• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.42-48
• /
• 2018

Purpose: On November 15, 2012, sales of OTC (Over-The-Counter) drugs began at convenience stores, which changed the accessibility of some drugs. As a result, the exposure and access patterns of these drugs could have changed. In this study, we reviewed the changes in the characteristics of drug poisoning patients because of the reposition of nonprescription drugs according to the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate changes in characteristics of drug poisoning patients between 2008 and 2016. A registry was developed by an emergency medical center in a local tertiary teaching hospital, and patients who visited the center were enrolled in this registry. We compared two periods, from 2008 to 2012 (Pre OTC) and from 2013 to 2016 (Post OTC), for type of intoxicant, time from poisoning to visiting the emergency center, intention, psychiatric history, previous suicidal attempt, alcohol status, and emergency room outcomes. The primary outcome was the number of patients who took acetaminophen and NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Secondary outcomes were ICU admission rate, mortality rate, and number of patients who visited the ER when the pharmacy was closed after taking acetaminophen and NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Results: Among 1,564 patients, 945 and 619 patients visited the emergency room during pre and post OTC periods. The number of patients with acetaminophen and NSAIDs poisoning decreased from 9.2% to 6.1% (p=0.016). The ICU admission rate and mortality rate in the emergency room did not show significant results in the relevant patient groups, and so was the number of patients visiting ER when the pharmacy was closed taking acetaminophen and NSAIDs. Conclusion: Despite the sales of nonprescription drugs at convenience stores, the number of acetaminophen and NSAIDs poisoning patients decreased.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.25-32
• /
• 2018

Purpose: Methamphetamine is an ongoing illegal drug problem worldwide, and its use in South Korea has spread over the last few years. In this study, a clinical review of patients who visited emergency medical centers with positive methamphetamine tests was conducted. Methods: Patients underwent methamphetamine screening based on physician suspicion over a period of 13 years. Their patient characteristics, clinical features, and drug administration properties were described. Results: A total of 297 patients were included, with 19 positive methamphetamine results. Patient age ranged from 21 to 84, with a mean of 37.52. Additionally, 13 were male and 6 were female. The mean BP, PR, RR were 131/82 mmHg, 94/min, 20/min. Saturation levels were all over 95%. Five patients had a psychiatric history. Patient showed varied symptoms ranging from mental changes to chest discomfort. In addition, seven showed abnormal electrocardiography findings and one showed elevated cardiac enzyme levels. Other laboratory results revealed no significantly abnormal results. Six patients also suffered from related trauma. The majority of patients consumed the methamphetamine orally, with unknown motivation at unknown locations. Most were transported by 119 and six patients co-ingested other drugs. Conclusion: Patients who showed positive results to a methamphetamine screening test in Korea visited the emergency medical center mostly by 119 and were unaware of or reluctant to reveal the fact that they had ingested methamphetamine. Emergency physicians should be more aware of the possibility that a patient may have consumed methamphetamine.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.223-226
• /
• 2002

Background: Thoracoscopic sympathicotomy is an effective treatment in essential hyperhidrosis. However, many patients suffer from compensatory hyperhidrosis. Compensatory hyperhidrosis is a very uncomfortable problem, but the mechanisms underlying compensatory hyperhidrosis are not completely understood. Material and Method: From May 1999 to June 2001, 25 cases of thoracoscopic sympathicotomy at the 2nd rib for facial hyperhidrosis and 116 cases of thoracoscopic sympathicotomy at the 3rd rib for palmar hyperhidrosis were performed in 141 patients. All of the patients were divided into noncompensatory sweating(NCS) and compensatory sweating(CS) group. Each group was investigated according to age, sex, body surface area(BSA), level of sympathicotomy and occupation. Result: The global rate of compensatory hyperhidorsis were 64.5%(91/141). There was no difference between the two groups for BSA, level of sympathicotomy and occupation. Mean age showed 23.2 years old in NCS group and 26.4 years old in CS group(p=0.09). In CS group, 46 cases were male(50.5%) and 45 cases were female(49.5%) and in NCS group, 19 cases were male(38.0%) and 31 cases were female(62.0%) (p=0.16). Conclusion: There were no available statistical data, but there was the fact that old age and male patients had the tendency for compensatory hyperhidrosis. If we have more patient group and consider the patient's family history or psychiatric problems, we will have more valuable data for compensatory hyperhidrosis.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.85-90
• /
• 2010

