Prevalence and Significance of an Abnormal Results of Electrolyte Test in a Periodic Health Examination

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of people undergo periodic health examination but due to its lack of a standardized method of examination and failure meet individual's specific, it has led to a huge wasting of resources. Thus, electrolyte tests performed during a routine health examination were reviewed to determine their significance and usefulness in mass screening. METHODS: We gathered 6,514 healthy cases who had received a periodic health examination at Asan Medical Center in August and December 2002. We reviewed the charts of the people who had abnormal results in electrolyte tests. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 46 years (range 14~82). Abnormal electrolyte results were relatively common. Four hundred and sixty one cases out of 26,056 (1.76%) had abnormal results. Abnormal results in sodium, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus were detected in 1.76%, 0.56%, 1.44%, and 3.53%, respectively. Only 16 of the 461 (0.06%) patients with abnormal results were recommended to visit a physician and only one of these cases revealed to have a new disease. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that an electrolyte test is unnecessary as a screening test since only one case was revealed to be beneficial from it. Most of the cases involving abnormal electrolyte results did not need any treatment. Considering the cost benefit effect, a potential increase in false positive rate, and false negative rate, electrolyte tests should be reconsidered as a screening tests in periodic health examination.

The development of Korean health related Quality of Life Scale

BACKGROUND: The status of development of instruments to assess the "health related quality of life' reflecting Korean's own language expression and culture is still far from satisfaction, despite their importance in building basic data for health promotion, evaluation of effectiveness of treatment, health policy and so on. METHODS: Symptom descriptions in both ill and healthy conditions were collected from 292, Koreans based on definition and damains of 'health related quality of life' which was established by 7 family physicians. The collected results were categorized into each domain and edited to be used as questions. Questions of health change and spiritual health domains were added. A selection of most pertinent items were pursued through the internal consistency analysis on 417 patients. Pretest was performed on 20 ordinary people to see if they think selected questions were understandable and related to their quality of life. RESULTS: A total of 1934 symptom descriptions were collected and categorized into 44 items of 7 domains including physical function, mental health, social function, pain, role, vitality, and health perception. Two items of health change and 3 items of spiritual health domain were added. Among those 49 items, 45 items of 9 domains were selected after discarding 4 items lowering internal consistency coefficient. Some items were corrected for more precise meaning, concise sentence, proper expression and word order, and nuance after pretest. CONCLUSIONS: We developed a Korean health related Quality of Life Scale(KoQoLS) reflecting Korean's own language expression and culture.

Relation between Health Habits and Stree in Adolescents

BACKGROUND: Adolesoents experience many physical, psychological and social stresses. It is well known that there is a strong relationship between stress and illness. It has been told that good health goes with good health habits. We examine the relationship between several health habits and stress in adolescents. METHODS: We surveyed adolescents and their parents who visited an adolescent clinic in a general hospital for 8 manths. Structured questionnaires about status of several health habits and BEPSI(The Brief Encounterr Psychosocial Instrument) score were used. BEPSI is a quick stress measure that is composed of several items. RESULTS: This study included 486 adolescents and their 486 parents. Average number of good health habits was 3.2+/-1.7 and average BEPSI score was 2.1+/-0.6. The group that had more good health habits tended to mark lower BEPSI scores(p<0.05). There was a significant relationship between stress and each habit except sleep time of more than 7hrs, regular exercise and hobby. Smoker group and alcohol drinker group showed higher BEPSI scores, respectively. The conversation time between parents and adolescents had a significant relationship with BEPSI scores. CONCLUSIONS: Several health habits were significantly connected with stress in adolescents. We can assume that good health habits and conversation with their parents are important in the management of stress in adolescents.