Prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease in Korea Using Data from the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey / 가정의학회지

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide. The awareness and treatment rate of the disease are low despite its relatively high prevalence. With the added data, this study aimed to identify changes in prevalence and risk factors of COPD using the data from the 5th KNHNES. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 8,969 individuals aged 40 and older who satisfied suitability and reproducibility for pulmonary function tests. The prevalence, awareness and risk factors of COPD were predicted based on the questionnaires on gender, age, educational level, income level, smoking history, body mass index (BMI) and other COPD related questions. RESULTS: Diagnosis of COPD was based on the airflow limitation (forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity <0.7) of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria. The prevalence of COPD from 2010 to 2012 was 13.7%, of which 23.3% was men and 6.5% women. The prevalence was on the rise, with 12.2% in 2010, 13.2% in 2011, and 15.5% in 2012. In GOLD stage 1, the percentages of those who had cough or sputum and smoking history were 12.1% and 75.5%, respectively, but only 0.1% was diagnosed with COPD. Even after adjusting for asthma and tuberculosis, men, old age, larger amount of smoking were linked with a higher prevalence of COPD, and obese and higher educational level were associated with a lower prevalence of COPD. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of COPD in Korea has been increasing every year, and a higher prevalence was associated with male, older age, more amount of smoking, lower educational level and lower BMI.

Establishing a Personal Health Record System in an Academic Hospital: One Year's Experience / 가정의학회지

BACKGROUND: Personal health records (PHRs) are web based tools that help people to access and manage their personalized medical information. Although needs for PHR are increasing, current serviced PHRs are unsatisfactory and researches on them remain limited. The purpose of this study is to show the process of developing Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH)'s own PHR system and to analyze consumer's use pattern after providing PHR service. METHODS: Task force team was organized to decide service range and set the program. They made the system available on both mobile application and internet web page. The study enrolled PHR consumers who assessed PHR system between June 2013 and June 2014. We analyzed the total number of users on a monthly basis and the using pattern according to each component. RESULTS: The PHR service named Health4U has been provided from June 2013. Every patient who visited SNUBH could register Health4U service and view their medical data. The PHR user has been increasing, especially they tend to approach via one way of either web page or mobile application. The most frequently used service is to check laboratory test result. CONCLUSION: For paradigm shift toward patient-centered care, there is a growing interest in PHR. This study about experience of establishing and servicing the Health4U would contribute to development of interconnected PHR.