BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome increases the risk for cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Many studies have revealed that eating frequency influences the total serum cholesterol level, glucose tolerance and obesity. Hypothesizing that an increase in eating frequency decreases the prevalence of metabolic syndrome with total energy intake adjusted, we evaluated the association between eating frequency and the risk of metabolic syndrome in Koreans aged more than 20 years old. METHODS: We used the data from the 2005 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III and the Asia-Pacific regional obesity guidelines. To examine the association of metabolic syndrome with eating frequency, snack frequency and meal frequency, we performed multiple logistic regression analysis adjusting for age, sex, physical activity, daily caloric intake, smoking and drinking. RESULTS: Meal frequency was associated with metabolic syndrome in the 20-45 years group (P=0.011). Eating frequency was significantly related with metabolic syndrome in the group aged more than 45 years (P=0.025). Within the subgroup of subjects more than 45 years who had one or two meals a day, snack frequency showed a significant association with metabolic syndrome (P=0.038). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that a decreased eating frequency is associated with a risk of metabolic syndrome, although the causal relationship is not exactly known. It would be useful to pursue this question through further studies.
Adult ; Aged ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Eating ; Energy Intake ; Food Habits ; Glucose ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Meals ; Motor Activity ; Nutrition Surveys ; Obesity ; Prevalence ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Snacks

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to estimate the socioeconomic costs resulting from alcohol drinking among adolescents as of 2006 from a societal perspective. METHODS: The costs were classified into direct costs, indirect costs, and other costs. The direct costs consisted of direct medical costs and direct non-medical costs. The indirect costs were computed by future income losses from premature death, productivity losses from using medical services and reduction of productivity from drinking and hangover. The other costs consisted of property damage, public administrative expenses, and traffic accident compensation. RESULTS: The socioeconomic costs of alcohol drinking among adolescents as of 2006 were estimated to be 387.5 billion won (0.05% of GDP). In the case of the former, the amount included 48.25% for reduction of productivity from drinking and hangover, 39.38% for future income losses from premature death, and 6.71% for hangover costs. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that the socioeconomic costs of alcohol drinking among adolescents in Korea were a serious as compared with that of the United States. Therefore, the active interventions such as a surveillance system and a prevention program to control adolescents drinking by government and preventive medicine specialist are needed.
Accidents, Traffic/economics ; Adolescent ; Alcohol Drinking/*economics ; Costs and Cost Analysis ; Efficiency ; Health Services/economics/utilization ; Humans ; *Models, Economic ; Republic of Korea ; Socioeconomic Factors

