• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.234-240
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this case-control study is to investigate the relationship between storke and stroke risk factors, such as family history and past history. The case-control study over clinical data registered from Daejeon Oriental Medical Hospital in the period of November 2006 to July 2010. Study subjects consisted of 108 patients with acute stroke within 1 month as the case group (Cases) and 108 people who visited hospital for health care as the genreral control group (Controls). The participants had been interviewed by residents to find out their family history and past history. Their blood was taken to check the blood lipid level and liver function. 1. The people whose family history included cerebrovascular accident had more probability of stroke than the people who did not have cerebral vascular accident as their family history. 2. The people who suffered from hypertension had more probability of stroke than the people who did not suffer from hypertension. 3. The people who suffered from diabetes mellitus had more probability of stroke than the people who did not suffer from diabetes mellitus. Based on this study, the people who had cerebral vascular accident as their family history should thoroughly treat their blood pressure and blood sugar level to prevent the cerebral vascular accident.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.77-80
• /
• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between patients with a neuropsychiatric history and features of their suicide attempt, in order to analyze the risk associated with psychiatrist prescribed drugs Methods: We retrospectively investigated cases of intentional overdose drug ingestion in patients greater than 14 years of age who visited OO emergency medical center between January 1, 2008 and July 31, 2010. We evaluated patient medical records to ascertain their age, sex, neuropsychiatric history, and components of ingested intoxicant. Information regarding any suicide reattempt was obtained after discharge through follow up telephone survey. SPSS version 13.0 was used for statistical analysis. Fisher's exact test was performed with p<0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: Ninety-six of 209 patients (46%) had a past history of psychological problems. Among those 96 patients with a history of psychological problems, 46(48%) used an overdose of the medicine prescribed by their psychologist in order to attempt suicide. However, for patients without a history of psychological problems, intoxication by neuropsychiatric drugs was insignificant. Neuropsychiatric patients required greater follow up care after discharge and exhibited significantly more suicide reattempts. Conclusion: This study revealed that patients sometimes use the medicine prescribed by their psychologist to attempt suicide. Therefore, an exhaustive plan to control the medicines prescribed to psychiatric patients should be established.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.67-74
• /
• 2012

Purpose: Since the establishment of Korea Society for the Study of Hospital Architecture, Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture have carried out various activities to improve the level of healthcare architecture in Korea. Despite of more diverse activities than the beginning, the history and activities of early days of the Society and Institute could be forgotten and omitted. So this paper aims to describe accurately the process of establishment of Korea Society for the Study of Hospital Architecture and Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture and the activities of the Society and Institute. Methods: Publications and documents issued by Korea Society for the Study of Hospital Architecture and Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture have been surveyed. And to identify the unwritten activities, personal memo and interviews were also used. Results: The result of this study can be summarized into two points. The first one is that some of the unwritten and uncertain history and activities of the beginning of the KIHA could be identified. The second one is that not also the activities of Korea Society for the Study of Hospital Architecture and Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture but the activities prior to the Society for the Study could be described. Implications: This research could be the basic data to arrange the history and activities of KIHA.

• Anxiety and mood
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.54-60
• /
• 2013

Objectives : Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is classified as an anxiety disorder. PTSD occurrence is known to be increased in middle-aged and older people, female, and individuals with a previous history of psychiatric disorders, lower education levels, low socioeconomic status, and severely injured patients. Anxiety symptoms are also related to later development of PTSD. In this study, we investigate the influences of injury severity and sociodemographic factors on severe anxiety in PTSD patients with no previous history of psychiatric disorders. Methods : Forty-one PTSD patients without previous history of psychiatric disorders were recruited from the psychiatric clinic at Chosun University Hospital. Subjects underwent psychiatric and physical examinations including the Injury Severity Score (ISS), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Korean-Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (K-WAIS). We defined severe anxiety as a BAI scores of 30 or more. Logistic regression analyses and multi-step model selection were applied to identify predictive factors for severe anxiety. Results : In univariate analysis, age, ISS, and socioeconomic status were found to be significant factors. Through multivariate logistic regression analyses and a stepwise model selection, we found the combination of age and ISS to be the best-fitted model for affecting severe anxiety in PTSD patients without a previous history of psychiatric disorders. Conclusion : Our findings suggest that the combination of age and ISS could develop severe anxiety in PTSD patients with no previous history of psychiatric disorders.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.42-64
• /
• 2008

