A Case of Lead Poisoning After Ingestion of Herb Pills / 대한산업의학회지

BACKGROUND: Lead is a common environmental metal and has been used for various purposes for a long time, leading to frequent reports of lead poisoning. The concern about lead poisoning starts has been mostly focused on occupational exposure and is linked to the prevention and management of lead exposure in refining and manufacturing processes. Nowadays, however, there is growing concern about nonoccupational lead exposure by many pollutants. Especially, lead poisoning by herb medicine has commonly been observed in clinics in Southeast Asia and South Korea. This case report contains diagnosis of inpatients who suffered from lead poisoning from a herb medicine, arthritis remedy and who complained of abdominal symptoms and dizziness. The study purpose was to awaken our healthful interest in lead poisoning. CASE REPORT: A 53-year-old female patient complaining of abdominal pain, dizziness, and numbness of hand and foot came to our hospital due to the continuation of her anemic finding symptoms while undergoing treatment at a secondary hospital. Her past medical history was unremarkable except she had taken herb pills for about a year which were administered by herb medicine to treat arthritis. Physical examination was unremarkable except for oral ulcer finding. Hemoglobin was 8.5 g/dl, reticulocyte count was 4.10%, bilirubin was 1.3 mg/dl (direct 0.3 mg/dl), and Zinc protoporphyrin 169.12 ug/dl. In urinalysis results, WBC increased to 30~39 /HPF, While AST/ALT, BUN/Cr, PT/aPTT, and nerve conduction velocity were normal. Basophilic stippling was observed through peripheral blood smear. The blood lead level was 80.4 microgram/dl and the urine lead level continued to increase to 541 microgram/l. Analysis of the pills that the patient had been taking showed that they contained 30 mg/g lead. By oral chelation therapy with D-penicillamine four times per day for five days, the patient's hemoglobin increased to 11.8 g/dl, while blood lead level decreased to 39.2 microgram/dl, and urine level to 196 microgram/l. Although the soles of her feet remained cold, but other symptoms and anemia finding were improved considerably. However, after discontinuing D-penicillamine medication, the blood lead level increased to 41.4 microgram/dl again. The further administration of D-penicillamine for five days reduced the blood lead level to 31.5 microgram/dl. At two years after the discontinuance of D-penicillamine, the followup findings were normal; hemoglobin was 13.1 g/dl, hematocrit 39.6%, reticulocyte count 1.22%, blood lead level 13.3 microgram/dl, and urine lead level 9.17 microgram/l. CONCLUSION: After taking herb medicine pills for one year, the patient was admitted to hospital chiefly complaining of abdominal pain, dizziness, and numbness of the hand and foot. The high blood and urine and lead levels and lead chemical analysis of the herb pills confirmed lead poisoning which was treated with D-penicillamine for five days. The follow-up result after two years indicated normal blood and urine lead levels.

Subcutaneous and Gastrointestinal Exposure to Metallic Mercury: Report of 2 Cases / 대한산업의학회지

BACKGROUND: Mercury poisoning presents a variety of clinical pictures depending on the chemical structure, the route of exposure, the amount absorbed and other individual factors. Therefore, the ingestive and subcutaneous absorption of elemental(metallic) mercury can be considered to be relatively harmless in contrast to the inhalation of mercury vapor. CASE REPORTS: A 72-year-old man presented to the department of urology due to tenderness, edema and a necrotic abscess of his penis after trauma. The soft tissue abscess required a surgical resection of the penis. For chelation therapy, oral D-penicillamine was administrated. 7 months later, he showed no subjective or objective signs of mercury poisoning. Another 5-yearold girl presented to the emergency department after accidental self-ingestion of elemental mercury. She was followed clinically and did not show any systemic mercury poisoning. CONCLUSION: The Mercury concentrations in the blood and urine were elevated in the case of subcutaneous exposure, but was unchanged in the case of ingestion. Subcutaneous and gastrointestinal exposure to metallic mercury has a minimal risk for systemic mercury poisoning, which is in contrast to the exposure by inhalation.

A study on the knowledge and attitude of workers at health hazardous workplace in occupational health / 대한산업의학회지

No abstract available.

