• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.492-499
• /
• 2011

The objective of this study is to examine the association between the knowledge and behavior of consumers on antibiotics use for common cold. Consumers' knowledge about antibiotics was measured by a questionnaire consisting of six items related to the effect of antibiotics and another three items about use of antibiotics. Telephone interview was conducted during the days between June 24 and July 2, 2009, and 1,015 persons responded the interview. Final analysis included 896 persons without missing data. Thirty six percent of respondents answered that they checked their prescriptions to ensure that antibiotics was prescribed for common cold. About 6% asked their doctors to prescribe antibiotics for common cold, and 9.7% asked them not to. More than a quarter of respondents answered that they used to take antibiotics leftover from a previous illness. Patients who knew better about the effect of antibiotics on common cold were more likely to ask doctors not to prescribe antibiotics (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.45~3.65), or to check prescriptions (OR 1.86, 95% CI 1.40~2.46). Higher knowledge about use of antibiotics was related to low probability of asking doctors to prescribe antibiotics. This result suggests that consumers' knowledge about antibiotics can influence doctor's prescription of antibiotics for common cold.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.58-75
• /
• 1998

Background : In Korea, the rational use of antibiotics are rarely controlled, and their patterns of utilization are not understood. In order to reduce the excessive use and to improve the appropriate use of antibiotics, it is necessary to accurately determine present uses of antibiotics in hospitals. Methods : Analysis of the use of prescription drugs was performed on NFMI(National Federation of Medical Insurance) 1994 medical expense claim data. A stratified sampling by types of hospitals, departments, and diseases was obtained from 1994 August data. Patients with secondary diseases were excluded. In this study, 2,697 adults with URI, 6,397 children with URI, 704 adults with bronchitis, and 1,838 children with bronchitis were included. Results : Most patients were prescribed medication (95.2-99.6%). Of the patients prescribed medication, more than 85% of URI patients and more than 91% of bronchitis patients were prescribed antibiotics. Antibiotics expenses accounted for 14% of total medical expenses in adults and 9% of total medical expenses in children. In adults with URI, antibiotics expenses accounted for 52% of drug expenses. Of the patients prescribed antibiotics, average number of antibiotics used was 1.6-1.7. For patients who are prescribed antibiotics, drug expenses were 62-97% greater than patients not prescribed antibiotics. When children were prescribed antibiotics, the highest price of drugs prescribed were 3.4-fold greater. In addition, the number of drugs prescribed also increased by more than one. Elderly patients, more than 60 years, were prescribed antibiotics less frequently. Children less than 10 years and elderly patients greater than 60 years old were prescribed fewer antibiotics than other patients. And they were prescribed medications for longer days than other patients. Conclusion : This study demonstrated that the average rate of prescribing antibiotics was higher in Korea than other countries. Measures to reduce overuse of antibiotics and to improve the appropriate prescription of antibiotics must be considered for cost effective treatment and overall health of people.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.50-67
• /
• 2000

This study aims to estimate the consumption of antibiotics in Korea and to suggest the further studies. To measure the amount of antibiotics consumption, we referred to the statistic of NFHI(National Federation of Health Insurance) and a private institute of pharmaceutical information(Korea Intercontinental Medical Statistics; IMS Korea). There were 1,563 antibiotics produced in Korea in 1997. The total amount of antibiotics production was 1,197 billion won in 1997. Antibiotics accounted for 17.6% of the total pharmaceutical productions in 1997. Cephalosporins have taken the largest part of antibiotics production since 1992. The estimation using NFHI data showed that the total expenditure of antibiotics used in health facilities was 268 billion won, 608 billion won, 911 billion won in 1990, 1994, 1997 respectively. Tertiary hospitals spent 246 billion won, general hospitals 287 billion won, hospitals 78 billion won, clinics 300 billion won in 1997. The amount of expenditure and the intensity of antibiotics consumption in hospitals have increased more steeply than any other health facilities. The total expenditure of antibiotics consumption in health facilities and pharmacies was 778 billion won when estimated using the data from IMS Korea, and 999 billion won from NFHI. Cephalosporins was the fast growing antibiotics group in all of the market- hospitals, clinics, pharmacies since 1991. To measure the amount and patterns of antibiotics consumption more precisely, a pharmaceutical monitoring or surveillance system is needed.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.146-149
• /
• 2009

Purpose: Foot infections are common complications in patients with diabetes. The patients are usually immune-compromised; therefore the pathogens could be resistant to narrow spectrum antibiotics. Those drugs, however, are categorized as specially managed antibiotics, and access are difficult without confirming of the pathogens. Our aim was to analyze the common pathogens in diabetic foot infection and figure out the proper antibiotics. Materials and Methods: We studied 68 patients treated with diabetic foot infection. The pathogens which caused the infection and their sensitivity to initial antibiotics were analyzed. We also investigated the change of the antibiotics after the confirming of the culture result and average time to get the result. Results: Among the 68 patients, 56 (82%) received cephalosporin and beta-lactam antibiotics. Only 12 (18%) who were confirmed the drug resistant pathogens from previous culture, were treated with broad spectrum antibiotics such as vancomycin and tazoperan. Average culture study time was 6 days. Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was cultured in 19 patients (28%), Methicillin-resistant coagulase negative staphylococcus (MRCNS) in 11 patietns (17%), pseudomonas in 11 patients (17%). Total 44 (65%) including 3 of other antibiotics resistant pathogen needed broad spectrum antibiotics. Thirty two patients (47%) were resistant to initial antibiotics.irt follow up culture, 2 MRSA and 2 MRCNS were found. The antibiotics resistant pathogens were confirmed in 48 (71%) patients at last. Conclusion: Diabetic patients with foot infection need proper antibiotics from initial treatment. The proper broad spectrum antibiotics should assigned to the patients from the first time without the confirming of the culture results.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
• /
• 2001.04a
• /
• pp.243.2-243.2
• /
• 2001

