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

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify changes of symptom distress and quality of life (QOL) in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant therapy. METHODS: 113 patients with breast cancer were administered the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale-Short Form and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast before adjuvant therapy, both a week and 6 months after completing adjuvant therapy. 71 patients (CTx group) were treated with adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 42 patients (RTx group) received only adjuvant radiotherapy. Data were analysed using the SPSS/Win 21.0 program. RESULTS: Compared with the RTx group, patients in the CTx group reported higher overall symptom distress and physical symptom distress. The CTx group reported lower scores in overall QOL, physical well-being and the breast cancer specific domain than the RTx group. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study support that chemotherapy results in higher risk for more severe symptoms and leads to impaired QOL for breast cancer patients. Comprehensive symptom management should be implemented for breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Quality of Life* ; Radiotherapy ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Symptom Assessment ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to identify the relationships among symptom bother, physical and mental stress and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in women with overactive bladder (OAB) syndrome. METHODS: The participants were 106 women who were diagnosed with OAB (urgency, urge urinary incontinence, frequency, and/or nocturia) at P university hospital. Data were collected from Dec 23, 2011 to Aug 31, 2012. RESULTS: The mean score for symptom bother was 43.1 points, for physical stress, 12.8 which was slightly higher than mental stress (11.8), and for HRQoL, 63.9. For symptom type, there were statistically significant differences in the symptom bother (F=8.67, p<.001) and HRQL (F=3.32, p= .023). The Symptom bother of OAB was positively correlated with physical stress (r=.23, p= .014) and mental stress (r=.33, p<.001) and negatively correlated with the subscales of HRQoL; coping (r=-.66, p<.001), concern (r=-.71, p<.001), sleep (r=-.59, p<.001), and social interaction (r=-.58, p<.001). CONCLUSION: From the results, bother symptom was associated with physical, mental stress and HRQoL. These results suggest that nursing intervention programs for OAB should be developed not only to relieve the symptoms but also to reduce stress and improve the quality of life.
Female ; Humans ; Interpersonal Relations ; Nursing ; Quality of Life* ; Symptom Assessment ; Urinary Bladder, Overactive* ; Urinary Incontinence