Leukocyte count and hypertension in the health screening data in some rural and urban residents / 예방의학회지

We used the health screening data of some rural and urban residents to examine the cross-sectional association between leukocyte count and hypertension. The 206 male and 203 female rural residents were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method in Kyungsan-Kun area of Kyungbuk province in 1985 and 600 urban residents were selected by the same sampling method as the rural residents in Daegu city of the same province in 1986 compatible with age-sex distribution of Daegu city of 1985 census, but of whom 384 actually responded. The rest of 600 were replaced by age and sex with those who were members of the medical insurance plan visiting the health management department of the university hospital to get the biannual preventive medical checkups. Excluded in the analysis were those having hypertensive history, diseases and extreme outlying values of the screening tests, leaving 373 rural and 571 urban residents. Leukocyte count was measured with ELT-8 Laser shadow method and the unit cells/mm3. Blood pressures were determined with an aneroid sphygmomanometer with pre-standardized method and hypertensives were defined as those showing systolic blood pressure more than 140 mmHg and / or diastolic blood pressure more than 90 mmHg. Total residents pooled (N=944) showed a significant difference between hypertensives and normotensives (6965.93+/-1997.01 vs 6490.61+/-1941.32, P=0.00) and in rural residents was noted the similar significant difference (P=0.03). None of significant differences were noted in any stratum stratified by residency and sex. Compared to the lowest quintile of WBC, 2/5 quintile showed odds ratio 0.99 (95% CI 0.90-2.21), 4/5 quintile 1.76 (95% CI 1.14-2.72), and highest quintile 1.80 (1.15-2.82) in the total residents. Likelihood ratio test for linear trend for in indicated a significant trend (x2 trend=5.53, df=1, P<0.05). There were no other significant odds ratios compared to the lowest quintile of WBC in strata stratified by residency and sex. The odds ratios in total residents which had showed significant odds ratios became nonsignificant and of reduced magnitude after controlling age, frequency of smoking and drinking with multiple logistic regression. In each stratum, it changed magnitudes of odds ratios slightly and unstably. None of the trend tests showed any significant trend. These results suggest that the Friedman et al's finding of association between leukocyte count and hypertension may be due to an statistical type I error result in from the data dredging in an exploratory study, in which more than 800 variables were screened as possible predictors of hypertension.

Byssinosis in carbon textile workers in Taegu, Korea / 대한산업의학회지

No abstract available.

The Relationship of Psychosocial Factors to Blood Pressure / 예방의학회지

Questionnaires and blood pressure measurements were administered to 279 medical school undergraduates in 1987 to investigate the relationship between psychosocial factors and blood pressure as well as reliability and validity of the Framingham Type A Behavior Scale(FTA). The reliability coefficients of SCL-90-R and FTA measured by Spearman-Brown haves split test were 0.57-0.91, The factors of FTA extracted by principal component analysis were hard-driving competitiveness factor and impatience factor(2-factor solution). The total score of FTA was positively correlated with relative weight and place raised but the correlations were insignificant, and had significantly positive but weak correlations with depression, anxiety hostility, paranoid, and psychoticism subscales of SCL-90-R. In the univariate analysis of blood pressures, relative weight and family history were significant in systolic pressure in males and economic status was significant in blood pressures in both sexes. For diastolic pressure, relative weight and frequency of alcohol intake were significant in males and relative weight was in females. After controlling relative weight, the frequency of alcohol intake for diastolic pressure and economic status for systolic pressure were significant in males. The important variables selected by stepwise regression analysis were relative weight and economic status for systolic pressure of males and relative weight and the frequency of alcohol to the model, changing coefficient of determination 0.206 to 0.217. In females, economic status and relative weight were selected for systolic pressure and for diastolic pressure body mass index alone, but the model of blood pressure for females was considered to be unstable due to small sample size(56). FTA was unrelated to the blood pressures in both sexes.

