• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.205-210
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• 2022

Background: Nasal bone fractures are the most common type of facial bone fracture, but are under-studied in adults above 65 years of age. Therefore, we investigated the epidemiology and patterns of nasal bone fractures among older adults in comparison to different age groups. Methods: This retrospective study included 2,321 nasal bone fracture patients who underwent surgery at our hospital from January 2010 to December 2017. The patients were classified by age as preschoolers, school-age children, young and middle-aged adults, and the elderly. We performed pairwise comparisons between elderly patients and each other age group in terms of sex, cause of injury, and fracture type. Results: The 2,321 nasal bone fracture patients included 76 elderly patients (50 men [65.8%] and 26 women [34.2%]). In these patients, the two most common injury causes were falling or slipping down (n= 39; 51.3%) and road traffic accidents (n= 19; 25.0%). According to the Stranc and Robertson classification, the most common force vector was lateral, and plane 2 fractures with lateral forces predominated. Conclusion: The elderly showed similar patterns of nasal bone fractures to those observed in young and middle-aged adults, but significant differences from preschoolers (in the injury vector and plane of fracture) and from school-age children (in the sex ratio and plane of fracture). However, elderly patients presented significantly different epidemiological characteristics compared to the other three groups. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the quality of life of the elderly and prepare for the upcoming super-aged society by taking steps to reduce the incidence and severity of fractures. Possible options for doing so include strengthening individual-level safety factors and expanding the social safety net for the elderly.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.1577-1589
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to compare the health status, functional status, and home environment hazards by the fear of falling and explore the factors that contribute to the fear of falling. This was a descriptive study. Data were collected for two years with 973 older adults who enrolled in a health center at A city. Trained nurses visited subjects' home and collected data using Resident Assessment Instrument MDS-HC. The average age of the subjects was 76.8 (±7.6) and female was 74.8%. 20.7% of subjects reported fear of falling. In terms of the fear of falling, two groups were compared. There were significant differences in vision, urinary incontinence, pain that interrupts daily activity, unstable gait, comorbidities, frequency of depressive or anxious sign. The greater the age, IADL and ADL dependency, comorbidities, unstabled gait, the more fear of falling. In conclusion, this study reassured the importance of assessing the major factors related to fear of falling such as age, IADL and ADL, comorbities, gait among older adults. This study will contribute to establish strategies for preventing fall. Reducing the fear of falling through the comprehensive nursing intervention will ultimately improve the quality of life in the elderly.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.7-19
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• 2006

Falls are a major sources of death and injury in elderly people. Aged-related changes in the physiological systems which contribute to the maintenance of balance are well documented in older adults. These changes coupled with age-related changes in muscle and bone are likely to contribute to an increased risk of falls in this population. Regular exercise may be one way of preventing falls and fall-related fractures. However, the optimal exercise prescription to prevent falls has not yet been defined. On the literature review of exercise intervention for fall prevention in the elderly, exercise appeared to be a useful tool in fall prevention by improving fall risk factors. The optimum exercise prescription; moderate intensity frequency of 3-4 times per week, duration of 30-60minutes can contribute to decreased hazards and number of fall. Fall prevention protocol should include safety, falling effect, enjoyment, and easiness to follow for older people. Effective exercise programs suggested for fall prevention were such as weight-bearing exercise, resistance exercise, lower muscle strength with elastic band, swiss ball exercise walking, tai chi, and yoga.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.420-427
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• 2011

The population of elderly people increases rapidly as our society moves towards the aged one. Healthcare for the elderly becomes an important issue and falling down is one of the critical problems although not well recognized. In this study, a fall detection system was developed using a 3-axis accelerometer. Analyzing fall patterns, we took into account the degree of impact, posture angle, the repetitions of similar movements and the activities after a potential fall and proposed an algorithm of fall detection. Information of the fall sensor was sent to a remote healthcare server through the wireless networks of Zigbee and WLAN. Our system was designed to monitor multiples users. 12 persons participated in experiment and each one performed 24 different movements. Our proposed algorithm was compared with other reported ones. Our method produced the excellent results having a sensitivity of 96.4 % and a specificity of 100 % whereas other methods had a sensitivity range between 87.5 % and 94.8 % and a specificity range between 63.5 % and 83.3 %.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.185-196
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• 2021

