• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.212-221
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• 2007

Background: Adolescent risk behaviors are of concern because they are dangerous in themselves and have negative influences on adult health. Objectives: This study explored six health risk behaviors of a sample representing the adolescent population in Jeju. Methods: Frequency and percentage of risk behaviors were calculated. Additionally, the chi-square test was used to explore whether differences in experimentation with risk behaviors exist relative to gender and schooling levels. Results: There were six major findings in this study: (a) a lower rate of lifetime and current cigarette use among female students compared to male students, (b) a substantial portion of heavy drinkers, (c) a higher rate of lifetime drug use among female students than among male students, (d) a higher prevalence of suicide ideation among female students than among male students, (e) substantial percentages of students who did not usually wear seatbelts, motorcycle helmets, or bicycle helmets, and (f) a substantial portion of students who were not involved in vigorous physical activities. Conclusions: Since a substantial portion of adolescents have been involved with diverse risk behaviors, it is urgent to implement effective intervention strategies to reduce the rates of these behaviors.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.249-259
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• 2011

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze long-term trends in the contribution of each cause of death to socioeconomic inequalities in all-cause mortality among Korean adults. Methods: Data were collected from death certificates between 1990 and 2004 and from censuses in 1990, 1995, and 2000. Age-standardized death rates by gender were produced according to education as the socioeconomic position indicator, and the slope index of inequality was calculated to evaluate the contribution of each cause of death to socioeconomic inequalities in all-cause mortality. Results: Among adults aged 25-44, accidental injuries with transport accidents, suicide, liver disease and cerebrovascular disease made relatively large contributions to socioeconomic inequalities in all-cause mortality, while, among adults aged 45-64, liver disease, cerebrovascular disease, transport accidents, liver cancer, and lung cancer did so. Ischemic heart disease, a very important contributor to socioeconomic mortality inequality in North America and Western Europe, showed a very low contribution (less than 3%) in both genders of Koreans. Conclusions: Considering the contributions of different causes of death to absolute mortality inequalities, establishing effective strategies to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in mortality is warranted.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.125-135
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• 2023

Purpose: The number of patients suffering from depression is rapidly increasing worldwide, and by 2030, it is expected to pose a severe social and economic burden. Reports suggest that approximately 30% of subjects with symptoms of depression do not attempt treatment. Therefore, predicting the characteristics of subjects with depressive symptoms who have not even attempted counseling treatment is essential to increase the participation rate for such treatment. This study intends to predict the participation rates for psychological counseling treatment for depression among subjects with depressive symptoms. Methods: This study used data from the 2021 Korea Community Health Survey (KCHS). Data analysis was carried out using a decision tree to design a model that predicted participation in psychological counseling for depression. Results: The results showed that subjects aged 65 to 74 had difficulty understanding the explanations of medical staff even though they did not have cognitive impairment. Only 11.1% of this group received psychological counseling, which was the lowest rate among the various age groups. Among the subjects, 62.4% of those aged 19-44 or 45-64, who had suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide, received psychological counseling and this was the highest rate among the age groups surveyed. Conclusion: The identification of people showing depressive symptoms is crucial for encouraging them to undertake treatment. Also, proper depression-oriented medical services should be developed and implemented for people with depressive symptoms who exhibit a blind spot towards attempting treatment.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted to describe the characteristics of patients with carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Methods: We retrospectively surveyed data from the Emergency Department based Injury In-depth Surveillance of 20 hospitals (2011-2014). We included patients whose mechanism of injury was acute CO poisoning caused by inhalation of gases from charcoal or briquettes. We surveyed the annual frequency, gender, age, result of emergency treatment, rate of intensive care unit (ICU) admission, result of admission, association with alcohol, and place of accident. We also surveyed the cause and experience of past suicide attempts by intentional poisoning. Results: A total of 3,405 patients were included (2,015 (59.2%) and 1,390 (40.8%) males and females, respectively) with a mean age of $39.83{\pm}18.51$ year old. The results revealed that the annual frequency of CO poisoning had increased and the frequency of unintentional CO poisoning was higher than that of intentional CO poisoning in January, February and December. The mean age of intentional CO poisoning was younger than that of unintentional CO poisoning ($38.41{\pm}13.03$ vs $40.95{\pm}21.83$) (p<0.001). The rates of discharge against medical advice (DAMA), ICU care and alcohol association for intentional CO poisoning were higher than for unintentional CO poisoning (36.4% vs 14.0%, 17.8% vs 4.7%, 45.2% vs 5.6%) (p<0.001). The most common place of CO poisoning was in one's residence. Conclusion: The annual frequency of total CO poisoning has increased, and unintentional CO poisoning showed seasonal variation. DAMA, ICU care, and alcohol association of intentional CO poisoning were higher than those of unintentional CO poisoning.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.271-290
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• 2018

