• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.221-230
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was done to examine incidence of diarrhea and explore factors influencing occurrence of diarrhea in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU). Methods: For this retrospective research, data based on inclusion criteria were collected from the electronic medical records for 142 patients admitted to a university hospital ICU from September 2014 to August 2015. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS/WIN 22.0 program. Results: Incidence of diarrhea was 53.5% during the 12-month study period. Diarrhea occurred at 4.54 days and continued for 1.79 days on average. Average total frequency of diarrhea was 5.56 times. Increased ICU stay, enteral nutrition, and infection state were significant predictors of the occurrence of diarrhea. Infection increased risk of diarrhea 3.4 times and enteral nutrition increased risk of diarrhea to 2.2 times greater than patients not receivng enteral nutrition. Conclusion: Diarrhea in ICU patients is associated with multiple factors that should be considered to implement preventive strategies. Infection control should be emphasized, and close monitoring of diarrhea should be provided for those with enteral nutrition. Further studies are warranted to determine standardized clinical definition of diarrhea and diarrhea risk factors in ICU patients with different levels of severity and comorbidity.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.235-250
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• 2005

Acute diarrhea is one of the most common diseases that are seen in pediatric patients. In the management of acute diarrhea, several differential diagnostic criteria should be considered based on clinical and/or laboratory findings. These criteria include : (1) normal variant stool versus diarrhea (2) infectious versus non-infectious condition and (3) bacterial versus non-bacterial etiology. The use of antibiotics should be considered to manage diarrhea caused by bacteria accompanying fever and bloody diarrhea in the following cases : (1) patients with serious clinical course, (2) under three months, (3) immunocompromised patients, (4) patients with nutritional deficiency and (5) patients presenting with moderate-to-severe dehydration. In patients presenting with the symptoms suspected to be bacterial origin, whose clinical course is not serious, antibiotic therapy is not necessary. These patients are easily manageable at OPD level. Moreover, except for some cases in which the use of antibiotics is inevitable, pediatric diarrhea can be managed by providing the suitable foods alone with no necessity of other specific drugs. Accordingly, it is crucial not so much to depend on the drugs as to provide appropriate foods including oral rehydration solution(ORS) with no further episodes of diarrhea. Special attention should be paid to the fact that younger pediatric patients will undergo nutritional deficiency unless acute diarrhea is properly managed.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.889-896
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• 2005

Objective : Diarrhea is defined as an increased frequency of stools(more than three per day), increased liquidity(loose or watery) and decreased consistency or stools. This study was done to examine the efficacy of Gwakhyang-junggisan for two patients who had suffered from chronic diarrhea of unknown origin on examination. At the time of admission, patients complained of diarrhea 4 or 5 times per day accompanied with epigastric discomfort, quadri pain. As of the fourth day of Gwakhyang-junggisan administration, the frequency and liquidity of diarrhea decreased and accompanying symptoms also improved. Method : Gwakhyang-junggisan was used for these patients suffering from chronic diarrhea of origin unknown to western medicine. patients were diagnosed as daejang-sul as bihu disease. Result : Results were taken as two cases of effective treatment of chronic diarrhea with Gwakhyang-junggisan. Conclusion : Result of this study suggest that Gwakhyang-junggisan is all effective treatment for such symptoms of chronic diarrhea as epigastric discomfort, quadri pain.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.149-158
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate incidence and factors related to diarrhea in an intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: Retrospective correlational design was used. Data were collected from reviewing medical records of 210 patients stayed at an ICU in one university hospital, Seoul. Patients were included in the study if they 1) had no gastrointestinal disorders or fecal incontinence before coming to the ICU, 2) stayed longer than 5 days at the ICU, 3) were not on stool softners, 4) were without abdominal surgery, and 5) were 20-year-old or older. Results: The incidence of diarrhea was 27.1%. Durations of ICU stay, antibiotics administration, and enteral feeding were found to be statistically significant factors correlated with diarrhea. The enteral feeding was the significant predictors of the diarrhea in ICU. Conclusion: Since characteristics of diarrhea in ICU patients is shown to be multifactorial, nursing strategies for evaluating and managing related factors are recommended.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to report the effectiveness of diarrhea-inducing treatment by Gamsui-mal for lumbar spinal stenosis. During hospitalization four patients with lumbar spinal stenosis were treated with diarrhea-inducing treatment by Gamsui-mal and acupuncture, herbal medicine, moxibustion, cupping treatment, Bee-venom pharmacopuncture. Before treatment, we explained in detail about diarrhea-inducing treatment by Gamsui-mal and patients agreed with treatment. The symptoms appeared in patients of diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting in the treatment process. We evaluated the degree of improvement by visual analogue scale (VAS), oswestry disability index (ODI). After treatment, we found that pain was reduced and patient's symptoms were improved by visual analogue scale (VAS), oswestry disability index (ODI) score. The results show that diarrhea-inducing treatment by Gamsui-mal was rapidly improving symptoms. Further studies are needed to clarify the effect of diarrhea-inducing treatment by Gamsui-mal.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2015

