홧병에 대한 일 역학적 연구

An Epidemiological Study on Hwabyung

An epidemilogical study on hwabyung was done with 1,450 subjects randomly selected from general pupulation with age ranging from 18 to 65 year in a rural community. Data was collected using Korean version of DIS-III A by trained interviewers. The analysis of data showed that hwabyung is more common in older age group, in women and in low educational group. Diagnostically, hwabyung patients had more somatization disorder(37.7 %), generalized anxiety disorder(24.6%) and major depression( 15.25%), dysthymic disorder (15.25%) than non-hwabyung group had. A fewer number of hwabyung patients had panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and phobic disorder. More hwabyung patients considered their general health state as being not good, had taken psychotropic medication, and reported psychiatric problem in the family. In general, this study suggests that hwabyung is a culturally-related syndrome of Korea which is commonly seen in a specific population group and diagnostically confounded with somatization, depressive and generalized anxiety disorders, representing typical clinical manifestations of wide range in their severity