Objective: Falling is one of main accident to facilitate the physical injuries in order adults. The purpose of the systematic review was to determine the effects of postural balance training whether the recovery of falls in elderly with normal physical function or not throughout summing the selected studies quantitatively. Design: A systematic review Methods: MEDLINE and other four databases were searched up to April 20, 2021 and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating postural balance approaches on fall risks in elderly. The researched studies excluded the double studies, titles and abstract, and finally full-reported study. The selected RCTs studies were extracted characteristics of the studies and summary of results based on PICOS-SD (population, intervention, comparison, outcomes, and setting- study design) model to synthesize the papers qualitatively. Results: The review involved 22 RCT reports with 4,847 community older adults aged 65 years or over. Nineteen of the selected RCT studies reported dual or multimodal exercises show the beneficial effect for older adults compared to one-type treatment or no intervention. All of selected showed low risk in the selection, attrition, and reporting bias. However, detection bias showed low risk at 75% records of the involved RCTs and performance bias was low risk at only three records. Conclusions: The results of the systematic review propose that a standardized therapeutic approach and the intensity are needed for improving risk of falls in older adults.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2015

Objective : The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of lower limb muscle activity on postural stability and ground type in elderly women subjects. Method : Forty two subjects participated in the experiment (high group - age: $74.29{\pm}4.13yr$, height: $152.44{\pm}5.54cm$, weight: $57.43{\pm}6.16kg$, BMI: $24.77{\pm}2.99$, low group - age: $77.67{\pm}5.16yr$, height: $151.40{\pm}3.93cm$, weight: $60.92{\pm}6.40kg$, BMI: $26.59{\pm}2.57$). Wireless EMG with eight channels was used. Ground types were classified as flat and cushion. Results : In the double-support phase, left and right rectus femoris, left biceps femoris, left and right tibialis anterior, and left gastrocnemius did not show a significant difference in postural stability according to ground type. However right biceps femoris and gastrocnemius showed higher muscle activity in the elderly women group with lower postural stability. In the single-support phase, left and right rectus femoris, right biceps femoris, and left and right tibialis anterior did not show a significant difference in postural stability according to ground type. In addition, left biceps femoris had higher muscle activity in the elderly women group with lower postural stability. Left gastrocnemius had higher muscle activity in the elderly women group with higher postural stability and right gastrocnemius had higher muscle activity in the elderly women group on cushion ground. Conclusion : In a dynamic postural stability and cushion ground, biceps femoris and gastrocnemius muscle activity were high. As a result, biceps femoris and gastrocnemius muscle strengthening exercise on cushion ground could be beneficial in the prevention of falling.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.61-71
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• 1999

Sleep is a necessity for survival. Disruption of sleep leads to numerous adverse physiological and psychological consequences. These could be particularly undesirable for older patients, who are subject to many additional factors. But there is limited research related to hospitalized elderly in Korea. The purpose of the study is to explore sleep patterns and disturbing factors of before and after hospitalization, in order to present basic information regarding elderly sleep to develop nursing intervention. The sample consisted of 32 elderly men and women between the ages of n and 87 years. Data collection was done from September to November 1997. Measures of sleep patterns and related factors were obtained from self-reported sleep questionnaires. Analysis of data was done by use of t-test, paired t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The results of this study were summarized as follows : 1. In comparision between before and after admission of their sleep pattern, “sleep onset” tends to be delayed and nocturnal sleep time was significantly reduced. So, hospitalized elderly reported less total sleep time than before admission. 2. Regarding the sleep disturbing factors, medication(hypnotics ; 37.5%), physiological factor (snoring ; 59.4%) environmental factor (pillow ; 78.1%), emotional factor(anxiety related to disease ; 37.5%), and illness factor(fatigue ; 34.7%) were reported. 3. Significant differences in gender were found. Men had more disturbances in sleep than women owing to difficulty in falling a sleep and lack of nocturnal sleep. Women consumed more sleep inducing drugs. Significant increase was reported in napping during the day with increasing age. 4. Significant differences between good sleepers and poor sleepers were found for the following variables : nocturnal sleep time, total sleep time, bed time, sleep onset latency time, sleep latency time after nocturnal awakening, time spent in bed upon arousal, environmental factors, and emotional factors. In conclusion, it was found that the quantity and quality of sleep were significantly altered in hospitalized elderly, but adequate strategies for better sleep were not practiced. Further research is needed to develop Intervention strategies to promote sleep and to prevent sleep problems.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.67-74
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• 2009