PURPOSE: Despite of the development of recent medical technology, bloodstream infection (BSI) still has significant influences on mortality and morbidity of patients admitted to the ICU. The BSI has the second most frequent site. Especially BSI in ICU have higher infection rate than general ward. This study was investigated the incidence rate of the nosocomial BSI, risk factors and bacterial pathogens of BSI in ICU for a general hospital. METHODS: This study was carried out for those 443 patients in ICU of general hospital during the period from March 2002 to February 2003. The definition for BSI was based on that of CDC. Data was collected by questionnaire, medical record review. The statistical SPSS(ver. 10.0) was used to analyze data that included chi-square, t-test and logistic regression. RESULTS: In the incidence rates of the BSI were 76.7 in 1,000 per patients, 7.0 in per 1,000 patients days and 32.1 in per 1,000 patients with central lines, 3.2 in per 1,000 cental line days. In the incidence rates of the BSI by type of ICU showed MICU 10.1, SICU 2.9 in per 1,000 patients days. The significant risk factors were identified as type of ICU(OR=5.119, p=0.001), length of stay(OR=1.039, p=0.001). The causal microbes of the BSI were CNS 35.5%, MRSA 23.6%. The bacterial pathogens of central catheter-related BSI were CNS 50%, MRSA 50%. CONCLUSION: The occurrence of ICU-acquired infection was significantly related to the increase in morbidity and mortality. Ongoing targeted surveillance and infection control strategies is necessary to control this problem.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Hospitals, General* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infection Control ; Intensive Care Units* ; Critical Care* ; Logistic Models ; Medical Records ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Mortality ; Patients' Rooms ; Risk Factors ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to explore the factors related to internet addiction in college students in Korea. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey of college students in Seoul, and data was collected through self-report questionnaires. Data was analyzed by one-way analysis of variance, Fisher's exact test, Kruskal-Wallis rank test, and ordinary logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: In the ordinary logistic regression analysis, the factors related to a higher risk of internet addiction were lower frequency of exercise (P=0.017), lower level of self-control (P<0.001), higher level of stress (P<0.001), living with parents (P=0.011), using the internet for extended periods of time (P<0.001), and using the internet in their own rooms (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that exercise, self-control, stress, living with parents, and duration and place of internet use are associated with internet addiction in college students. This information can be used to design methods for preventing internet addiction. More specific studies on internet addiction in college students are needed.
Behavior, Addictive ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Humans ; Hypogonadism ; Internet ; Logistic Models ; Mitochondrial Diseases ; Ophthalmoplegia ; Parents ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Medicine in the twenty-first century will be different from the medicine of today. Recent changes in medical environment, such as changes in disease and mortality pattern and rapid increase in medical knowledge, require change and adaptation of medical education. The task of medical education is to help people entering medicine to prepare to meet their professional obligations in this new context. So we tried to join Problem-base learning(PBL), which challenges students to be more actively involved in defining what they learn and how they learn, and Computer-assisted learning(CAL), which uses multimedia and medical informatics as learning tools. Finally we developed Problem-oriented medical education program using the Internet. First, using simulated patient cases, we built clinical database with patients' history, physical examinations, and various laboratory findings. To provide PBL program through the Internet, we constructed client-server system using IJS(Internet Information Server) on Windows-NT settings, and made user-friendly dynamic interface with HTML, JAVA, JAVA Script and so on. PBL on the Web will make students learn effectively and actively, and offer vivid multimedia environment for medical education. We expect this PBL program to be used as an effective learning tool for residents or doctors as well as for medical students in the near future. The Internet
Education, Medical* ; Humans ; Indonesia ; Internet* ; Learning ; Medical Informatics ; Mortality ; Multimedia ; Physical Examination ; Students, Medical

Recent progress in medical informatics enables us to use medical information regardless of time or place, to make a diagnostic and therapeutic plan, according to increasing need about health of general population. There are many homepages on the web, which provides medical common senses, hospital information, and medical counselling on the web. Virtual Hospital, which offers comprehensive media information, has medical counselling program with various programs such as self-diagnosis, emergency information, drug information, Q and A, and so on. The aim of this study is to examine the content and purpose of medical counselling on the web. The subjects consisted of 150 counselings which were called 'Medical Counselling' in the Virtual Hospital for December 1996 through March 1997. Many questioners wanted to know treatment principles. to make a diagnosis, and to know specific medical knowledge, The most common questions are as follows; general and unspecified, digestive, skin, musculoskeletal problems. These findings suggests that medical counselling may be used to supplement the lack of direct medical interviews with doctors.
Counseling* ; Diagnosis ; Emergencies ; Internet* ; Medical Informatics ; Skin

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to analyze the scale of and trends associated with the cost-of-illness of thyroid disease in Korea at 2-year intervals during the last 10 years for which data are available. METHODS: Cost-of-illness was estimated in terms of direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include direct medical costs due to hospitalization, outpatient and pharmacy sectors, transportation, and care-giver costs. Indirect costs include future income loss due to premature death and loss of productivity as a result of absence from work. RESULTS: The cost-of-illness of thyroid disease in Korea was estimated at 224.2 billion won in 2002, 303.4 billion won in 2004, 400.3 billion won in 2006, 570.4 billion won in 2008, and 762.2 billion won in 2010. For example, the cost-of-illness of thyroid disease in 2010 was 3.4 times greater compared to 2002. The direct cost of the total cost-of-illness was 69.7%, which accounted for the highest proportion of costs. Cost-of-illness for individuals between the ages of 30 and 50 accounted for the greatest share of costs. CONCLUSION: The cost-of-illness of thyroid disease was relatively large in economically active age groups, and demonstrated a very rapid growth rate compared to other major diseases in Korea. Therefore, we suggest nationwide recognition of the importance of prevention and management of thyroid disease and prioritization of the management of thyroid disease among current and future health promotion policies in Korea.
Cost of Illness ; Efficiency ; Health Promotion ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Korea ; Mortality, Premature ; Outpatients ; Pharmacy ; Thyroid Diseases* ; Transportation

