Objectives: This study aimed to examine trends and factors associated with severe physical and psychological consequences following induced abortion among women in the Republic of Korea. Methods: An online survey was conducted of adolescent and adult Korean women aged 13 to 64 years, termed the 2022 Sex and Reproductive Health Survey. Respondents who reported a history of induced abortion were analyzed. Logistic regression models that accounted forindividual risk factors were fitted to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aOR). Results: The prevalence of induced abortion was 20.1% (914 of 4,552 respondents). The mostfrequent indications for abortion were social reasons, and across all periods, approximately half of the women or more reported non-medical challenges at the time of their most recentabortion. Severe physical and psychological sequelae after abortion increased 5-fold from 1980–1992 to 2013–2022. Among those whose most recent abortion occurred in 2003 or later, the risk of severe psychological sequelae was higher in 2013–2022, after the Korean Constitutional Court upheld the existing criminal codes, than in 2003–2012 (aOR, 2.31; 95% confidence interval, 1.09–4.91). Conclusion In the absence of institutionalized safe and respectful abortion services, severe physical and psychological sequelae among women who underwent induced abortionwere more likely to occur. These findings highlight the importance of safe, affordable,nondiscriminatory, and respectful abortion care.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The reported rates of current smoking at the time of Crohn’s disease (CD) diagnosis tend to be low in East Asian studies. However, we hypothesized that East Asian patients may be reluctant to disclose their smoking history, likely because of the influence of the Confucian culture. METHODS: We prospectively re-evaluated the smoking status at diagnosis in 1,437 Korean CD patients whose smoking status had been reported in our previous study. RESULTS: After re-evaluation, the current smokers at diagnosis increased from 388 patients (27.0%) to 445 patients (31.0%), indicating that 12.8% (57 of 445 patients) of the current smokers at diagnosis did not disclose their smoking status at their initial evaluation. The proportion of current smokers at diagnosis who had initially concealed their smoking status was significantly higher among the female patients (29.7%, 11/37) compared with the male patients (11.3%, 46/408) (p<0.005) and among the patients who were ≤18 years old at diagnosis (56.4%, 22/39) compared with the patients >18 years old at diagnosis (8.6%, 35/406) (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Subgroups of Korean CD patients, particularly young patients and female patients, are reluctant to disclose their smoking history. Therefore, the suggestion that smoking is not a risk factor for the development of CD in East Asians should be made with caution.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Crohn Disease* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Smoke* ; Smoking*

OBJECTIVE: Arterial stiffness is a common change associated with aging and can be evaluated by measuring pulse wave velocity (PWV) between sites in the arterial tree, with the stiffer artery having the higher PWV. Arterial stiffness is associated with the risk of stroke in the general population and of fatal stroke in hypertensive patients. This study is to clarify whether PWV value predicts functional outcome of acute ischemic stroke. METHODS: One hundred patients were enrolled with a diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke and categorized into two groups: large-artery atherosclerosis (LAAS) or small vessel disease (SVD) subtype of Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) classification. Each group was divided into two sub-groups based on the functional outcome of acute ischemic stroke, indicated by modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at discharge. Poor functional outcome group was defined as a mRS > or = 3 at discharge. Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney U-test were used to compare maximal brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) values. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients whose state was inadequate to assess baPWV or mRS were excluded. There were 38 patients with good functional outcome (mRS < 3) and 38 patients with poor functional outcome (mRS > or = 3). The baPWV values were significantly higher in patients with poor outcome (2,070.05 +/- 518.37 cm/s) compared with those with good outcome (1,838.63 +/- 436.65) (p = 0.039). In patients with SVD subtype, there was a significant difference of baPWV values between groups (2,163.18 +/- 412.71 vs. 1,789.80 +/- 421.91, p = 0.022), while there was no significant difference of baPWV among patients with LAAS subtype (2,071.76 +/- 618.42 vs. 1,878.00 +/- 365.35, p = 0.579). CONCLUSIONS: Arterial stiffness indicated by baPWV is associated with the functional outcome of acute ischemic stroke. This finding suggests that measurement of baPWV predicts functional outcome in patients with stroke especially those whose TOAST classification was confirmed as SVD subtype.
Aging ; Arteries ; Atherosclerosis ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Pulse Wave Analysis ; Stroke* ; Vascular Stiffness*

