The Utility of Korean Version of the WHO Five Well-Being Index in Evaluating Depressive Symptoms and Quality of Life in the Aged Dwelling in Community

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Recently the number of geriatric depressed people has been increasing tremendously. Among many factors affecting depression, quality of life seems to be closely related to depression. Thus, a screening tool for assessing both geriatric depression and quality of life is needed. The purpose of this study is to estimate the utility of the Korean version of the WHO-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5) in evaluating geriatric depression as compared with SGDS-K (Short Geriatric Depression Scale of Korean version) that is being used widely and quality of life. METHODS: A sample of 244 subjects over 65-year old living in Yanggu and Inje area in Gangwon Province, Korea were interviewed and responded to scales, including WHO-5, SGDS-K, MMSE-KC (Mini Mental Status Examination in the Korean version of the CERAD assessment packet) and GQOL-D (Geriatric Quality of Life-Dementia). The total score of WHO-5 below 13 indicates low well-being. RESULTS: The WHO-5 inversely correlated with SGDS-K and positively with GQOL-D, but showed no significant correlation with MMSE-KC. The SGDS-K negatively correlated with WHO-5, MMSE-KC, and GQOL-D. Low well-being group (WHO-5 score<13) had lower GQOL-D score (t=1.9698, p<0.05) and higher SGDS-K score (t=1.9798, p<0.05) than high well-being group. In multiple regression analysis, WHO-5 was significantly associated with GQOL-D and SGDS-K (r2=0.29422, p=0.0000). CONCLUSION: The Korean version of WHO-5 was very useful to evaluate both depressive symptoms and quality of life in the aged dwelling in community.

Prenatal Diagnosis in a Case of Familial Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy by Prenatal Ultrasonography / 대한주산의학회잡지

About half of all cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy(HCMP) have a positive family history. All first-degree relatives of patients with HCMP should be screened with echocardiography. The prenatal diagnosis of abnormal septal hypertrophy in fetuses of mothers with HCMP has not yet been documented. We report a prenatal diagnosis in a case of familial HCMP by ultrasonography which was confirmed by autopsy. Fetal echocardiography provides a valuable aid in diagnosis of familial HCMP.