40 years or new hires with less than 1 year of service.]]>
Brain ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cohort Studies ; Firefighters ; Follow-Up Studies ; Health Surveys ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Killer Cells, Natural ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mental Disorders ; Mental Health ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Polycyclic Hydrocarbons, Aromatic ; Prospective Studies ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Factors

Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Cervix Uteri ; Elasticity ; Elasticity Imaging Techniques ; Female ; Hardness ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Jupiter ; Labor Presentation ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women ; Premature Birth ; Reproducibility of Results ; Uterine Artery

Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Atrioventricular Block ; Bundle-Branch Block ; Catheter Ablation ; Defibrillators ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Observational Study ; Retrospective Studies ; Sick Sinus Syndrome ; Syncope ; Tachycardia

The objective of this study was to investigate factors affecting the return home one year after a stroke. The subjects of this study consisted of patients who participated in a large-scale multi-objective cohort study of initial stage stroke patients who were admitted to 9 representative hospitals in Korea. We analyzed the distribution of the subjects who had experienced stroke a year earlier by distinguishing the group who returned home and the other group that was hospitalized in rehabilitation hospitals. Based on this distribution, we evaluated the demographic, environmental, clinical, and psychological factors that can affect the return home. Overall, there were 464 subjects in the ‘Return home’ group and 99 subjects in the ‘Rehabilitation hospitalization’ group. job status, inconvenient housing structures, residential types, diagnosis, Functional Ambulation Categories, modified Rankin Scale, Korea-Modified Barthel Index, Function Independence Measure, Fugl-Meyer Assessment, Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination, Korean version of Frenchay Aphasia Screening Test, Psychosocial Well-being Index-Short Form, Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form, EuroQol-five Dimensional showed a significant difference between the 2 groups one year after the stroke. The factors affecting the return home one year after a stroke include functional status, activities of daily living, cognition, depression, stress, quality of life, job status. It is expected that factors affecting the rehabilitation of patients with stroke can be considered as basic data for establishing rehabilitation goals and treatment plans.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aphasia ; Cognition ; Cohort Studies ; Depression ; Diagnosis ; Housing ; Humans ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Patient Discharge ; Psychology ; Quality of Life ; Rehabilitation ; Stroke ; Walking

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Due to recent increases in the disease burden of diabetes mellitus, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) of Korea implemented a quality assessment of the treatment of diabetes to improve patient care. The present study was conducted to identify any changes after the implementation of the diabetes quality assessment (DQA). METHODS: The present study evaluated eight quality assessment indicators that were proposed by the HIRA in all patients with diabetes who visited a university hospital in Korea between 2009 and 2014. The indicators were statistically compared according to the characteristics of the subjects. RESULTS: There were several significant differences in the indicators among the subjects according to their demographic characteristics. Female patients had a higher continuity of treatment (COT) than that of male patients, and the insulin-treated group had a higher COT than that of the non-treated group, as well as a higher rate of undergoing the diabetes complication tests (DCTs). Patients between 40 and 80 years of age had the highest COT, while patients under 40 years of age had the lowest COT but the highest rate of taking the DCTs. Patients receiving treatment from an endocrinologist exhibited higher numbers of DCTs performed but displayed lower proportions for the prescription indicators. CONCLUSIONS: The present analysis of the DQA findings revealed that endocrinologists combine prevention and management of diabetes complications with measures for glycemic control. Thus, the effective management of diabetes likely entails systematic joint treatment regimens that involve an endocrinologist.
Diabetes Complications ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Endocrinology ; Female ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Joints ; Korea* ; Male ; Patient Care ; Prescriptions ; Quality Improvement ; Quality of Health Care

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (MRSAB) is a major bloodstream infection with a high mortality rate. Identification of factors associated with early mortality in MRSAB patients would be useful for predicting prognosis and developing new therapeutic options. METHODS: A prospective cohort of MRSAB patients was examined between August 2008 and June 2011. Early and late mortality was defined as death within 2 and 28 days of blood culture, respectively. The clinical and microbiological characteristics in the early and late mortality and survival groups were compared. Risk factors associated with severe sepsis or septic shock were also investigated. RESULTS: A total of 385 adult MRSAB patients whose S. aureus isolates were available were enrolled; of these patients, 25 patients (6.5%) and 50 (13%) died early and late, respectively. Compared with both the late-mortality group and the survival group, severe sepsis or septic shock was a statistically significant independent risk factor associated with early mortality. Rapidly or ultimately fatal McCabe and Jackson classification (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25 to 3.02) and pneumonia (aOR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.03 to 4.02) were independently associated with severe sepsis or septic shock. A vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ≥ 1.5 μg/mL was associated with a reduced incidence of severe sepsis or septic shock (aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.34 to 0.84). CONCLUSIONS: Severity of illness seems to be the most important risk factor associated with early mortality in MRSAB. Although vancomycin MIC was not independently associated with early mortality, reduced vancomycin susceptibility appears to be linked to reduced disease severity.
Adult ; Bacteremia* ; Classification ; Cohort Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Methicillin Resistance* ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus* ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Mortality* ; Odds Ratio ; Pneumonia ; Prognosis ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sepsis ; Shock, Septic ; Vancomycin

