• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.348-356
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the number of suicide deaths in women, trends in suicide mortality, characteristics of suicide by age, and outcomes of suicide means over the past decade (2011-2021) in South Korea. Methods: Using cause of death data from Statistics Korea, an in-depth analysis of Korean women's suicide trends was conducted for the period of 2011-2021. Results: In 2021, women's suicide death in Korea was 4,159, a rate of 16.2 per 100,000 population. The rate increased by 1.4% from the previous year. Since 2011, women's suicide rate has been on a steady downward trend, but since 2018, it has been on the rise again. Suicide rates among women in their 20s and 30s have increased, especially since the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and suicide rates among women over 70 years remain high. As compared to 2011, pesticide poisoning and hanging among the means of suicide have decreased significantly, while drug and carbon monoxide continue to increase. Conclusion: Suicide rates for Korean women in their 20s and 30s have increased significantly in recent years, and those for women over 70 years remain high. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the causes and establish national policies for targeted management of these age groups, which contributes significantly to the rising suicide rate among Korean women.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.441-447
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• 2014

Background: Multi-state models are appropriate for cancer studies such as gastrectomy which have high mortality statistics. These models can be used to better describe the natural disease process. But reaching that goal requires making assumptions like Markov and homogeneity with time. The present study aims to investigate these hypotheses. Materials and Methods: Data from 330 patients with gastric cancer undergoing surgery at Iran Cancer Institute from 1995 to 1999 were analyzed. To assess Markov assumption and time homogeneity in modeling transition rates among states of multi-state model, Cox-Snell residuals, Akaikie information criteria and Schoenfeld residuals were used, respectively. Results: The assessment of Markov assumption based on Cox-Snell residuals and Akaikie information criterion showed that Markov assumption was not held just for transition rate of relapse (state 1 ${\rightarrow}$ state 2) and for other transition rates - death hazard without relapse (state 1 ${\rightarrow}$ state 3) and death hazard with relapse (state 2 ${\rightarrow}$ state 3) - this assumption could also be made. Moreover, the assessment of time homogeneity assumption based on Schoenfeld residuals revealed that this assumption - regarding the general test and each of the variables in the model- was held just for relapse (state 1 ${\rightarrow}$ state 2) and death hazard with a relapse (state 2 ${\rightarrow}$ state 3). Conclusions: Most researchers take account of assumptions such as Markov and time homogeneity in modeling transition rates. These assumptions can make the multi-state model simpler but if these assumptions are not made, they will lead to incorrect inferences and improper fitting.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.5159-5164
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• 2016

Objective: The dynamics of morbidity, disability and death rates due to malignant neoplasms in the population in Uralsk city of the Republic of Kazakhstan were studied for 2011-2015, with a focus on age and sex, as well as tumor location. Methods: Statistics for total morbidity, primary disability and mortality from cancer in the adult population of the city of Uralsk for 2011-2015 were calculated per 100 thousand. Estimation of morbidity was based on data from form - $N{\underline{o}}12$ ${\ll}$Report on the number of diseases registered in patients living in the area of health care organizations and patient population under medical observation". Evaluation of primary disability was based on form $N{\underline{o}}7$ ${\ll}$The distribution of newly recognized disabled by disease class, age, sex and disability groups" for 2011-2015 in Ural city and analysis of cancer was carried out using annual form 7 "Report on the sick, and diseases of malignant neoplasms". Result: The most common localizations of cancer were the trachea, bronchi, lungs, stomach and mammary glands. High death rates were noted for patients with cancer of the trachea, bronchi, lung, as compared to stomach and esophagus. Conclusion: The results of our investigation and data in the literature indicate that regional characteristics influence the impact of risk factors associated with cancer. An unfavorable environmental background contributes to ill health of urban populations, contributing to development of cancer. Moreover behavioral risk factors are very important, such as smoking, alcohol drinking, and an unhealthy diet. All these factors require urgent adoption of a package of measures for prevention, early detection and timely treatment. Detailed study of cancer is necessary to develop national programs and activities for prevention and control.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.100-113
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• 2021