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the importance, performance and rates of nurses' performance of nursing interventions in long-term care hospitals. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was used and data were collected in 2015. Participants were 174 clinical nurses working in 14 long-term care hospitals. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 18.0. RESULTS: The nurses' perceived importance of nursing interventions was 4.48±0.51, and the degree of nursing intervention performance in long-term care hospitals was 3.97±1.07 out of 5. The rates of nursing interventions performed by nurses ranged from 33.9% to 99.4% with an average of 82.5%. There were statistically significant positive correlations among perceived importance, performance in hospitals, and rates for nurses' performance of nursing interventions (p<.001). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that interventions with a high degree of importance and performance could be the core nursing interventions in long-term care hospitals. These core nursing interventions should be included in education for nurses. These findings can be used in developing realistic guidelines and effective strategies for nurses and administrators to improve the quality of nursing and the status of nursing professionals in long-term care hospitals.
Administrative Personnel ; Education ; Humans ; Long-Term Care* ; Nursing*

OBJECTIVES: To determine the impact of cigarette prices on the decision to initiate and quit smoking by taking into account the interdependence of smoking and other behavioral risk factors. METHODS: The study population consisted of 3,000 male Koreans aged > or =20. A survey by telephone interview was undertaken to collect information on cigarette price, smoking and other behavioral risk factors. A two-part model was used to examine separately the effect of price on the decision to be a smoker, and on the amount of cigarettes smoked. RESULTS: The overall price elasticity of cigarettes was estimated at -0.66, with a price elasticity of -0.02 for smoking participation and -0.64 for the amount of cigarettes consumed by smokers. The inclusion of other behavioral risk factors reduced the estimated price elasticity for smoking participation substantially, but had no effect on the conditional price elasticity for the quantity of cigarettes smoked. CONCLUSIONS: From the public health and financial perspectives, an increase in cigarette price would significantly reduce smoking prevalence as well as cigarette consumption by smokers in Korea.
Adult ; *Costs and Cost Analysis ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Risk Factors ; Smoking/*economics/*prevention & control ; Social Environment ; Socioeconomic Factors ; *Tobacco

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study analyzed the scale and trends of the social and economic costs of liver disease in Korea for the past 5 years. METHODS: The social aspects of socioeconomic costs were projected for viral hepatitis (B15-B19), liver cirrhosis, malignant neoplasm of the liver (C22) and other liver diseases (K70-K76), as representative diseases by dividing costs into direct and indirect from 2004 to 2008. Direct costs include hospitalization, outpatient, and pharmacy costs in the health-care sector, and transportation and caregiver costs. Indirect costs include the future income loss due to premature death and the loss of productivity resulting from absence from work. RESULTS: The social and economic costs of liver disease were projected to be KRW 5,858 billion in 2004, KRW 5,572 billion in 2005, KRW 8,104 billion in 2006, KRW 6,095 billion in 2007, and KRW 5,689 billion in 2008. The future income loss resulting from premature death is thus greatest, from 73.9% to 86.1%, followed by the direct medical costs, from 9.0% to 18.1%. The productivity loss resulting from absence from work accounts for 3.3-5.5%, followed by the direct nonmedical costs such as transportation and caregiver costs, at 1.5-2.5%. CONCLUSIONS: Among the socioeconomic costs of liver disease in Korea, the future income loss resulting from premature death is showing a decreasing trend, whereas direct medical costs are increasing dramatically.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cost of Illness ; Female ; Health Care Costs ; Hepatitis/economics ; Humans ; Infant ; Liver Cirrhosis/economics ; Liver Diseases/*economics ; Liver Neoplasms/economics ; Male ; Middle Aged