OBJECTIVES: We estimated the population prevalence of antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), including unreported infections, through a Korea Seroprevalence Study of Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Retention and Transmission (K-SEROSMART) in 258 communities throughout Korea. METHODS: In August 2022, a survey was conducted among 10,000 household members aged 5 years and older, in households selected through two stage probability random sampling. During face-to-face household interviews, participants self-reported their health status, COVID-19 diagnosis and vaccination history, and general characteristics. Subsequently, participants visited a community health center or medical clinic for blood sampling. Blood samples were analyzed for the presence of antibodies to spike proteins (anti-S) and antibodies to nucleocapsid proteins (anti-N) SARS-CoV-2 proteins using an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. To estimate the population prevalence, the PROC SURVEYMEANS statistical procedure was employed, with weighting to reflect demographic data from July 2022. RESULTS: In total, 9,945 individuals from 5,041 households were surveyed across 258 communities, representing all basic local governments in Korea. The overall population-adjusted prevalence rates of anti-S and anti-N were 97.6% and 57.1%, respectively. Since the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has reported a cumulative incidence of confirmed cases of 37.8% through July 31, 2022, the proportion of unreported infections among all COVID-19 infection was suggested to be 33.9%. CONCLUSIONS The K-SEROSMART represents the first nationwide, community-based seroepidemiologic survey of COVID-19, confirming that most individuals possess antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and that a significant number of unreported cases existed. Furthermore, this study lays the foundation for a surveillance system to continuously monitor transmission at the community level and the response to COVID-19.

Objective: The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) are frequently prescribed medications worldwide for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Statins are considered to be well tolerated; however, they have a potential for myotoxicity. Concomitant drugs that inhibit cytochrome P450 3A4 can increase the concentration of statins and thus the risk of developing myotoxicity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate risk factors associated with potential drug-drug interactions in patients receiving statins. Methods: The subjects of this study were patients aged more than 18 years who received at least one prescription of statins in a general hospital located in Chuncheon-si, Korea, between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2018. Data regarding statin use and baseline characteristics was collected from the computerized hospital database. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with potential drug-drug interactions. Results: A total of 1061 patients were finally included in the study. The incidence of potential drug-drug interactions was 45% in all subjects. According to the results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis, myocardial infarction as the indication of statin, arrhythmia or heart failure as a comorbidity, and aspartate aminotransferase levels higher than 40 IU/L were significant risk factors for potential drug-drug interactions in study subjects. Diltiazem was the most commonly co-prescribed drug that caused potential drug-drug interactions with statins. Conclusion There was a considerable rate of potential drug-drug interactions in patients receiving statins. Health care professionals should attempt to reduce potential drug-drug interactions during statin administration.

Objective: The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) are frequently prescribed medications worldwide for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Statins are considered to be well tolerated; however, they have a potential for myotoxicity. Concomitant drugs that inhibit cytochrome P450 3A4 can increase the concentration of statins and thus the risk of developing myotoxicity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate risk factors associated with potential drug-drug interactions in patients receiving statins. Methods: The subjects of this study were patients aged more than 18 years who received at least one prescription of statins in a general hospital located in Chuncheon-si, Korea, between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2018. Data regarding statin use and baseline characteristics was collected from the computerized hospital database. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with potential drug-drug interactions. Results: A total of 1061 patients were finally included in the study. The incidence of potential drug-drug interactions was 45% in all subjects. According to the results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis, myocardial infarction as the indication of statin, arrhythmia or heart failure as a comorbidity, and aspartate aminotransferase levels higher than 40 IU/L were significant risk factors for potential drug-drug interactions in study subjects. Diltiazem was the most commonly co-prescribed drug that caused potential drug-drug interactions with statins. Conclusion There was a considerable rate of potential drug-drug interactions in patients receiving statins. Health care professionals should attempt to reduce potential drug-drug interactions during statin administration.

