• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.242-251
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to examine disparities in food and nutrient intakes based on family types identified among 1,856 participants who were the Korean elderly people in the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHNES) excluding those who were currently practicing the diet therapy. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We separated the subjects into two groups: living alone (LA, n = 638) and living with a spouse (LS, n = 1,218). We also examined the disparities of dietary quantity and quality of those two groups using complex sampling design general linear regression analyses (CS GLM). RESULTS: In the LA group, there was a higher percentage of females and average age in LA group was higher than the participants in the LS group. Household income and education level were significantly lower in LA compared to those of LS. The frequencies of skipping meals were higher in LA. LA's food and nutrient intakes showed lower consumption of vegetables, fruits, seaweeds, and of most nutrients. Even after adjusting for the confounding factors, the consumption of vegetables, seaweeds, carbohydrates, potassium, riboflavin, and vitamin C showed lower in LA than LS. Moreover, LA's nutrient intake ratios compared to the KDRIs were lower which turned out to be similar to their nutrient intakes. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that dietary behavior and food intake of the elderly are associated with family types. Frequently skipping meals and less dietary variety are more common with elderly persons who were living alone. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate the supplementary food programs and nutrition education programs for the elderly living alone.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.413-428
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of digital literacy and the frequency of contact with children or grandchildren via ICT on cognitive functions of 8,942 adults over age 65 who responded to the 2017 National Survey of Older Koreans, using multiple regression analysis. We found that digital literacy was the most significant factor on cognitive functions of the elderly. Also, the frequency of contact with grandchildren via ICT was a positive factor for cognitive function and had a positive correlation with digital literacy. Based on this results, the importance of digital literacy education and intergenerational communication via ICT were discussed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.467-478
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• 2020

Background: The purpose of this study is to explain the factors influencing the incurrence of catastrophic health expenditure of national health insurance households using panel data observed over a long period. Methods: The study targeted 3,652 households who had no censoring during the 11-year survey period (2007-2017) and householders whose insurance type was consistently maintained as national health insurance. Generalized estimating equations were adopted to identify factors affecting the occurrence of catastrophic health expenditure at 20%, 30%, and 40% threshold levels. A subgroup analysis was conducted by categorizing groups depending on the existence of the elderly in the household. Results: For the last 11 years, the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure in the households without the elderly decreased slightly at all threshold levels, but the households with the elderly seemed to be increased. At baseline, household type showed a statistically significant relationship with all other variables. The results of generalized estimating equations analyses show that household income was not significant at all threshold levels in the households without elderly. On the other hand, in the households with the elderly, the 2nd (odds ratio [OR], 1.33-2.05) and 3rd quintile groups (OR, 1.25-2.55) were more likely to have catastrophic health expenditure compared to the 1st quintile of household income group. Conclusion: As the amount of health expenditures relative to the ability to pay is increasing in households with the elderly, the application of an intervention followed by consistent monitoring is needed. This study found that there were differences in influencing factors according to the presence of the elderly in the households. In particular, in households with the elderly, interesting results have been drawn regarding the occurrence of catastrophic health expenditure in the near-poor, so additional research is required.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.616-624
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• 2020

This study analyzed the association between the type of transport accident and the associated mortality of elderly inpatients. The findings will contribute to the development and establishment of a systematic and effective policy according to the type of transport accident to reduce the mortality of inpatients. The data on elderly inpatients with transport accidents was extracted from the 2013-2017 Korean National Hospital Discharge In-depth Survey dataset. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics analysis, chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression analysis. After adjustment for sociodemographic, disease, injury and policy factors, the elderly inpatient deaths due to transport accidents were significantly higher for pedestrian accidents (OR: 2.522 95%, CI: 1.291-4.972), bicycle/cart accidents (OR: 2.809, 95% CI: 1.328-5.942) and motorcycle accidents (OR: 2.330, 95% CI: 1.226-4.819) rather than that for car accidents. Likewise, elderly inpatients have a higher risk of death from other types of transport accidents than those caused by car accidents. However, Korean policies related to transport accidents of elderly inpatients are concentrated on car accidents. Effective policy is needed according to the characteristics of each type of transport accident to reduce the transport accident mortality of elderly inpatients.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.352-364
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Given the increasing proportion of the Korean population that is aged 65 years and older, the present study analyzed the relationship between diet quality and sarcopenia in elderly persons by using data from the 2008-2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). SUBJECTS/METHODS: Data for 3,373 persons aged 65 years and over (men: 1,455, 43.1%) were selected from the 2008-2011 KNHANES. Sarcopenia assessments are based on a formula that divides a subject's appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) by their weight (wt) and multiplies that result by 100 ([ASM/wt] × 100). Sarcopenia is present if the subject's result was less than one standard deviation (SD) below the sex-specific mean for a young reference group. For evaluation of diet quality, data obtained via the 24-hour recall method were used to calculate the Diet Quality Index for Koreans (DQI-K). A general linear model was applied in order to analyze general information and nutritional intake according to sarcopenia status. For analysis of the relationship between diet quality and sarcopenia, a binominal logistic regression analysis was undertaken. RESULTS: The sarcopenia prevalence rate among the study subjects aged 65 years and over was 37.6%. The DQI-K of those without sarcopenia was 3.33 ± 0.04 points, while that of those with sarcopenia was 3.45 ± 0.04 points (P < 0.05). The relationship between diet quality and sarcopenia revealed that subjects aged 75 and older had a poor diet quality, and their odds ratio (OR) of sarcopenia presence was significantly higher (OR: 1.807, 95% confidence interval: 1.003-3.254, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that poor diet quality was related to sarcopenia presence in Koreans aged 75 and older. In order to improve the diet quality of the elderly (aged 75 and older), it is necessary to develop dietary improvement guidelines.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.37-49
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• 2020