The study aims to analyze the effects of socio-economic deprivation on suicidal ideation. The analysis data were used as a guide for Korea Welfare Panel Study 9. the frequency analysis, mean difference analysis, correlation analysis, and logistic regression were performed by SPSS programs. The results of analysis are as follows. First, The results of frequency analysis by deprivation type showed a high frequency of deprivation in the following order. Experience of not receiving a public pension, experience of being able to work but unemployed, experience of not being able to eat a balanced diet due to financial difficulties, and experience where you had nothing to eat but no more money to buy. Second, the average difference analysis shows that when a person does not have a spouse, the lower the academic background and the income level, the higher the likelihood of suicide. Third, regression analysis shows that the following deprivation patterns have a statistically significant effect on older adults' thoughts of suicide. Experience in which the respondents or their family could not go to hospital because they had no money, experience that move house because is back rent more than 2 months or can not pay rent, experience that they could not afford to buy food and eat well-balanced meals, experience of failing to pay your bills on time, experience of being able to work but not having a job, and experience in which financial difficulties left them short of food and no money to live. Based on such research results, some policy measures, such as the expanding management of medical care benefits cases, the improvement of elderly housing, residential conditions and the diet survey for the elderly, and the expansion of measures to support elderly people's tax rates, were proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.29-40
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• 2021

Risk factors that threaten public safety such as crime, fire, and traffic accidents have spatial characteristics. Since each region has different dangerous environments, it is necessary to analyze the spatial pattern of risk factors for each sector such as traffic accident, fire, crime, and living safety. The purpose of this study is to analyze the spatial distribution pattern of local safety level index, which act as an index that rates the safety level of each sector (traffic accident, fire, crime, living safety, suicide, and infectious disease) for basic local governments across the nation. The following analysis tools were used to analyze the spatial autocorrelation of local safety level index : Global Moran's I, Local Moran's I, and Getis-Ord's G⁎i. The result of the analysis shows that the distribution of safety level on traffic accidents, fire, and suicide tends to be more clustered spatially compared to the safety level on crime, living safety, and infectious disease. As a result of analyzing significant spatial correlations between different regions, it was found that the Seoul metropolitan areas are relatively safe compared to other cities based on the integrated index of local safety. In addition, hot spot analysis using statistical values from Getis-Ord's G⁎i derived three hot spots(Samchuck, Cheongsong-gun, and Gimje) in which safety-vulnerable areas are clustered and 15 cold spots which are clusters of areas with high safety levels. These research findings can be used as basic data when the government is making policies to improve the safety level by identifying the spatial distribution and the spatial pattern in areas with vulnerable safety levels.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.20 no.1 s.21
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• pp.10-39
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• 1987

Mortality rate and causes of death are regarded as an index of strength as well as level of development of a country. However, there is no accurate data for the causes of death in Korea due to lack of systematic vital data collection system. The objective of this study was to define the causes of death of the school teachers, its changing pattern, cause-specific mortality rate, and geographic variation. The study population included all of the teachers in primary school, middle and high schools, and college who joined in Korean Teachers' Union between 1968 and 1985 that provided a total of 1,972, 069 person-years to observe (1,384,911 man-years, 587,158 woman-years). There were 3,678 deaths in this period (3,377 males, 301 females). The most common cause of death was neoplasm which was followed by the diseases of circulatory system. The proportion of death of neoplasm was 1.5 times higher than that of the general population. Causes of death were classified into 5 major groups (neoplasm, diseases of circulatory system, accidents and poisoning, diseases of liver, and all others). The mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system and all others for general population were 4 to S times higher than those for the teachers. However, mortality rates of neoplasm and diseases of liver were only about 2 times higher than those for teachers. Mortality rate of liver cancer for teachers was higher than gastric cancer mortality rate which is the reverse in general population. The crude death rate was 2.12 per 1,000 person-years for male and 1.00 for female which is one-third of the crude death rate of general population. Crude death rate of study population was higher in rural area than in urban area. However, mortality rate of neoplasm for male was higher in urban area than in rural area while mortality rates of all other causes were higher in rural area. For female, mortality rates of neoplasm and diseases of circulatory system were higher in urban area and the rates for all other causes were higher in rural area. Crude death rate was lowest in Gyeongin area and highest in Yeongnam area. The mortality of neoplasm for male accounted the highest proportion of all death in Gyeongin, Chungcheong and Yeoungnam areas while the mortality of neoplasm and mortality of circulatory system accounted the same proportion in Jeonra area. For female, the mortality of disease of circulatory system accounted the highest proportion in Gyeongin and Yeoungnam and Jeonra areas. Proportion of death due to accidents and poisoning was high in Chungcheong area and death due to all other causes was high in Yeoungnam area. The most common cause of death for male by city and province was neoplasm in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gyeonggi, Chungnam, Chungbuk, Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk. Diseases of circulatory system was the leading cause of death in the rest of city and provinces. The leading cause of death for female was diseases of circulatory system in Seoul, Incheon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Gyeongbuk, neoplasm in Busan, and accident and poisons in all other cities and provinces. The mortality rates of male were above 2 per 1,000 person-years in Jeju, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Daegu, and Chungbuk, and it was below 1.5/l,000 in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi. The mortality rate of female was above 1.2/1,000 person-years in Gyeongnam and Incheon while it was below 0.5/l,000 in Daegu, Geonggi Chungbuk and Jeju. The leading cause for male by school of employment was neoplasm in all levels of school with a remarkably higher rate in the professors of college. Leading cause of death for female was disease of circulatory system in primary schools, high schools and college but neoplasm in middle schools. There was no death due to liver diseases in middle and high school teachers and college professors and no death due to all other category in high school teachers and college professors, in females. High school teachers and the highest mortality rate and college professors showed the lowest mortality rate. Temporal trend of mortality was examined in three periods; period I ($1968{\sim}1974$), period II ($1975{\sim}1979$), and period III ($1980{\sim}1985$). The leading cause of death for male was diseases of circulatory system in period I and II but neoplasm in period III. Such trend of decreasing diseases of circulatory system and increasing neoplasm was observed in female. Overall mortality rate was decreased over the 3 periods. The mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system, liver disease and all others were decreased in male but the mortality rates of neoplasm and accident and posions was increased. Female showed a similar trend to male but the mortality rate of liver diseases was increased. Mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system, neoplasm and liver diseases increased with age of teachers up to 50 years of age but decreased in 60 years of age. Mean age at death due to each cause was higher in male than female by $4{\sim}10$ years. However, the mean age at death of the teachers was $2{\sim}5$ years lower than that of the general population in all causes of death and the sex difference in the mean a2e at death was smaller ($2{\sim}3$ years) in general population. In sex ratio of mortality, male was higher than female in almost all diseases except suicide and maintained a high ratio. The general population showed universally high ratio in male like teachers, and more or less did regular patterns in mortality with ratio smaller.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.524-536
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• 2017

