Morbidity and Medical Facilities Utilization Patterns of High School Students in Urban and Rural Areas

도시(都市)와 농촌(農村), 고등학생(高等學生)의 상병(傷病) 및 의료이용(醫療利用) 양상(樣相)

This study was conducted to assess the morbidity and medical facilities utilization patterns of high school students in urban and rural areas, and to contribute to establishment of school health policies. A questionnaire survey was carried out for 1,979 of one boy's and one girl's high school in Pusan and 1,315 of one boy's and one girl's high school in Kyungnam province from March 27 to April 8, 1989. The summarized result is as follows. The number of students who were sick or injured in one month period was 378.0 of 1,000 students. One sick or injured student experienced 1.2 events on the average and thus the incidence rate was 453.2 per 1,000 students for a month. The morbidity rate of the urban area (550.8) was higher than that of the rural area (306.5) while the rate for girl students (561.9) was higher than that of the boy students (328.3) (P<0.01). Especially, the girl students (740.7) in the urban area showed two times higher morbidity rate than that of the girl students in the rural area. Out of all morbidity respiratory disease for 67.6 percent in urban area and 68.5 percent in rural area and it was followed by gastrointestinal disease and nervous & sensory diseases. The morbid conditions took place at school in 37.5 percent, and at home in 59.8 percent. The absence rate due to morbidity was 4.4 percent out of all morbid students. In addition, 73.5 percent of all morbid student utilized medical treatment, of which the pharmacy accounted for 53.8 percent and 57.5 percent in the urban and rural areas, respectively. The second most common facility utilized was hospital OPD. While there was no student who utilized the school nursing room in the rural area, 1.5 percent of the sick students utilized the school nursing room in the urban area. The most important in selecting medical facility was the distance. By low medical expense was more frequent cited reason for selecting medical facility in rural area (13.6 percent) than in urban area (3.2 percent). Mild illness accounted for 70.3 percent of the reasons for no treatment and 21.8 percent was due to the conflict between school hour and clinic hour. The morbid students mostly suffered from mild respiratory and gastrointestinal disease, and its incidence was the highest rate in the school. Although there was relation between the worry of absence and no-treatment, the school nursing room utilization of students was very insufficient. Therefore, it is required to activate the operation of the high school nursing room by utilizing the specialized personnel.

도시와 농촌지역 고등학생들의 상병 및 의료이용 양상을 파악하여 보건교육자료로 활용하고, 학교보건 정책을 수립하는데 도움이 되고자 1989년 3월 27일부터 4월 8일까지 부산 학생 1,979명과 경남 학생 1,315명의 남 녀 인문계 고등학생을 대상으로 설문조사한 결과는 다음과 같다. 대상학생 중 37.8%가 1개월 간에 1회이상 상병을 경험하였으며, 월간 상병률은 1,000 명당 453.2였다. 도시학생(550.8)이 농촌학생(306.5) 보다 여학생(561.9)이 남학생(328.3) 보다 높았다(P<0.01).