Background: There are few safe effective ways to relieve osteoarthritis (OA) pain; as a result, off-label psychotropic drug prescriptions have increased worldwide. This study examined the change in psychotropic drug prescriptions for patients with OA from 2011 to 2020 using the Korean National Health Insurance Service dataset. Methods: The study population consisted of patients with hip or knee OA aged ≥ 65 years.Psychotropic drugs included opioids, benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine hypnotics (Z-drugs), anti-epileptics, tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), typical antipsychotics, atypical antipsychotics, and anxiolytics. The prevalence and long-term (> 3 months) prescription rates of psychotropic drugs in OA patients were calculated. Results: The study included 1,821,158 patients with OA (mean age 71.7 years; 65.32% female).Of the cohort, 49% had comorbidities for which psychotropics were indicated. The prevalence of psychotropic prescriptions decreased from 58.2% to 52.0% in 2018 and then leveled off.The long-term prescription rate remained constant until 2018 and then increased slightly.The most commonly prescribed psychotropics were opioids and long- and short-acting benzodiazepines. The prescription rates of opioids and long-acting benzodiazepines decreased from 2011 to 2020. For those with psychiatric co-morbidities, the prescription rates of anti-epileptics and SNRIs increased, while the prescription rates of anti-epileptics, SSRIs, other antidepressants, and atypical psychotropics increased for those without such co-morbidities. The most commonly prescribed psychotropics were diazepam and alprazolam, excluding tramadol and tramadol–acetaminophen combination. For those with psychiatric co-morbidities, the prescription rates of gabapentin and fentanyl increased, while for those without such co-morbidities, the prescription rates of lorazepam, fentanyl, escitalopram and quetiapine increased. Conclusion A significant number of older Korean patients with OA were prescribed psychotropic drugs in the absence of comorbidities requiring such drugs, including drugs that have little effect on OA and unfavorable safety profiles in older adults.

Background: There are few safe effective ways to relieve osteoarthritis (OA) pain; as a result, off-label psychotropic drug prescriptions have increased worldwide. This study examined the change in psychotropic drug prescriptions for patients with OA from 2011 to 2020 using the Korean National Health Insurance Service dataset. Methods: The study population consisted of patients with hip or knee OA aged ≥ 65 years.Psychotropic drugs included opioids, benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine hypnotics (Z-drugs), anti-epileptics, tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), typical antipsychotics, atypical antipsychotics, and anxiolytics. The prevalence and long-term (> 3 months) prescription rates of psychotropic drugs in OA patients were calculated. Results: The study included 1,821,158 patients with OA (mean age 71.7 years; 65.32% female).Of the cohort, 49% had comorbidities for which psychotropics were indicated. The prevalence of psychotropic prescriptions decreased from 58.2% to 52.0% in 2018 and then leveled off.The long-term prescription rate remained constant until 2018 and then increased slightly.The most commonly prescribed psychotropics were opioids and long- and short-acting benzodiazepines. The prescription rates of opioids and long-acting benzodiazepines decreased from 2011 to 2020. For those with psychiatric co-morbidities, the prescription rates of anti-epileptics and SNRIs increased, while the prescription rates of anti-epileptics, SSRIs, other antidepressants, and atypical psychotropics increased for those without such co-morbidities. The most commonly prescribed psychotropics were diazepam and alprazolam, excluding tramadol and tramadol–acetaminophen combination. For those with psychiatric co-morbidities, the prescription rates of gabapentin and fentanyl increased, while for those without such co-morbidities, the prescription rates of lorazepam, fentanyl, escitalopram and quetiapine increased. Conclusion A significant number of older Korean patients with OA were prescribed psychotropic drugs in the absence of comorbidities requiring such drugs, including drugs that have little effect on OA and unfavorable safety profiles in older adults.

Background: There are few safe effective ways to relieve osteoarthritis (OA) pain; as a result, off-label psychotropic drug prescriptions have increased worldwide. This study examined the change in psychotropic drug prescriptions for patients with OA from 2011 to 2020 using the Korean National Health Insurance Service dataset. Methods: The study population consisted of patients with hip or knee OA aged ≥ 65 years.Psychotropic drugs included opioids, benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine hypnotics (Z-drugs), anti-epileptics, tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), typical antipsychotics, atypical antipsychotics, and anxiolytics. The prevalence and long-term (> 3 months) prescription rates of psychotropic drugs in OA patients were calculated. Results: The study included 1,821,158 patients with OA (mean age 71.7 years; 65.32% female).Of the cohort, 49% had comorbidities for which psychotropics were indicated. The prevalence of psychotropic prescriptions decreased from 58.2% to 52.0% in 2018 and then leveled off.The long-term prescription rate remained constant until 2018 and then increased slightly.The most commonly prescribed psychotropics were opioids and long- and short-acting benzodiazepines. The prescription rates of opioids and long-acting benzodiazepines decreased from 2011 to 2020. For those with psychiatric co-morbidities, the prescription rates of anti-epileptics and SNRIs increased, while the prescription rates of anti-epileptics, SSRIs, other antidepressants, and atypical psychotropics increased for those without such co-morbidities. The most commonly prescribed psychotropics were diazepam and alprazolam, excluding tramadol and tramadol–acetaminophen combination. For those with psychiatric co-morbidities, the prescription rates of gabapentin and fentanyl increased, while for those without such co-morbidities, the prescription rates of lorazepam, fentanyl, escitalopram and quetiapine increased. Conclusion A significant number of older Korean patients with OA were prescribed psychotropic drugs in the absence of comorbidities requiring such drugs, including drugs that have little effect on OA and unfavorable safety profiles in older adults.

