Risk factors for acute hepatitis A infection in Korea in 2007 and 2009: a case-control study.

This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with acute hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection in the Korean population. Participants were recruited from five referral hospitals across the country in 2007 and from 11 hospitals in 2009. Patients with positive anti-HAV IgM antibody tests became the case group, while patients treated for non-contagious diseases at the same hospitals were recruited as controls. A total of 222 and 548 case-control pairs were studied in the 2007 and 2009 surveys, respectively. Data from the surveys were analyzed jointly. In a multivariate analysis, sharing the household with HAV-infected family members (OR, 6.32; 95% CI, 1.4-29.6), contact with other HAV-infected individuals (OR, 4.73; 95% CI, 2.4-9.4), overseas travel in 2007 (OR, 19.93; 95% CI, 2.3-174.4), consumption of raw shellfish (OR, 2.51; 95% CI, 1.8-3.5), drinking bottled water (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.3-8.4), and occupation that involve handling food (OR, 3.30; 95% CI, 1.3-8.4) increased the risk of HAV infection. Avoiding contact with HAV-infected individuals and avoiding raw foods eating could help minimize the risk of hepatitis A infection. Immunization must be beneficial to individuals who handle food ingredients occupationally or travel overseas to HAV-endemic areas.

Rapid increase in the national treatment costs for hepatitis A infections in Korea.

The number of symptomatic hepatitis A cases has progressively been increasing during the last several years in Korea. Available cost estimates indicate a growing burden to the public. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of treatment costs for patients with hepatitis A and to analyze the influential factors with nationwide data. We collected data on 72,921 patients with hepatitis A from 5-year National Health Insurance claim archives between 2004 and 2008. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine influential factors affecting treatment costs for hepatitis A. Total treatment costs for patients with hepatitis A during the 5-year period were US$47,902,087 and increased significantly each year. In total, 91.4% of treatment costs were used for hospitalization, and the proportion of inpatients increased gradually throughout the study period. The most influential factor on treatment costs was treatment duration. Our results show that the soaring number of patients with hepatitis A followed by the hospitalization-focused treatment practice is a major factor associated with the rapid increase in treatment costs. Appropriate policies should be promptly developed to control treatment costs and economic burden of hepatitis A infections.

Functional polymorphism in H2BFWT-5'UTR is associated with susceptibility to male infertility.

H2B histone family, member W, testis-specific (H2BFWT) gene encodes a testis-specific histone that becomes incorporated into sperm chromatin. A male infertility-associated single nucleotide polymorphism (-9C > T) within the 5' untranslated region (5'UTR) of the H2BFWT gene was identified by direct sequencing. Statistical association studies showed the polymorphism significantly associated with male infertility (n = 442, P = 0.0157), especially in non-azoospermia (n = 262, P = 0.018). Furthermore, this polymorphism is also associated with sperm parameters, especially sperm count (n = 164, P = 0.0127) and vitality (n = 164, P = 0.0076). We investigated how the genetic variant at 5'UTR confers susceptibility to non-azoospermia. Western blotting of His-tag H2BFWT revealed a difference at the translational level between -9T and the wild-type -9C in the absence of change at the transcriptional level. Reporter assays showed that this reducing translational change originated from an upstream open reading frame (uORF) generated by the -9C to -9T change. Finally, in vivo H2BFWT expression in sperm was significantly dependent on the -9C > T genotype from non-azoospermia (P = 0.0061). Therefore, this polymorphism could affect the translational efficiency of a quantitatively important histone protein by the uORF. Our data implicate H2BFWT as a susceptibility factor for male infertility, possibly with other genetic and environmental factors.

Trauma surgery without proper compensation under the current Korean National Health Insurance System.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the situations and problems of the current health insurance fees for trauma surgeries. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records and billing data from trauma surgeries performed in the hospital from August 2012 to July 2014. The name and number of surgeries were investigated and the code and number of operations prescribed by surgeons were compared with the number of cases actually billed to insurance. In addition, the results returned by the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Services (HIRA) after deduction were investigated and compared to verify the insurance review findings. RESULTS: During the study period, total 1,534 trauma surgical procedures were performed for a total of 253 trauma patients. Based on names, 1,092 procedures were performed; however, 442 cases (28.8%) could not be prescribed because of lack of proper insurance codes for the procedures. A total of 1,046.5 surgical procedures were prescribed by surgeons, adjusted by the insurance team, and finally billed to the HIRA; 162 bills were returned from the HIRA after rate reductions, corresponding to a reduction rate of 15.5%. The major reason for reduction was "fee criteria and limited number". The compensation rate for billed surgical procedures was 84.5%. CONCLUSION: The high reduction and low compensation rate for trauma surgery under the current Korean National Health Insurance System need to be reviewed and improved. Furthermore, it is necessary to establish new criteria for surgical procedures fees for latest ones such as damage control surgery performed on severe trauma patients.

Pattern of hepatitis a incidence according to area characteristics using national health insurance data.

OBJECTIVES: Over the past several years, the incidence of hepatitis A infection has been increasing rapidly in the young-adult population in Korea. We examined the effects of area-level socioeconomic status and environmental hygiene on the incidence of hepatitis A. METHODS: This study is based on the registered national population of Korea and the national health insurance data from 2004 to 2008. A total of 73 459 individuals were confirmed to have had hepatitis A. The standardized incidences of hepatitis A in 232 districts adjusted for sex and age of people were calculated for each year, and the rate ratios of the incidence rates were estimated according to area-level socioeconomic status and environmental hygiene using multiple Poisson regression models. RESULTS: The incidence rates of hepatitis A infection were 15.6 (per 100 000) in 2004, 19.0 (per 100 000) in 2005, 27.2 (per 100 000) in 2006, 25.1 (per 100 000) in 2007, and 61.7 (per 100 000) in 2008. The analysis of the area-level effects showed that residential areas of the less deprived than other regions, areas with higher levels of education, and heavily populated areas were significantly associated with increased risk. CONCLUSIONS: There is a very strong possibility that both area-level socioeconomic status and environmental hygiene play a role in increasing the risk of hepatitis A infection in Korea. Therefore, to reduce hepatitis A infection, we need a nationwide strategy that considers these area-level characteristics.