• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.87-101
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• 2017

[Purpose] This study aims to classify of healthcare decline and analyze the corresponding health outcomes among cities in Korea. In pursuing the above, this paper gives the particular attention to draw policy implications. [Methodology/Approach] Public healthcare data of 81 cities between 2014 and 2015 was obtained from the National Medical Center of Korea. A matrix analysis, t-test, ANOVA and multivariate regression were applied. [Findings] The study results indicated that declining cities tend to have the most healthcare resources, compared to growing or maintaining cities. However, accessibility to healthcare appeared to be lower in declining cities. Based on the classification of cities on healthcare decline, 42 out of 81 cities were categorized as a maintain/improvement group, while 39 cities were characterized as decline/depression. The group with a decline/depression type has significantly more healthcare facilities than maintain/improvement type. In contrast, maintain/improvement cities indicated lower incidence of morbidity and mortality than decline/depression cities. Lastly, according to the multivariate regression analysis for the healthcare outcomes by the type of healthcare decline, incidence of morbidity and mortality tended to decrease as the number of healthcare workers, the proportion of people who have healthcare accessibility, and the Timely Relevance Index increased regardless of the number of medical facilities including hospital beds and special beds. [Practical Implications] In conclusion, focusing on the improvement of healthcare accessibility as well as staffing, rather than expanding facilities is essential to set the healthcare policies.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.205-215
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• 2022

Background: The purpose of this study is to identify the factors infecting the medical care utilization from a new perspective by newly classifying the categories of administrative districts using the urban decline index and medical vulnerability index as indicators. Methods: This study targeted 150,940 people who used medical services using the 2015 cohort database (DB), 2010-2015 urban regeneration analysis index DB, and 2014-2015 public health and medical statistics DB. The decline of the region was classified using the urban decline index typed using k-means clustering and the medical vulnerability index typed using the quantile score calculation. Regression analysis was performed 3 times with medical expenditure, length of stay, and the number of outpatient visits as dependent variables. Results: There were 37 stable region (47.4%), 29 health vulnerable region (37.2%), and 12 decline region (15.4%). The health vulnerable region had lower medical expenditure, fewer outpatient visits, and a higher length of stay than the stable region. The decline region was all higher than the stable region but had no significant effect. Conclusion: The factors that cause the health disparity between regions are not only factors related to individual health behavior but also environmental factors of the local community. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic alternative that properly considers the resources within the community and reflects the characteristics of the population.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.240-250
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• 2018

By the end of 2017, in a world of 7.6 billion people, there were inequalities in healthcare indices both within and between nations, and this gap continues to increase. Therefore, this study aims to understand the current status of regional inequalities in healthcare indices and to find an action plan to tackle regional health inequality through a geo-economic review in Korea. Since 2008, there was great inequality in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by region in not only metropolitan cities but also districts in Korea. While the community health statistics from 2008-2017 show a continuous increase of inequality during the last 10 years in most healthcare indices related to noncommunicable diseases (except for some, like smoking), the inequality has doubled in 254 districts. Furthermore, health inequality intensified as the gap between urban (metropolitan cities) and rural regions (counties) for rates of obesity (self-reported), sufficient walking practices, and healthy lifestyle practices increased from twofold to fivefold. However, regionalism and uneven development are natural consequences of the spatial perspective caused by state-lead developmentalism as Korea has fixed the accumulation strategy as its model for growth with the background of export-led industrialization in the 1960s and heavy and chemical industrialization in the 1970s, although the Constitution of the Republic of Korea recognizes the legal value of balanced development within the regions by specifying "the balanced development of the state" or "ensuring the balanced development of all regions." In addition, the danger of a 30% decline or extinction of local government nationwide is expected by 2040 as we face not only a decline in general and ageing populations but also the era of the demographic cliff. Thus, the government should continuously operate the "Special Committee on Regional Balanced Development" with a government-wide effort until 2030 to prevent disparities in the health conditions of local residents, which is the responsibility of the nation in terms of strengthening governance. To address the regional inequalities of rural and urban regions, it is necessary to re-adjust the basic subsidy and cost-sharing rates with local governments of current national subsidies based mainly on population scale, financial independence of local government, or distribution of healthcare resources and healthcare indices (showing high inequalities) overall.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2021

Recently, social technologies have been created to solve problems from businesses for the establishment of generational solidarity ecosystem in terms of employment, residential space, network and social capital, age, cognitive and environmental aspects. This is senior-friendly healthcare business system aimed at meeting the senior needs for health life to enjoy active consumption culture life even after retirement, becoming a catalyst for minimizing generational conflicts, preventing the cognitive and physical deterioration of seniority in the areas of life healthcare, fitness and well-aging, and expanding into systems necessary for seniority self-reliance. We would like to draw up the development and requirements of the concept of the service platform for the study of collective characteristics for generation solidarity with senior class and the establishment of a customized senior health life system for generation solidarity. This system is characterized by a platform that can prevent the decline of seniors' cognitive and physical functions and enhance emotional stability. It is significant in providing feedback on the risk perception index, fall index, and prevention training index information to the child through the analysis and extraction of the senior health index for risk perception, fall probability, and fall prevention.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.203-213
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• 2023

