OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Korean translation of Gambling Symptom Rating Scale (KG-SAS). METHODS: Using self-report sampling, we eventually included 231 subjects and analysed 70 subjects. These subjects were tested for KG-SAS and the Korean version of Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS). RESULTS: In the reliability test, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .913 which provided the evidence for the internal consistency. Content validity was assessed with factor analysis and two factors were extracted. Compared with the original scale, both scales embody the same theoretical conceptualization. To assess the validity of the KG-SAS, correlation coefficient was calculated between the KG-SAS and the Korean version of BIS. We got the result that there was a correlation between the KG-SAS and the Korean version of BIS (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The results of the present study support that the KG-SAS is a reliable and valid scale for evaluating pathological gambling symptom assessment. Based on the results, this study suggests that KG-SAS would be a promising measurement to treat and study pathological gambling.
Gambling* ; Reproducibility of Results* ; Symptom Assessment* ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: Recent evidence suggests that cough hypersensitivity may be a common feature of chronic cough in adults. However, the clinical relevance remains unclear. This study evaluated the cough-related symptom profile and the clinical relevance and impact of cough hypersensitivity in adults with chronic cough. METHODS: This cross-sectional multi-center study compared cough-related laryngeal sensations and cough triggers in patients with unexplained chronic cough following investigations and in unselected patients newly referred for chronic cough. A structured questionnaire was used to assess abnormal laryngeal sensations and cough triggers. Patients with unexplained cough were also evaluated using the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) and a cough visual analogue scale (VAS), and these scores were assessed for correlations with the number of triggers and laryngeal sensations. RESULTS: This study recruited 478 patients, including 62 with unexplained chronic cough and 416 with chronic cough. Most participants reported abnormal laryngeal sensations and cough triggers. Laryngeal sensations (4.4 ± 1.5 vs. 3.9 ± 1.9; P = 0.049) and cough triggers (6.9 ± 2.6 vs. 5.0 ± 2.8; P < 0.001) were more frequent in patients with unexplained chronic cough than in those with chronic cough. The number of triggers and laryngeal sensations score significantly correlated with LCQ (r = −0.51, P < 0.001) and cough VAS score (r = 0.53, P < 0.001) in patients with unexplained chronic cough. CONCLUSIONS: Cough hypersensitivity may be a common feature in adult patients with chronic cough, especially those with unexplained chronic cough. Cough-related health status and cough severity were inversely associated with the number of triggers and laryngeal sensations, suggesting potential relevance of assessing cough hypersensitivity in chronic cough patients.
Adult ; Cough ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Sensation ; Symptom Assessment

OBJECTIVES: Cross-hatching incisions have been considered mandatory for correcting cartilaginous septal deviation. We evaluated the clinical outcome of septoplasty without cross-hatching incisions to determine the necessity for making septal cartilage incisions. METHODS: The reconstructed septal components during septoplasty were categorized into four anatomical areas: vomer, maxillary crest, perpendicular plate of ethmoid (PPE) and septal cartilage (the area for cross-hatching incisions). During septoplasty, we attempted to complete the surgery only by removing or fracturing the bony part of the septum without cross-hatching incisions on the cartilage. Only in the cases that the deviation was not immediately corrected, the cross-hatching incisions were made onto the cartilage at the end of the procedure. We analyzed the frequency of manipulating the septal components. The changes of symptoms were evaluated using a modified nasal obstruction symptom evaluation (NOSE) scale and a visual analog scale (VAS) preoperatively, 1 and 3 months after the surgery. RESULTS: Seventy five percents of the deviated septums were immediately corrected only by removing or fracturing of the bony septal components. In decreasing order of frequency, the sepal components for correcting septal deviation were the vomer (59%), maxillary crest (49%), septal cartilage (cross-hatching only: 25%) and PPE (15%). The modified NOSE scale and the VAS demonstrated significant improvement of the nasal symptoms postoperatively (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Most of septal deviations could be corrected by manipulating only the bony septum. The results of this procedure were not different from conventional septoplasty with cross-hatching incisions. Our data suggest cross-hatching incisions during septoplasty might have been overemphasized and that the main cause for cartilaginous deviation may be the extrinsic forces that are generated by the neighboring bony structures.
Cartilage ; Nasal Obstruction ; Nasal Septum ; Nose ; Symptom Assessment ; Vomer

