The Impact of COVID-19 on Admissions and In-hospital Mortality of Patients with Stroke in Korea: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on admission rates and in-hospital mortality among patients with ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.

Methods: We constructed a dataset detailing the monthly hospitalizations and mortality rates of inpatients with stroke from January 2017 to December 2021. Employing an interrupted time series analysis, we explored the impact of COVID-19 on hospitalizations and 30-day in-hospital mortality among stroke patients.

Approval status of essential therapeutic drugs for systemic sclerosis versus that of drugs for rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Systemic sclerosis, a rare disease characterized by chronic multisystem fibrosis, requires lifelong management, necessitating enough insurance coverage for the patient. Official drug approval is the first step to ensuring that the drug is covered by insurance. In this study, we investigated the approval status of essential therapeutic drugs for systemic sclerosis across eight countries and compared it with that of drugs for rheumatoid arthritis.

An epidemic of cataract surgery in Korea: the effects of private health insurance on the National Health Insurance Service.

Objectives: In Korea, the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) covers essential healthcare expenses, including cataract surgery. To address concerns that private health insurance (PHI) might have inflated the need for such procedures, we investigated the extent of the PHI-attributable increase in cataract surgery and its impact on NHIS-reimbursed expenses.

Methods: This retrospective, observational study uses nationwide claims data for cataract surgery from 2016 to 2020.

Health Inequities in Cancer Incidence According to Economic Status and Regions Are Still Existed Even under Universal Health Coverage System in Korea: A Nationwide Population Based Study Using the National Health Insurance Database.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the level of health equity in relation to cancer incidence.

Materials And Methods: We used the National Health Insurance claims data of the National Health Insurance Service between 2005 and 2022 and annual health insurance and medical aid beneficiaries between 2011 and 2021 to investigate the disparities of cancer incidence. We calculated age-sex standardized cancer incidence rates by cancer and year according to the type of insurance and the trend over time using the annual percentage change.

Incidence, Severity, and Mortality of Influenza During 2010-2020 in Korea: A Nationwide Study Based on the Population-Based National Health Insurance Service Database.

Background: The epidemiology of influenza is commonly used to understand and establish relevant health policies for emerging respiratory infections, including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, Korea has no confirmed nationwide data on influenza incidence, severity, and mortality rate.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study to obtain epidemic data on influenza at the national level using National Health Insurance claims data during 2010 to 2020.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the healthcare utilization in Korea: Analysis of a nationwide survey.

Background: COVID-19 has brought changes in daily life and increased the medical burden. This study aims to evaluate the delays in healthcare services and related factors in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We took a nationally representative sample and conducted a mobile phone-based survey.

Trends in the prescription of benzodiazepines for the elderly in Korea.

Background: This study examined trends in the prescription of benzodiazepines for the elderly (age over 65 years) in Korea, a country with a higher level of spending on pharmaceuticals compared to that in other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, and identified factors related to the inappropriate use of such drugs.

Methods: We used the National Health Insurance Claims Data (NHICD) for the period 2009-2013, including all reimbursed drug-prescribing information. Following the OECD's prescribing quality indicators (PQIs), we looked at the prevalence, quantities, durations, and inappropriate (long-term or high-quantity) use of benzodiazepines, some of the most widely prescribed, but potentially inappropriate, drugs for the elderly.

Association of cardiovascular health screening with mortality, clinical outcomes, and health care cost: a nationwide cohort study.

Objective: To determine whether a cardiovascular disease (CVD) health screening program is associated with CVD-related health conditions, incidence of cardiovascular events, mortality, healthcare utilization, and costs.

Methods: Cohort study of a 3% random sample of all Korea National Health Insurance members 40years of age or older and free of CVD or CVD-related health conditions was conducted. A total 443,337 study participants were followed-up from January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2010.

Impact of continuity of care on mortality and health care costs: a nationwide cohort study in Korea.

Purpose: Continuity of care is considered a core element of high-quality primary care, but its impact on mortality and health care costs is unclear. We aimed to determine the impact of continuity of care on mortality, costs, and health outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods: We conducted a cohort study of a 3% nationwide random sample of Korean National Health Insurance enrollees.

Variations in the hospital standardized mortality ratios in Korea.

Objectives: The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) has been widely used because it allows for robust risk adjustment using administrative data and is important for improving the quality of patient care.

Methods: All inpatients discharged from hospitals with more than 700 beds (66 hospitals) in 2008 were eligible for inclusion. Using the claims data, 29 most responsible diagnosis (MRDx), accounting for 80% of all inpatient deaths among these hospitals, were identified, and inpatients with those MRDx were selected.

The predictability of claim-data-based comorbidity-adjusted models could be improved by using medication data.

Background: Recently, claim-data-based comorbidity-adjusted methods such as the Charlson index and the Elixhauser comorbidity measures have been widely used among researchers. At the same time, there have been an increasing number of attempts to improve the predictability of comorbidity-adjusted models. We tried to improve the predictability of models using the Charlson and Elixhauser indices by using medication data; specifically, we used medication data to estimate omitted comorbidities in the claim data.

