• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.27-37
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• 2016

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between adolescents' suicidal ideation and their physical health conditions to contribute to lower suicide rates among adolescents. Methods: Secondary analysis of 2108 high school students of $10^{th}$ grade was conducted using the Korean Child and Youth Panel survey in 2013. The association between suicidal ideation and socio-demographic and health characteristics were analyzed using Chi-square tests and regression models. Results: Adolescents' physical health conditions were significantly related to suicidal ideation. In particular, rhinitis and various symptoms such as feeling feverish, low appetite, feeling of nausea, stomachache while studying, and sleeping problem showed statistically significant relationships with suicidal ideation (P < .05). Furthermore, the higher frequency of diseases and body symptoms increases the rate of suicidal ideation. Considering socio-economic characteristics, family structure was also important. Conclusions: Physical health condition is a major contributor to adolescent's suicidal ideation. results suggest that improving social support system for adolescents' physical health conditions across family and school may be important in suicide prevention efforts.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2008

Purpose: There has been no nationwide surveillance survey of poisoning cases in Korea. This study examined the clinical characteristics of poisoning admissions in order to obtain preliminary data for future planning. Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed the data on poisoning admissions of 150 hospitals based on the hospital discharge injury surveillance data of Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Korea from January to December in 2004. The demographic data, poisons used, causes of poisoning, reasons for attempted suicide and mortality rate was investigated according to the age group. The factors associated with mortality were also evaluated. Results: A total 836 patients admitted for poisoning were analyzed. Their mean age was $46.5{\pm}19.5$ years (male 415, female 421). The most frequent age group was the 4th and 5th decades. The most common poisons involved were pesticides (45%) and medications (23%). The majority (64%) involved intentional poisoning except for those in the 1st decade. The most common reason for the attempted suicide was family problems. However, individual disease was the most common reason in those over 60 years. The overall mortality rate was 8.7% (73/836). Pesticides and being elderly (over 65 years old) were strongly correlated with fatality. Conclusion: The incidence of intentional poisoning increases from the 2nd decade making it a preventable injury. "Overall, the incidence of intentional poisoning increases from the 2nd decade". Therefore, there is a need to frame a prevention policy corresponding to each factor related to fatality, such as an elderly population and pesticides.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.197-203
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• 1988

In order to examine cause-specific mortality in Korea by comparing mortality of Japan, various mortality indicators are calculated using 1995 of ficial statistics of twonations. The mortality measures are cause-specific mortality rate by sex, age, andmarital status, cause-specific age-standardized death rate and potential years of lifelost, and their ratios by sex and nation. Items of major causes of death include allcauses (total deaths),tuberculosis, malignant neoplasm, diabetes mellitushypertensive diseases, heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, liver diseasestransport accidents, and suicide. Major characteristics of mortality in Korea are asfollows . (1) Death rates from most causes except suicide are higher in Korea thanJapan and especially death rates from tuberculosis, hypertensive diseases, liverdiseases, and transport accidents are higher for economically active Koreans : (2)Death rates from tuberculosis, liver diseases, transport accidents, and malignantneoplasm are salient for Korean children (3) Sex-differentials in mortality fromliver diseases, tuberculosis , and transport accidents are large for economically activeKoreans, because male mortality is higher than female mortality : (4) Suicide ratesare lower for economically active males, and higher for females aged 10s and 20s inKorea than Japan : (5) Death rates are highest f3r divorced or widowed under 45years of age depending on causes, but death rates from all causes are highest fornever-married of the age 45 and over in Korea : and (6) Sex-differentials inmortality are greatest for widowed in Korea and for divorced in Japan.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2021

Objectives Despite growing attention to anxiety in bipolar disorder (BD), little research has assessed anxiety symptoms in the course of BD. The current prospective follow-up study examines the influence of subjectively and objectively measured anxiety symptoms on the course of BD. Methods A total of 49 patients with BD were followed-up prospectively for average of one year at an average of four months interval. The Korean version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (K-BAI), the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, heart rate variability (HRV) were used to measure anxiety subjectively, objectively and physiologically. Participants were divided into high and low anxiety groups based on their K-BAI scores. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to compare the recurrence of mood episode, suicide attempt, emergency room visit, and psychiatric hospitalization between two groups. Mediators were investigated with Cox proportional hazards models. Results Compared to the low anxiety group, the high anxiety group reported significantly higher impulsiveness (p = 0.016) and lower high frequency component on HRV (p = 0.007) after controlling for severity of BD. Regarding survival analysis, the high anxiety group showed hastened depressive episode recurrence (p = 0.048) and suicidal ideation was the mediator of the hazard ratio (HR) 1.089 (p = 0.029) in the Cox model. Moreover, the high anxiety group showed a tendency of accelerated suicide attempt (p = 0.12) and impulsivity was the risk factor of suicide attempt (HR = 1.089, p = 0.036). Conclusions This interim analysis of prospective study suggests that high anxiety level in BD may anticipate unfavorable course. Further studies are needed to understand the multifactorial mechanism of anxious bipolar patients.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 1992