Anemia, iron deficiency (ID), and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are common disorders. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of anemia, ID, and IDA in Korean females. We examined the associations between IDA, heavy metals in blood, vitamin D level and nutritional intakes. The study was performed using on data collected from 10,169 women (aged > or =10 yr), including 1,232 with anemia, 2,030 with ID, and 690 with IDA during the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V; 2010-2012). Prevalence and 95% confidence intervals were calculated, and path analysis was performed to identify a multivariate regression model incorporating IDA, heavy metals in blood, vitamin D level, and nutritional intakes. The overall prevalence of anemia, ID and IDA was 12.4%, 23.11%, and 7.7%, respectively. ID and IDA were more prevalent among adolescents (aged 15-18 yr; 36.5% for ID; 10.7% for IDA) and women aged 19-49 yr (32.7% for ID; 11.3% for IDA). The proposed path model showed that IDA was associated with an elevated cadmium level after adjusting for age and body mass index (beta=0.46, P<0.001). Vitamin D levels were found to affect IDA negatively (beta=-0.002, P<0.001). This study shows that the prevalence of anemia, ID, and IDA are relatively high in late adolescents and women of reproductive age. Path analysis showed that depressed vitamin D levels increase the risk of IDA, and that IDA increases cadmium concentrations in blood. Our findings indicate that systematic health surveillance systems including educational campaigns and well-balanced nutrition are needed to control anemia, ID, and IDA.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency/*blood/*epidemiology ; Body Mass Index ; Cadmium/*blood ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoradiometric Assay ; Middle Aged ; Nutrition Surveys ; Prevalence ; Regression Analysis ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk ; Vitamin D/*blood ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: Pain is very common in the elderly, so there is a high prevalence of analgesic use among this population. The purpose of this study was to assess patterns of analgesic use and evaluate factors associated with analgesic use in elderly patients. METHOD: The subjects of this study were patients over 65 years old hospitalized in a teaching hospital located in Chuncheon-si, Korea between January 1, 2014 and March 31, 2014. Data collection regarding analgesic prescriptions and baseline characteristics was conducted using computerized hospital database by medical information team. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors related to analgesic use. RESULTS: A total of 2,394 patients were finally included. Among these patients, 700 (29.2%) took analgesics; 521 (74.4%) out of these 700 patients were received opioid analgesics and 179 (25.6%) were received only non-opioid analgesics. The most frequently prescribed opioid analgesic was pethidine (45.7%), and the most frequently prescribed non-opioid analgesic was acetaminophen (44.1%). Fracture was associated with increased odds of opioid analgesic prescriptions (OR = 2.766, 95% CI = 2.019-3.790, p < 0.001) and any analgesic prescriptions (OR = 2.394, 95% CI = 1.766-3.244, p < 0.001). Stroke or cerebral infarction was associated with decreased odds of opioid analgesic prescriptions (OR = 0.636, 95% CI = 0.471-0.858, p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of hospitalized elderly patients use analgesics. Health care professionals should consider factors associated with analgesic use in this population to improve pain management.
Acetaminophen ; Aged* ; Analgesics ; Analgesics, Opioid ; Cerebral Infarction ; Data Collection ; Delivery of Health Care ; Gangwon-do ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Meperidine ; Pain Management ; Prescriptions ; Prevalence ; Stroke

PURPOSE: To investigate the care patterns for radiation therapy and to determine inter-hospital differences for patients with laryngeal carcinoma in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 237 cases of laryngeal carcinoma (glottis, 144; supraglottis, 93) assembled from 23 hospitals, who underwent irradiation in the year of 1998 and 1999, were retrospectively analyzed to investigate inter-hospital differences with respect to radiotherapy treatment. We grouped the 23 hospitals based on the number of new patients annually irradiated in 1998; and designated them as group A (> or =900 patients), group B (> or =400 patients and <900 patients), and group C (<400 patients). RESULTS: The median age of the 237 patients was 62 years (range, 25 to 88 years), of which 216 were male and 21 were female. The clinical stages were distributed as follows: for glottis cancer, I; 61.8%, II; 21.5%, III; 4.2%, IVa; 11.1%, IVb; 1.4%, and in supraglottic cancer, I; 4.3%, II; 19.4%, III; 28.0%, IVa; 43.0%, IVb; 5.4%, respectively. Some differences were observed among the 3 groups with respect to the dose calculation method, radiation energy, field arrangement, and use of an immobilization device. No significant difference among 3 hospital groups was observed with respect to treatment modality, irradiation volume, and median total dose delivered to the primary site. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that radiotherapy process and patterns of care are relatively uniform in laryngeal cancer patients in Korean hospitals, and we hope this nationwide data can be used as a basis for the standardization of radiotherapy for the treatment of laryngeal cancer.
Female ; Glottis ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Korea ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; Male ; Retrospective Studies

