Factors Associated with Poor Glycemic Control among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: The Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2012) / 보건행정학회지

BACKGROUND: Glycemic control is an effective way to reduce the cardiovascular complications of diabetes, but more than half of the adults with diabetes in Korea are improperly controlling their glycemic levels. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors associated with poor glycemic control in type 2 diabetes patients. METHODS: This study analyzed 1,261 subjects ≥30 years old diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who participated in the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2012). Poor glycemic control rates were defined as hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level ≥7%. To shed light on the causes of poor glycemic control, socio-demographics, diabetes severity, health status, and health behavior factors were adjusted and logistic regression was done. RESULTS: Of the total 1,261 patients, 53.0% of patients with type 2 diabetes had HbA1c ≥7%. After running a logistic regression model, the odds ratio of poor glycemic control was higher in high school graduates than elementary school graduates; in people living in Chungcheong and Jeolla/Jeju than those living in Seoul; in the group with diabetes for over 5 years had diabetes less than 5 years; in a group with insulin and oral hypoglycemic agent treatment than non-treatment; in a group with hypertriglyceridemia than without hypertriglyceridemia; and in the group with slept less than 6 hours slept 7-8 hours. CONCLUSION: We need a comprehensive public health policy to reduce the poor glycemic control rates in type 2 diabetes patients. We should recognize the education levels, duration of diabetes, diabetes treatment, hypertriglyceridemia, and sleep duration were associated with poor glycemic control.

Analysis of Factors Related to the Prescription of Antibiotics for the Acute Upper Respiratory Infection / 보건행정학회지

BACKGROUND: Initial treatment of acute upper respiratory infection (AURI) should not include antibiotics because most AURIs are caused by virus. However, the prescription rate of antibiotics in Korea is higher than in any other countries. Inappropriate use of antibiotics in Korea accelerated the emergence of antibiotics resistance and increased the social and economic burden. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors related to antibiotics use for the AURI among children-adolescents and adults. METHODS: This study analyzed the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service-National Patient Sample data which was nationally representative sampling stratified by sex and age. RESULTS: The influencing factors of antibiotics use for AURI are gender, age, types of medical security, primary disease, existence of concomitant disease, treatment seasons, first visit or revisit, indicated specialty, types of medical institution, and location of medical institution. CONCLUSION: The results showed health policy makers are required to place more efforts to resolve inappropriate antibiotics use. Especially they need to establish a health policy to reduce the gap between areas and specialties and recommend standardized clinical guidelines according to the subgroup code of AURI and the age group of patients.