• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.63-79
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• 2009

While previous epidemiological studies on temporomandibular disorders (TMD) have been based on a given health center or population sample, no study has been performed on general population of Korea, especially concerning about treatment pattern such as clinician’s specialty involved in TMD treatment, types and amount of prescription medication and cost. This study aimed to investigate magnitude of health visits and treatment patterns for Korean patients with TMD through the computerized database of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRAS). Inclusion criteria were all patients registered on the HIRAS database over 3 years' period from 2003 to 2005 and the medical records of patients with TMD as a main diagnosis were extracted. Information collected was as follows; distribution related to gender, age and region and type of hospital the patients visited, treatment duration, clinicians' specialty involved in treatment, cost, types of prescription medication and surgical treatment. The results of this study indicated that 0.15% of the population yearly sought TMD treatment, presenting with increase of incidence over the three years. Most of TMD patients were women (99.8%) and the biggest age group was second and third decades and decreased with age. Seoul and Kyeonggi province presented with higher incidence of TMD compared to the other regions of Korea, which seems to be related with magnitude of population. 56% of TMD patients visited primary care sector and the numbers of treatment visits was the highest in dental clinic (38.4%), followed by orthopedics (28%) and ENT (13.6%) clinics in order. Duration of prescription medication was the longest for anti-inflammatory analgesics, followed by antipsychotic drugs and muscle relaxants. Inpatient care related to TMD was primarily performed in dental hospital compared to medical hospital. Medical database of HIRAS provided comprehensive and vast information on epidemiologic characteristics and treatment patterns for patients seeking TMD treatment, which can be more reliable data to expect medical demand for TMD in condition that accurate diagnosis and standardized treatment is delivered in clinical settings.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.197-205
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the treatment pattern of patients with neuropathic pain (NeP) in Korea through computerized database of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRAS) over three years' period from 2003 to 2005. The results showed that the numbers of treatment visits were the highest for diabetic neuropathy (DN), followed by postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) and trigeminal neuralgia (TN) in order. Top 3 specialties for treatment visits due to NeP conditions were neurology, neurosurgery and anesthesiology. While cost of a treatment visit was higher in anesthesiology and emergency clinics compared to other clinics, there was a tendency to increase costs for visits to clinics of rehabilitation medicine and family medicine over the three years. Cost of dental visits was relatively high for TN, atypical facial pain (AFP) and atypical odontalgia (AO). Surgeries frequently applied to patients with NeP were sympathetic plexus or ganglion block, block of peripheral branch of spinal nerve and cranial nerve or its peripheral branch block. Most common prescribed medication were anticonvulsants, anti-inflammatory analgesics and anti-psychotic drugs while anti-inflammatory analgesics were overwhelmingly frequently prescribed for AO and glossodynia. Based on the results of this study, NeP disorders more relevant to dentists were AO, TN and AFP, TN of which seems to be the most important in terms of patients' number and cost for treatment visits. This indicates that dentists, especially oral medicine specialists should actively participate in management of TN, AO and AFP and share relevant information with patients and community.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2002

Objectives : Aims of the study were to investigate the physical and mental symptom profiles related with perceived life stress in normal populations. Methods: The study subjects were 186 subjects who visited the Health Promotion Center at National Health Insurance Corporation Ilsan Hospital between July and December, 2000. We measured Life Stress Assessment Scale (LSAS), SCL-90-R (Symptom Check List-90 Revised), and Physical Health Check Questionnaires to evaluate perceived life stress for one year, and physical and mental symptoms. The physical markers related with stress were also measured. According to LSAS scores, we selected two groups from all subjects : Group I (LSAS score with lower 25 percentile) and Group II (LSAS score with higher 75 percentile). Each number of subjects was 46 in Group I and 47 in Group II. We analyzed stasistical significances of study variables between Group I and II. Results : Group II subjects showed higher scores in all subscales of SCL-90-R compared to Group I subjects. Comparing to Group I, Group II subjects complained more physiological symptoms related with anxiety and depression. But there were no statistical differences in the physical markers related stress between two groups. Conclusion: We found that past year-life stress caused various mental and physical symptoms, which didn't develop any physical illness related life stress in normal populations yet.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.324-332
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• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate changes in dental visits in children and adolescents due to COVID-19. Based on the data provided by the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of dental visits among children and adolescents from January 2019 to August 2020, and the rate change according to Korean disease classification in 2019 and 2020 were analyzed by month and region. From January to August 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, the total number of visits to dental clinics and dental hospitals among children and adolescents decreased by 642,202 times (16.3%) in the 0 - 9 years old group, and 313,488 times (9.2%) in the 10 - 19 years old group. During the same period, the decreases due to Z29 (Need for other prophylactic measures) decreased by 118,219 times (34%) in the 0 - 9 years old group and 83,944 times (31%) in the 10 - 19 years old group, showing the greatest change. It is analyzed that overall dental service of children and adolescents has decreased due to COVID-19, and this may lead to deterioration of oral health of children and adolescents in the future, and this study can be used as a reference in case of an infectious disease such as COVID-19 in the future.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.249-260
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• 2007

Purpose: In order to enhance the quality of IMRT as employed in Korea, we developed a remote monitoring system. The feasibility of the system was evaluated by conducting a pilot study. Materials and Methods: The remote monitoring system consisted of a head and neck phantom and a user manual. The phantom contains a target and three OARs (organs at risk) that can be detected on CT images. TLD capsules were inserted at the center of the target and at the OARs. Two film slits for GafchromicEBT film were located on the axial and saggital planes. The user manual contained an IMRT planning guide and instructions for IMRT planning and the delivery process. After the manual and phantom were sent to four institutions, IMRT was planed and delivered. Predicted doses were compared with measured doses. Dose distribution along the two straight lines that intersected at the center of the axial film was measured and compared with the profiles predicted by the plan. Results: The measurements at the target agreed with the predicted dose within a 3% deviation. Doses at the OARs that represented the thyroid glands showed larger deviations (minimum 3.3% and maximum 19.8%). The deviation at OARs that represented the spiral cord was $0.7{\sim}1.4%$. The percentage of dose distributions that showed more than a 5% of deviation on the lines was $7{\sim}27%$ and $7{\sim}14%$ along the horizontal and vertical lines, respectively. Conculsion: Remote monitoring of IMRT using the developed system was feasible. With remote monitoring, the deviation at the target is expected to be small while the deviation at the OARs can be very large. Therefore, a method that is able to investigate the cause of a large deviation needs to be developed. In addition, a more clinically relevant measure for the two-dimensional dose comparison and pass/fail criteria need to be further developed.