A Study on the Cause of Death of School Teachers in Korea / 예방의학회지

Mortality rate and causes of death are regarded as an index of strength as well as level of development of a country. However, there is no accurate data for the causes of death in Korea due to lack of systematic vital data collection system. The objective of this study was to define the causes of death of the school teachers, its changing pattern, cause-specific mortality rate, and geographic variation. The study population included all of the teachers in primary school, middle and high schools, and college who joined in Korean Teachers' Union between 1968 and 1985 that provided a total of 1,972,069 person-years to observe (1,384,911 man-years, 587,158 woman-years). There were 3,678 deaths in this period (3,377 males, 301 females). The most common cause of death was neoplasm which was followed by the diseases of circulatory system. The proportion of death of neoplasm was 1.5 times higher than that of the general population. Causes of death were classified into 5 major group (neoplasm, diseases of circulatory system, accidents and poisoning, diseases of liver, and all others). The mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system and all others for general population were 4 to 5 times higher than those for the teachers. However, mortality rates of neoplasm and diseases of liver were only about 2 times higher than those for teachers. Mortality rate of liver cancer for teachers was higher than gastric cancer mortality rate which is the reverse in general population. The crude death rate was 2.12 per 1,000 person-years for male and 1.00 for female which is one-third of the crude death rate of general population. Crude death rate of study population was higher in rural area than in urban area. However, mortality rate of neoplasm for male was higher in urban area than in rural area while mortality rates of all other causes were higher in rural area. For female, mortality rates of neoplasm and diseases of circulatory system were higher in urban area and the rates for all other causes were higher in rural area. Crude death rate was lowest in Gyeongin area and highest in Yeongnam area. The mortality of neoplasm for male accounted the highest proportion of all death in Gyeongin, Chungcheong and Yeoungnam areas while the mortality of neoplasm and mortality of circulatory system accounted the same proportion in Jeonra area. For female, the mortality of disease of circulatory system accounted the highest proportion in Gyeongin and Yeoungnam and Jeonra areas. Proportion of death due to accidents and poisoning was high in Chungcheong area and death due to all other causes was high in Yeoungnam area. The most common cause of death for male by city and province was neoplasm in Seoul, Pusan, Daegu, Gyeonggi, Chungnam, Chungbuk, Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk. Diseases of circulatory system was the leading cause of death in the rest of city and provinces. The leading cause of death for female was diseases of circulatory system in Seoul, Incheon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Gyeongbuk, neoplasm in Pusan, and accident and poisons in all other cities and provinces. The mortality rates of male were above 2 per 1,000 person-years in Jeju, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Daegu, and Chungbuk, and it was below 1.5/1,000 in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi. The mortality rate of female was above 1.2/1,000 person-years in Gyeongnam and Incheon while it was below 0.5/1,000 in Daegu, Geonggi Chungbuk and Jeju. The leading cause for male by school of employment was neoplasm in all levels of school with a remarkably higher rate in the professors of college. Leading cause of death for female was disease of circulatory system in primary schools, high schools and college but neoplasm in middle schools. There was no death due to liver diseases in middle and high school teachers and college professors and no death due to all other category in igh school teachers and college professors, in females. High school teachers and the highest mortality rate and college professors showed the lowest mortality rate. Temporal trend of mortality was examined in three periods; period I (1968-1974), period II (1975-1979), and period III (1980-1985). The leading cause of death for male was diseases of circulatory system in period I and II but neoplasm in period III. Such trend of decreasing diseases of circulatory system and increasing neoplasm was observed in female. Overall mortality rate was decreased over the 3 periods. The mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system, liver disease and all others were decreased in male but the mortality rates of neoplasm and accident and poisons was increased. Female showed a similar trend to male but the mortality rate of liver diseases was increased. Mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system, neoplasm and liver diseases increased with age of teachers up to 50 years of age but decreased in 60 years of age. Mean age at death due to each cause was higher in male than female by 4-10 years. However, the mean age at death of the teachers was 2-5 years lower than that of the general population in all causes of death and the sex difference in the mean age at death was smaller (2-3 years) in general population. In sex ratio of mortality, male was higher than female in almost all diseases except suicide and maintained a high ratio. The general population showed universally high ratio in male like teachers, and more or less did regular patterns in mortality with ratio smaller.

