Korean J Fam Pract. 2018; 8(6): 919-925  https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2018.8.6.919
Discordance between Personal Medical History and Major Chronic Diseases in Foreign Patients from Russia, China, and Mongolia: Experiences at a University Hospital in Korea
Seongbo Byun1, Sunyoung Kim1, Byung Sung Kim1,2, Jinho Yoo1, Sangwoo Kim1, Chang Won Won1,2,*, Sangchan Park3
1Department of Family Medicine, Kyung Hee University Medical Center; 2Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University; 3Department of Healthcare Management, School of Business, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea
Chang Won Won
Tel: +82-2-958-8697, Fax: +82-2-958-8699
E-mail: chunwon62@naver.com
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6429-4461
Received: May 31, 2018; Revised: June 14, 2018; Accepted: June 18, 2018; Published online: December 20, 2018.
© The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: The number of foreign patients receiving medical treatment at hospitals in Korea has been rising steadily. Despite their increasing number, diversity of nationalities, and duration of stay, studies regarding the discordance between personal medical history and the presence of chronic diseases in these patients are lacking.
Methods: We included a total of 958 foreign patients from Russia, China, and Mongolia who visited a university hospital in Seoul, Korea between November 2011 and September 2016 in the study. The frequencies of hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis B infection, hepatitis C infection, and tuberculosis infection, and their association with personal medical history were analyzed.
Results: Russian patients presented the highest diagnostic rate of hypertension (5.5%). With regard to diabetes mellitus and hepatitis B infection, Russian and Chinese patients presented similar diagnostic rates of 3.5% and 0.9%, respectively. A total of 40% of hypertensive and 24.2% of diabetic patients were newly diagnosed. Among hepatitis B virus carriers from Russia, 60% had no relevant past history. Among hepatitis C virus carriers, 60%, 100%, and 75% of Russian, Chinese, and Mongolian patients, respectively, were newly diagnosed, without any previous history of hepatitis C infection.
Conclusion: The discordance between personal medical history and the diagnostic rates of specific chronic diseases in foreign patients from Russia, China, and Mongolia was verified in the study. The possible presence of these diseases must be considered when treating patients from these countries.
Keywords: Chronic Disease; Personal Medical History; Foreign Patients; Tuberculosis; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis C
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