BACKGROUND: Several studies have been conducted regarding people with disabilities, however no studies have estimated the disease burden due to premature death. As such, we aimed to compare the years of life lost (YLLs) due to premature death between a population with disabilities and the total population of Korea. METHODS: To calculate the YLLs in people with disabilities, we combined disability registration data from the 2002–2011 Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea and the causes of mortality data by Statistics Korea for 3,158,231 people. RESULTS: YLLs of people with disabilities were 517,337, which accounted for 23.4% of YLLs of the total population. YLLs per 100,000 people with disabilities were approximately 3.8 times higher than those in the total Korean population. Ischemic stroke was associated with the highest YLLs per 100,000 people, followed by ischemic heart disease, hemorrhagic, and other non-ischemic stroke, diabetes mellitus, and self-harm. Among individuals with physical disabilities, ischemic heart disease was associated with the highest YLLs. For intellectual disability, epilepsy contributed to the most YLLs. For individuals with mental disability, self-harm was the largest contributor to YLLs. CONCLUSION: The burden of disease was higher in the population with disabilities than that in the general population. Cardiovascular diseases and cancer had a higher burden of disease than did other diseases in the population with disabilities; thus, overall, non-communicable diseases have a higher burden of disease than communicable diseases or injuries in the population with disabilities than in the general population.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Communicable Diseases ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Disabled Persons* ; Epilepsy ; Humans ; Intellectual Disability ; Korea* ; Mortality ; Mortality, Premature* ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Stroke

Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease characterized by fever, rash, cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis. The causative organism is the measles virus transmitted via the respiratory route. Before the introduction of an effective vaccine, measles was one of most prevalent diseases worldwide. Mortality may occur in patients with complications, including pneumonia, which is the most common cause of measles-associated death. The diagnosis of measles is based on clinical symptoms and laboratory tests, including the detection of measles virus-specific antibodies or measles virus ribonucleic acid and cultured viruses. The treatment for measles is primarily supportive care. In Korea, availability of the measles vaccine has substantially reduced the incidence and mortality of the disease. The World Health Organization verified the elimination of measles in March 2014; however, small outbreaks continue to be reported. Although a large proportion of measles cases occur in infants less than 1 year old, the disease has been reported in young adults with a history of measles vaccination. Here, we review the current literature on measles and discuss the importance of measles prevention in Korean adults.
Adult ; Antibodies ; Communicable Diseases ; Conjunctivitis ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Disease Outbreaks ; Exanthema ; Fever ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Korea ; Measles Vaccine ; Measles virus ; Measles ; Mortality ; Pneumonia ; RNA ; Vaccination ; World Health Organization ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: Despite the decline in tuberculosis (TB) incidence and mortality rates in the Republic of Korea through a national TB control program, TB remains one of the most critical infectious diseases in Korean children. We investigated the trends and research areas of published articles on TB in Korean children and adolescents. METHODS: In 6 Korean and overseas databases, we searched titles and abstracts including “tuberculo*” or “TB,” “child*” or “adolescen*” or “neonat*” or “infant*” or “pediatric*,” and “korea*.” The publication type, publication year, research areas, journal title, and research subjects were analyzed. RESULTS: Out of the 257 searched documents, 120 papers were included in the analysis. Of these, 82 were original articles (68.3%), 33 case reports (27.5%), 4 review articles (3.3%), and 1 guideline (0.8%). In the original articles, the most common subject of studies was the clinical characteristics of patients with TB (36.6%), followed by diagnostics (29.3%), contact investigations (9.8%), epidemiology (6.1%), treatment (4.9%), vaccine (3.6%), latent TB infection (3.6%), complications (3.6%), and surveys on perception of TB (2.4%). From 1962, 4 articles were published in the 1960s, 10 articles in the 1970s, 11 articles in the 1980s, 22 articles in the 1990s, 26 articles in the 2000s, and 47 articles since 2010. CONCLUSIONS: The amount of research on TB in Korean children has increased over the past 5 decades; however, it has mainly focused on the clinical characteristics and diagnostics. Research in different areas, such as treatment and vaccine, is needed in the future.
Adolescent ; Child ; Communicable Diseases ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mortality ; Publications ; Republic of Korea ; Research Subjects ; Tuberculosis