Background: There are few safe effective ways to relieve osteoarthritis (OA) pain; as a result, off-label psychotropic drug prescriptions have increased worldwide. This study examined the change in psychotropic drug prescriptions for patients with OA from 2011 to 2020 using the Korean National Health Insurance Service dataset. Methods: The study population consisted of patients with hip or knee OA aged ≥ 65 years.Psychotropic drugs included opioids, benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine hypnotics (Z-drugs), anti-epileptics, tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), typical antipsychotics, atypical antipsychotics, and anxiolytics. The prevalence and long-term (> 3 months) prescription rates of psychotropic drugs in OA patients were calculated. Results: The study included 1,821,158 patients with OA (mean age 71.7 years; 65.32% female).Of the cohort, 49% had comorbidities for which psychotropics were indicated. The prevalence of psychotropic prescriptions decreased from 58.2% to 52.0% in 2018 and then leveled off.The long-term prescription rate remained constant until 2018 and then increased slightly.The most commonly prescribed psychotropics were opioids and long- and short-acting benzodiazepines. The prescription rates of opioids and long-acting benzodiazepines decreased from 2011 to 2020. For those with psychiatric co-morbidities, the prescription rates of anti-epileptics and SNRIs increased, while the prescription rates of anti-epileptics, SSRIs, other antidepressants, and atypical psychotropics increased for those without such co-morbidities. The most commonly prescribed psychotropics were diazepam and alprazolam, excluding tramadol and tramadol–acetaminophen combination. For those with psychiatric co-morbidities, the prescription rates of gabapentin and fentanyl increased, while for those without such co-morbidities, the prescription rates of lorazepam, fentanyl, escitalopram and quetiapine increased. Conclusion A significant number of older Korean patients with OA were prescribed psychotropic drugs in the absence of comorbidities requiring such drugs, including drugs that have little effect on OA and unfavorable safety profiles in older adults.

Purpose: This descriptive study aimed to identify the contribution of nurses’ communication styles, nurse-mother partnerships, and mothers’ anxiety levels to the coping of mothers of hospitalized children, with the goal of establishing effective intervention strategies based on these factors. Methods: Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from July 12 to October 29, 2018. The study’s participants were 200 hospitalized children’s mothers in the pediatric ward of a university hospital. Results: The coping of hospitalized children’s mothers showed a significant relationship with nurses’ informative communication style (r=.26, p<.001), affective communication style (r=.28, p<.001), nurse-mother partnership (r=.50, p<.001), authoritative communication style (r=-.28, p<.001), and mothers’ anxiety (r=-.23, p=.001). A multiple regression analysis (adjusted R2=.32) indicated that the factors affecting the mothers’ coping included nurse-mother partnership (β=.47, p<.001), another caregiver (yes) (β=.17, p=.006), and mothers’ subjective health status (very healthy) (β=.15, p=.047). Conclusion Considering that the formation of cooperative partnerships between mothers and nurses found in this study had a positive effect on the mothers’ coping skills, it appears necessary to develop and implement programs for improving nurses’ communication skills and ability to form partnerships, beginning from undergraduate education.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between nursing students’ biomedical and artificial intelligence (AI) ethical awareness, ethical values, professional self-concept, and ethical decision-making confidence, and to then identify factors that can influence their ethical decision-making confidence. Methods: This study employed a descriptive research method and was conducted from June 8 to 12, 2023, with 204 students from three nursing colleges in Korea. The collected data were analyzed by frequency and percentage, independent t-test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and multiple regression using IBM SPSS 23.0. Results: The results of the multiple regression analysis showed that the regression model was significant (F=18.88, p<.001) and that professional self-concept (β=.46, p<.001), ethics education (β=.23, p<.001), AI ethical awareness (β=.16, p=.020), and relativistic ethical values (β=.14, p=.035) explained 34.6% of the nursing students’ ethical decision-making confidence. Conclusion It is necessary to include professional self-concept, AI ethical awareness, and ethical values contents when constructing the curriculums of educational programs in order to improve nursing students’ ethical decision-making confidence.