This study was conducted to evaluate the quality in medical records by analyzing its completeness through setting up the level of record on the patient's past history and through examining the actual medial records. Targeting the information on the patient's past history in interns' records, residents' records and nurses' records toward 403 inpatients who were admitted first in 2004 at an university hospital due to stomach cancer. We analyzed whether the charts were recorded or not, recording level, the satisfaction with the expectant level of the records in the hospital targeted for a research and the level of agreement. The results were as follows; first, as for the rate of recording those each items, they were high in the chief complaint & present illness and the past illness history. Depending on the group of recorders, the recording rate showed big difference by items. Second, as a result of measuring the level after dividing the recording level of items for the patient's past history from Level 1 to Level 4 by each item, the admission history, the past illness history, and the family history were about Level 3, and the smoking history, the medication history, the chief complaint & present illness, the drinking history and allergy were about Level 2. In the admission department, it was excellent in the interns' records for the medical department. Third, as a result of its satisfactory level by comparing the expect level of a record and the actual record by item in information on the patient's past history, which was expected by the medical-record committee members of the hospital targeted for a study. And forth, we analyzed the level of agreement with Kappa score in the level of 'Yes' or 'None' related to the corresponding matter in Level 1, in terms of information on the past history in the intern's record, the resident's record, and the nurse's record. The level of agreement in the resident's record & the nurse's record, and in the intern's record & the resident's record was from "excellent" to "a little good". There were differences in the level of completeness and in reliability for the information on the past history by the recorder group or by the admission department. The encounter process that was performed by the admission department or the recorder group, indicated the result that was directly reflected on the quality of medical records, thus it was required further study about the medical record documentation process and quality of care. The items that showed the high recording rate quantitatively were rather low, consequently we'd should develop the tool for the qualitative inspection and evaluate the medical records further. And the items were needed to be detailed in the record level were rather low, and hence there needed to be a documentation guideline and education by the clinical departments.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.15
• /
• pp.6347-6352
• /
• 2015

Background: Breast malignancies are one of the leading causes of deaths in females worldwide. There are a number of risk factors associated with breast cancer but in Karachi Pakistan there are insufficient data available. Materials and Methods: A case control study was conducted on females in age group between 30-80 years. This study was accomplished by retrospective data collection in Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 108 females with primary malignancy of breast were included along with 108 matched controls. Relationship of various factors with disease was studied using logistic regression to calculate odds ratios with 95 % confidence intervals. Results: A total of 14 variables were analyzed and based on and 7 were found to be risk factors: old age, family history of breast cancer, family history of other carcinomas, personal history of breast carcinoma, early age of menarche, older age of mother at first delivery and lower number of children. Five factors, parity, breast feeding, history of oral contraceptive pills intake, past history of oophorectomy and hysterectomy showed protective associations. One variable, use of hormonal replacement therapy, showed a controversial link and one other, marital status, was not significant in this study. Conclusions: It is concluded that most of the well-known risk factors for breast cancer are also associated with the disease in the female population of Karachi, Pakistan. High risk patients should be the focus with the help of this study so that screening can be more effective for early diagnosis before clinically evident breast malignancy.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.57-68
• /
• 2016

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between patients' characteristics and the beginning period of improvement, as well as contribute to the efficient management of Bell's palsy patients. Methods : The subjects were 94 patients with Bell's palsy. This study was carried out through the use of an administrative database that included patients' characteristics and clinical information. The analysis of the beginning period of improvement by gender, hypertension, diabetes, drinking history, smoking history and facial palsy history was conducted by independent sample t-test. The analysis of the beginning period of improvement by age, House-Brackmann grade, Yanagihara scale and period receiving Korean medical treatment was conducted by Pearson's correlation analysis. Further analysis of the beginning period of improvement by associated symptoms and seasons was conducted by one-way analysis of variance. Results : 1. Significant correlations were not found between the beginning period of improvement and gender, age, season, smoking history, drinking history, facial palsy history, House-Brackmann grade, Yanagihara scale, hypertension, diabetes or associated symptoms. 2. There was significant correlation between the period of receiving Korean medical treatment and the beginning period of improvement. Conclusion : In this study, the earlier that patients received korean medicine treatment after onset, the earlier that the beginning period of improvement could be seen. Therefore, for the efficient management of facial paralysis patients, it is expected to help secure a baseline.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.444-452
• /
• 2012