OBJECTIVES: Cross-hatching incisions have been considered mandatory for correcting cartilaginous septal deviation. We evaluated the clinical outcome of septoplasty without cross-hatching incisions to determine the necessity for making septal cartilage incisions. METHODS: The reconstructed septal components during septoplasty were categorized into four anatomical areas: vomer, maxillary crest, perpendicular plate of ethmoid (PPE) and septal cartilage (the area for cross-hatching incisions). During septoplasty, we attempted to complete the surgery only by removing or fracturing the bony part of the septum without cross-hatching incisions on the cartilage. Only in the cases that the deviation was not immediately corrected, the cross-hatching incisions were made onto the cartilage at the end of the procedure. We analyzed the frequency of manipulating the septal components. The changes of symptoms were evaluated using a modified nasal obstruction symptom evaluation (NOSE) scale and a visual analog scale (VAS) preoperatively, 1 and 3 months after the surgery. RESULTS: Seventy five percents of the deviated septums were immediately corrected only by removing or fracturing of the bony septal components. In decreasing order of frequency, the sepal components for correcting septal deviation were the vomer (59%), maxillary crest (49%), septal cartilage (cross-hatching only: 25%) and PPE (15%). The modified NOSE scale and the VAS demonstrated significant improvement of the nasal symptoms postoperatively (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Most of septal deviations could be corrected by manipulating only the bony septum. The results of this procedure were not different from conventional septoplasty with cross-hatching incisions. Our data suggest cross-hatching incisions during septoplasty might have been overemphasized and that the main cause for cartilaginous deviation may be the extrinsic forces that are generated by the neighboring bony structures.
Cartilage ; Nasal Obstruction ; Nasal Septum ; Nose ; Symptom Assessment ; Vomer

The Psychopathology of schizophrenia is composed of many heterogeneous symptom complex, and multifaceted approaches have been done on this subject. It is so simplified a method that the complex symptoms of schizophrenia are classified into only positive and negative symptoms. Preceded studies of other researchers said cognitive deficit of the schizophrenics played important roles in the symptom formation. The purpose of this study is the evaluation of the relationship between the symptoms of schizophrenia and the memory function and low level of cognitive function. In this study, 30 subacute and chronic schizophrenic patients were included. PANSS(Positive and Negative Symptom Scale) was applied to evaluate the clinical symptoms in each subject. The memory function and low level cognitive function were evaluated using WMS-R(Wechsler Memory Scale-revised version) and Decision-reaction timer. The results showed negative correlations between cognitive factor of PANSS(5 factor model) and delayed recall of WMS-R. These results suggest the possibility that symptom evaluation using PANSS can be a preliminary estimation of cognitive function in schizophrenia.
Humans ; Memory ; Neuropsychological Tests* ; Psychopathology ; Schizophrenia* ; Symptom Assessment

OBJECTIVETo develop the Chinese version of the nasal obstruction symptom evaluation (NOSE) questionnaire.

METHODSAfter introduction, forward and backward translation, synthesis, expert committee review, pretest, adaptation and validation followed the international guidelines, the Chinese version of NOSE scale was tested among 223 nasal septal deviation patients and 80 health volunteers to further assess its psychometric and clinical properties. SPSS 19.0 software was used to analyze the data.

RESULTSThe Chinese version demonstrated satisfactory evaluation results. The acceptance rate of the questionnaire was 97.6% and 94.1% in the patient group and control group respectively, and the completion time was (1.5 ± 0.5)min and (1.0 ± 0.5)min. Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α) was calculated to be 0.869. Test-retest reliability coefficient was adequate at rs = 0.996. Content validity was approved by our expert committee. Criteria validity (Spearman correlation coefficient) between NOSE Chinese version and SF-36, as well as VAS was -0.837 and 0.725 separately. Construct validity of Chinese version was similar to that of the original edition. The standardized response mean and the effect size at three months postoperatively was respectively 1.34 and 1.21, indicating high responsiveness. Calculated by Mann-Whitney U test, the instrument showed excellent sensitivity to discriminate the subjects with or without nasal obstruction (P < 0.01). The NOSE scores were also correlated with nasal resistance by rhinomanometry.

CONCLUSIONSThe NOSE Chinese version was successfully cross-cultural adapted and validated. It therefore can be recommended as a robust tool for future measuring subjective severity of nasal obstruction in China.

