Unveiling the chasm of economic burden from metastatic prostate cancer through a nationwide retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To analyze the clinical and economic consequences of the progression to castration-resistant status for patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) in South Korea.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted using National Health Insurance claims data from 2013 to 2021. Patients defined as newly diagnosed with mHSPC had an index date of first claim for metastatic PC between 2015 and 2016 and no exposure to CRPC medicines during the washout period.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of dupilumab among patients with uncontrolled severe asthma using LIBERTY ASTHMA QUEST Korean data.

Background: A sub-analysis of the Korean population in the LIBERTY ASTHMA QUEST trial (NCT02414854) revealed that dupilumab effectively treated severe uncontrolled asthma. This study aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of add-on therapy with dupilumab to background therapy in patients ≥ 12 years of age with uncontrolled severe asthma compared to that of background therapy in South Korea.

Methods: The cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted using a Markov model over a lifetime from the Korean healthcare system perspective.

Association of Uncontrolled Hypertension or Diabetes Mellitus With Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events and Mortality in South Korea: Population-Based Cohort Study.

Background: Managing hypertension (HT) and diabetes mellitus (DM) is crucial to preventing cardiovascular diseases. Few studies have investigated the incidence and risk of cardiovascular diseases or mortality in uncontrolled HT or DM in the Asian population. Epidemiological studies of cardiovascular disease should be conducted with continuous consideration of the changing disease risk profiles, lifestyles, and socioeconomic status over time.

The Primary Process and Key Concepts of Economic Evaluation in Healthcare.

Economic evaluations in the healthcare are used to assess economic efficiency of pharmaceuticals and medical interventions such as diagnoses and medical procedures. This study introduces the main concepts of economic evaluation across its key steps: planning, outcome and cost calculation, modeling, cost-effectiveness results, uncertainty analysis, and decision-making. When planning an economic evaluation, we determine the study population, intervention, comparators, perspectives, time horizon, discount rates, and type of economic evaluation.

Prevalence and socioeconomic burden of diabetes mellitus in South Korean adults: a population-based study using administrative data.

Background: Diabetes leads to severe complications and imposes health and financial burdens on the society. However, currently existing domestic public health studies of diabetes in South Korea mainly focus on prevalence, and data on the nationwide burden of diabetes in South Korea are lacking. The study aimed to estimate the prevalence and economic burden of diabetes imposed on the South Korean society.

Evaluation of the Heart Failure in Internet Patient Information: Descriptive Survey Study.

Patients with heart failure (HF) may not receive enough HF education from their clinicians throughout the course of the illness. Given that information is readily accessible on the Internet, patients with HF may seek HF information online. However, the relevance of online information for patients, the health literacy demand, and quality of the information is unknown.

Measurement of autophagy flux in benign prostatic hyperplasia in vitro.

Background: Recent studies have suggested a novel therapeutic strategy for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) via modulation of autophagy. However, it is not clear whether autophagy induction or inhibition can render better therapeutic efficacy for BPH treatment because autophagy activation in BPH tissue is not precisely known and still contradictory. The purpose of this study was to examine the levels of autophagy in BPH tissue cells.

Cost-effectiveness of Bariatric Surgery for People with Morbid Obesity in South Korea.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of bariatric surgery (BS) compared to non-surgical treatment (NST) in Korean people with morbid obesity according to comorbidities and body mass index (BMI) severity.

Methods: The target cohort was people with morbid obesity, defined as BMI of ≥ 35 kg/m, or obese people with BMI of 30-34.9 kg/m having obesity-related comorbidities.

Erratum: Addition of a Co-Author: Etiology of Invasive Bacterial Infections in Immunocompetent Children in Korea (2006-2010): a Retrospective Multicenter Study.

This corrects the article on e45 in vol. 33, PMID: 29349940.

The incremental economic burden of heart failure: A population-based investigation from South Korea.

Background: The prevalence of heart failure (HF) and its economic burden are increasing with age of the South Korean population. This study aimed to assess the economic impact of HF from the societal perspective.

Methods: A prevalence-based, incremental cost-of-patient study was performed to estimate the cost ratio between patients with HF and those without HF based on the claims database of the national health insurance in South Korea.

Outcomes of Stenting versus Endarterectomy for Symptomatic Extracranial Carotid Stenosis: A Retrospective Multicenter Study in Korea.

Background: The present multicenter retrospective study aimed to compare the outcome of carotid artery stenting (CAS) versus carotid endarterectomy (CEA) among Korean patients with symptomatic extracranial carotid stenosis.