PURPOSE: In May 2015, South Korea experienced an epidemic of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). This study investigated the impacts of MERS epidemic on emergency care utilization and mortality in South Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A natural experimental study was conducted using healthcare utilization and mortality data of the entire Korean population. The number of monthly emergency room (ER) visits was investigated to identify changes in emergency care utilization during the MERS epidemic; these trends were also examined according to patients' demographic factors, disease severity, and region. Deaths within 7 days after visiting an ER were analyzed to evaluate the impact of the reduction in ER visits on mortality. RESULTS: The number of ER visits during the peak of the MERS epidemic (June 2015) decreased by 33.1% compared to the average figures from June 2014 and June 2016. The decrease was observed in all age, sex, and income groups, and was more pronounced for low-acuity diseases (acute otitis media: 53.0%; upper respiratory infections: 45.2%) than for high-acuity diseases (myocardial infarctions: 14.0%; ischemic stroke: 16.6%). No substantial changes were detected for the highest-acuity diseases, with increases of 3.5% for cardiac arrest and 2.4% for hemorrhagic stroke. The number of deaths within 7 days of an ER visit did not change significantly. CONCLUSION: During the MERS epidemic, the number of ER visits decreased in all age, sex, and socioeconomic groups, and decreased most sharply for low-acuity diseases. Nonetheless, there was no significant change in deaths after emergency care.
Communicable Diseases, Emerging ; Coronavirus Infections ; Delivery of Health Care ; Demography ; Disaster Planning ; Emergencies ; Emergency Medical Services ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Heart Arrest ; Infarction ; Korea ; Middle East ; Mortality ; Otitis Media ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Stroke

mortality rate). The surgical treatments performed were I&D, fasciotomy, debridement, allograft, burring, STSG, flap, and amputation. The most common causes were burns in 9 subjects (6 contact burns) and cellulitis occurred on skins in 5 subjects. And other various causes were observed as fournier's gangrene, stab wound, intramuscular injection, tumor and bleu toe syndrome (toe necrosis). The infected areas were 11 feet and legs, 7 hips, 3 abdomen and trunk in 21 subjects. Of the 8 deaths, 3 were infected in feet and legs, 2 were infected in hips, and 2 were infected in abdomen and trunk. As for underlying diseases, 12 patients with hypertension or diabetes were the highest and others such as cancer and stroke were found.CONCLUSION: The only method to increase the survival rate is to ‘suspect’ the disease as much as possible and perform early extensive excision. It is advisable to treat the disease by the burn center to properly provide adequate and optimal wound management, infection control, medical care and nutritional supports.]]>
Abdomen ; Allografts ; Amputation ; Burn Units ; Burns ; Cellulitis ; Communicable Diseases ; Debridement ; Electronic Health Records ; Fascia ; Fasciitis, Necrotizing ; Female ; Foot ; Fournier Gangrene ; Heart ; Hip ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Infection Control ; Injections, Intramuscular ; Inpatients ; Korea ; Leg ; Male ; Medical Records ; Methods ; Mortality ; Nutritional Support ; Sepsis ; Skin ; Stroke ; Survival Rate ; Toes ; Wounds and Injuries ; Wounds, Stab

Enteroviral infections are common in neonates. One important infection pathway is vertical transmission from an infected mother to her neonate. Here, we report the early detection and successful treatment of a vertically transmitted fulminant enteroviral infection associated with myocarditis and hepatitis. The patient had a sudden onset of high fever on the fourth day of life and developed severe, rapidly progressing symptoms of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC), hepatitis, and myocarditis accompanied by tachyarrhythmia. As it was the peak season for enteroviral infections and both the mother and the patient's 36-month-old sibling had a high fever around the time of delivery, we suspected an enteroviral infection. Thus, we initiated prompt evaluation of enteroviral infection, as well as close observation and intensive care of the neonate. We strongly recommend evaluation for the possibility of vertical enterovirus infection in neonates when the mother is suspected of having a viral infection (e.g., high fever and negative results from bacterial infectious studies) around the time of delivery and when the neonate shows some early symptoms of infectious diseases such as thrombocytopenia, DIC, hepatitis, and myocarditis. Early detection of enteroviral infections and prompt implementation of proper treatment are key to reduce the risk of complications and mortality associated with enteroviral infections in neonates.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Child, Preschool ; Communicable Diseases ; Critical Care ; Dacarbazine ; Enterovirus ; Enterovirus Infections ; Fever ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Mortality ; Mothers ; Myocarditis ; Seasons ; Siblings ; Tachycardia ; Thrombocytopenia