This study was conducted on 334 cases of the acute drug intoxication visited to the emergency room of Gyungsang University Hospital for 3 years from January 1, 1988 to December 31,1990. The results were as follows: 1. The ratio of acute drug intoxicated patients to total patients of the emergency room was $1.9\%$. 2. Male was slightly more than female(1.14 : 1). The highest rate was shown in the age group of 30 years. 3. The monthly incidence was higher at the period from May to September. 4. The suicidal attempts ratio of the patients over 10 years old was $84.9\%$. 5. $74.9\%$ of total cases were intoxicated with pesticides. Among 270 cases who had committed suicide, 220 cases $(81.5\%)$ had ingested pesticides. 6. The fatality rate among cases of pesticides intoxication was $35.2\%$, among chemical intoxication $15.1\%$ and among medical drug intoxication $4.3\%$. 7. 13 cases$(3.9\%)$ of 334 cases showed the psychological problem on chart.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.217-229
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• 2007

Purpose: This study sought to investigate the relationship between smoking, drinking and the mental health of adolescents. Method: The study subjects included 1,092 randomly sampled third-year middle and high school students from N-City and the L-Kun area in Chonbuk Province. The data were collected using an anonymous questionnaire developed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare(2005). The data were analyzed using the SPSSWIN 15.0 Program. Result: The smoking rate in the adolescents was 10.1%, and the drinking rate was 43.2%. The stress recognition rate in normal daily life was 45.5%, the frequency of depressive symptoms was 33.2% and 40.0% of the subjects reported that they wanted to die at some point within the past year. The rate of stress recognition, depressive symptom experience, suicidal planning and attempt in smokers and drinkers was higher than that in non-smokers and non-drinkers (p<.05). Especially, the frequency of suicidal thoughts was higher in the drinkers than in the non-drinkers (p<.05). Conclusion: The smoking and drinking status of the adolescents was correlated with their mental health a sit relates to stress, depression and suicide. Therefore, an effective program for the prohibition of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption is needed in order to prevent smoking and alcohol consumption in adolescents and improve their mental health status.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to compare community health status by region and to investigate related factors using community health and social indicators. Methods: Data were collected from statistics of local districts that were provided by KNSO and KCDC. ANOVA and correlation were analyzed using PASW 18.0. Results: The standardized cancer mortality rate was higher in metropolitan areas than in other areas. On the contrary, the mortality of respiratory disease, traffic accident, and suicide were higher in rural areas. Small cities and county districts showed higher prevalence in obesity prevalence than metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas presented higher prevalence in alcohol drinking during the previous month, perceived stress, and seat belt use. The age-adjusted standardized mortality rate was correlated with higher prevalence of smoking, obesity, percentage of the elderly, number of beds, number of social welfare facilities, number of registered cars, lower percentage of financial independence, number of doctors, and percentage of water supply service & sewage. Conclusion: Since significant differences in mortality rate and prevalence of health risk behaviors exist between regional areas and the mortality rate was correlated with other social indicators and health indicators, health policies and social policies considering these differences should be develop and implemented to the communities.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.spc
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• pp.577-590
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find out the suicidal ideation rate of the elderly including individual and regional factors by sex. Methods: This is secondary analysis study that combines the data of the 2017 Community Health Survey with the e-indicator data set of the National Statistical Office, and a descriptive correlation study. Statistical analysis used hierarchical logistic regression by SAS 9.4. Results: The 11.5% of the elderly had suicidal ideation within the last year, and 18.4% in Chungnam is the highest. Individual characteristics include females, older people, lower education levels, no job or housewife, no spouse, less than seven hours of sleep per day on the average, low subjective health, high subjective stress, and the worse their economic conditions, the more they had suicide ideation. Considering regional characteristics, suicidal ideation tended to increase significantly as the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people and the rate of obesity was lower, the rate of stress perception was higher, and the odds value was small. When both individual and regional factors were considered, the model conformity of the suicidal ideation improved (ICC=0.0814). Conclusion: In order to lower the suicidal rate of the elderly, it seems that both individual and community factors need to be comprehensively approached from the stage of suicidal ideation in the community.

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

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.109-116
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• 1984

The epidemiological information on 156 cases of acute drug intoxication treated at emergency room of Sin An Dai-Woo Hospital in Bi-Gum island during the year of 1981-1982 were reviewed and analyzed. And the findings obtained was as follows : 1) Annual incidence rate of acute drug intoxication was 3.3 per 1,000 in habitants (male 3.5, female 3.1). 2) In both sexes the highest incidence was obsesved in the age group of 20~49 years with 7.6 in male and 6.2 in female per 1,000 inhabitants. 3) In both sexes the highest ease distribution was observed during summer season of July and August (male 33.2%, female 26.4%). 4) Eating pesticides was the most frequently used for suicide purpose in both sexes (male 89. 3%, female 82.2%). 5) In terms of foundation for conclusion to eating poison, "by guardion's explanation" was the highest rate in both groups of eating pesticides (97.8%) and eating rodentcides(77.8%). 6) The case fatality rate due to eating poison was 4.5% (male 5.9%, female 2.8%). 7) In haspitalization days, the most cases was observed at less than 3 days (male 73.8%, female 79.2%).