Prescription Patterns and Burden of Pediatric Asthma in Korea

PURPOSE: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence, prescription pattern and burden of pediatric asthma in Korea by analyzing the National Health Insurance (NHI) claims data. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the insurance claim records from the Korean NHI claims database from January 2010 to December 2014. Asthmatic patients were defined as children younger than 18 years, with appropriate 10th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases codes (J45 or J46) and a prescription for 1 or more asthma maintenance medications at the same date. Hospitalization and emergency department visits for asthma were defined as use of short-acting beta2-agonists during hospital visits among asthmatic patients. RESULTS: There were 1,172,807 asthmatic children in 2010, which increased steadily to 1,590,228 in 2014 in Korea. The prevalence showed an increasing trend annually for all ages. The mean prevalence by age in those older than 2 years decreased during the study period (from 39.4% in the 2–3 year age group to 2.6% in the 15–18 year age group). In an outpatient prescription, leukotriene receptor antagonists were the most commonly prescribed medication for all ages. Patients older than 6 years for whom inhaled corticosteroids were prescribed comprised less than 15% of asthmatic patients. The total direct medical cost for asthma between 2010 and 2014 ranged from $376 to $483 million. Asthma-related medical cost per person reached its peak in $366 in 2011 and decreased to $275 in 2014. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of pediatric asthma increased annually and decreased with age. Individual cost of asthma showed a decreasing trend in Korean children.

Evaluation of injury cases for dental intervention described in legal dentistry reports / Evaluación de casos con lesiones de intervención dental descrita en los informes legales odontológicos

The dentist responsibility on dental interventions during the exercise of his/her activity guides in civil, ethical, administrative and criminal obligations. When a harmful result occurs on a patient whether by recklessness, malpractice and / or negligence, the examination of the injury can be ordered by a judicial authority and held at the expert level, thus making the dentist subject to the Brazilian Penal Code and its penalties. The dentist might be forced to repair the damage and compensate according to the caused consequence, based on the Civil Code, or both and may suffer a double action. With the increase of Dentistry-related processes, the focus of this research is to give greater visibility to the subject, emphasizing the ethical and legal aspects involved in professional practice. To meet this end, we carried out a survey on reports of maxillofacial injuries from the "Instituto Médico Legal Nina Rodrigues", Salvador-BA-Brazil, from January 2007 to December 2013, analyzing the data on the procedures performed, the reason for the expert's report and its result, the professional responsibility and the conclusion given by the expert. It was noticed that from the total of personal injury examinations made by dentists, most of the complaints are in the area of surgery (42.9%), followed by Endodontics and Orthodontics with 14.3% each, and in 96 % of cases involved one or more elements of professional liability and 47.4% were classified by experts as minor injuries. It is concluded that the increase in injuries lawsuits generated in service is due to the fact that the dentist does not take responsibility to protect himself/herself from poor results and to perform procedures without having the proper skill. It is therefore suggested, professional training for the acquisition of technical and scientific knowledge in their area, enabling them to act with utmost in care and professionalism.

La responsabilidad del dentista acerca de las intervenciones dentales realizadas en el ejercicio de sus actividades tienen responsabilidades civil, ética, administrativa y penal. Cuando se prueba que un resultado es perjudicial para el paciente, por imprudencia, mal praxis o negligencia, el examen de la lesión puede ser ordenado por una autoridad judicial y se analiza por peritos, haciendo que el dentista este sujeto a las sanciones previstas en el Código Penal brasileño, siendo forzado a reparar el daño e indemnizar de acuerdo a la consecuencia causada, con base en el Código Civil, o ambos, pudiendo sufrir una doble acción. Debido al incremento de los procesos legales relacionados con la odontología, el objetivo de esta investigación es dar mayor visibilidad al tema, haciendo hincapié en los aspectos éticos y legales relacionados con la práctica profesional. Para ello, llevamos a cabo un estudio de los informes odontológicos legales de lesiones maxilofaciales en el Instituto de Medicina Legal Nina Rodrigues, Salvador-BA-Brasil, durante los meses de enero 2007 a diciembre 2013. Se analizó la información de los procedimientos realizados, la razón para el informe del perito y su resultados, la responsabilidad profesional y la conclusión propuesta por el peritos. Se encontró que del total de exámenes por injurias a pacientes, la mayoria correspondió al área de cirugía (42,9%), seguido por endodoncia y ortodoncia con 14,3% en cada uno; en el 96% de los casos se involucraron uno o más elementos de responsabilidad profesional, siendo el 47,4% clasificados por los peritos como lesiones menores. Se concluye que el aumento de los litigios por lesiones generadas por la atención odontológica se deben a que el dentista no toma responsabilidad sobre los malos resultados y realiza procedimientos sin tener la habilidad adecuada. Se sugiere realizar una adecuada formación profesional para la adquirir los conocimientos técnicos y científicos de cada área (especialización), lo que permitiria actuar con el máximo cuidado y profesionalismo.