The Effects of Maternal HBs antigenemia on the Neonatal Health / 예방의학회지

To study the risk factors associated with maternal HBsAg carrier and the effects of maternal HBs antigenemia on the neonatal health, sera of 729 pergnant women admitted to the Keimyung University Hospital for delivery during the period of February 1-May 30, 1982 were tested for HBsAg by RPHA method and for anti-HBs by PHA method. Among them 43 women (5.9%) had HBsAg and 246 women (33.7%) had anti-HBs giving an infection rate of 39.6%. The interview data for 43 HBsAg positive mothers and randomly selected 210 HBsAg negative mothers showed a statistically significant association between acupuncture history and HBsAg positive rate (p<0.005) which suggest that acupuncture might have contributed significantly to the propagation of viral hepatitis in Korea. The living standard of HBsAg positive mothers was generally lower than that of HBsAg negative mothers which supports the hypothesis that environmental factors are associated with viral hepatitis B infection. None of the 43 neonates born to HBsAg positive mothers had HBsAg in their cord blood. Three months after birth, 35 out of 43 infants were retested and only one infant became HBsAg positive. At six months of age, 32 out of 35 infants were retested and none of them were HBsAg positive except the same infant who was positive at three months. Among 20 control infants of HBsAg negative mothers, all of them were HBsAg negative at three and six months follow-up. These findings are not consistent with the supposition that perinatal infection is a main route of viral hepatitis B transmission in south-east Asia including Korea. HBsAg positive mothers had significantly higher rate of premature delivery (27.9%) than HBsAg negative mothers (11.7%) (p<0.05). Also, the low birthweight incidence rate was higher among HBsAg positive mothers (23.3%) than negative mothers (14.1%) but this was not statistically significant (p=0.16). The premature rupture of membrane was more frequent among HBsAg positive mothers (25.5%) than negative mothers (11.1%) (p<0.05). There were no significant differences in the stillbirth rate and incidence of congenital anomalies between HBsAg positive and negative groups. It was not clarified in this study due to small sample size whether higher incidence of premature delivery and premature rupture of membranes among HBsAg positive mothers was due to HBs antigenemia per se or their lower living standard than HBsAg negative mothers.

A Study on the Effects of BCG Vaccination against Tuberculosis / 예방의학회지

In Korea BCG vaccination has been employed as the main control measure for tuberculosis since 1962. Recently, the protective efficacy of BCG against tuberculosis has been controversial worldwide. A case-control study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of BCG in Korea which has a high prevalence of tuberculosis (2.5%). The study subjects were children under the age of 14 years who were hospitalized and diagnosed as tuberculosis in three general hospitals in Taegu City during last 6 years (1975~1980). Among 416 hospitalized tuberculous patients, 314 cases were confirmed as to the presence or absence of the BCG scar. A control group was selected from the same hospital patients of the same period as the cases. The control group was other than tuberculous patients whose distribution of age, sex and residence were the same as the cases. The results obtained are as follows: For all forms of tuberculosis, the relative risk and the protective efficacy of BCG were 3.5 and 71.8%. The efficacy was higher among female than among male (78.6% vs. 65.8%). The efficacy was higher among the one year and above than among less than 1 year of age. For tuberculous meningitis, the relative risk and the protective efficacy of BCG were 3.9 and 74.3%. The efficacy was statistically significantly higher among female than among male (p<0.05). The relative risk and the protective efficacyt of BCG for uberculous meningitis combined with miliary tuberculosis and combined with pulmonary tuberculosis represented 6.9, 85.6%, and 7.4, 86.5%, respectively. On the other hand, the relative risk and the protective efficacy of BCG for miliary tuberculosis were 2.1 and 51.6%, and for pulmonary tuberculosis, 2.3 and 54.7%, respectively. From these results, it appears that BCG vaccination is an efficient preventive measure in Korea where tubercuuosis is prevalent. Thus the routine BCG vaccination should be continued.

A Study on Smoking among Korean Rural Residents / 예방의학회지

The present study was conducted to investigate smoking status and the relationship of smoking to hypertension and disease 1,504 subjects who were 30-year-old age in Kyungsan Gunm Jyungpook province, during the period of 12 months from March 1978 to February 1979. The results obtained are summarized as follows : of 1,504 subjects, 52.2 percent smoked. The percentage of males smoking showed 84.8 and the percentage of females was 30.7. There were no statistically significant differences between the rate smoking and educational levels. Protestants demonstrated lower rates of smoking compared with other groups. Regarding the age started to smoke, 66.4 percent of male smokers and 16.9 percent of female smokers commenced smoking before the age of 19. In the regard to the average number of cigarettes smoked daily, 45.8 percent of male smokers consumed some 20 cigarettes and 24.1 percent of female smokers consumed some 10 cigarettes. 3.2 percent of male smokers smoked 40 or more cigarettes a day. Alcohol consumption was closely associated with smoking . 90.7 percent of male alcohol drinkers and 60.1 percent of female drinkers smoked. Cigarette smokers have higher rates of ailments than nonsmokers as a whole. The complaints of cough with sputum and shortness of breath revealed higher rates among smokers than among nonsmokers. Frequency of illnesses showed higher for smokers than for nonsmokers. Smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to suffer from chronic obstructive lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis, asthma, and emphysema. Abnormal systolic blood pressure(>160mmHg) and diastolic(>100) revealed significantly higher among smokers than among nonsmokers.