Methods: Between January 2008 and December 2011, 677 patients underwent either CAS (346, 51.1%) or CEA (331, 48.

Genetic structures of invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from Korean children obtained between 1995 and 2013.

Background: Understanding the population genetics of pneumococci will allow detection of changes in the prevalence of circulating genotypes and evidence for capsular switching. We aimed to analyze the genetic structure of invasive pneumococcal isolates obtained from children before and after the use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) in Korea.

Methods: A total of 285 invasive pneumococcal isolates were analyzed using serotyping, multilocus sequence typing, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing.

Comparison of screening strategies for prevalent vertebral fractures in South Korea: vertebral fracture assessment vs. spine radiography.

Background: Vertebral Fracture Assessment (VFA) is a useful tool to detect the vertebral fracture (VF) with low cost and radiation exposure. We aimed to compare screening strategies including VFA and spine radiography (X-ray) for detecting VF in terms of clinical effectiveness, cost and radiation exposure.

Methods: Three screening strategies: 1) X-ray following VFA, 2) VFA only, and 3) X-ray only were compared using a Markov model based on administrative data from South Korea in a population aged ≥50 years.

Etiology of Invasive Bacterial Infections in Immunocompetent Children in Korea (2006-2010): a Retrospective Multicenter Study.

Background: Invasive bacterial infections in apparently immunocompetent children were retrospectively analyzed to figure causative bacterial organisms in Korea.

Methods: A total of 947 cases from 25 university hospitals were identified from 2006 to 2010 as a continuance of a previous 10-year period study from 1996 to 2005.

Results: Escherichia coli (41.

Identification of target risk groups for population-based Clostridium difficile infection prevention strategies using a population attributable risk approach.

Objectives: We aimed to determine risk factors associated with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and assess the contributions of these factors on CDI burden.

Methods: We conducted a 1:4 matched case-control study using a national claims dataset. Cases were incident CDI without a history of CDI in the previous 84 days, and were age- and sex-matched with control patients.

Comparisons of ELISA and Western blot assays for detection of autophagy flux.

We analyzed autophagy/mitophagy flux (C2C12 myotubes) and (mouse skeletal muscle) following the treatments of autophagy inducers (starvation, rapamycin) and a mitophagy inducer (carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone, CCCP) using two immunodetection methods, ELISA and Western blotting, and compared their working range, accuracy, and reliability. The ELISAs showed a broader working range than that of the LC3 Western blots (Table 1). Table 2 showed that data value distribution was tighter and the average standard error from the ELISA was much smaller than those of the Western blot, directly relating to the accuracy of the assay.

Quantification of autophagy flux using LC3 ELISA.

Macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) is a degradation system that delivers cytoplasmic materials to lysosomes via autophagosomes. Autophagic flux is defined as a measure of autophagic degradation activity. Despite several methods for monitoring autophagic flux being currently utilized, interest in finding a highly accurate, sensitive and well-quantifiable assay is still growing.

Prevalence and socio-economic burden of heart failure in an aging society of South Korea.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in South Korea. With the rapidly aging population in the country, the prevalence of HF and its associated costs are expected to rise continuously. This study was carried out to estimate the prevalence and economic burden of HF in order to understand its impact on our society.

The Immunogenicity and Safety of a Combined DTaP-IPV//Hib Vaccine Compared with Individual DTaP-IPV and Hib (PRP~T) Vaccines: a Randomized Clinical Trial in South Korean Infants.

Recommended infant vaccination in Korea includes DTaP-IPV and Hib vaccines administered as separate injections. In this randomized, open, controlled study we assessed the non-inferiority of immunogenicity of DTaP-IPV//Hib pentavalent combination vaccine (Pentaxim™) compared with licensed DTaP-IPV and Hib (PRP~T) vaccines. We enrolled 418 healthy Korean infants to receive either separate DTaP-IPV and Hib vaccines (n = 206) or the pentavalent DTaP-IPV//Hib (n = 208) vaccine at 2, 4, 6 months of age.

Single-Tooth Implant Versus Three-Unit Fixed Partial Denture: A Study of Oral Health-Related Quality of Life.

Purpose: Many studies have investigated the impact of prosthetic treatment on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). However, most of these have been performed among fully or partially edentulous patients. Studies involving patients with a single missing tooth are limited.

Enterobacter cloacae Sacroiliitis with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in an Adolescent.

Enterobacter cloacae has emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen, but is rarely a cause of sacroiliitis. Herein, we present the first reported case of Enterobacter cloacae sacroiliitis associated with sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). A previously healthy 14-year-old boy presented with low-grade fever and pain in the left side of the hip that was aggravated by walking.