The Clinical study for Efficacy and Safety of Amezinium methylsulfate

BACKGROUND: Amezinium methylsulfate(Risumic) is the useful drug in the treatment of essential hypotension. This drug elevate blood pressure by stimulating sympathetic nervous system and improve symptoms related hypotension. This study was designed to evaluate efficacy and safety of Risumic for patients with essential hypotension. METHODS: This study was performed in patients with systolic blood pressure less than 100mmHg from June, 1999 to December, 1999. Risumic blood pressure response, improvement of symptom and side effect were examined in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial. RESULTS: Total of 54 patients participated in this study and only 55.6% of them were finished and the rest of them(44.4%) was stopped. 6 patients of this patients were stopped because of side effects. But there was no difference in side effects in Risumic and placebo periods. In diastolic BP, Risumic group is 5mmHg higher than placebo group. And then there was significant difference in statistics. CONCLUSIONS: In essential hypotensive patients, Risumic is elevater DBP than SBP, side effects frequency was no significance difference in Risumic and placebo group.

Degree of stress and stress-related factors by the Korean version of the BEPSI

BACKGROUND: The BEPSI(Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument) was developed as an instrument for quick assessment of stress in a busy office setting, and well correlated with other stress scales. Bae et al. developed the BEPSI(Korean version)[BEPSI-K] in Korea, which was used broadly in health examination. In this study, we attempted to assess degree of stress and to find stress-related factors among Koreans by the BEPSI-K. METHODS: A household telephone survey of 1,060 responders was carried out using multistage stratifed random sampling technique from April to May, 1997. The data were collected from 947 subjects who answered all the items of the BEPSI-K. RESULTS: The reliability of the BEPSI-K was demonstrated (Cronbachs alpha 0.71). The BEPSI-K score showed left-shifted distribution, and its mean was 1.72. It also was significantly high in the unmarried, those with a low educational level, those with a low income, non-economic group, hypertensive patients, smokers, non-exercisers and drinkers. Among 947 subjects, 7.7 percent was high stress according to tercile of the original BEPSI score. CONCLUSIONS: Stress-related factors were marital status, educational level, income level, occupation, exercise, smoking, drinking, and hypertension in Korea.