A Survey on Nutrition and Health Status of the Elderly in Rural Area

농촌 거택노인의 영양 및 건강 실태조사;충청남도 아산군의 농촌지역을 중심으로

Studies about nutritional status, dietary behaviors and food preferrence as well as health status were performed to 110 homo-living elderly in rural area, Asan. The results obtained by questionnaires and interviews for 24-hr dietary recall were as follows. They were 68.6 years of average age. The weights were 53.8kg and 51.4kg of male and female, respectively and BMI 22.0 and 23.5. Their prevalence of obesity and high blood pressure were 65.5% and 60.5%, respectively, which seemed to be less than ones in large cities. More than 50% of the elderly thought their health as good or so-so. Physical health conditions by check list were indicated as 2.26 points, which meant the listed physical symptoms observed seldom(3pts) to sometimes(2pts). Evaluations on food frequency and seasoning tendency resulted in superior quality of female elderly's meals to that of male ones. Average daily intake of energy, protein, vitamin A, riboflavin and ascorbic acid of the elderly in rural area were lower than Korean RDA for the aged $60{\sim}69$ and riboflavin was found to be the least sufficient nutrient. Their monthly expenditure, meal-accompany and skipped meals were significantly related to daily nutrient intake.