Purpose: Stool exams are a useful tool for the early presumptive diagnosis of infectious bacterial diarrhea in the Emergency Department (ED). CT scans are often used to increase the physician's level of certainty and to facilitate patient triage by identifying the source of pain in most patients with an acute abdomen in the ED. This study was designed to investigate the correlation between stool exams and abdominal CT in patients with acute diarrhea visiting the ED. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study in the emergency department of a national university hospital from January 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013. The subjects consisted of 156 patients with acute diarrhea and abdominal pain who had stool exam results and abdominal CT findings. We divided the patients into three groups according to the stool exam results. Simultaneously, we evaluated their CT findings of the bowel and adjacent structures. Results: A total of 156 patients were enrolled. Frequency of abnormal CT findings showed statistically significant correlation with stool exams (p-value <0.001). Abnormal CT findings increased as WBCs and RBCs in stool increased (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: The stool exam was a statistically significant predictive variable in indirectly determining the severity of acute diarrhea and it showed correlation with the frequency of abnormal CT findings. It is suggested that stool exams can be used as a susceptible marker for predicting the probability of severe infectious colitis, and for making an early decision regarding close medical attention.

• Journal of Oriental Medical Thermology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 2004

Cold hypersensitivity is the condition with unusual cold sensitivity at temperature when others don't feel so. It is not disease in itself, but is known as having relationship with infertility, dysmenorrhea, anemia and endocrine disorder. The symptoms of cold hypersensitivity appear on limbs and abdomen especially, and may affect bowel movement such as constipation or diarrhea. We made a research of 86 healthy young girls who took medical examination and examined subjective bowel habit. The patients were divided into three group by defecation type, constipation(42), diarrhea(14) and normal group(30). Temperature differences$({\Delta}Ts)$ measured by DITI on upper and lower abdomen of each group had not statistically significance. Otherwise ${\Delta}Ts$ between upper arm and palm and between upper leg and foot were statistically signigicant. The severity of cold hypersensitivity on hands was in order constipation, normal and diarrhea group, and same as feet. The diarrhea patients had more severe cold hypersensitivity as compared with constipation patients. Correlation between ${\Delta}Ts$ on abdomen and hands or feet didn't exist. ${\Delta}Ts$ on hands and feet, however, had positive relationship. This research showed cold hypersensitivity could be related with diarrhea.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.570-575
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• 2018

Background/Aims: Capsule endoscopy is a diagnostic method for evaluating the small bowel lumen and can detect undiagnosed lesions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic yield and clinical impact of capsule endoscopy in patients with refractory diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome and functional abdominal pain. Methods: This study involved a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data, maintained in a database. Patients with refractory diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome and functional abdominal pain within the period of March 2012 to March 2014 were included. Capsule endoscopy was used to detect small bowel pathologies in both groups. Results: Sixty-five patients (53.8% female) fulfilled the inclusion criteria and had a mean (${\pm}$standard deviation) age of $50.9{\pm}15.9$ years. Clinically significant lesions were detected via capsule endoscopy in 32.5% of the patients in the abdominal pain group and 54.5% of the patients in the diarrhea group. Overall, 48% of patients had small bowel pathologies detected during the capsule endoscopy study. Inflammatory lesions and villous atrophy were the most frequent lesions identified in 16.9% and 15.3% of patients in the abdominal pain and the diarrhea groups, respectively. Conclusions: Routine use of capsule endoscopy in patients with irritable bowel syndrome should not be recommended. However, in patients with refractory conditions, capsule endoscopy may identify abnormalities.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.179-188
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• 2001

Diarrhea is the frequent passage of loose, watery stool (frequency: ${\geq}4/day$, weight: ${\geq}250g/day$) Most antibiotics can cause inflammatory change of the colon or Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC). Typical presentations of PMC are watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, leukocytosis ($12,000~20,000/\textrm{mm}^3$), hypoalbuminemia, hypovolemia and recent or concurrent use of antibiotics. Diagnostic methods of PMC are stool assay, sigmoid scopy, abdominal CT, abdominal US, etc. The age-related susceptibility noted with PMC is impressive but unexplained. Two stroke patients had diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever hypoalbuminemia and a history of recent or concurrent use of antibiotics. By use of Shirhyung- Tang, we could improve clinical symptoms (diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever hypoalbuminemia, etc.) and so report clinical course of two stroke patients with antibiotics-associated PMC.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.105-112
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in the incidence of diarrhea among the subjects given hypertonic and isotonic nutrients to the nasogastric tube feeding patients in the a critical care setting. Methods: This study is aquasi-experimental study with a pre & post-test design. The sample size of 40 was calculated based on Cohen's formula (1988). The total of 40 subjects who signed the informed consent were randomly selected and divided evenly into two groups, experimental and control group. Results: There are no significant differences between the two groups in homogeneity test (sex, age, albumin level, the use of antibiotics, antacid, and $H_2$ blocker). However, the frequencies of occurrence in diarrhea according to the density of nutrients formulation indicated a statistical difference at the level of .005 (p=.001): diarrhea occurred in four of 20 (20%) of the experiment group, but 14 (70%) of the control group. Also the onset date of diarrhea in the experiment group is later than that of the control group. Conclusion: The research findings suggest that we should begin with low density nutrients for nasogastric tube feeding, and increase its density gradually to decrease diarrhea incidence in the critical care setting.