• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.28 no.11
• /
• pp.1330-1338
• /
• 2011

Social activities of the elderly have been increasing as our society progresses toward an aging society. As their activities increase, so does the occurrence of falls that could lead to fractures. Falls are serious health hazards to the elderly. Therefore, development of a device that can detect fall accidents and prevent fracture is essential. In this study, we developed a portable fall detection system for the fracture prevention system of the elderly. The device is intended to detect a fall and activate a second device such as an air bag deployment system that can prevent fracture. The fall detection device contains a 3-axis acceleration sensor and two 2-axis tilt sensors. We measured acceleration and tilt angle of body during fall and activities of daily(ADL) living using the fall detection device that is attached on the subjects'. Moving mattress which is actuated by a pneumatic system was used in fall experiments and it could provide forced falls. Sensor data during fall and ADL were sent to computer and filtered with low-pass filter. The developed fall detection device was successful in detecting a fall about 0.1 second before a severe impact to occur and detecting the direction of the fall to provide enough time and information for the fracture preventive device to be activated. The fall detection device was also able to differentiate fall from ADL such as walking, sitting down, standing up, lying down, and running.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
• /
• 2007.06a
• /
• pp.347-350
• /
• 2007

An ECG analysis with activity monitoring for the home care of elderly persons or patients, using wireless sensors technology was design and implemented. The changes in heart rate occur before, during, or following behavior such as posture changes, walking and running. Therefore, it is often very important to record heart rate along with posture and behavior, for continuously monitoring a patient's cardiovascular regulatory system during their daily life activity. The ECG and accelerometer data are continuously recorded with a built-in automatic alarm detection system, for giving early alarm signals even if the patient is unconscious or unaware of cardiac arrhythmias. The hardware allows data to be transmitted wirelessly from on-body sensors to a base station attached to server PC using IEEE802.15.4. If any abnormality un at server then the alarm condition sends to the doctor' PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.505-512
• /
• 2020

This study is done to provide basic data on the effective operation of the new policies by examining the satisfaction level of the elderly with dementia visiting dementia care centers located in 25 autonomous districts of S city. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 217 elderly with dementia who visited the above dementia care center from July 1 to September 30, 2019. The satisfaction tool is a chart score scale that displays negative-positive expressions at both ends of a straight line. The result shows that satisfaction level is significantly higher in the group with trust in the visiting institutions than in the group with distrust (t=9.74, p<.001), higher in cognitive impairment group than in dementia group (t=0.13, p=.034), and higher in mild depression group than in more severe depression group (t=2.31, p=.022). Satisfaction ratios analyzed by logistic regression shows significant differences in factors like gender, age, education, and walking pattern. In conclusion, it is important to run health support programs that consider user characteristics to improve the satisfaction of newly introduced dementia care centers.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.322-330
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparison of nutrient intake and metabolic syndrome between single person households and non-single person households in elderly subjects. We analyzed data from 2,903 subjects ≥ age 65 who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2013~2015. As a result, single-person households had lower income and economic ability, overall nutrient intake was deteriorated, and the proportion of high-carbohydrate intake was high, compared to non-single person households. After adjusting for potential confounders (sex, age, education, household income, economic activity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, walking frequency, health status, depression status, and dietary factors), the single-person household showed a tendency of 1.22-fold higher ORs of metabolic syndrome and 1.3-fold higher ORs of hypertriglyceridemia than the non-single-person household. We suggest that the single-person household may be associated with increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome and hypertriglyceridemia in the elderly subjects.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.113-119
• /
• 2019

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the falls on the center of pressure (CoP) complexity during gait using non-linear approximate entropy (ApEn). Method: 20 elderly women with experience of falling ($age=72.55{\pm}5.42yrs$; $height=154.40{\pm}4.26cm$; $body\;weight=57.40{\pm}6.21kg$; $preferred\;gait\;speed=0.52{\pm}0.17m/s$) and 20 elderly women with no experience of falling ($age=71.90{\pm}2.90yrs$; $height=155.28{\pm}4.73cm$; $body\;weight=56.70{\pm}5.241kg$; $preferred\;gait\;speed=0.56{\pm}0.13m/s$) were recruited for the study. While they were walking at their preferred gait speed on a treadmill (instrumented dual belt treadmills, Bertec, USA) with a force plate CoP data were collected for the 20 strides. The complexity of the CoP was analyzed using the ApEn technique. Results: The ApEn of the medial-lateral CoP in the fallers showed smaller about 16% compared to the non-fallers (p<.05). The ApEn of the antero-posterior CoP of the fallers showed smaller about 12% compared to the non-fallers, but the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the reduction of the medio-lateral CoP complexity in the elderly gait would be an index to determine the potential fall.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.699-713
• /
• 2019