Survey on Fertility Rate and Family Planning in Sub-urban Area, Taegu / 예방의학회지

It is very desirable to clarify the situation of fertility, family planning and attitude toward family size of the women residing in the sub-urban slum area because of underprivilege of socio-economiccondition of the residents and negligible health services (especially MCH and family planning) to the people in the area. The study area was selected a slum and primary fixation place of the people immigrated from rural area: Taegu, Dong Ku, Shin Chun Dong, 2 Ka and Taegu, Suh Ku, Ri San Dong, 1 Ka The survey was conducted by family planning workers at Health Center from December 1974 to February 1975. The results were obtained as follows: Thirty-eight percent of residents immigrated from rural area and most of there consist of nuclear family. Average monthly income per family was 38,000 won and 74 percent of them haven't their own houses. Number of pregnancy and live births per womon were 3.8 and 3.0 respectively. The rates of spontaneous and induced abortion to total married women were 9.5% and 36% respectively. Regarding delivery conditions, 86% of deliveries were performed at home and 70% of them were cared by non-professional person or without helpers. Ideal number of children account for 1.58 for sons, 1.08 for. daughters 2.655 for both, but the rate of 2 children regardless sex difference was only 3.4%. The factors influencing to family size were age and educational level of women and economic status of the hosehold. Regarding family planning, the rate of experience of contraception in the past was 48 percent while the rate of present contraception was 24%. Most frequent pregnancy order at the first contraception was 4th and most frequent age group of the women was 35-39 years in the past while the most frequent pregnancy order and the age of women were 3rd and 30-34 years at the first contraception in the present. Average fertility rate per year to total eligible women for 5 years 20.8% indicating somewhat higher than those of oter places. Age specific marital fertility rate showed higher in younger age groups than those of other places, and total fertility rate accounts for 1548.4 showing similar to rural total fertility rate in 1970 and higher than those of other urban areas.

