Korea’s Health Expenditures as a Share of Gross Domestic Product Over-Passing the OECD Average / 보건행정학회지

This paper aims to introduce Korea’s total current health expenditure (CHE) and National Health Accounts of the year 2021 and their 2022 preliminary figures constructed on the basis of the System of Health Accounts 2011. As CHE includes expenditures for prevention, tracking, and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and compensation for losses to medical institutions from 2020, the details are also introduced. Korea’s total CHE in 2021 is 193.3 trillion won, which is 9.3% of gross domestic product (GDP). The preliminary figure in 2022, 209.0 trillion won, exceeded the 200 trillion won line for the first time, and its “ratio to GDP” of 9.7% is expected to exceed the average of Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development member countries for the first time. Korea’s health expenditures, which were well controlled until the end of the 20th century, have increased at an alarming rate since the beginning of the 21st century, threatening the sustainability of national health insurance. The increase in health expenditure after 2020 is partly due to a temporary increase in response to COVID-19. However, when considering the structure of Korea’s health insurance price hike, where the ratchet effect of increased medical expenses works particularly strongly, it is unlikely that the accelerating growth trend that has lasted for more than 20 years will stop easily. More aggressive policies to control medical expenses are required in the national health insurance which not only constitutes the main financing sources of the Korean health system but also has the most powerful policy means in effect for changes in the health care provision.

A short education session increases the accuracy of estimated food records in young Korean women during a controlled-feeding study

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES@#Despite the widespread use of dietary assessment tools, the validity of food records has not been evaluated in Koreans. We assessed the accuracy of estimated food records and the effect of a short education session in young Korean women. @*SUBJECTS/METHODS@#Thirty women (aged 18–23 yrs) each completed 3 food records during a controlled-feeding study. One educational session was provided on day 2 of the study. Food records were analyzed for the accuracy of food items and portion size estimation according to food group (grains; meat, fish, eggs, and beans; vegetables; fruit; dairy; and oils and sugars) and type of dish (rice, kimchi, soup, side dishes, spreads, beverages, and snacks). Reported food items were categorized as exact, close, or far matches, exclusions, or intrusions. Portion sizes were evaluated as accurate, similar, or inaccurate estimates, or missing. The means of days 2 and 3 were used to assess post-education results. Paired t-tests were performed to assess the effects of the education session. @*RESULTS@#The mean percentages of exact matches, close matches, far matches, and exclusions on day 1 were 80.9%, 10.9%, 2.0%, and 6.2%, respectively, and mean intrusions observed were 0.1. The education session slightly increased the accuracy of recorded food items. The percentages of accurate, similar, and inaccurate estimates, and missing portion sizes were 11.7%, 19.8%, 12.2%, and 56.3%, respectively, at baseline. The percentage of missing portion size estimates decreased to 14.0% after the education session, resulting in an increase in the percentages of all other estimates. An increase was observed in the accuracy of reported portion sizes of vegetables, rice, and kimchi. @*CONCLUSIONS@#In young Korean women, estimated food records are highly accurate for food items but not for portion size estimates without prior education. A short education session can improve the accuracy of portion size estimation.

A short education session increases the accuracy of estimated food records in young Korean women during a controlled-feeding study

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES@#Despite the widespread use of dietary assessment tools, the validity of food records has not been evaluated in Koreans. We assessed the accuracy of estimated food records and the effect of a short education session in young Korean women. @*SUBJECTS/METHODS@#Thirty women (aged 18–23 yrs) each completed 3 food records during a controlled-feeding study. One educational session was provided on day 2 of the study. Food records were analyzed for the accuracy of food items and portion size estimation according to food group (grains; meat, fish, eggs, and beans; vegetables; fruit; dairy; and oils and sugars) and type of dish (rice, kimchi, soup, side dishes, spreads, beverages, and snacks). Reported food items were categorized as exact, close, or far matches, exclusions, or intrusions. Portion sizes were evaluated as accurate, similar, or inaccurate estimates, or missing. The means of days 2 and 3 were used to assess post-education results. Paired t-tests were performed to assess the effects of the education session. @*RESULTS@#The mean percentages of exact matches, close matches, far matches, and exclusions on day 1 were 80.9%, 10.9%, 2.0%, and 6.2%, respectively, and mean intrusions observed were 0.1. The education session slightly increased the accuracy of recorded food items. The percentages of accurate, similar, and inaccurate estimates, and missing portion sizes were 11.7%, 19.8%, 12.2%, and 56.3%, respectively, at baseline. The percentage of missing portion size estimates decreased to 14.0% after the education session, resulting in an increase in the percentages of all other estimates. An increase was observed in the accuracy of reported portion sizes of vegetables, rice, and kimchi. @*CONCLUSIONS@#In young Korean women, estimated food records are highly accurate for food items but not for portion size estimates without prior education. A short education session can improve the accuracy of portion size estimation.