Objectives: Ginseng has a long history of being used in insomnia treatment and there is some evidence from animal studies of its sleep-enhancing property. From this, it can be assumed that ginseng has sleep-promoting effect in humans. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Korean red ginseng on change of sleep architecture in humans. Methods: A total of 20 healthy young males with regular sleep and wake habits and without any psychiatric nor cognitive problems were selected based on review of sleep questionnaires and sleep diaries they completed followed by an interview with a board-certified psychiatrist. The subjects were randomly assigned to red ginseng or placebo for 2 weeks of trial. The total daily dose of ginseng was 4,500 mg. The polysomnographic recordings were made at baseline and at 2 weeks after. The effects of red ginseng and placebo on sleep were assessed by comparing the changes in polysomnographic variables between the two groups. Results: A total of 15 subjects, 8 from red ginseng group and 7 from placebo group, were included to undergo polysomnographic procedures. The red ginseng group showed tendencies to increase stage 3 sleep (p=0.087) and to decrease stage 2 sleep (p=0.071) from the baseline compared with the placebo group. Conclusion: Korean red ginseng tends to increase deep sleep and decrease shallow sleep. Our result is in line, at least in part, with previous findings that Korean red ginseng increased total and NREM sleep in rats. Further studies with higher ginseng dosage, larger sample size and longer trial duration should be conducted to confirm the sleep stabilizing and balancing effects of Korean red ginseng.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.79-84
• /
• 1998

Authors report a case of poststroke bipolar disorder that occurs much less frequently than poststroke depression(PSD). A MRI study performed to identify the etiology of a secondary manic episode in a patient with preceded PSD after left basal ganglia infarction revealed newly developed right basal ganglia infarction associated with poststroke bipolar disorder. It is interesting to note that (1) the temporal relationship was found between the occurrence of PSD after left hemisphere stroke and the occurrence of poststroke bipolar disorder following right hemisphere stroke, and that (2) the occurrence of PSD and the occurrence of poststroke bipolar disorder are associated with lesion location respectively. It has been reported that bipolar disorders were associated with subcortical lesions of the right hemisphere, whereas right-cortical lesions led to unipolar mania and that risk factors for mania included a family history of psychiatric disorders and mild subcortical atrophy. In this case, MR image shows subcortical lesions of the right hemisphere and mild subcortical atrophy. The investigation of the relationships among stroke lesion locations and potstroke mood disorders and risk factors for poststroke bipolar disorder may contribute to understanding the neurobiology of primary mood disorder. A clinical implication is that the risk of secondary bipolar disorder after cerebral infarction should be highlighted.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.306-318
• /
• 1995

To evaluate the intractability of partial epileptic patients by variables, the author studied 113 patients (uncontrolled: 45, controlled: 68) who were admitted to the Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University from January, 1991 to August, 1993. The results were as follows. The items related to complex partial seizures, multiple seizure types and a histories of status epilepticus or clusters of seizures were significantly associated with drug-refractoriness (p<0.01). A high frequency of seizures before evaluation was associated with a poor outcome(p<0.01). The presences of known etiology of seizures, neurologic abnormalities and psychiatric disturbance were associated with limited treatment responses(p<0.01, p<0.05, p<0.01). An abnormal EEG findings such as background slowing, focal slowing, epileptiform discharges or secondarily bilateral synchrony were statistically significant (p<0.01). Age at onset, sex, distribution of epileptic foci, duration of seizure before evaluation, family history and abnormal neuroradiologic findings were not statistically significant. By these results, it was suggested that having at least four factors of the above variables were associated with limited treatment response.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.58-65
• /
• 2022

Purpose: Alcohol is one of the most commonly co-ingested agents in deliberate self-poisoning (DSP) cases presenting at the emergency department (ED). The increased impulsivity, aggressiveness, and disinhibition caused by alcohol ingestion may have different clinical features and outcomes in cases of DSP. This study investigates whether alcohol co-ingestion affects the clinical features and outcomes of DSP patients in the ED. Methods: This was a single-center retrospective study. We investigated DSP cases who visited our ED from January 2010 to December 2016. Patients were classified into two groups: with (ALC+) or without (ALC-) alcohol co-ingestion. The clinical features of DSP were compared by considering the co-ingestion of alcohol, and the factors related to discharge against medical advice (AMA) of DSP were analyzed. Results: A total of 689 patients were included in the study, with 272 (39.5%) in the ALC+ group. Majority of the ALC+ group patients were middle-aged males (45-54 years old) and arrived at the ED at night. The rate of discharge AMA from ED was significantly higher in the ALC+ group (130; 47.8%) compared to the ALC- group (p=0.001). No significant differences were obtained in the poisoning severity scores between the two groups (p=0.223). Multivariate analysis revealed that alcohol co-ingestion (odds ratio [OR]=1.42; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.98), alert mental status (OR=1.65; 95% CI, 1.17-2.32), past psychiatric history (OR=0.04; 95% CI, 0.01-0.28), age >65 years (OR=0.42; 95% CI, 0.23-0.78), and time from event to ED arrival >6 hrs (OR=0.57; 95% CI, 0.37-0.88) were independent predictive factors of discharge AMA (p=0.043, p=0.004, p=0.001, p=0.006, and p=0.010, respectively). Conclusion: Our results determined a high association between alcohol co-ingestion and the outcome of discharge AMA in DSP patients. Emergency physicians should, therefore, be aware that DSP patients who have co-ingested alcohol may be uncooperative and at high risk of discharge AMA.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.163-175
• /
• 2024