Utility of the REBA MTB-Rifa® assay for rapid detection of rifampicin resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Background: Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), including resistance to both rifampicin (RIF) and isoniazid (INH) referred to as multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), has become an increasing global threat in recent years. Effective management of patients infected with MDR-TB strains requires identifying such patients by performing conventional drug-susceptibility testing (DST) on bacteria isolated from sputum, a process that can take up to 2 months. This delay in diagnosis can result in worsening and continued transmission of MDR-TB.

Impact of diabetes and smoking on mortality in tuberculosis.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for tuberculosis (TB) disease. There is evidence that diabetes also influences TB severity and treatment outcomes but information is incomplete and some published results have been inconsistent.

Methods: A longitudinal cohort study was conducted at the National Masan Tuberculosis Hospital in the Republic of Korea.

Alcohol consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: effect modification by hypercholesterolemia: the Third Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005).

Objective: While the protective nature of moderate alcohol consumption against diabetes mellitus is well known, inconsistent findings continue to be reported. The possibility of different mixes of effect modifiers has been raised as a reason for those inconsistent findings. Our study aim was to examine potential effect modifiers that can change the effect of alcohol consumption on type 2 diabetes.

Rhabdomyolysis in a patient treated with linezolid for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Prolonged use of linezolid was temporally and mechanistically associated with rhabdomyolysis in a patient being treated for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. Careful laboratory monitoring of such subjects is important during prolonged linezolid therapy.

Mycolic acids as diagnostic markers for tuberculosis case detection in humans and drug efficacy in mice.

Mycolic acids are attractive diagnostic markers for tuberculosis (TB) infection because they are bacteria-derived, contain information about bacterial species, modulate host-pathogen interactions and are chemically inert. Here, we present a novel approach based on mass spectrometry. Quantification of specific precursor → fragment transitions of approximately 2000 individual mycolic acids (MAs) resulted in high analytical sensitivity and specificity.

Association of antigen-stimulated release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in whole blood with response to chemotherapy in patients with pulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Background: We have previously reported that TNF-α levels correlate to total mycobacterial burden in tuberculosis (TB) patients.

Objective: To characterize the dynamics of cytokine responses in TB patients during chemotherapy to identify potential surrogate markers for effective treatment.

Methods: Following induction by culture filtrate proteins in whole blood, production patterns of TNF-α, IL-10, IFN-γ and IL-12 were measured in 23 non-multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB and 16 MDR-TB patients and in 31 healthy controls.

Mutations in extensively drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis that do not code for known drug-resistance mechanisms.

Background: Highly lethal outbreaks of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis are increasing. Whole-genome sequencing of KwaZulu-Natal MDR and XDR outbreak strains prevalent in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients by the Broad Institute identified 22 novel mutations which were unique to the XDR genome or shared only by the MDR and XDR genomes and not already known to be associated with drug resistance.

Methods: We studied the 12 novel mutations which were not located in highly-repetitive genes to identify mutations that were truly associated with drug resistance or were likely to confer a specific fitness advantage.

Polymorphisms associated with resistance and cross-resistance to aminoglycosides and capreomycin in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from South Korean Patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The aminoglycosides streptomycin, amikacin, and kanamycin and the cyclic polypeptide capreomycin are all widely used in second-line therapy for patients who develop multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. We have characterized a set of 106 clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis using phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) to determine the extent of resistance to each agent and cross-resistance between agents. These results were compared with polymorphisms in the DNA sequences of ribosome-associated genes previously implicated in resistance and with the clinical outcomes of subjects from whom these isolates were obtained.

Genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from a tertiary care tuberculosis hospital in South Korea.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains an immense public health problem in the Republic of Korea despite a more than fivefold decrease in the prevalence of the disease over the last 3 decades. The rise in drug-resistant TB has compounded the situation. We analyzed 208 clinical isolates of M.

Neutrophils are the predominant infected phagocytic cells in the airways of patients with active pulmonary TB.

Background: The exact role of neutrophils in the pathogenesis of TB is poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests that neutrophils are not simply scavenging phagocytes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection.

Methods: Three different types of clinical specimens from patients with active pulmonary TB who underwent lung surgery were examined: sputum, BAL fluid, and cavity contents.

Evaluation of a computer-based adverse-drug-event monitor.

Purpose: The performance of a computer-based adverse-drug-event (ADE) monitor is evaluated, and the characteristics of ADEs detected and undetected by the monitor are compared.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted to identify ADEs using pre-defined ADE alerts that were recognized by a computer-based ADE monitor in a 1300-bed, tertiary care, teaching hospital in Seoul, Korea. A subsequent chart review was conducted by a pharmacist to confirm the ADEs and identify ADEs unrecognized by the monitor.

Evaluation of the diagnostic utility of a whole-blood interferon-gamma assay for determining the risk of exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG)-vaccinated individuals.

We evaluated the utility of the "QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube" (QuantiFERON) test that uses tuberculosis (TB)-specific antigens for the diagnosis of latent infection in such individuals. We also examined the correlation between the interferon (IFN)-gamma response to these antigens and the exposure risk to TB by evaluating antigen-specific IFN-gamma release in comparison with IFN-gamma release in response to purified protein derivative (PPD) in 3 groups: medical students, nurses in a TB hospital, and TB patients. All nurses and TB patients responded to PPD, whereas 52% (P < 0.