeneous(Q=16.38, p=.23). The obtained average effect size, D(Mean Standardized Difference Between Means), was .25. When homogeneity tests on effect size on pain was conducted for the exercise programs, effect size for all nine studies wee found to be homogeneous(Q=7.42, p=.49) and the average effect size D=.30. Therefore, Hypothesis 1 was rejected from the results, that an average effect size of the integrated programs in pain was not significantly different from that of the exercise programs in pain. 2) Since only two studies investigated the effect of exercise programs n depression, comparison between the average effect size of integrated programs on depression could not be tested. Thereby, only the average effect size of integrated programs in depression was obtained. Eight studies wee tested to be positive on the homogeneity of effect sizes(Q=18.31, p=.02) at alpha <.01 and its average effect size was D=.11. 3) For the analysis of integrated program on disability, 13 studies, except for four which had an extremely large effect size compared to the others were found to be homogeneous at alpha <.01(Q=22.30, p=.04) and the average effect size on disability was D=.16. for analysis of the exercise programs on disability, eight studies, except for one which had an extremely large effect size compared to others, were found to be homogeneous(Q=7.87, p=.34) and the average effect size on disability was D=.60. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 was accepted from the results that an average effect size of exercise programs n disability was significantly larger than that of integrated programs in disability.
Arthritis* ; Depression ; Korea ; Nursing

The purpose of this study was to compare the circadian blood pressure and heart rate rhythm of dippers and non-dippers. Biochemical and clinical characteristics of dippers and non-dippers were also compared to determine whether non-dippers have an increased prevalence of hypertension- related conditions. The subjects were 123 out-patients with essential hypertension who had undergone ambulatory blood pressure monitoring at the University Hospital in Inchon, South Korea, from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 1998. Daytime values were determined between 6:00 AM and 8:00 PM and the nighttime values were determined between 8:00 PM and 6:00 AM. Non-dippers were defined as those who showed a reduction in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure or heart rate less than 10% and they accounted for 25%, 32% and 31% of the subjects, respectively. The timings of the circadian systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate in dippers were very consistent: showing the lowest values during the night, rising in the early morning and reaching a plateau in the late morning. Non-dippers' circadian rhythms of systolic and diastolic blood pressures fluctuated less than those of dippers, and the 24-hours heart rate rhythms of the dipper and non- dipper groups were completely reversed. None of the biochemical characteristics tested in the present study showed a significant difference between dippers and non-dippers whether dipper was classified by systolic or diastolic blood pressure or heart rate. Similarly, hypertension-related symptoms and complications were not associated with the dipper/non-dipper description, whether classified by sBP, dBP, or HR.
Aged ; *Blood Pressure ; *Circadian Rhythm ; Female ; *Heart Rate ; Human ; Hypertension/*physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Age

BACKGROUND: Quinidine appeared to increase serum digoxin levels when given with quinidine. Therefore elevated serum digoxin concentrations and clinical toxicity have been reported in patient receiving quinidine. Currently, Bayesian method which estimates the most probable parameters of the drug for each patient from population parameters data is useful approach for adjusting digoxin dosage. To increase the accuracy of Bayesian method, it is desirable to use population parameters of Korean. Therefore we evaluated the effect of quinidine on digoxin clearance in Korea. METHOD: Patient's records from 19 adult cardiac disease without CHF having normal renal and liver function from Seoul National University of Hospital respectively wre evaluated. Digoxin pharmacokinetic parameters, CL and Vd, were obtained from serum concentration of digoxin of single and combined therapy at each steady-state by using bayesian method. RESULTS: This study show that quinidine reduced the total body clearance of digoxin from 2.39+/-0.17 to 1.51+/-0.08ml/min/kg(p<0.05) and reduced the digoxin volume of distribution from 8.57+/-0.29 to 4.98+/-0.19L/kg(p<0.05). This results show that digoxin dosage reduced to 40-50% in Korean, if quinidine therapy is initiated.
Adult ; Bayes Theorem ; Digoxin* ; Drug Interactions ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Korea ; Liver ; Pharmacokinetics ; Quinidine* ; Seoul

The certificate of blood donation was introduced in 1975. Blood donor receives the certificate after donation. The person who has this certificate can receive one unit of blood component transfusion without charge in the hospital when he needs transfusion. The donor can use it for himself or anyone else whom it may concern, if necessary. This blood pre-deposit system in Korea is regulated by Transfusion Law. The government health insurance budget and pre-deposit foundation budget support the reimbursement fee for blood. Whenever blood centers collect blood from donors, they deposit 2,500 KRW into the pre-deposit foundation budget. The return rate of certificates was 15-28% and recently showed a gradual decrease to 13% due to the extension of coverage by government insurance for cancer patients, who are the main transfusion candidates. This system has contributed to the shift from paid donation to voluntary donation for the past 40 years. However, because this certificate imposes financial incentives for donors, the spirit of voluntary non-remunerated donation can be abused. If the transfusion fee is fully covered by government budget, it might be possible to discontinue the use of the certificate in order to implement true voluntary donation.
Blood Component Transfusion ; Blood Donors ; Budgets ; Fees and Charges ; Humans ; Insurance ; Insurance, Health ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Motivation ; Tissue Donors

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the significant acute physiological predictors of mortality and of functional and cognitive recovery in hemorrhagic stroke patients. METHODS: The subjects were 108 hemorrhagic stroke patients admitted to Neurological Intensive Care Unit of a university hospital. RESULTS: The significant physiological predictors of mortality and of functional and cognitive recovery were quite different upon admission Glasgow Coma Scale scores: respiratory rate, hematocrit, serum pH, osmolality, and PaCO2 were the predictors in the subjects with a high Glasgow Coma Scale scores while blood pressure, PaO2, respiratory rate, and hematocrit in the subjects with a low Glasgow coma scale scores. CONCLUSION: The physiological derangements induced by acute stroke are undoubtedly influence clinical outcome. More study is required to determine their diverse impacts on clinical outcomes.
Blood Pressure ; Glasgow Coma Scale* ; Hematocrit ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Intensive Care Units ; Mortality ; Osmolar Concentration ; Prognosis ; Respiratory Rate ; Stroke*

This study was performed to evaluate the effect of 7-week comprehensive health promotion program for RA patients (CHPPRA) on changes in pain and depression. In addition, it was also examined that this effect was generated by changes in patients' health promoting strategies (positive self-image, positive thinking, problem solving, communication, pain management, stress management, exercise, and knowledge about RA) learned through CHPPRA. Twenty-eight out-patients of RA clinic in a university hospital participated for this study. The results are as followers. Changes in exercise, self-concept, positive thinking, problem solving, depression, and pain management were significant predictors to explain relieving pain level. Since all of these variables had positive standardized beta weights (betas), it can be interpreted that increasing level of these health promoting strategies may induce pain improvement. Changes in positive thinking, communication skill, exercise, self-concept, pain management, and knowledge about the disease were significant predictors to explain positive change in depression. Since all of the significant variables except the change in knowledge about the disease had positive standardized beta weights (betas), it can be interpreted that increasing level of these health promoting strategies may induce improving depression level. However, our results showed that the higher level of the knowledge about the disease was, the worse depression was.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Depression* ; Health Education ; Health Promotion* ; Humans ; Outpatients ; Pain Management ; Problem Solving ; Thinking ; Weights and Measures