A Study Concerning Health Needs in Rural Korea / 예방의학회지

Today most developed countries provide modern medical care for most of the population. The rural area is the more neglected area in the medical and health field. In public health, the philosophy is that medical care for in maintenance of health is a basic right of man; it should not be discriminated against racial, environmental or financial situations. The deficiency of the medical care system, cultural bias, economic development, and ignorance of the residents about health care brought about the shortage of medical personnel and facilities on the rural areas. Moreover, medical students and physicians have been taught less about rural health care than about urban health care. Medical care, therefore, is insufficient in terms of health care personnel and facilities in rural areas. Under such a situation, there is growing concern about the health problems among the rural population. the findings presented in this report are useful measures of the major health problems an even more important, as a guide to planning for improves medical care systems. It is hoped that findings from this study will be useful to those responsible for improving the delivery of health service for the rural population. Objectives: -to determine the health status of the residents in the rural area. -to assess the rural population's needs in terms of health and medial care. -to make recommendations concerning improvement in the delivery of health and medical care for the rural population. Procedures: For the sampling design, the ideal would be to sample according to the proportion of the composition age-groups. As the health problems would be different by group , the sample was divided into 10 different age-groups. If the sample were allocated by proportion of composition of each age group, some age groups would be too small to estimate the health problem. The sample size of each age-group population was 100 people/age-groups. Personal interviews were conducted by specially trained medical students. The interviews dealt at length with current health status, medical care problems, utilization of medical services, medical cost paid for medical care and attitudes toward health. In addition, more information was gained from the public health field, including environmental sanitation, maternal and child health, family planning, tuberculosis control, and dental health. The sample: Sample size was one fourth of total population: 1,438. The aged 10-14 years showed the largest number of 254 and the aged under one year was the smallest number of 81. Participation in examination. Examination sessions usually were held in the morning every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for 3 hours at each session at the Namchun Health station. In general, the rate of participation in medical examination was low especially in ages between 10-19 years old. The highest rate of participation among are groups was the under one year age-group by 100 percent. The lowest use rate as low as 3% of those in the age-groups 10-19 years who are attending junior and senior hgh school in Taegu city so the time was not convenient for them to receive examinations. Among the over 20 years old group, the rate of participation of female was higher than that of males. The results are as follows: A. Public health problems. Population: The number of pre-school age group who required child health was 724, among them infants numbered 96. Number of eligible women aged 15-44 years was 1,279, and women with husband who need maternal health numbered 700. The age-group of 65 years of older was 201 needed more health care and 65 of them had disabilities (table 2). Environmental sanitation: Seventy-nine percent of the residents relied upon well water as a primary source of drinking. More than 90% of latrines were unhygienic, in structure design and sanitation (Table 15). Maternal and child health: Maternal health. Average number of pregnancies of eligible women was 4 times. There was almost no pre-and post-natal care. Pregnancy wastage. Still births was 33 per 1,000 live births. Spontaneous abortion was 156 per 1,000 live births. Induced abortion was 137 per 1,000 live births. Delivery Condition. More than 90 percent of deliveries were conducted at home. Attendants at last delivery were laymen by 76% and delivery without attendants was 14%. The rate of difficult delivery counted for 3%. Maternal death rate estimate about 35 per 10,000 live births. Child health. Consultation rate for child health was almost non existent. In general, vaccination rate of children was low; vaccination rates for children but the rate of the complete three injections were as low as 5 and 3% respectively. The number of dead children was 280 per 1,000 living children. Infants death rate was 45 per 1,000 live births (Table 16). Family planning: Approval rate of married women for family planning was as high as 86%. The rate of experiences of contraception in the past was 51%. The current rate of contraception was 37%. Willingness to use contraception in the future was as high as 86% (Table 17). Tuberculosis control: Number of registration patients at the health center currently was 25. The number indicates one eight of estimate number of tuberculosis in the area. Number of discharged cases in the pat accounted for 79 which showed 50% of active cases when discharged time. Rate of complete treatment among reasons of discharge on the past as low as 28%. There needs to be a follow up observation of the discharged cases (Table 18). Dental Problems: More than 50% of the total population have lest one or more dental problems. (Table 19) B. Medical care Problems. Incidence rate: 1. In one month. Incidence rate of medical care problems during one month was 19.6% percent. Among these health problems which required rest at home were 11.8 percent. The estimated number of patients in the total population is 1,206. The health problems reported most frequently in interviews during one month are: GI trouble, respiratory disease, neuralgia, skin disease, and communicable disease-n the order. The rate of health problems by age groups was highest in the 1-4 age group and in the 60 years of over age group, the lowest rate was the 10-14 year age group. In general, 0-29 year age group except the 1-4 year age group was low incidence rate. After 30 years old th rate of health problems increases gradually with aging. Eighty-three percent of health problems that occurred during one month were solved by primary medical care procedures. Seventeen percent of health problems needed secondary care. Days rested at those because of illness during one month were 1.7days per interviewee and 8days per patient and it accounts for 2,161 days for the total productive population in the area. (Table 20) 2. In a year. The incidence rate of medical care problems during a year was 7.8%, among them health problems which required rest at those was 37 percent. Estimated number of patients in the total population during a year was 4,600. The health problems that occurred most frequently among the interviewees during a year were: Cold (30%), GI trouble (18), respiratory disease (11), anemia (10) ,diarrhea (10), neuralgia (10), parasite disease (9), ENT (7), skin (7), headache (7), trauma (4), communicable disease (3), and circulatory disease (3)-in that order. The rate of health problems by age groups was highest in the infants group, thereafter the rate decreased gradually until the age group which showed the lowest, and then the rate increased gradually with aging. Eighty-seven percent of health problems during a year were 16 days per interviewee and 4 days per patient and it accounted for 57,335 days lost among productive age group in the area (Table 21). Among those given medical examination, the conditions observed most frequency were respiratory disease, GI trouble, parasite disease, neuralgia, skin disease, trauma, tuberculosis, anemia, chronic obstructive lung disease, eye disorders-in that order (Table 22). The main health problems required secondary medical care are as follows:(previous page). Utilization of medical care (treatment) by various medical for all health problems during one month was 73 percent. The rate of receiving of medical care of those who have health problems which required rest at home was 82% while the rate of those who have health problems which did not required rest was 61percent (Table 23). The rate of receiving of medical care for all health problems during a year was 67 percent. The rate of receiving of medical care of those who have health problems which required rest at home was 82 percent while the rate of those who have health problems which did not required rest was as low as 53 percent (Table 24). Types of medical facilitated used were as follows: Hospital and clinics: 32-35%. Herb clinics: 9-10%. Drugstore: 53-58%. Hospitalization. Rate of hospitalization was 1.7% and the estimate number of hospitalization among the total population during a year will be 107 persons (Table 25). Medical cost: Average medical cost per person during one month and a year were 171 and 2,800 won respectively. Average medical cost per patient during one month and a year were 1,1109 and 3,740 won respectively. Average cost per household during a year was 15,800 won (Table 26, 27).Solution measures for health and medical care problems in rural area: A. Health problems which could be solved by paramedical workers such as nurses, midwives and aid nurses etc. are as follows: 1. Improvement of environmental sanitation. 2. MCH except medical care problems. 3. Family planning except surgical intervention. 4. Tuberculosis control except diagnosis and prescription. 5. Dental care except operational intervention. 6. Health education for residents for improvement of utilization of medical facilities and early diagnosis etc. b. Medical care problems. 1. Eighty-five percent of health problems could be solved by primary care procedures by general practitioners. 2. Fifteen percent of health problems need secondary medical procedures by a specialist. C. Medical cost. Considering the economic situation in rural area the amount of 2,062 won per residents during a year will be burdensome, so financial assistance is need government to solve health and medical care problems for rural people.