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a treatment for hematologic malignancies, immune deficiencies, or genetic diseases, ect. Recently, the number of HSCTs performed in Korea has increased and the outcomes have improved. However, infectious complications account for most of the morbidity and mortality after HSCT. Post-HSCT infectious complications are usually classified according to the time after HSCT: pre-engraftment, immediate post-engraftment, and late post-engraftment period. In addition, the types and risk factors of infectious complications differ according to the stem cell source, donor type, conditioning intensity, region, prophylaxis strategy, and comorbidities, such as graft-versushost disease and invasive fungal infection. In this review, we summarize infectious complications after HSCT, focusing on the Korean perspectives.
Communicable Diseases ; Comorbidity ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells* ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Korea* ; Mortality ; Opportunistic Infections ; Risk Factors ; Stem Cells ; Tissue Donors

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a frequent comorbid condition associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Pneumonia is the most common infectious disease condition. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the impact of pneumonia in patients with COPD. We will evaluate the epidemiology and factors associated with pneumonia. We are discussing the clinical characteristics of COPD that may favor the development of infections conditions such as pneumonia. Over the last 10 years, there is an increased evidence that COPD patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids are at increased risk to develp pneumonia. We will review the avaialbe information as well as the possible mechanism for this events. We also discuss the impact of influenza and pneumococcal vaccination in the prevention of pneumonia in COPD patients.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Communicable Diseases ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Influenza, Human ; Mortality ; Pneumonia* ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive* ; Vaccination ; Vaccines

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging tick-borne infectious disease that is caused by the genus phlebovirus in the family Bunyaviridae. The syndrome is characterized by fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia. The number of reported cases and deaths in endemic areas, such as China and Japan, has increased each year. Since the first SFTS patient was identified in 2013, the number of cases have also been increasing every year in South Korea and the disease is posing a great public health concern. The number of patients is increasing and there is a high mortality rate, but there is no established treatment that has proven to be effective. The purpose of this review was to elucidate the various treatment modalities, such as plasma exchange, antiviral agents, e.g. ribavirin, high-dose steroids, and interferon.
Antiviral Agents ; Bunyaviridae ; China ; Communicable Diseases ; Fever* ; Humans ; Interferons ; Japan ; Korea* ; Mortality ; Neutropenia ; Phlebovirus ; Plasma Exchange ; Public Health ; Ribavirin ; Steroids ; Thrombocytopenia*

PURPOSE: Health careeassociated infections increase disease prevalence and mortality and are the main reason for the hospitalization of the elderly. However, the management of underlying infections in patients hospitalized in long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) is insufficient, and the transfer of these poorly managed patients to the emergency room (ER) of an acute care hospital can lead to rapid spread of infection. This study investigated the risk factors associated with an ER visit due to infections that developed in LTCHs. METHODS: The electronic medical records of patients who were transferred to the ER of a university hospital in South Korea were used. Infection prevalence, causative infectious agent, and antibiotic sensitivity were assessed. The associations between patient characteristics and hospital-associated infections were examined using multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Among the 483 patients transferred to the ER during the study period, the number of infection cases was 197, and 171 individuals (35.4%) had one or more infections, with pneumonia being the most common (52.8%), followed by urinary tract (21.3%) and bloodstream (17.8%) infections. Patients with bedsores, fever, an indwelling catheter, and a higher nursing need were more likely to be seen in the ER because of infectious disease from an LTCH. CONCLUSION: Both an intensive care system and surveillance support should be established to prevent infections, particularly in high-risk patients at LTCHs.
Aged ; Catheters, Indwelling ; Communicable Diseases ; Critical Care ; Electronic Health Records ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Medical Services ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Fever ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Infection Control ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Long-Term Care* ; Medical Records* ; Mortality ; Nursing ; Pneumonia ; Pressure Ulcer ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies* ; Risk Factors ; Urinary Tract