Atrial Fibrillation/diagnosis* ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Self Report ; Symptom Assessment

PURPOSE: This study was performed to identify the symptoms and care needs of home-based cancer patients in Korea and to add to the scarce literature on this topic. METHODS: Data were collected from patients who subscribed to home-based cancer care services in Jinju. Assessments were performed by nurses at the local public health center. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System with a numeric rating scale (NRS) was used to identify symptoms, and a four-point Likert scale was used to assess psychological, social, and spiritual needs. RESULTS: Cross-sectional data were collected in October 2013. A total of 209 patients participated and their median age was 65 years (range, 17~89 years). Most patients were diagnosed in the early stage of cancer (n=188); only 19 patients were diagnosed in the advanced stage. More than half the patients lived alone (n=115, 55.0%) and took care of themselves (n=128, 61.2%). Anorexia and fatigue were the most common symptoms (median NRS, 5 and 4, respectively). Patients needed economic support the most, whereas spiritual care was least needed (n=138 [67.3%] vs. n=128 [62.1%], respectively). CONCLUSION: Patients who signed up for home-based cancer care services in Jinju are struggling with a financial issue and physical symptoms. A customized approach is needed to improve the quality of the home-based care services.
Anorexia ; Fatigue ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Home Care Services ; Humans ; Korea ; Needs Assessment ; Public Health ; Symptom Assessment

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Several specific foods are known to precipitate gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms and GERD patients are usually advised to avoid such foods. However, foods consumed daily are quite variable according to regions, cultures, etc. This study was done to elucidate the food items which induce typical GERD symptoms in Korean patients. METHODS: One hundred and twenty-six Korean patients with weekly typical GERD symptoms were asked to mark all food items that induced typical GERD symptoms from a list containing 152 typical foods consumed daily in Korea. All patients underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy followed by 24-hour ambulatory esophageal pH monitoring. The definition of “GERD” was if either of the 2 studies revealed evidence of GERD, and “possible GERD” if both studies were negative. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-six cases (51 GERD and 75 possible GERD) were enrolled. In 19 (37.3%) of 51 GERD cases and in 17 (22.7%) of 75 possible GERD cases, foods inducing typical GERD symptoms were identified. In the GERD group (n = 19), frequent symptom-inducers were hot spicy stews, rice cakes, ramen noodles, fried foods, and topokki. In the possible GERD group (n = 17), frequent symptom-inducers were hot spicy stews, fried foods, doughnuts, breads, ramen noodles, coffee, pizza, topokki, rice cakes, champon noodles, and hotdogs. CONCLUSIONS: In one-third of GERD patients, foods inducing typical symptoms were identified. Hot spicy stews, rice cakes, ramen noodles, fried foods, and topokki were the foods frequently inducing typical symptoms in Korea. The list of foods frequently inducing typical GERD symptoms needs to be modified based on their own local experiences.
Bread ; Coffee ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Esophageal pH Monitoring ; Gastroesophageal Reflux* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Symptom Assessment

OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to investigate the clinical effect and safety of risperidone during the treatment of schizophrenia for 12 weeks. METHODS: In the FuturCare 99 Project which had been organized by JanssenKorea for the purpose of improving the quality of management of patients treated with risperidone, 714 schizophrenic patients from 32 institutes including general hospitals and private clinics were recruited. The clinical effects and extrapyramidal symptoms at 8-week and 12-week during the treatment with risperidone were evaluated using CGI, Modified Psychosis Symptom Evaluation and Extrapyramidal Symptom Legend. The associations between clinical responses and the sociodemographic and clinical informations were explored. RESULTS: Most of symptoms assessed by Modified Psychosis Symptom Evaluation and CGI were significantly improved at 8-week and 12-week trial of risperidone. And the extrapyramidal symptoms were on the decrease during the treatment with risperidone. Moreover, there was no difference in the dosage of risperidone between at 8 weeks (4.3+/-2.1 mg) and at 12 weeks (4.4+/-2.3 mg). When the patients were divided into 3 groups by the clinical responses of CGI at 12 week of risperidone treatment, clincal characteristics such as age, duration of illness, auditory hallucination, erotic delusion, lack of motivation, disorientation, and memory problem were significantly different among groups. CONCLUSION: his multicenter open study shows that risperidone has good clinical effect and safety in the treatment of schizophrenia with the daily average doses of 4.3-4.4 mg. The multicenter open study about the long-term treatment of risperidone in schizophrenia would be needed.
Academies and Institutes ; Delusions ; Hallucinations ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Memory ; Motivation ; Psychotic Disorders ; Risperidone* ; Schizophrenia ; Symptom Assessment