Background: This study had been carried out with 20 elderly subjects as its object for about one month from November 3, 2008 to December 14, 2008 in order to observe the effect of Underwater Treadmill on the elderly's walking and balance ability. Methods: Subjects were assigned either experimental group (n=10) or the control group (n=10), experimental group received Underwater Treadmill program (30 min per course, 3days a week for 6weeks). Subjects were assessed for muscle power (Nicolas Manual Muscle Test), balance (Functional Reach Test), gait ability (Time Up and Go, 10M walking test) before experiments and after experiments. Results: The results of this study were as follows; 1. After underwater treadmill exercise, the change of isometric contraction indicated a beneficial increase on lower extremity muscle power of experimental group and functional test of balance function; FRT, TUG indicated beneficial difference between groups. 2. beneficial difference between groups in walking speed of hourly index change of walking function. 3. between muscle power and balance, gait ability, we could find out there's high correlation ship between lower extremity muscle power increasing and balance and gait ability of the elderly. Conclusion: Aerobic exercise using underwater treadmill effects on muscle power strengthening of the elderly, and because of this, increase of lower extremity muscle power is very helpful not only to improvement of balance ability, but also to improvement of gait ability, so it will be used as a physical therapy program on clinic and used as an exercise program for protecting the elderly from falling down very well.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.69-78
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• 2017

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine associations between classification of the Geriatric Screening for Care-10 (GSC-10) and the Morse Fall Scale (MFS) among elderly inpatients. Methods: Among elderly inpatients aged over 65 admitted to hospital (from November 1, 2016 to July 31, 2017), the data for 5,780 patients (who were evaluated using the Morse Fall Scale and the Geriatric Screening for Care-10) were analyzed using x2-tests and t-tests to examine differences between the GSC-10 and MFS, according to general characteristics of elderly inpatients (i.e., gender) using IBM SPSS Statistics 24. Results: : Scores for the GSC-10 were significantly higher in women than men for depression (p<.001), delirium (p=.048), functional decline (p<.001), incontinence (p<.001), and pain (p<.001). Statistically significant differences in all domains of the GSC-10 for elderly hospitalized patients were found for the classification of fall risk. Conclusion: The findings of this study, as supported by the GSC-10, indicate that the most common problems experienced by the elderly are related to the risk of falling. In order to reduce the incidence of falls in elderly inpatients, customized fall prevention based on the GSC-10 results is necessary.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.395-405
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• 2019

Korea is undergoing a change in its population structure, due to economic development, falling birth rates and the development of health care. As the population ages, the number of elderly people who have difficulty in daily life such as dementia and paralysis increases every day. The growth of nuclear families and the increased participation of women in society make it difficult to take care of elderly people who need long-term care at home. As the social problems resulting from this have emerged as serious problems, the government enacted and implemented the Long Term Care Insurance Act to improve the quality of life for the elderly subject to long-term care and to ease the burden of family support in order to solve such problems. Therefore, the present study explores ways to improve legal and institutional aspects, and seek mental and psychological measures for the stability of old life as well as the physical health of welfare.