Crude early stage rate by income level according to National Cancer Screening Program participation.

<p>Crude early stage rate by income level according to National Cancer Screening Program participation.</p

National Cancer Screening Program of South Korea.

<p>^a High risk group of Liver cancer includes patients with cirrhosis, chronic liver disease, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag) positive or hepatitis C virus antibody (HCV Ab) positive. However, individuals who have used medical services for biliary cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, intrahepatic duct carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma) during the previous two years are excluded.</p><p>National Cancer Screening Program of South Korea.</p

Determinants of Attitude toward the Public Health Spending and Its Relationship with Voting Behavior in the 2012 South Korean Presidential Election

<div><p>This study aimed to identify the factors influencing South Korean voters’ attitudes towards increasing public expenditure on health and to identify whether the issue of healthcare expenditure influenced candidate choice in the 2012 Korean presidential election. The study used the data from a survey conducted by the Institute of Korean Politics at Seoul National University immediately following the 2012 presidential election. The survey was completed by a nationwide sample of 1,200 people aged 19 or over using a face-to-face interview method and proportional quota sampling based on sex, age, and region. About 44.3% of respondents had a positive attitude toward increasing public health expenditure. There was no significant difference by the candidate they supported (conservative Park Geun-hye or liberal Moon Jae-in). In particular, even 44.9% of conservative supporters agreed with more spending. Politically neutral respondents (OR = 1.76, 90% CI 1.22–2.54) and strong conservative party supporters (OR = 1.53, 90% CI 1.05–2.25) were more likely to support public health expenditure increase compared to strong liberal party supporters. Also, respondents who believed that the economic gap in the country was widening were 1.91 times more likely to support an increase in public health expenditures. However, the issue of health expenditure had no influence on voters’ choice of presidential candidates, and in particular no negative effect of choice of the ruling (conservative) party’s candidate. Our results should be interpreted with care; one possible reason for this lack of effect might be that constituents voted along partisan lines regardless of their attitude to the welfare issue; another possible explanation might be the success of the “left click strategy” of the conservative party. That is, the conservatives did not reject economic democratization or social welfare expansion. Further research should be done to explain why attitudes to health spending did not directly affect choice of candidate.</p></div

Gender, cancer and National Cancer Screening Program participation specific numbers of study subjects and crude early-stage rate (%) by income group.

<p>^aNCSP, National Cancer Screening Program;</p><p>^bESR, Early-Stage Rate</p><p>Gender, cancer and National Cancer Screening Program participation specific numbers of study subjects and crude early-stage rate (%) by income group.</p

Worry experienced during the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) pandemic in Korea

<div><p>Background</p><p>Korea failed in its risk communication during the early stage of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak; consequently, it faced difficulties in managing MERS, while disease-related worry increased. Disease-related worry can help disease prevention and management, but can also have a detrimental effect. This study measured the overall level of disease-related worry during the MERS outbreak period in Korea and the influencing factors and levels of disease-related worry during key outbreak periods.</p><p>Methods</p><p>The cross-sectional survey included 1,000 adults who resided in Korea. An ordinal logistic regression was performed for the overall level of MERS-related worry, and influencing factors of worry were analyzed. A reliability test was performed on the levels of MERS-related worry during key outbreak periods.</p><p>Results</p><p>The overall level of MERS-related worry was 2.44. Multivariate analysis revealed that women and respondents w very poor subjective health status had higher levels of worry. Respondents with very high stress in daily life had higher levels of worry than those who reported having little stress. The reliability test results on MERS-related worry scores during key outbreak periods showed consistent scores during each period.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>Level of worry increased in cases having higher perceived susceptibility and greater trust in informal information, while initial stage of outbreak was closely associated with that at later stages. These findings suggest the importance of managing the level of worry by providing timely and accurate disease-related information during the initial stage of disease outbreak.</p></div

Factors Affecting Vote for the Conservative Presidential Candidate among Party Neutrals.

<p>Factors Affecting Vote for the Conservative Presidential Candidate among Party Neutrals.</p

Reliability test of worry during key outbreak periods.

<p>Reliability test of worry during key outbreak periods.</p

Ordinal regression analysis of degree of MERS^a-related worry and independent predictors.

<p>Ordinal regression analysis of degree of MERS<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0173234#t002fn001" target="_blank">^a</a>-related worry and independent predictors.</p

Age-standardized prevalence rates (95% CI), prevalence difference (PD) and relative index of inequality (RII) of early-stage by National Cancer Screening Program participation.

<p>^aNCSP, National Cancer Screening Program.</p><p>Age-standardized prevalence rates (95% CI), prevalence difference (PD) and relative index of inequality (RII) of early-stage by National Cancer Screening Program participation.</p

Factors Affecting Attitudes towards Increasing Public Expenditure on Health.

<p>Factors Affecting Attitudes towards Increasing Public Expenditure on Health.</p