Background: This study aims to figure out the gaps in health status by estimating amenable mortality rate by region, reflecting the characteristics of Korea, and estimating the years of life lost (YLL) per capita by disease. Methods: People who died from amenable diseases between 2008 and 2018 were extracted from the cause of death statistics provided by Statistics Korea. The age-standardized amenable mortality rates were estimated to compare the health status of 229 regions. YLL per capita was calculated to compute the burden of diseases caused by treatable deaths by region. The YLL per capita by region was calculated to identify the burden of disease caused by amenable deaths. Results: First, while the annual amenable mortality rate in Korea is on a steady decline, but there is still a considerable gap between urban and rural areas when comparing the mortality rates of 229 areas. Second, YLL per capita due to the amenable deaths is approximately 14 person-years during the analysis period (2008-2018). Conclusion: Although the health status of Koreans has continuously improved, there is still a gap in health status region by region in terms of amenable mortality rates. Amenable death accounts for a loss of life equivalent to 14 person-years per year. Since the amenable mortality rate is an indicator that can measure the performance of the health care system, efforts at each local area are required to lower it.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.147-153
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• 2005

Objectives: Studies on the geographical differences in mortality tend to use a census population, rather than a registration population, as the denominator of mortality rates in South Korea. However, an administratively determined registration population would be the logical denominator, as the geographical areas for death certificates (numerator) have been determined by the administratively registered residence of the deceased, rather than the actual residence at the time of death. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in the total number of a district population, and the associated district-specific mortality indicators, when two different measures as a population denominator (census and registration) were used. Methods: Population denominators were obtained from census and registration population data, and the numbers of deaths (numerators) were calculated from raw death certificate data. Sex- and 5-year age-specific numbers for the populations and deaths were used to compute sex- and age-standardized mortality rates (by direct standardization methods) and standardized mortality ratios (by indirect standardization methods). Bland-Altman tests were used to compare district populations and district-specific mortality indicators according to the two different population denominators. Results : In 1995, 9 of 232 (3.9%) districts were not included in the 95% confidence interval (CI) of the population differences. A total of 8 (3.4%) among 234 districts had large differences between their census and registration populations in 2000, which exceeded the 95% CI of the population differences. Most districts (13 of 17) exceeding the 95% CI were rural. The results of the sex- and age-standardized mortality rates showed 15 (6.5%) and 16 (6.8%) districts in 1995 and 2000, respectively, were not included in the 95% CI of the differences in their rates. In addition, the differences in the standardized mortality ratios using the two different population denominators were significantly greater among 14 districts in 1995 and 11 districts in 2002 than the 95% CI. Geographical variations in the mortality indicators, using a registration population, were greater than when using a census population. Conclusion: The use of census population denominators may provide biased geographical mortality indicators. The geographical mortality rates when using registration population denominators are logical, but do not necessarily represent the exact mortality rate of a certain district. The removal of districts with large differences between their census and registration populations or associated mortality indicators should be considered to monitor geographical mortality rates in South Korea.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.24 no.5 s.83
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• pp.113-128
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• 2006

This study was to verify the effectiveness of the Life Review-Narrative group therapy program on decreasing depression and death anxiety in the elderly. The program was organized according to a course of life from childhood to old age. The objectives were for the elderly to enhance self-worth, to become aware of their solitary existence, to accept aging and death, to accept the life: both past and present, and to make the most of experiences in overcoming difficulties. For the most part, the program used reminiscence and re-authoring of the narrative therapy as counseling techniques. Thirty-two elderly people(16 in the experimental group, 16 in the control group) aged 60 years and over were randomly selected from patients at the Daegu Metropolitan City General Welfare Center. Two groups were identified as equivalents for the study in the pre-test. The program for the experimental group was implemented twice a week for 90 minutes per session over a 6-week period(Sep. 8-Oct.14. 2005). The pre-test(Sep. 8 2005), the post-test(Oct. 14. 2005) and the follow-up test(Nov. 14. 2005) were implemented in order to verify the effectiveness of the programs. The instruments used in the study were the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form(Korean Version) and the Death Anxiety Scale. The data were analyzed using t-testing and One-Factor Repeated Measures ANOVA. This study supplemented other qualitative research methods in order to verify the variation in the depression and death anxiety in the elderly. The findings of the study were as follows: Significant decrease in the depression and death anxiety were reported in the experimental group. The control group however did not show any significant changes in the depression and death anxiety rates. The result of the post hoc multiple comparisons showed that the effects of the life review-narrative group therapy program has lasted effects on decreasing of the death anxiety. Nevertheless, the effects of the life review-narrative group therapy program on decreasing depression are not lasting. The study has limitations so further research is suggested.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2001