Clinical oral health and adult perceptions of oral health in a dental hospital in Gwangju, Korea / 대한구강보건학회지

Objectives@#The purposes of the present study were to (1) analyze the relationship between clinical oral health status and subjective oral health status, (2) explore the association between perceived oral symptoms and subjective oral health status, and (3) investigate the effects of factors on subjective oral health status. @*Methods@#A total of 771 subjects, aged over 35 years of age, from a dental hospital in Gwangju metropolitan city, were surveyed cross-sectionally using a self-report questionnaire. We investigated the relationship of subjective oral health status with clinical oral health status, and with perceived oral symptoms using a Chi-squared test (P<0.05). To investigate the effects of factors on subjective oral health status relationship, a logistic regression analysis was performed. @*Results@#The odds ratios of subjective oral health status between ‘Bad’ vs ‘Good’ were as follows: frequent oral concern, 43.41; occasional oral concern, 2.94; toothache, 6.08; hypersensitivity to coldness, 2.13; 1-3 year’s periodic preventive oral care, 0.19; 4-7 and periodic preventive oral care, 0.14. @*Conclusions@#Periodic preventive oral care appears to be associated with self-rated subjective oral health status.

The Role of a Neurovascular Signaling Pathway Involving Hypoxia-Inducible Factor and Notch in the Function of the Central Nervous System

In the neurovascular unit, the neuronal and vascular systems communicate with each other. O2 and nutrients, reaching endothelial cells (ECs) through the blood stream, spread into neighboring cells, such as neural stem cells, and neurons. The proper function of neural circuits in adults requires sufficient O2 and glucose for their metabolic demands through angiogenesis. In a central nervous system (CNS) injury, such as glioma, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, damaged ECs can contribute to tissue hypoxia and to the consequent disruption of neuronal functions and accelerated neurodegeneration. This review discusses the current evidence regarding the contribution of oxygen deprivation to CNS injury, with an emphasis on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-mediated pathways and Notch signaling. Additionally, it focuses on adult neurological functions and angiogenesis, as well as pathological conditions in the CNS. Furthermore, the functional interplay between HIFs and Notch is demonstrated in pathophysiological conditions.

Now and Future of Data Sharing : Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging Repositories / 생물치료정신의학

Over the past decade, practice of sharing brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data is increasing given significance of reproducibility and transparency in human neuroscience. Larger multimodal brain MRI databases are needed for more robust research findings considering potential possibilities of large variability in human neuroscience. There are currently more than tens of thousands of shared brain MRI datasets across multiple conditions and hundreds of neuroimaging studies using multimodality through shared brain MRI data repositories. This article critically reviews aims, procedures, and current state of brain MRI data sharing. This review focuses on projects and research findings using structural and functional MRI open databases and is further divided into T1- and diffusion-weighted images for structural MRI as well as resting-state and task-based functional MRI. The challenges and directions are finally discussed. Advances in brain MRI data sharing will lead to more rapid progression in human neuroscience by fostering effective longitudinal, multi-site, multimodal neuroimaging research.

Improving the Performance of Text Categorization Models used for the Selection of High Quality Articles / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVES: Machine learning systems can considerably reduce the time and effort needed by experts to perform new systematic reviews (SRs). This study investigates categorization models, which are trained on a combination of included and commonly excluded articles, which can improve performance by identifying high quality articles for new procedures or drug SRs. METHODS: Test collections were built using the annotated reference files from 19 procedure and 15 drug systematic reviews. The classification models, using a support vector machine, were trained by the combined even data of other topics, excepting the desired topic. This approach was compared to the combination of included and commonly excluded articles with the combination of included and excluded articles. Accuracy was used for the measure of comparison. RESULTS: On average, the performance was improved by about 15% in the procedure topics and 11% in the drug topics when the classification models trained on the combination of articles included and commonly excluded, were used. The system using the combination of included and commonly excluded articles performed better than the combination of included and excluded articles in all of the procedure topics. CONCLUSIONS: Automatically rigorous article classification using machine learning can reduce the workload of experts when they perform systematic reviews when the topic-specific data are scarce. In particular, when the combination of included and commonly excluded articles is used, this system will be more effective.

Toward the Automatic Generation of the Entry Level CDA Documents / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVE: CDA (Clinical Document Architecture) is a markup standard for clinical document exchange. In order to increase the semantic interoperability of documents exchange, the clinical statements in the narrative blocks should be encoded with code values. Natural language processing (NLP) is required in order to transform the narrative blocks into the coded elements in the level 3 CDA documents. In this paper, we evaluate the accuracy of text mapping methods which are based on NLP. METHODS: We analyzed about one thousand discharge summaries to know their characteristics and focused the syntactic patterns of the diagnostic sections in the discharge summaries. According to the patterns, different rules were applied for matching code values of Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT). RESULTS: The accuracy of matching was evaluated using five-hundred discharge summaries. The precision was as follows: 86.5% for diagnosis, 61.8% for chief complaint, 62.7%, for problem list, and 64.8% for discharge medication. CONCLUSION: The text processing method based on the pattern analysis of a clinical statement can be effectively used for generating CDA entries.