Poverty in the Midst of Plenty: Unmet Needs and Distribution of Health Care Resources in South Korea

Background: The unmet needs for health care have been used as an alternative measurement to monitor equity in health services. We sought to examine contextual influences on unmet needs for health care whereas precedent studies have been focused on individual characteristics on them. Methods and Findings: The current study conducted multilevel logistic regression analysis to assess the effects of individual- and contextual-level predictors in meeting individual health care needs in South Korea. We sampled 7,200 individuals over the age of 19 in the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2009. Included in the regression model were individual predictors such as demographic variables, socio-economic status, and self-rated health; the density of beds and physicians in public and private sectors within different regions were used as contextual-level predictors. This study showed the inverse association between unmet needs and regional resources in private sectors after controlling for the effects of individual-level predictors. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that increasing regional resources in private sectors might produce inefficiency in the health care system and inequity in access to health services, particularly where the competition in private health care sectors was highly stimulated under the fee-for-service reimbursement scheme. Policies for the reallocation of health care resources and for reduction of individual health care costs are needed in Korea

Long-term variations of water quality and phosphorus loading in Lake Andong, Korea

Tropic state parameters were measured in a reservoir (Lake Andong, Korea) from 1993 to 2000. Phosphorus loading from the watershed was estimated by measuring total phosphorus concentration in the main inflowing stream (the Nakdong River). Phosphrus discharge of the pen-type fish farms was estimated from the amount of fish feed supplied annually and the rate of phosphrus excretion per feed weight. Minimum transparency in summer was only about 2.0m in 1993 and 1994, but it decreased to about 1.2m in 1997 and 1998, and recovered to about 2.3m in 1999 and 2000. TP increased from 11～30 mgP/m³ in 1993 to 18～42 mgP/m³ in 1998, but recovered to 8～13mgP/m³ in 2000, whereas TN decreased slightly from1.81～2.96mgN/L in 1993 to 1.17～1.80mgN/L in 2000. TN/TP ratio decreased from 82～281 in 1993 to 21～143 in 1998, but again increased to 101～209 in 2000 due to the decrease of TP. The average chlorophyll a concentration in growing season was in the range of 4.8-16.2mg/m³ from 1993 to 1997, but it decreased to 3.7-5.2 mg/m³ after 1998. The major cause of the trophic state recovery is thought to be the removal of fish farms in April 1998.Article信州大学山地水環境教育研究センター研究報告 2: 131-134(2004)departmental bulletin pape

High‐Density Lipoprotein in Lupus: Disease Biomarkers and Potential Therapeutic Strategy

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152788/1/art41059_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152788/2/art41059.pd

Long-term variations of water quality and phosphorus loading in Lake Andong, Korea

Tropic state parameters were measured in a reservoir (Lake Andong, Korea) from 1993 to 2000. Phosphorus loading from the watershed was estimated by measuring total phosphorus concentration in the main inflowing stream (the Nakdong River). Phosphrus discharge of the pen-type fish farms was estimated from the amount of fish feed supplied annually and the rate of phosphrus excretion per feed weight. Minimum transparency in summer was only about 2.0m in 1993 and 1994, but it decreased to about 1.2m in 1997 and 1998, and recovered to about 2.3m in 1999 and 2000. TP increased from 11～30 mgP/m³ in 1993 to 18～42 mgP/m³ in 1998, but recovered to 8～13mgP/m³ in 2000, whereas TN decreased slightly from1.81～2.96mgN/L in 1993 to 1.17～1.80mgN/L in 2000. TN/TP ratio decreased from 82～281 in 1993 to 21～143 in 1998, but again increased to 101～209 in 2000 due to the decrease of TP. The average chlorophyll a concentration in growing season was in the range of 4.8-16.2mg/m³ from 1993 to 1997, but it decreased to 3.7-5.2 mg/m³ after 1998. The major cause of the trophic state recovery is thought to be the removal of fish farms in April 1998.Articleapplication/pdf信州大学山地水環境教育研究センター研究報告 2: 131-134(2004)departmental bulletin pape