Currently, the average aging rate has reached 14.8% in our country, despite the residents are aging or over the average aging rate has reached 31.8% with a population of less than 100,000. Various convenience facilities are concentrated in the town center, causing inconvenience to use. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the accessability of living convenience facilities in this area. This study builds on the population aging of the research target area and distribution of living facilities for the elderly based on MDIS data of the regional survey of the National Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Survey of the National Statistical Office, and QGIS was used to visualize the status of the elderly, distribution of convenience facilities for the elderly, hot spot maps, and distance analysis, and also technical statistical analysis was conducted. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that the distribution and distance of living convenience facilities for the elderly in the area where the elderly lived a lot was located in a location that caused severe inconvenience to the use of the elderly. This suggests the necessity of the change facilities type and spatial reorganization by raising the need for space policy changes on the spatial distribution of elderly convenience facilities, reflecting the serious aging of small towns such as the study area.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.215-221
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate convergence factors associated with cardiovascular disease in Korean elderly and use them as basic data for developing a customized health program for elderly. This was a secondary data analysis study using the 2017 National Health and Nutrition Survey and the study subjects included 1,617 individuals aged 65 and over. Regression analysis showed that perceived health status, walking practice and hypercholesterolemia were related to cardiovascular disease in elderly. In case of perceived health status, the incidence of cardiovascular disease was higher in 'good', 'fair', 'poor', and 'very poor' compared to 'very good'. Also, the incidence of cardiovascular disease was higher in the 'No' than in rhe 'Yes' of the walking practice, and higher in the case of elderly with the hypercholesterolemia. Based on the results, it is necessary to develop an active prevention nursing intervention program considering the underlying disease of the elderly.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.163-178
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to analyze leisure factors affect happiness of the elderly by sex in Korea and then to discuss implications for the findings. Data of National Leisure Activity Survey conducted by Korea Culture & Tourism Institute in 2016 were used for this study. From this dataset, 891 male elderly and 970 female elderly aged above 65 were selected for this study. Ordered logistic regression model was used by considering the nature of the dependent variable. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, choice proportions of leisure activities classified by four type are different by sex of the elderly. Second, among control variables, household income, residential area, joining a club have different significant effect on happiness of the elderly by sex but volunteering have same significant effect on happiness of the elderly by sex. Third, any type of leisure activity have no significant effect on happiness of both the male elderly and the female elderly. Fourth, cost of leisure has significant positive effect on happiness of both the male elderly and the female elderly but has different significance by sex. Fifth, focus on leisure rather than work has very significant positive effect on happiness of both the male elderly and the female elderly. Sixth, leisure life satisfaction has very significant positive effect on happiness of both the male elderly and the female elderly.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.spc
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• pp.577-590
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find out the suicidal ideation rate of the elderly including individual and regional factors by sex. Methods: This is secondary analysis study that combines the data of the 2017 Community Health Survey with the e-indicator data set of the National Statistical Office, and a descriptive correlation study. Statistical analysis used hierarchical logistic regression by SAS 9.4. Results: The 11.5% of the elderly had suicidal ideation within the last year, and 18.4% in Chungnam is the highest. Individual characteristics include females, older people, lower education levels, no job or housewife, no spouse, less than seven hours of sleep per day on the average, low subjective health, high subjective stress, and the worse their economic conditions, the more they had suicide ideation. Considering regional characteristics, suicidal ideation tended to increase significantly as the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people and the rate of obesity was lower, the rate of stress perception was higher, and the odds value was small. When both individual and regional factors were considered, the model conformity of the suicidal ideation improved (ICC=0.0814). Conclusion: In order to lower the suicidal rate of the elderly, it seems that both individual and community factors need to be comprehensively approached from the stage of suicidal ideation in the community.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.455-464
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• 2020

Objectives: The distribution of hospitals in Korea is unbalanced in terms of accessibility. Many local public health centers (PHCs) exempt out-of-pocket payments (OOPs) based on local government laws to increase coverage. However, this varies across administrative regions, as many make this exemption for the elderly, while others do not. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the OOP exemption at local PHCs among elderly individuals. Methods: This study used online data on Korean national law to gather information on individual local governments' regulations regarding OOP exemptions. Individual-level data were gathered from the 2018 Community Health Survey and regional-level data from public online sources. Results: The study analyzed 132 regions and 44 918 elderly people. A statistical analysis of rate differences and 2-level multiple logistic regression were carried out. The rate difference according to whether elderly individuals resided in areas with the OOP exemption was 1.97%p (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07 to 2.88) for PHC utilization, 1.37%p (95% CI, 0.67 to 2.08) for hypertension treatment, and 2.19%p (95% CI, 0.63 to 3.74) for diabetes treatment. The regression analysis showed that OOP exemption had an effect on hypertension treatment, with a fixed-effect odds ratio of 1.25 (95% CI, 1.05 to 1.48). Conclusions: The OOP exemption at PHCs can affect medical utilization in Korea, especially for hypertension treatment. The OOP exemption should be expanded to improve healthcare utilization in Korea.