ABSTRACT
Objective@#This study aimed to develop and verify an endometriosis self-assessment tool (ESAT). @*Methods@#A non-experimental, descriptive, correlational study design was used. Candidate items were developed based on a conceptual framework constructed using the results of in-depth interviews and an integrative literature review. The construct validity of the developed tool was also examined. One-hundred and forty-two participants (117 patients with endometriosis and 25 patients without endometriosis) were included in the validity and reliability tests. The data were collected between August and December 2018. Nomological validity was verified based on significant correlations between the ESAT and the quality-of-life scores. @*Results@#A 21-item ESAT was developed, and its construct validity was supported. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the tool consisted of four components (gastrointestinal symptoms, dysmenorrhea, usual symptoms, and the amount and characteristics of menstrual bleeding) with a variance of 61.6%. The variance in quality-of-life scores, as explained by the ESAT scores, was relatively high. Receiver operator characteristics curve analysis indicated that ESAT scores significantly differentiated endometriosis from non-endometriosis with fair discriminatory power at a cut-off score of 50 (sensitivity, 0.76; specificity, 0.72; area under the curve, >0.75; P50 points were more likely to have endometriosis. Thus, the reliability of the ESAT was confirmed. @*Conclusion@#The devised tool appears valid and reliable. This tool may allow women to determine their risk of endometriosis by distinguishing between normal and pathological menstruation-related symptoms.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Changes in gastric motility in patients with liver cirrhosis is not yet established in South Korea. In this study changes in gastric emptying time with attention to factors that effect this change in patients with liver cirrhosis were investigated. METHODS: Fifteen patients with liver cirrhosis (11 males and 4 females) and 15 healthy controls (11 males and 4 females) were enrolled in this study. Gastric emptying time was measured by gastric scintigraphy using a dual-head gamma camera after ingestion of the mixture of 99mTc-labeled egg and fried rice (754Kcal). Data acquisition was performed for 120 minutes with 15 minutes interval and geometric mean and decay correction were calculated for gastric emptying time. RESULTS: There were no differences in age and sex between the two groups. The half time of soild gastric emptying was 78.0+/-87.0 minutes and 70.2+/-2.8 minutes for liver cirrhosis and healthy control group, respectively (p>0.05). The level of serum cholesterol was statistically correlated with gastric emptying time (B=-0.165, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference in gastric emptying time between liver cirrhosis and healthy control group.