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between rehabilitation treatment, mental state and resilience of stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation by examining the correlation between The Core Seven Emotions Inventory-Short Form (CSEI-s) and the Korean version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (K-CD-RISC). Methods: All 104 participants (44 diagnosed with stroke who were receiving rehabilitation and 60 without stroke or psychiatric history) completed the CSEI-s, K-CD-RISC, and Questionnaire for stroke symptoms. All data were analyzed using by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) ver. 27.0. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and Pearson correlation coefficient were used for data analysis. Results: As a result of the CSEI-s, compared to the control group, the stroke group showed significantly lower Joy (喜) scores and significantly higher scores for Depression (憂) and Sorrow (悲). With a morbidity period of 12 months or less, the Thought (思) score was significantly higher. The Fear (恐) score was significantly higher when the rehabilitation was initiation more than 4~8 weeks after than that when the treatment was started immediately. Meanwhile, the K-CD-RISC score was significantly higher when rehabilitation was started immediately. In the stroke group, the K-CD-RISC score was positively correlated with Joy (喜) but negatively correlated with Depression (憂) and Fear (恐). In the control group, K-CD-RSIC showed a positive correlation with Joy (喜) but negative correlations with Depression (憂), Sorrow (悲), and Fear (恐). Conclusions: In addition to early rehabilitation treatment, mental approach through Korean medicine psychotherapy is crucial for enhancing the resilience of stroke patients.

• Korean Public Health Research
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.87-97
• /
• 2018

Background: Recently, the prevalence of obesity (body mass index [BMI] ${\geq}25kg/m^2$) has been increasing rapidly worldwide over a short period. In Korea, the prevalence of obesity has also increased rapidly due to the rapid socio-economic development and lifestyle changes, with differing patterns according to gender. This study aimed to compare the change in obesity prevalence according to gender among the adult population in Korea using representative data, the National Health Check-up Database (NHCD), to follow-up individuals who had undergone checkups during both years in Korea (2011~2013). Methods: To analyze the changes in obesity prevalence in the recent two years, data regarding men and women who had undergone health check-ups in both two years (2011, 2013) were extracted. The final study population comprised 144,934 persons: 83,604 (58%) males and 61,330 (42%) females. Chi-square test within a univariate analysis, and the level of factor difference was verified with t-test, one-way ANOVA and multiple comparison. Results: In 2011, one out of three participants was obese (BMI ${\geq}25kg/m^2$; male, 37.7%; female, 27.3%) and more than half of the subjects were overweight (BMI ${\geq}23kg/m^2$; male, 65.6%; female, 50.4%) requiring obesity management. For the two years, the BMI of the participants significantly increased (p < .0001) and the prevalence of obesity increased among both males and females. The prevalence of obesity was higher among both genders with a longer duration of smoking, more smoking, family history of hypertension, and family history of diabetes. However, residence, income level, drinking status, psychiatric disorder, disability status and severity of disability were the opposite gender. Conclusion: In the analysis of data, the prevalence of obesity among both men and women was increasing. The degree of change in the prevalence of obesity among men and women was different in each variable. Thus, it will need to consider gender in developing health policies for obesity mediation and to provide integrated healthcare and management for those people.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.116-125
• /
• 2020

Objectives : Self-poisoning is the leading cause of visits to the emergency departments after a suicide attempts. This study is aimed to compare the patient characteristics according to the category of drugs ingested by the patients who attempted suicide. Methods : All medical charts were retrospectively reviewed from patients who visited the emergency center, at Seoul Medical Center, due to intentional self-poisoning from April of 2011 to July of 2019. We investigated the information regarding the subtype and quantity of the intoxication drug, how it was obtained, suicidal history, and psychiatric history, as well as, sociodemographic information. Variables were compared between prescription drug (PD) and non-prescription drug (NPD) poisoning groups. Results : The mean age of the NPD poisoning group was significantly lower than that of the PD poisoning group. The patient ratio of those enrolled in national health insurance and living with spouses were significantly higher in the NPD poisoning group. Compared to the NPD poisoning group, the PD poisoning group had a higher incidence of mental illnesses, underlying diseases and ratio of involuntary visit to the emergency department. Among the prescription drugs, the benzodiazepine poisoning group had a higher rate of self-prescription than the non-poisoning group, while the zolpidem poisoning group had a higher rate of the using someone else's prescription than other drugs. Each single drug poisoning group (benzodiazepine, zolpidem, and antidepressant single-agent) had a higher rate of no mental illness than each of the mixed-poisoning group. Conclusions : Guidelines for regulating non-prescription drugs are needed as a matter of suicide prevention. Also, this study suggests that clinicians need to be careful when issuing prescriptions and should suicidal risk according to patients' characteristics, duration of follow-up and type of drug packaging.