Epidemiology and health
-
Overdiagnosis of thyroid cancer was propounded regarding the rapidly increasing incidence in South Korea. Overdiagnosis is defined as 'the detection of cancers that would never have been found were it not for the screening test', and may be an extreme form of lead bias due to indolent cancers, as is inevitable when conducting a cancer screening programme. Because it is solely an epidemiological concept, it can be estimated indirectly by phenomena such as a lack of compensatory drop in post-screening periods, or discrepancies between incidence and mortality. The erstwhile trials for quantifying the overdiagnosis in screening mammography were reviewed in order to secure the data needed to establish its prevalence in South Korea.
-
Epidemiology and health · Jan 2014
Factors associated with seeking treatment for postpartum morbidities in rural India.
To understand the prevalence of postpartum morbidities and factors associated with treatment-seeking behaviour among currently married women aged 15-49 residing in rural India. ⋯ Providing antenatal and delivery care, and ensuring nearby government healthcare facilities are available to serve rural women might increase the likelihood of care-seeking for postpartum morbidities. Targeted interventions for vulnerable groups should be considered in future policies to increase the likelihood women will seek treatment or advice postpartum.
-
The Cochrane Collaboration says that the Cochrane handbook for diagnostic test accuracy reviews (DTAR) is currently in development as per the Cochrane Collaboration. This implies that the methodology of systematic reviews (SR) of diagnostic test accuracy is still a matter of debate. At this point, comparison of methodologies for SR in case of interventions as against diagnostics would be helpful to understand DTAR.
-
Epidemiology and health · Jan 2014
What do we really fear? The epidemiological characteristics of Ebola and our preparedness.
Ebola virus disease (hereafter Ebola) has a high fatality rate; currently lacks a treatment or vaccine with proven safety and efficacy, and thus many people fear this infection. As of August 13, 2014, 2,127 patients across four West African countries have been infected with the Ebola virus over the past nine months. Among these patients, approximately 1 in 2 has subsequently died from the disease. ⋯ To date, South Korea is not equipped with the special containment clinical units and biosafety level 4 facilities required to contain the outbreak of a fatal virus disease, such as Ebola. Therefore, it is necessary for South Korea to make strategies to the outbreak by using present facilities as quickly as possible. It is also imperative that the government establish suitable communication with its citizens to prevent the spread of uninformed fear and anxiety regarding the Ebola outbreak.
-
Epidemiology and health · Jan 2014
A guide for the utilization of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service National Patient Samples.
The claims data of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) is an important source of information for healthcare service research. The claims data of HIRA is collected when healthcare service providers submit a claim to HIRA to be reimbursed for a service that they provided to patients. ⋯ The Patient Samples of HIRA consist of five tables: a table for general information (Table 20) containing socio-demographic information such as gender, age and medical aid, indicators for inpatient and outpatient services; a table for specific information on healthcare services provided (Table 30); a table for diagnostic information (Table 40); a table for outpatient prescriptions (Table 53) and a table for information on healthcare service providers (Table of providers). Researchers who are interested in using the Patient Sample data for research can apply via HIRA's website (https://www.hira.or.kr).