Long-term outcomes of live kidney donors remain controversial, although this information is crucial for selecting potential donors. Thus, this study compared the long-term risk of all-cause mortality between live kidney donors and healthy control. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study including donors from seven tertiary hospitals in South Korea. Persons who underwent voluntary health screening were included as controls. We created a matched control group considering age, sex, era, body mass index, baseline hypertension, diabetes, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and dipstick albuminuria. The study outcome was progression to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), and all-cause mortality as identified in the linked claims database. Results: We screened 1,878 kidney donors and 78,115 health screening examinees from 2003 to 2016. After matching, 1,701 persons remained in each group. The median age of the matched study subjects was 44 years, and 46.6% were male. Among the study subjects, 2.7% and 16.6% had underlying diabetes and hypertension, respectively. There were no ESKD events in the matched donor and control groups. There were 24 (1.4%) and 12 mortality cases (0.7%) in the matched donor and control groups, respectively. In the age-sex adjusted model, the risk for all-cause mortality was significantly higher in the donor group than in the control group. However, the significance was not retained after socioeconomic status was included as a covariate (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.87–3.80). Conclusion: All-cause mortality was similar in live kidney donors and matched non-donor healthy controls with similar health status and socioeconomic status in the Korean population.

Purpose: As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and other emerging infectious diseases continue to threaten health security, a strategy is required to increase nursing students’ care intention for patients with such diseases. This study aimed to identify factors influencing Korean nursing students’ care intentions in regard to patients with emerging infectious diseases. Methods: The care intention, COVID-19 knowledge level, ethical sensitivity, beliefs, attitudes toward the care intention, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were investigated using the theory of planned behavior. An online survey was completed from December 2020 to January 2021 by 227 nursing students who had complete a clinical practicum. Descriptive statistics, correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted on the data. Results: The care intention was higher in men than in women nursing students and in junior than in senior students. Behavioral and normative beliefs, attitude toward the behavior, and perceived behavioral control significantly predicted care intention. Ethical sensitivity increased the predictability of nursing students’ care intentions for emerging infectious disease patients. Conclusion The theory of planned behavior predicted nursing students’ care intentions for emerging infectious diseases. Therefore, an experience-based response program on emerging infectious diseases is required for nursing students.

Background: Considering the growing prevalence of Western lifestyles and related chronic diseases occurring in South Korea, this study aimed to explore the progression of metabolic risk factors in living kidney donors compared to a control group. Methods: This study enrolled living kidney donors from seven hospitals from 1982 to 2016. The controls were individuals that voluntarily received health check-ups from 1995 to 2016 that were matched with donors according to age, sex, diabetes status, baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate, and date of the medical record. Data on hyperuricemia, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and overweight/obesity were collected to determine metabolic risks. The proportion of individuals with three or more metabolic risk factors was evaluated. Logistic regressions with interaction terms between the medical record date and donor status were used to compare the trends in metabolic risks over time in the two groups. Results: A total of 2,018 living kidney donors and matched non-donors were included. The median age was 44.0 years (interquartile range, 34.0–51.0 years) and 54% were women. The living kidney donors showed a lower absolute prevalence for all metabolic risk factors, except for those that were overweight/obese, than the non-donors. The proportion of subjects that were overweight/obese was consistently higher over time in the donor group. The changes over time in the prevalence of each metabolic risk were not significantly different between groups, except for a lower prevalence of metabolic risk factors ≥ 3 in donors. Conclusion Over time, metabolic risks in living kidney donors are generally the same as in non-donors, except for a lower prevalence of metabolic risk factors ≥ 3 in donors.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intrauterine insemination (IUI) success rate and to define the variables for predicting success. Methods: The secondary data analysis was used with data collected from infertile females who underwent IUI in Fertility and IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) clinics, who benefited from the ‘National Medical-aid Program for ART (assisted reproductive technology) in 2016’, in which the data of 34,920 IUI cases were retrospectively reviewed. The primary outcome measure was the clinical pregnancy rate in elderly and young infertile females. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, χ2 test and logistic regression. Results: The pregnancy rate was 12.1% (2,095 cases) in elderly infertile females and 15.6% in young infertile females (2,758 cases) (χ2 = 87.90, p < .001). Using the logistic regression analysis, clinical pregnancy was positively associated with the ovulatory factor (OR= 1.48, p< .001) and male factor (OR= 1.19, p< .05) in elderly infertile females. It was positively associated with the ovulatory factor (OR= 1.30, p= .001) and the peritoneal cavity factor (OR= 0.58, p< .05) in young infertile females. Conclusion Our results indicate that the pregnancy rate in young infertile females was higher than that in old infertile females, and the IUI is the effective option in pregnancies in all ages with infertility due to the ovulatory factor. Additionally, further studies are necessary to fully describe pregnancy experiences for all the infertile females.