Purpose: This study aims to examine the relationships among experiences of traumatic events, post-traumatic stress (PTS), and the needs for health promotion programs of 119 paramedics. Methods: Experiences of traumatic events, PTS, and needs for health promotion programs were measured using a structured questionnaire. The subjects were 193 paramedics in Jeju Island. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test and $x^2$ test. Results: The most experienced event out of the 16 different traumatic events was 'retrieve a suicide's body.' A high-risk classification of PTS was observed in 36.2% of the subjects. The rates of experiences were higher than those of the actual needs for all 26 health promotion programs. The programs reported as highly needed by respondents were stress management (75.5%) followed by exercise (74.6%) and PTS management (72.5%). Subjects with longer career periods, a fire sergeant, perceived obesity, numerous experiences of traumatic events, and in the PTS risk group had a higher need for a stress management program. Conclusion: These findings indicate that a significant number of 119 paramedics experienced PTS. They also show that onsite strategic management is strongly required. In addition, implementation of health promotion programs based on the needs of 119 paramedics is highly needed.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.90-95
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the toxicologic characteristics of two groups of patients with acute intoxication for two different time periods and to make recommendations based on the results of this study. Methods: We reviewed retrospectively the medical records of patients with acute intoxication in our emergency center from June 1997 to May 1998 (group A) and from June 2000 to May 2003 (group B), and we evaluated differences in the epidemiologic and the toxicologic characteristics between the two groups. Results: The ratios of the number of patients with acute intoxication to the total numbers of patients who visited our emergency department were $0.49\%$ and $0.52\%$ for groups A and B, respectively. In both groups many poisoned patients visited our emergency center from 4:00 pm to midnight. The interval between the time of intoxication and arrival at the hospital was significantly shorter in group B. The number of patients transferred to our emergency center was larger in group B. Attempted suicide was the major cause of acute intoxication in both groups. Major toxic substances in both groups were centrally active drugs and insecticides. The number of comatose and mechanically ventilated patients was larger in group B. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the mortality rates. Conclusion: Emergency physicians who manage intoxicated patients should recognize regional characteristics and differences in the toxicologic characteristics of poisoning. In addition, the establishment of a poisoning control center in the regional emergency center is necessary to integrate data control and to enhance specialized management of intoxicated patients.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.130-137
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• 2019

Objectives : When a patient who attempts suicide visits the emergency room, it is important that the departments of emergency medicine, internal medicine, and psychiatry communicate with each other and prioritize treatment. This study was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary emergency consultation system (ECS) for drug intoxicated patients. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed the data from medical records prior to the ECS, from July 2017 to May 2018, and after the ECS, from July 2018 to May 2019, to verify the effectiveness of the system. Results : After the ECS, admission to open wards was significantly higher than to the intensive care units (χ²=8.567, p=0.014). In addition, the proportion of consultations to the department of psychiatry among patients admitted to other departments tended to increase (χ²=4.202, p=0.053), and the time required for consultation response decreased (Z=-2.031, p=0.042). As a result of the consultation, the proportion of the patients who had been transferred to the department of psychiatry was increased (χ²=4.692, p=0.043), and the time spent to transfer tended to decrease (Z=-1.941, p=0.052). Conclusions : After implementing the ECS for drug intoxicated patients, unnecessary intensive care unit admissions, consultation response time, and the time spent to transfer were reduced, and the rate of consultation referrals and transfer rates increased. This means that the multidisciplinary consultation system rapidly provided essential medical services to patients at lower medical costs.