A Study on Maternity Aids Utilization in the Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning / 예방의학회지

this study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of service by maternity aids concerning maternal and child health in improving simultaneously infant mortality, contraception and vital registration among expectant mothers in rural Korea, where there is less opportunity for maternal and child health care. It is unrealistic to expect to solve this problem in rural Korea through professional persons considering the situation of medical facilities and the sicioeconomic condition of residents. So, we intended to adopt a system of services by maternity aids who were educated formally among indigenous women. After the women were trained in maternal and child heath, contraception, and registration for a short period, they were assigned as a maternity aids to each village to help with various activities concerning maternal and child health, for example, registration of pregnant women, home visiting to check for complications, supplying of delivery kits, attendance at delivery, persuasion of contraception, and invitation for registration and so on. Mean- while, four researchers called on the maternity aids to collect materials concerning vital events, maternal child health, contraception and registration, and to give further instruction and supervision a s the program proceeded. A. Changes of women's attitude by services of maternity aid. Now, we examined to what extent such a service system to expectant mothers affected a change in attitude of women residing in the study area as compared to women of the control area. 1) In the birth and death places, there were no changes between last and present infants, in study or control area. 2) In regard to attendants at delivery, there were no changes except for a small percentage of attendant (8%) by maternity aid in study area. But, I expect that more maternity aids could be used as attendants at delivery if they would be trained further and if there was more explanation to the residents about such a service. 3) Considering the rate of utilization of sterilized delivery kit, I an sure that more than 90 percent would be used if the delivery kit were supplied in the proper time. There were significant differences in rates between the study and the control areas. 4) Taking into consideration the utilization rate of the clinic for prenatal care and well baby care, if such facilities were installed, it would probably be well utilized. 5) In the contraception, the rate of approval was as high as 89 percent in study area as compared to 82 percent in the control area. 6) Considering the rate of pre-and past-partum acceptance on contraception were as much as 70 percent or more, if motivation to use contraception was given to them adequately, the government could reach the goals for family planning as planned. 7) In the vital registration, the rate of birth registration in the study area was some what improved compared to that of the control area, while the rate of death registration was not changed at all. Taking into account the fact that the rate of confirmation of vital events by maternity aids was remarkably high, if the registration system changed to a "notification" system instead of formal registration system, it would be improved significantly compared to present system. B. Effect of the project. Thus, with changes in the residents' attitude, was there a reduction in the infant death rate? 1) It is very difficult problem to compare the mortality of infants between last and present infants, because many women don't wont to answer accurately about their dead children especially the infants that died within a few days after birth. In this study the data of present death comes from the maternity aides who followed up every pregnancy they had recorded to see what had happened. They seem to have very reliable information on what happened in first few weeks with follow up visitits to check out later changes. From these calculation, when we compared the rate of infant death between last and present infant, there was remarkable reduction of death rate for present infant compare to that of last children, namely, the former was 30, while the latter 42. The figure is the lowest rate that I have ever heard. As the quality of data we could assess by comparing the causes of death. In the current death rate by communicable disease was much lower compare to the last child especially, tetanus cases and pneumonia. 2) Next, how many respondents used contraception after birth because of frequent contact with the maternity aid. In the registered cases, the respondents showed a tendency to practice contraception at an earlier age and with a small number of children. In a comparison of the rate of contraception between the study and the control area, the rate int he former was significantly higher than that of the latter. What is more, the proportion favoring smaller numbers of children and younger women rose in the study area as compared to the control area. 3) Regarding vital registration, though the rate of registration was gradually improved by efforts of maternity aid, it would be better to change the registration system. 4) In the crude birth rate, the rate in the study area was 22.2 while in the control area was 26.5. Natural increase rate showed 15.4 in the study area, while control area was 19.1. 5) In assessment of the efficiency of the maternity aids judging by the cost-effect viewpoint, the workers in the Medium area seemed to be more efficiency than those of other areas.

