No abstract available.
Cesarean Section* ; Female ; Pregnancy

In recognition of Korea's rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), we investigated the nation's NCD status and extracted detailed information from the 2012 Korean Burden of Disease study. Consistent with that study, we used disability-adjusted life year (DALY) as a metric. Using national data sources and disability weights specific to the Korean population, we analyzed 116 disaggregated NCDs from the study's four-level disease and injury hierarchy for both sexes and nine age groups. Per 100,000 population, 21,019 DALYs were lost to 116 NCDs. Of those, 13.97% were due to premature death (death prior to the standard life expectancy for a subject's age) and 86.03% to non-fatal health outcomes. Based on traditional statistics, the main causes of health loss were mortality of neoplasms; cardiovascular and circulatory diseases; diabetes, urogenital, blood, and endocrine diseases; and chronic respiratory diseases. When combined with analyses of premature death and non-fatal outcomes, however, a substantially different view emerged: the main causes of health loss were diabetes mellitus, low back pain, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke, cirrhosis of the liver, osteoarthritis, asthma, gastritis and duodenitis, and periodontal disease (in that order), collectively causing 49.20% of DALYs. Thus, burden of disease data using DALYs rather than traditional statistics brings a new perspective to characterization of the population's health that provides practical information useful for developing and targeting national NCD control programs to better meet national needs.
Asthma ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Duodenitis ; Endocrine System Diseases ; Fibrosis ; Gastritis ; Humans ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Korea* ; Life Expectancy ; Liver ; Low Back Pain ; Mortality ; Mortality, Premature ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Osteoarthritis ; Periodontal Diseases ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Stroke ; Weights and Measures

BACKGROUND: Chicken Pox, a highly contagious exanthem that occurs most frequently in childhood, is the result of primary infection with varicella zoster virus. Although it is generally a benign, self-limiting disease, varicella zoster virus infection may be associated with serious complications, especially in older adults. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to elucidate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics and histopathologic features of varicella in adolescents and adults. METHOD: 57 patients who were admitted with varicella as adolescents or adults during a 20-year period from 1985 to 2004 were evaluated in regard to age, sex, monthly incidence, prodromal symptoms, and cutaneous manifestations. Patients were further assessed over abnormalities of laboratory tests, associated diseases, or histopathologic features. RESULTS: The results were as follows: 1. Varicella was seen most frequently in the 20~29 year-old group (47%), followed by the 10~19 year-old group (30%). The ratio of males to females was 1.36: 1. As a result of calculating the average age in five-year peroids from 1985 to 2004, the average age in the last period (2000-2004) was 29.2 +/- 7.0 years. This was found to be higher than in the other 5-year periods. 2. With regard to monthly occurrence, varicella was found to be most prevalant in May (21%). 3. The most common prodromal symptom was fever (74%), followed by a sore throat (32%) and headache (30%). 4. Common cutaneous manifestations of varicella were papules (84%), vesicles (79%) and typical umbilicated vesicles (65%). Pruritus (96%) was an extremely common symptom. 5. The most common laboratory abnormality was an abnormal liver function (28%). 6. Associated diseases of varicella were observed in 6 patients (10%). These included hepatitis or the hepatitis B virus carrier (5%), diabetes mellitus (2%), pulmonary tuberculosis (2%), and ulcerative colitis (2%). 7. Complications of varicella were 1 case (2%) of keratitis and 1 case (2%) of secondary infection. 8. In 7 cases of varicella stained with hematoxylin-eosin, all cases showed necrosis of keratinocytes and ballooning degeneration, and 5 cases had severe inflammatory infiltrations. Intra-epithelial vesicles were found in 6 cases, and multinucleated giant cells were found in 2 cases. CONCLUSION: The mean age of varicella patients showed an increase in the last 5-year period. In adolescents and adults with varicella, we recommend that patients should be evaluated for abnormalities of liver function.
Adolescent* ; Adult* ; Chickenpox* ; Chickens* ; Coinfection ; Colitis, Ulcerative ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Exanthema ; Female ; Fever ; Giant Cells ; Headache ; Hepatitis ; Hepatitis B virus ; Herpesvirus 3, Human ; Humans ; Incidence ; Keratinocytes ; Keratitis ; Liver ; Male ; Necrosis ; Pharyngitis ; Prodromal Symptoms ; Pruritus ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The incidence of inflammatory heart diseases is not yet as high as those of other cardiovascular diseases; however, inflammatory heart diseases do have relatively high mortality rate. Therefore, update information on the economic burden of inflammatory heart diseases are necessary in order to appropriate policy making on these diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study used a number of resources to obtain data, national health insurance statistics, the Korean Health Panel, and the causes of death report by the Korean National Statistical Office. The total costs of inflammatory heart diseases were estimated as the sum of direct medical care costs, direct non-medical care and indirect costs. RESULTS: The total direct cost of inflammatory heart disease was higher in Korean men than that of Korean women and cost due to inpatient was higher than that of outpatients cost. The costs to cover premature death were highest among all of the components used to determine the total costs for inflammatory heart disease, representing 66.3% of these costs in Korea. CONCLUSION: Inflammatory heart disease has a relatively high mortality rate, and the costs that are associated with premature deaths consume the greatest proportion of the costs associated with this disease. In spite of some limitations of study, this could be a reliable evidence of economic burden of inflammatory heart disease.
Cause of Death ; Cost of Illness ; Endocarditis ; Female ; Health Care Costs ; Heart ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Incidence ; Inflammation ; Inpatients ; Korea ; Male ; Mortality, Premature ; National Health Programs ; Outpatients ; Policy Making