Brain metastasis can form large cystic lesions, and its differentiation on the basis of imaging findings alone is difficult. A 36-year-old woman with headache visited emergency room. Two years ago, she was diagnosed as neurocysticercosis and had taken anti-parasite medications. However, in the current visit, the sizes of intracranial cystic lesions increased. Brain biopsy reported metastatic neuroendocrine tumor, and chest CT showed the primary site of the tumor. Cystic brain metastasis should be considered in cases with cystic brain lesions.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Brain ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Headache ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Neurocysticercosis* ; Neuroendocrine Tumors ; Pregnant Women* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this paper is to describe the components of a next-generation electronic nursing records system ensuring full semantic interoperability and integrating evidence into the nursing records system. METHODS: A next-generation electronic nursing records system based on detailed clinical models and clinical practice guidelines was developed at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in 2013. This system has two components, a terminology server and a nursing documentation system. RESULTS: The terminology server manages nursing narratives generated from entity-attribute-value triplets of detailed clinical models using a natural language generation system. The nursing documentation system provides nurses with a set of nursing narratives arranged around the recommendations extracted from clinical practice guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: An electronic nursing records system based on detailed clinical models and clinical practice guidelines was successfully implemented in a hospital in Korea. The next-generation electronic nursing records system can support nursing practice and nursing documentation, which in turn will improve data quality.
Data Accuracy ; Evidence-Based Practice ; Humans ; Korea ; Medical Records Systems, Computerized ; Nursing Records* ; Nursing* ; Semantics ; Seoul ; Triplets

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of an electronic nursing record system for perinatal care that is based on detailed clinical models and clinical practice guidelines in perinatal care. METHODS: This study was carried out in five phases: 1) generating nursing statements using detailed clinical models; 2) identifying the relevant evidence; 3) linking nursing statements with the evidence; 4) developing a prototype electronic nursing record system based on detailed clinical models and clinical practice guidelines; and 5) evaluating the prototype system. RESULTS: We first generated 799 nursing statements describing nursing assessments, diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes using entities, attributes, and value sets of detailed clinical models for perinatal care which we developed in a previous study. We then extracted 506 recommendations from nine clinical practice guidelines and created sets of nursing statements to be used for nursing documentation by grouping nursing statements according to these recommendations. Finally, we developed and evaluated a prototype electronic nursing record system that can provide nurses with recommendations for nursing practice and sets of nursing statements based on the recommendations for guiding nursing documentation. CONCLUSIONS: The prototype system was found to be sufficiently complete, relevant, useful, and applicable in terms of content, and easy to use and useful in terms of system user interface. This study has revealed the feasibility of developing such an ENR system.
Concept Formation ; Electronics ; Electrons ; Evidence-Based Practice ; Medical Records Systems, Computerized ; Nursing Assessment ; Nursing Records ; Perinatal Care ; Semantics

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of an electronic nursing record system for perinatal care that is based on detailed clinical models and clinical practice guidelines in perinatal care. METHODS: This study was carried out in five phases: 1) generating nursing statements using detailed clinical models; 2) identifying the relevant evidence; 3) linking nursing statements with the evidence; 4) developing a prototype electronic nursing record system based on detailed clinical models and clinical practice guidelines; and 5) evaluating the prototype system. RESULTS: We first generated 799 nursing statements describing nursing assessments, diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes using entities, attributes, and value sets of detailed clinical models for perinatal care which we developed in a previous study. We then extracted 506 recommendations from nine clinical practice guidelines and created sets of nursing statements to be used for nursing documentation by grouping nursing statements according to these recommendations. Finally, we developed and evaluated a prototype electronic nursing record system that can provide nurses with recommendations for nursing practice and sets of nursing statements based on the recommendations for guiding nursing documentation. CONCLUSIONS: The prototype system was found to be sufficiently complete, relevant, useful, and applicable in terms of content, and easy to use and useful in terms of system user interface. This study has revealed the feasibility of developing such an ENR system.
Concept Formation ; Electronics ; Electrons ; Evidence-Based Practice ; Medical Records Systems, Computerized ; Nursing Assessment ; Nursing Records ; Perinatal Care ; Semantics

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a stress-management program on stress coping methods, interpersonal relations and quality of life in patients with chronic mental illness. METHODS: A nonequivalent control group pre-posttest design was used for this quasi-experimental study. The study was conducted from May 1 to December 30, 2010. The 41 participants in this study were selected from patients with chronic mental illness (20 for the experimental group and 21 for the control group). Datas were analyzed chi2-test, t-test, paired t-test, and one-way ANCOVA with the SPSS/WIN 15.0 program. RESULTS: There were significant changes in stress coping methods scores, interpersonal relations scores and quality of life scores in the experimental group before and after treatment, which were significantly different from those in the control group. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate that the stress-management program resulted in significant improvement in stress coping methods, interpersonal relations and quality of life for patients with chronic mental illness. Therefore, this study shows stress-management programs are useful in clinical practice as effective nursing interventions in patients with chronic mental illness.
Humans ; Interpersonal Relations* ; Nursing ; Quality of Life*