This study examined the trend of healthcare status and compared the status of South Korea and other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) using the OECD health statistics 2022. We used the OECD health statistics from 2022 and a position value for relative comparison (PARC) index to compare the five elements of the healthcare system. The study also used a Mann-Kendall test to analyze the trend of the PARC values from 2000 to the present year. The findings of the study indicate that many South Korea's PARC values were higher than the OECD median. But practicing physician in supply part and medical cost were lower than OECD median but the trend significantly increased. Medical accessibility part and quality of care part except primary care, and mental health had a high relative position but the trend did not increased significantly. After outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019, there were changes in medical accessibility. Health screening and vaccinations showed an overall decline in 2020 compared to 2019. These results suggest that policymakers need to take necessary steps for a sustainable healthcare system in the country.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.747-753
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• 2019

Cognitive decline is characterized by reduced long-/short-term memory and attention span, and increased depression and anxiety. Such decline is associated with various degenerative brain disorders, especially Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). The increases in elderly populations suffering from cognitive decline create social problems and impose economic burdens, and also pose safety threats; all of these problems have been extensively researched over the past several decades. Possible causes of cognitive decline include metabolic and hormone imbalance, infection, medication abuse, and neuronal changes associated with aging. However, no treatment for cognitive decline is available. In neurodegenerative diseases, changes in the gut microbiota and gut metabolites can alter molecular expression and neurobehavioral symptoms. Changes in the gut microbiota affect memory loss in AD via the downregulation of NMDA receptor expression and increased glutamate levels. Furthermore, the use of probiotics resulted in neurological improvement in an AD model. PD and gut microbiota dysbiosis are linked directly. This interrelationship affected the development of constipation, a secondary symptom in PD. In a PD model, the administration of probiotics prevented neuron death by increasing butyrate levels. Dysfunction of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) has been identified in AD and PD. Increased BBB permeability is also associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis, which led to the destruction of microtubules via systemic inflammation. Notably, metabolites of the gut microbiota may trigger either the development or attenuation of neurodegenerative disease. Here, we discuss the correlation between cognitive decline and the gut microbiota.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.27-37
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of handgrip strength level on cognitive impairment in hypertensive patients. Methods: This study used the first to eighth year data of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA). Of the 10,254 respondents who participated in the basic survey, respondents were included that they were diagnosed with high blood pressure and had no cognitive impairment. The handgrip strength was based on the highest value of handgrip strength for both hands. Cognitive function using MMSE results and 23 points or less were defined as cognitive impairment. Cox models were conducted to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) of cognitive impairment in relation to handgrip strength adjusting for covariates. Results: In the case of hypertension patients, the probability of cognitive decline decreased by 3.0% every time the maximum handgrip strength increased by 1 unit. In the analysis by age, under the age of 64 had a 1.8% decrease in the probability of cognitive decline whenever the maximum handgrip strength increased by 1 unit, and a 3.6% decrease in those over the age of 65. In the gender analysis, male had a 3.2% decrease in the probability of cognitive decline for every 1 unit increase in the maximum handgrip strength, and female had a 2.6% decrease. Conclusions: The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for the development of interventions to prevent cognitive decline in hypertensive patients by identifying the effect of handgrip strength level on cognitive decline. It is also expected to be used as basic data for health education on the necessity of increasing muscle strength for hypertension patients in the community.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.5 no.8
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• pp.33-41
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• 1999

The progression of curing of dementia is associated with a gradual decline in functional, cognitive, emotional and social abilities. Patients with dementia currently cause many social problems, which will become more serious in the near future. It is considered that patients with dementia are so much influenced by the quality of physical ward environment ; so we need to improve environment of dementia ward dept. Factors of physical environment which effect patients with dement1a can be classifided both into 'Interier design' ; material, color, lighting, equipment and auxiliary design and into 'Sense of sight & hearing' ; illumination, ornament & indication, noise, and fancy.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.37-47
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• 1998

In Korea, it is urgently required to develop the health care facilities and services for People with dementia. The progression of dementia is associated with a gradual decline in functional, cognitive, emotional, and social abilities. Therefore, architectural design for People elderly with dementia should be focused to maintain and preserve this abilities. This study aims to derive the design guidelines of the ward and patient roon unit planning to maintain this abilities in the health care facilities for People with dementia. For this, investigation and analysis through the case studies of domestic and foreign facilities and P.O.E of domestic facilities were performed.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.63-72
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to introduce the concept of academic medicine to the medical societies of Korea and to identify any potential obstacles in the establishment of academic medicine in Korea. The core concepts of academic medicine include medical education, research, and patient care. Academic medicine can be practiced in the unique area of healthcare involving medical schools and teaching hospitals by faculty physicians in the academic medicine field. Through academic medicine, the next generation of healthcare professionals is trained, new discoveries can be made, and patients can find new hope for a cure. The flourishing of academic medicine has resulted in substantial advancements in medicine over the past few centuries, but at the turn of the 21st century, there was concern that academic medicine was on the decline. To address this concern, the International Campaign to Revitalize Academic Medicine was established and announced five scenarios to 2025 to debate the future of academic medicine. Although the system resembles that of Western medical societies, Korean medical societies were not familiar with academic medicine, and poor conditions caused by the distorted healthcare system in Korea have actually interfered with the nurturing of academic medicine. One of the main problems may include less interest in medical education and research relative to clinical practice by medical societies and the government. Collaborative efforts from both medical societies and the government are needed to establish academic medicine successfully in Korea for a better future.