A Study on Maternity Aids Utilization in the Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning / 예방의학회지

this study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of service by maternity aids concerning maternal and child health in improving simultaneously infant mortality, contraception and vital registration among expectant mothers in rural Korea, where there is less opportunity for maternal and child health care. It is unrealistic to expect to solve this problem in rural Korea through professional persons considering the situation of medical facilities and the sicioeconomic condition of residents. So, we intended to adopt a system of services by maternity aids who were educated formally among indigenous women. After the women were trained in maternal and child heath, contraception, and registration for a short period, they were assigned as a maternity aids to each village to help with various activities concerning maternal and child health, for example, registration of pregnant women, home visiting to check for complications, supplying of delivery kits, attendance at delivery, persuasion of contraception, and invitation for registration and so on. Mean- while, four researchers called on the maternity aids to collect materials concerning vital events, maternal child health, contraception and registration, and to give further instruction and supervision a s the program proceeded. A. Changes of women's attitude by services of maternity aid. Now, we examined to what extent such a service system to expectant mothers affected a change in attitude of women residing in the study area as compared to women of the control area. 1) In the birth and death places, there were no changes between last and present infants, in study or control area. 2) In regard to attendants at delivery, there were no changes except for a small percentage of attendant (8%) by maternity aid in study area. But, I expect that more maternity aids could be used as attendants at delivery if they would be trained further and if there was more explanation to the residents about such a service. 3) Considering the rate of utilization of sterilized delivery kit, I an sure that more than 90 percent would be used if the delivery kit were supplied in the proper time. There were significant differences in rates between the study and the control areas. 4) Taking into consideration the utilization rate of the clinic for prenatal care and well baby care, if such facilities were installed, it would probably be well utilized. 5) In the contraception, the rate of approval was as high as 89 percent in study area as compared to 82 percent in the control area. 6) Considering the rate of pre-and past-partum acceptance on contraception were as much as 70 percent or more, if motivation to use contraception was given to them adequately, the government could reach the goals for family planning as planned. 7) In the vital registration, the rate of birth registration in the study area was some what improved compared to that of the control area, while the rate of death registration was not changed at all. Taking into account the fact that the rate of confirmation of vital events by maternity aids was remarkably high, if the registration system changed to a "notification" system instead of formal registration system, it would be improved significantly compared to present system. B. Effect of the project. Thus, with changes in the residents' attitude, was there a reduction in the infant death rate? 1) It is very difficult problem to compare the mortality of infants between last and present infants, because many women don't wont to answer accurately about their dead children especially the infants that died within a few days after birth. In this study the data of present death comes from the maternity aides who followed up every pregnancy they had recorded to see what had happened. They seem to have very reliable information on what happened in first few weeks with follow up visitits to check out later changes. From these calculation, when we compared the rate of infant death between last and present infant, there was remarkable reduction of death rate for present infant compare to that of last children, namely, the former was 30, while the latter 42. The figure is the lowest rate that I have ever heard. As the quality of data we could assess by comparing the causes of death. In the current death rate by communicable disease was much lower compare to the last child especially, tetanus cases and pneumonia. 2) Next, how many respondents used contraception after birth because of frequent contact with the maternity aid. In the registered cases, the respondents showed a tendency to practice contraception at an earlier age and with a small number of children. In a comparison of the rate of contraception between the study and the control area, the rate int he former was significantly higher than that of the latter. What is more, the proportion favoring smaller numbers of children and younger women rose in the study area as compared to the control area. 3) Regarding vital registration, though the rate of registration was gradually improved by efforts of maternity aid, it would be better to change the registration system. 4) In the crude birth rate, the rate in the study area was 22.2 while in the control area was 26.5. Natural increase rate showed 15.4 in the study area, while control area was 19.1. 5) In assessment of the efficiency of the maternity aids judging by the cost-effect viewpoint, the workers in the Medium area seemed to be more efficiency than those of other areas.

A Comparison of Side for Termination, and Continuation Rate for Various Kinds of Oral Contraceptive Pill / 예방의학회지

No abstract available.

A Study in Acceptance of Oral Contraceptives among Women in a Rural Area / 예방의학회지

No abstract available.