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
• /
• 2001.04a
• /
• pp.243.1-243.1
• /
• 2001

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
• /
• 2005.11a
• /
• pp.97-100
• /
• 2005

Recently sewage facilities mainly consisted of concrete structures are being deteriorated seriously by biodeterioration originated from sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. In this study, to prevent biochemical corrosion of the sewer concrete, antibiotics which prevent the growth of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria were developed and antimicrobial performance of it was investigated. After that, to consider applicability of antibiotics to concrete, durability such as resistance to carbonation, salt damage and chemical attack of concrete covered with inorganic and complex antibiotics were investigated. As a result of this study, it was proved that the antimicrobial performance of antibiotics was available. Also resistance to carbonation, salt damage and chemical attack of concrete covered with inorganic antibiotics was little improved but, in case of complex antibiotics, was remarkably improved. Moisture content of concrete, as a application condition of antibiotics in whole case, have little effect on performance but covering times of antibiotics have effect on performance only in case of complex antibiotics.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2005

Objectives : To explore the factors influencing antibiotics prescription by primary health physicians for acute upper respiratory infections(URI). Methods : We performed a survey of 370 primary health physicians randomly sampled in April, 2003. The questionnaire consisted of a prescription on the scenario of acute bronchitis case, along with opinions and reasons for prescribing antibiotics on URI. Results : We found that 54.7% of the physicians prescribed antibiotics on the example case of acute bronchitis which is known as not needing antibiotics. Female physicians and ENT physicians had a greater tendency to prescribe antibiotics. The factors influencing antibiotics prescription on URI were the belief about the effectiveness of antibiotics, preference for their own experiences rather than clinical guidelines, perception of patients' expectations, and perception of competitive environment. The prescription of antibiotics in the example case was affected by how much they usually prescribe antibiotics (OR=2.400, 95% CI=1.470-3.917) and the physicians who thought that antibiotics were helpful for their income prescribed antibiotics more than others (OR=6.773, 95% CI=1.816-25.254). Conclusion : These findings demonstrated that the false belief on the effectiveness of antibiotics, patient's expectation of medication and fast relief of symptoms, and perception of competitive environment all affected the physicians prescription of antibiotics on URI. It may help to find barriers to accommodate scientific evidence and clinical guidelines among physicians and to specify subgroups for education about appropriate prescription behaviors.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.50 no.4
• /
• pp.285-292
• /
• 2017

Antibiotics have been used for treating human and animal disease and enhancing growth of cattle, swine, and poultries. However, overused antibiotics can be released into the environment and produce antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. Main objective of this research was to monitor residual of antibiotics in solid matrix such as manure, wastewater sludge, soil and sediment. Total of six antibiotics, Chlortetracycline (CTC), Oxytetracycline (OTC), Tetracycline (TC), Sulfamethazine (SMT), Sulfamethoxazole (SMX), Sulfathiazole (STZ), used for both human and animal was monitored. Result showed that the detection frequency of 6 antibiotics was ordered SMT (100%) > TC = CTC (75%) > OTC (38%) > STZ (13%) > SMZ (0%) and the highest concentration ($309.83{\mu}g\;kg^{-1}$, SMT) was observed in manure. Comparing residual concentration of antibiotics (TC, CTC, and OTC) in soil and sediment, higher concentration was observed in sediment indicating that dissolved forms of antibiotics are released into river and sorbed into sediment particle. In conclusion, monitoring for residual of antibiotics in the environment is necessary and more research should be conducted to verify the source of antibiotic release.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.373-381
• /
• 2012

Antibiotics have been issued recently in water environments because of potential impacts on ecosystem and public health. This study was aimed to investigating the degradation of antibiotics such as tetracycline, lincomycin, sulfamethazine and cephradine using gamma ray irradiation. And the toxicity before and after irradiation on antibiotics was tested in order to examine the aquatic eco-risk assessment by aquatic organisms. In addition, comparing tests on toxicity for gamma ray and UV irradiated antibiotics was conducted. Four different antibiotics were prepared by concentration of 30 mg/L with demi-water respectively. The absorption dose of gamma ray was ranged from 0.2 to 2 kGy. The concentration of four antibiotics was gradually decreased corresponding to the increase of the absorption dose. A method for toxicity assessment using Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata was evaluated to the most acceptable compared with methods by Daphnia magna and Microtox$^{(R)}$ in terms of sensibility. It showed that the reduction of toxicity on antibiotics treated by gamma ray was superior comparing to the test results obtained from UV treatment. By-products from antibiotics treated by gamma ray were easily decomposed by microorganism and their toxicity was also evaluated to low.