Purpose: To explore the usefulness of previous fall history as a triage variable for inpatients. Methods: Medical records of 21,382 patients, admitted to medical units of one tertiary hospital, were analyzed retrospectively. Inpatient falls were identified from the hospital's self-report system. Non-falls in 1,125 patients were selected by a stratified matching sampling with 125 patients with falls (0.59%). A comparative and predictive accuracy analysis was conducted to describe differences between the two groups with and without a history of falls. Logistic regression was used to measure the effect size of the fall history. Results: The fall history group showed higher prevalence by 9 fold than the non-fall history group. The relationships between falls and relevant variables which were significant in the non-fall history group, were not significant for the fall history group. Falls in the fall history group were 25 times more likely than in the non-fall group. Predictive accuracy of the risk assessment tool showed almost zero specificity in the fall history group. Conclusion: The presence of fall history, the fall prevalence, variables relevant to falls, and the accuracy of the risk tool were different, which support the usefulness of the fall history as a triage variable.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.76 no.5
• /
• pp.226-232
• /
• 2014

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by airflow limitation and results from environmental factors and genetic factors. Although cigarette smoking is a major risk factor, other environmental exposures can influence COPD. The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics of COPD according to the history of environmental exposure. Methods: The study population comprised of 347 subjects with COPD who were recruited from the pulmonary clinics of 14 hospitals within the Korean Obstructive Lung Disease Study Group. We classified environmental exposures according to history of living near factory, and direct exposure history to firewood or briquette. According to living environmental exposures, we compared the frequency of respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function, quality of life, exercise capacity, and computed tomography phenotypes. Results: Thirty-one subjects (8.9%) had history of living near factory, 271 (78.3%) had exposure history to briquette, and 184 (53.3%) had exposure history to firewood. Patients with history of living near a factory had a significantly longer duration of sputum, while patients with exposure to firewood tended to have lower forced expiratory volume in one second, and patients with exposure to briquette tended to have lower six minute walk distance. Conclusion: COPD subjects with the history of living near factory had more frequent respiratory symptoms such as sputum. Our data suggest that environmental exposure may influence clinical phenotype of COPD.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.94-100
• /
• 2017

Purpose: Acute acetaminophen intoxication is a common occurrence that can cause lethal complications. In most domestic emergency departments, clinicians tend to treat acetaminophen intoxication based on patients' history alone, simply due to the lack of a rapid acetaminophen laboratory test. We performed a 20-month study of intoxication patients to determine the correlation between the history of patients and serum laboratory tests for acetaminophen. Methods: We took blood samples from 280 intoxication patients to evaluate whether laboratory findings detected traces of acetaminophen in the sample. Patients were then treated according to their history. Laboratory results came out after patients' discharge. Agreement between patients' history and laboratory results were analyzed. Results: Among the 280 intoxicated patients enrolled, 38 patients had positive serum acetaminophen concentrations; 18 out of 38 patients did not represent a history suggesting acetaminophen intoxication. One patient without the history showed toxic serum acetaminophen concentration. Among the patients with the history, two patients with toxic serum acetaminophen concentration did not receive N-acetylcysteine (NAC) treatment due to their low reported doses, while other 2 patients without significant serum acetaminophen concentration did receive NAC treatment due to their high reported doses. Conclusion: This study showed a good overall agreement between history and laboratory test results. However, some cases showed inconsistencies between their history and laboratory test results. Therefore, in treating intoxication patients, a laboratory test of acetaminophen with rapid results should be available in most domestic emergency departments.