The fungiform papillae are generally described as being pink or red in colour. Pigmented fungiform papillae of the tongue (PFPT) are characterized clinically by pigmentation confined to these papillae and histopathologically by melanophages in the lamina propriae. PFPT appears to be relatively common among the black population, whereas this entity has rarely been reported in Asians. We report a case of PFPT in a 35-year-old Korean woman who had black dots, exclusively involved with fungiform papillae, on the anterior dorsolateral side of the tongue. The patient also had iron deficiency anemia. Histopathologic findings revealed an increase of melanophages in the upper dermis within the fungiform papillae.
Adult ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Dermis ; Female ; Humans ; Mucous Membrane ; Pigmentation ; Tongue*

Pseudofolliculitis is a chronic, inflammatory skin disorder seen mainly in individuals with curly hair. This condition is caused by hairs curling back into the skin and is seen most frequently in black men who shave their beards (pseudofolliculitis barbae), but may also be seen in all races who shave the axillary (pseudofolliculitis axillae) and pubic skin (pseudofolliculitis pubis). We report a case of pseudofolliculitis pubis in a 23-year-old black woman, who presented with multiple, dark, black-colored papules on both inner thighs, on the edge of the bikini line, which she regularly shaved. Histopathologically, foreign-body inflammatory reaction surrounding an ingrown hair was observed. We recommended her to stop shaving pubic hairs and to remove the hairs by laser.
Continental Population Groups ; Female ; Hair ; Humans ; Male ; Skin ; Thigh ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether the basal serum luteinizing hormone (LH) levels in the presence of normal serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) are useful as a prognostic indicator of ovarian response to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH). METHODS: From January 1997 to January 1999, 91 infertile women with tubal factor who had undergone in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) were enrolled in the present study. COH was performed using long protocol of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist. All patients included in this study had blood samples drawn on cycle day 2 or 3 prior to COH for measurement of basal FSH and LH. Women who had other infertility factors or high basal FSH levels (> or = 8.5 mIU/ml) were excluded from this study. The results of COH and IVF-ET were compared between two groups according to the level of basal LH (low LH group [< 3mIU/ml] vs. control group [> or = 3mIU/ml]). RESULTS: Patient's characteristics were comparable in both groups except basal LH level. The number of ampules and duration of exogenous gonadotropins required were significantly higher in the low LH group than those in the control group (p<0.001; p<0.005, respectively). The number of follicles > or = 14mm diameter on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) injection was significantly less in the low LH group than that in the control group (p<0.001). The serum estradiol level on the day of hCG injection was also significantly lower in the low LH group, with 1115.5 +/- 380.9 pg/ml compared with 1340.6 +/- 403.0 pg/ml in the control group (p<0.005). There were significantly lower numbers in oocytes retrieved, oocytes fertilized and embryos frozen in the low LH group than those in the control group (< 0.001; < 0.001; <0.005, respectively). However, there was no difference in the fertilization rate between the two groups. The clinical pregnancy rate per cycle seemed to be lower in the low LH group, but the difference did not achieve significance (26.2% vs 39.7%). There were no differences in the miscarriage rate and multiple pregnancy rate between the two groups. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that the low basal LH levels ( < 3 mIU/ml) could be predictive of low ovarian response to COH and poor IVF results.
Abortion, Spontaneous ; Chorionic Gonadotropin ; Embryo Transfer ; Embryonic Structures ; Estradiol ; Female ; Fertilization ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Gonadotropins ; Humans ; Infertility ; Lutein* ; Luteinizing Hormone* ; Oocytes ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate ; Pregnancy, Multiple