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of hospital case volume on clinical outcomes in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data on 1,073 patients with cT1-4N0-3M0 NPC were collected from a multi-institutional retrospective database (KROG 11-06). All patients received definitive radiotherapy (RT) either with three-dimensional-conformal RT (3D-CRT) (n=576) or intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) (n=497). The patients were divided into two groups treated at high volume institution (HVI) (n=750) and low volume institution (LVI) (n=323), defined as patient volume ≥ 10 (median, 13; range, 10 to 18) and < 10 patients per year (median, 3; range, 2 to 6), respectively. Endpoints were overall survival (OS) and loco-regional progression-free survival (LRPFS). RESULTS: At a median follow-up of 56.7 months, the outcomes were significantly better in those treated at HVI than at LVI. For the 614 patients of propensity score-matched cohort, 5-year OS and LRPFS were consistently higher in the HVI group than in the LVI group (OS: 78.4% vs. 62.7%, p < 0.001; LRPFS: 86.2% vs. 65.8%, p < 0.001, respectively). According to RT modality, significant difference in 5-year OS was observed in patients receiving 3D-CRT (78.7% for HVI vs. 58.9% for LVI, p < 0.001) and not in those receiving IMRT (77.3% for HVI vs. 75.5% for LVI, p=0.170). CONCLUSION: A significant relationship was observed between HVI and LVI for the clinical outcomes of patients with NPC. However, the difference in outcome becomes insignificant in the IMRT era, probably due to the standardization of practice by education.
Cohort Studies ; Disease-Free Survival ; Education ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; Radiotherapy ; Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated ; Retrospective Studies* ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Beta-blockers are indicated in patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction. However, their efficacy in patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is uncertain. We investigated the hypothesis that beta-blockers are associated with reduced adverse events in patients with HFpEF. METHODS: The Korea Acute Heart Failure (KorAHF) is a prospective observational multicentre cohort study. The 5,625 patients hospitalized for acute HF syndrome in 10 tertiary university hospitals across the country have been consecutively enrolled between March 2011 and February 2014. Of these patients, 2,152 patients with HFpEF (ejection fraction ≥40%) were investigated. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality according to beta-blocker use. RESULTS: During a median follow-up duration of 807 days, 702 patients died. In Cox proportional hazards model beta-blocker use was associated with a 14% reduced all-cause death (hazard ratio [HR], 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75–0.98), but not with reduce rehospitalization (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.85–1.27). In the propensity-score matched population, beta-blockers were also associated with reduced all-cause death (HR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.69–0.94) but not with reduced rehospitalization (HR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.87–1.33). CONCLUSIONS: In Korean patients with HFpEF, use of beta-blockers is associated with reduced all-cause death but not with reduced rehospitalization.
Cohort Studies ; Diastole ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Failure ; Heart ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Korea ; Mortality ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Prospective Studies

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) infection and the treatment outcome. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) level and lung function in Korean adults according to whether or not there is a history of PTB. METHODS: The data for subjects aged 19 years or older from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008–2012 who underwent spirometry, chest radiography, and serum 25(OH)D level measurement were analyzed. RESULTS: Evidence of past PTB infection was found in 1,482 (9.6%) of 15,516 subjects. The serum 25(OH)D level was lower in the group with past PTB than in the non-PTB group (P=0.013). Respiratory dysfunction was more common in the past PTB group than in the non-PTB group (restrictive pattern, 14.0% vs. 9.6%; obstructive pattern, 29.6% vs. 8.2%; both P<0.001). After adjusting for age, sex, height, and season, the mean difference in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) between the highest and lowest quartiles of 25(OH)D was 100.2 mL (standard error= 49.3 mL, P for trend=0.049) in the past PTB group and 34.7 mL (standard error=13.6 mL, P=0.009) in the non-PTB group. CONCLUSION: FEV1 tended to increase as the vitamin D quartile increased in both study groups. This relationship was more pronounced in subjects with a history of PTB. A higher serum 25(OH)D level might be beneficial in preserving lung function after PTB infection.
Adult ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; Humans ; Korea ; Lung ; Mass Chest X-Ray ; Nutrition Surveys ; Radiography ; Seasons ; Spirometry ; Thorax ; Treatment Outcome ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; Vitamin D ; Vitamin D Deficiency

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Gastrointestinal glandular stem cells renew every 8 years. New stem cells with impeded housekeeping gene methylation have unstable phenotypes and are prone to transform into malignant cells. Age-related changes in methylation in the gastric mucosa were evaluated to define the period of cancer-prone stem cell replacement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Endoscopic biopsy specimens of normal-appearing gastric mucosa were obtained from 148 Helicobacter pylori-negative controls, 124 H. pylori-positive controls, and 69 gastric cancer patients with closed-type mucosal atrophy. Methylation-variable sites of two stomach-specific genes (TFF2 and TFF3) and four housekeeping genes (CDH1, ARRDC4, MMP2, and CDKN2A) were analyzed using radioisotope-labeled methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. Age-related methylation was evaluated depending on the gastric mucosal atrophy at 2-year intervals. RESULTS: TFF2 methylation peaked periodically at 40 to 41, 48 to 49, 56 to 57, and 64 to 65 years of age in H. pylori-negative controls. Periodic peaks of TFF2 methylation were also found in H. pylori-positive controls. Housekeeping-gene methylation troughed at 48 to 49, 56 to 57, and 68 to 69 years of age in cancer patients. Trough methylation of CDH1 and ARRDC4 was lower in cancer patients than in H. pylori-positive controls. CONCLUSIONS: Methylation peaks of stomach-specific TFF2 in controls and methylation troughs of housekeeping genes in cancer patients were found every 8 years. Periodic methylation patterns may be used to identify individuals at high risk for gastric cancer.
Adult Stem Cells ; Atrophy ; Biopsy ; DNA Methylation ; Gastric Mucosa ; Genes, Essential ; Helicobacter ; Humans ; Methylation ; Mucous Membrane ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Stem Cells ; Stomach Neoplasms