The purpose of the present study was to assess the agreement of survival probability estimated by International Classification of Diseases l0th Edition(ICD-10) based International Classification of Diseases based Injury Severity Score(ICISS) with professional panel's judgment on preventable death. ICISS has a promise as an alternative to Trauma and Injury Severity Score(TRISS) which have served as a standard measure of trauma severity, but requires more validation studies. Furthermore as original version of ICISS was based ICD-9CM, it is necessary to test its performance employing ICD-10 which has been used in Korea and is expected to replace ICD-9 in many countries sooner or later. Methods : For 1997 and 1998 131 trauma deaths and 1,785 blunt trauma inpatients from 6 emergency medical centers were randomly sampled and reviewed. Trauma deaths were reviewed by professional panels with hospital records and survival probability of trauma inpatients was assessed using ICD-10 based ICISS. For trauma mortality degree of agreement between ICISS survival probability with judgment of professional panel on preventable death was assessed and correlation between W-score and preventable death rate by each emergency medical center was assessed. Results : Overall agreement rate of ICISS survival probability with preventable death judged by professional panel was 66.4%(kappa statistic 0.36). Spearman's correlation coefficient between W-score and preventable death rate by each emergency medical center was -0.77(p=0.07) and Pearson's correlation coefficient between them was -0.90(p=0.01). Conclusions : The agreement rate of ICD-10 based ICISS survival probability with of professional panel's judgment on preventable death was similar to TRISS. The W-scores of emergency medical centers derived from ICD-10 based ICISS were highly correlated with preventable death rates of them with marginal statistical significance.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.39-54
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• 2007

This study attempts to provide fundamental information for a health policy and health services by looking at the trends and types of the mortality rates in Korea and Japan. In this study, data of the death statistics of Korea and Japan over the 21-year period from 1983 to 2003 are analyzed. Mortality data are standardized ${\times}100,000$ to the 2003 Japan population, according to the direct method. In 2001/2003, the ranking of major causes of death in Korea and Japan has been greatly changed. In Korea, mortality rates from malignant neoplasms, diabetes mellitus, renal failure, falls and suicide have increased. In Japan, the mortality rates from pneumonia increase more than those from diabetes mellitus. In 2001/2003, the proportions of the mortality rates from chronic diseases are higher than those from acute diseases. In the Korean health promotion policy "Health Promotion 2020", a more intensive goal management is needed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.26-36
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• 2020

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between the regional characteristics and the age-adjusted cardio-cerebrovascular disease mortality rates (SCDMR) in 229 si·gun·gu administrative regions. Methods: SCDMR of man and woman was used as a dependent variable using the statistical data of death cause in 2017. As a representative index of regional characteristics, health behavior factors, socio-demographic and economic factors, physical environment factors, and health care factors were selected as independent variables. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were performed to identify their relationship. Results: OLS analysis showed significant factors affecting the mortality rates of cardio-cerebrovascular disease as follows: high-risk drinking rates, the ratio of elderly living alone, financial independence, and walking practice rates. GWR analysis showed that the regression coefficients were varied by regions and the influence directions of the independent variables on the dependent variable were mixed. GWR showed higher adjusted R² and Akaike information criterion values than those of OLS. Conclusion: If there is a spatial heterogeneity problem as Korea, it is appropriate to use the GWR model to estimate the influence of regional characteristics. Therefore, results using the GWR model suggest that it needs to establish customized health policies and projects for each region considering the socio-economic characteristics of each region.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.23-34
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• 2004

The importance of the industrial safety has been growing gradually as well as the prevention activities on industrial accidents. Industrial accident rates have been decreasing by the prevention activities. However, the fatal industrial accidents such as the death tend to increase and risk per accident has increased. The previous studies on the industrial accidents focus on the entire accidents. However, these studies are lacking for the fatal industrial accidents such as the death. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the characteristics and trend of death which occurred by industrial accident, based on the real data of deaths collected last 5 years from 1999 to 2003 in korea. This paper suggests a analysis method using MDS(MultiDimensional Scaling) that considers accidents variables and properties simultaneously. We evaluate MDPREF (Multidimensional Analysis of Preference Data), one of the MDS analysis, to know the relations between the type of industry and region as well as the type of industry and occupation. This paper finds the type of industry which has high possibilities of death by regional groups. In addition, we find the type of occupation which has high possibilities of death by the type of industry. These findings indicate that industrial classification should be differently controled according to type of occupation and region.