Massive fetomaternal hemorrhage is major cause of neonatal anemia. And neonatal anemia is fatal disease of high mortality rate. Massive fetomaternal hemorrhage is defined as hemorrhage of fetal blood above 150 mL in the maternal circulation. Massive fetomaternal hemorrhage is infrequent but represents a fatal cause of perinatal death. To identify fetal blood in the maternal circulation, Kleihauer-Betke test or flow cytometry has been usually used. But recently HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) is used in the detection and quantification of fetomaternal transfusion. In fetomaternal transfusion, anemic newborn must be treated when circulatory failure is present. Circulatory failure often necessitates blood transfusion. We report two cases of severe anemia due to massive fetomaternal hemorrhage in full term baby. Each case was diagnosed by high performance lipuid chromatography and treated with exchange transfusion in order to avoid fluid overload and subsequent heart failure.
Anemia ; Anemia, Neonatal ; Blood Transfusion ; Chromatography ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Female ; Fetal Blood ; Fetomaternal Transfusion ; Flow Cytometry ; Heart Failure ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Pregnancy ; Shock

Stent thrombosis (ST) is one of the major complications that occur in percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) with stents. Various factors have been attributed to the development of ST, and several strategies have been recommended for its management. We report the case of a patient suffering from recurrent subacute STs after recurrent PCIs. The patient was treated by coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).
Coronary Artery Bypass ; Humans ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Stents ; Stress, Psychological ; Thrombosis ; Transplants

PURPOSE: Palliative chemotherapy for patients with recurrent or metastatic gastric cancer has been shown to have a survival benefit. Docetaxel monotherapy has achieved appreciable results for treating gastric cancer. We investigated the clinical efficacy and feasibility of a docetaxel and cisplatin combination regimen for patients suffering with recurrent or metastatic gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with histologically proven, bidimensionally measurable lesions of recurrent or metastatic gastric cancer, and they had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 to 2 and no prior palliative chemotherapy were eligible for this study. The combination chemotherapy regimen consisted of docetaxel 75 mg/m2 plus cisplatin 75 mg/m2 on day 1, and this was repeated every 3 weeks until disease progression. RESULTS: 32 patients were enrolled from 2002 to 2005. The objective response rate was 31.3% (95% confidenceinterval (CI): 14.2~48.2%) with no CR. The disease control rate was 59.4%. At a median follow up of 38.9 months, the median overall survival was 7.4 months (95% CI: 6.3~8.5). The median time to progression was 4.7 months (95% CI: 3.1~6.3). During a total of 106 cycles, grade 3 or 4 hematological toxicities were observed as follows: neutropenia (39 of 106 cycles) and anemia (3 of 106 cycles). The grade 3 or 4 non-hematological toxicities included anorexia (18.9%) and nausea/vomiting (21.7%). CONCLUSION: Docetaxel and cisplatin combination chemotherapy showed promising anti-tumor activity and this was well tolerated as a first-line treatment for patients with recurrent or metastatic gastric cancer. Further large, randomized phase III studies are warranted.
Anemia ; Anorexia ; Cisplatin* ; Disease Progression ; Drug Therapy* ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Neutropenia ; Stomach Neoplasms*

BACKGROUND: Autologous peripheral hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (APBSCT) has been widely used to treat various types of hematological disorders, metabolic diseases and congenital immunodeficiency. Hematopoietic recovery is important because prolonged duration of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia is associated with a higher risk of infection, bleeding and treatment related mortality. Many investigators have studied the factors that affect hematopoietic recovery after stem cell transplantation. METHODS: We retrospectively investigated the factors influencing hematopoietic engraftment in 112 patients with hematological malignancies and solid tumors who received APBSCT. We evaluated the gender, age, CD34+ cell number, conditioning regimens, and the type of tumor and their association with neutrophil and platelet engraftment. RESULTS: Post-transplant neutrophil engraftment (>500/microL) required a median of 11 days (range 6~50) and platelet engraftment 12 (range 1~78) days (>20,000/microL). The univariate analysis showed that the factors that positively affected hematopoietic recovery were: the type of conditioning regimens such as BEAM (BCNU, etoposide, cytosine arabinoside, melphalan) and BEAC (BCNU, etoposide, cytosine arabinoside, cyclophosphamide) versus BC (busulfan, cyclophosphamide), the CD34+ cell number and the disease diagnosis such as multiple myeloma versus acute myelogenous leukemia. The multivariate analysis showed only the CD34+ cell number (5~10 x 10(6)/kg) to be significantly associated with early neutrophil and platelet engraftment (P<.001). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that measurement of the CD34+ cell count may be sufficient to predict the time to engraftment after APBSCT.
Blood Platelets ; Cell Count ; Cytarabine ; Diagnosis ; Etoposide ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; Metabolic Diseases ; Mortality ; Multiple Myeloma ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophils ; Research Personnel ; Retrospective Studies ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; Thrombocytopenia