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the relationships of oral and systemic health-related characteristics with health-related quality of life (EQ-5D) in the elderly, and factors related to quality of life were compared according to age subgroups classified as either younger (young-old) or older (old-old) than 75 years of age. Methods: Data acquired by the Sixth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(KNHANES) from 2013 to 2015 were used, and the research target was 3,124 people aged 65 years or older. A complex samples general linear model was used to identify health-related quality of life factors. Results: Education, economic activity, depression, stress, regular walking, self-rated oral health, pronunciation problems, and unmet dental care had significant effects on quality of life in both young-old and old-old participants. Marriage, income, number of systemic diseases, sleeping, and chewing inconveniences were significant factors for the young-old but not in the old-old participants. Instead, obesity and drinking were identified as significant factors in the old-old participants. Conclusions: We reaffirmed that factors affecting health-related quality of life in older adults differed by age group. We also confirmed the impact of oral health-related characteristics on this quality. Therefore, to improve quality of life for older adults, it would be efficient to divide groups by age and develop and implement programs that take relevant factors into consideration.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.417-430
• /
• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a respiratory infection prevention program for the rural elderly in the post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era. Methods: The Delphi method was used to validate the contents of the program. Two rounds of Delphi surveys and one individual interview were conducted on four subjects and 16 categories with nine experts. Content validity was calculated using the content validity ratio (CVR) and coefficient of variation (CV). Results: This study verified the content validity of the existing program components, such as respiratory infection prevention characteristics, cough etiquette, correct hand washing, oral hygiene, correct tooth brushing, and exercise by walking. The study comprised 28 categories covering seven subjects, including the provision of knowledge and information about COVID-19, environmental management for respiratory infection prevention, and exercise training for immunity enhancement. Conclusion: This Delphi study examined the respiratory infection prevention program that was redesigned for the post-COVID-19 era and confirmed the validity of the educational contents. The findings of this study suggest that the program can be used practically for the prevention of respiratory infection among the rural elderly.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.729-746
• /
• 2020

For the development and better use of information and communication technology(ICT) for promoting health and quality of life in older people, it is important to understand personal factors associated with ICT use. The aims of this study were to describe the pattern of ICT use according to health characteristics of elderly and to investigate significant factors related to ICT use among three age groups. The data of 2017 National Survey of Older Koreans was used for analysis and 10,058 of older adults aged 65 and over were included for study participants. As results, first, the young old(65~74) used more functions of ICT than the middle-old(75~84) and the old-old(85 and over). Second, ICT was more used among older people with good conditions in chronic disease, subjective health, cognition, depression, vision, hearing, walking and IADL. Third, higher prevalence of ICT use was significantly associated with age, education, household income, subjective health, depression, cognitive function, vision limitation and walking limitation. Fourth, factors influencing the use of ICT were a little different among three age groups. For the young-old(65~74), subjective health, depression, cognitive decline, walking limitation, and IADL disability were significant factors affecting on ICT use. For the middle-old(75-84), subjective health, depression, cognitive decline, vision, hearing, and walking limitation were related with their ICT use. For the old-old(85 and over), only cognitive function and depression were associated with their ICT use. Based on these results, this study suggested the need to consider multiple health conditions for developing and using ICT for older adults.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.89-99
• /
• 2020

Objective: This study aimed to report the relationship between walking activity and perceived physical activity barriers after classifying the age group(≤64, 65-74, ≥75). Methods: The subjects were conducted on 1500 residents of two areas, and the walking activity was defined as five or more times a week, 10 minutes or more at a time, and 30 minutes or more per day. Perceived physical activity barriers were lack of time, lack of social support, lack of energy, lack of willpower, and fear of falling. Results: In the group under 64 year, the lack of time (exp(B)=0.819, p=0.002) and the lack of willpower (exp(B)=0.656, p<0.001) were significantly associated. In the 65-74 year old group, the lack of willpower (exp(B)=0.714, p<0.001) and fear of falling (exp(B)=0.787, p=0.003) were a significant association. In the group aged 75 years and over, lack ofwill power (exp(B)=0.734, p<0.001) and fear of falling (exp(B)=0.807, p=0.003) were significantly associated. Conclusion: In order to solve the lack of willpower and lack of time, a walking activity should be performed together at a certain time in the village, and the elderly in the late ages should reduce the fear of falling by performing a fall prevention exercise in parallel.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2019

The objective of this study was to derive the served distance of the senior-friendly park considering physical changes, which were estimated through a comparison experiment at an actual target site. The time to walk 500m was examined because 500m is considered the served distance of a neighborhood park and as a standard set by the city. The mean walking time of the control group (younger than 65 years) was 536 seconds, while that of the treatment group (older than 65 years) was 889 seconds, which was approximately 1.7 times longer than the control group. The results of this study also showed that the walking time of females was longer than that of males when they were older than 65 years old. The walking velocities of the control group and the treatment groups were also calculated using the mean walking time. The weight estimated by a proportional formula was 0.6. When it was applied to 500m, which is the served distance of a neighborhood park, the served distance of the senior-friendly park was estimated as 300m. Lastly, the green service excluded area was quantified by applying the 300m, the served distance of a senior-friendly park, to the Jung-gu, Daegu, which had the highest elderly population in the Daegu Metropolitan City. The results of this calculation showed that the area served by a city park was $2,425,747m^2$ and the area excluded from the city park service was $4,627,700m^2$ for senior citizens. The results also showed that, in terms of the distributive equity, the administrative districts received unequal am ounts of urban green area services.