• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.327-335
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• 2002

This study was performed to investigate the relationships among bone mineral densities (BMD), anthropometric data and lifestyle factors in the elderly. Subjects included 138 elderly (male: 38, female: 100) aged over 65 years, who were home-(dwelling in a low-income area of Puchon City. The BMDs of the lumbar spines (LS), femoral necks (FN), Ward′s triangles (WT) and trochanters (TC) were measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. The females showed significantly lower BMDs in four sites (p < 0.0001) . The elderly aged over 75 revealed significantly more decreased femoral BMDs than the elderly aged 65 to 74. Female with BMIs of 20 to 25, showed significantly higher BMDs in LS, FN and trochanter than those with BMIs of less than 20. However, males displayed significantly higher BMDs in only LS with increasing BMIs. THe BMDs of LS correlated with weights (r = 0.543, p < 0.001), heights (r = 0.477, p < 0.001), upper arm circumferences (r=0.368, p < 0.01), waist circumferences (r=0.367, p < 0.001), subscapular skinfold thicknesses (r=0.363, p < 0.001) and flip circumferences (r=0.231, p < 0.01). Non-smokers and non-drinkers shelved significantly higher BMDs in trochanters only in the case of the males. Female milk-drinkers showed significantly elevated LS BMDs. Eighteen percent of the males were assessed as having osteoporosis, as compared to fifty percent of the females. Ninety-three percent of the females and 81.6% of the males responded that they often or always had "difficulty in standing for a long time".

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was done to analyze nursing assessment and nursing care for pain in the electronic nursing records for the elderly patients with abdominal pain visiting the Emergency Medical Center. Methods: This study is a descriptive study based on nursing records from January to December 2015. A total of 1155 records for elderly patients with abdominal pain were gathered. Results: The mean age of elderly patients whose records were analyzed was 75.2 years. Analysis of nursing records regarding pain management showed that semi-urgent severity (93.7%), direct emergency room visits (58%), and 6.01 hours of emergency room stay (6.01 hours)were the most frequently documented characteristics of the elderly patients with pain complaints. Recording time of nursing assessment for abdominal patients was 1.01 hour; the average pain intensity was 3.97. The mostly used nursing intervention for abdominal pain was medication (65.1%). There was no record of non-pharmacological pain nursing interventions. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that improving knowledge and nursing practice for pain management is much of necessity. In particular, development of the non-pharmacological nursing interventions for pain is needed. Further research is also imperative to develop and evaluate record systems for pain management that can be used in the emergency room.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2016

Objectives: By using six years of KNHANES dataset (2008~2013) about 60 ages older people, we analyzed how the depression prevalence rate in the elderly is influenced by disease and activity limit. Especially, to add a sense of more reality, we adopted stress experience as a control variable to see how the depression prevalence rate in the elderly is influenced by disease and activity limit depending on the stress experience. Methods : We adopted six years of KNHANES dataset, indicating that our results were based on long period of time capable of considering temporal patterns in the depression prevalence rate in the elderly. Total 1,160 elderly people in KNHANES were selected for our empirical analyses. Dependent variable is either 0 or 1 depending on whether the elderly people feel depression. Main explanatory variables for our study include disease and activity limit. Logistic regression analysis was applied for two group such as stress experience and non-experience. Results : According to the empirical results, stress factor is found to be significant in explaining the depression in the elderly. Depression prevalence rate increased when the elderly has stress experience: chronical disease(OR=1.650), chronical disease with activity limit(OR=3.388), non-chronical disease with stress(OR=11.841) chronical disease with stress (OR=13.561) and chronical disease with activity limit and stress(OR=28.691). Conclusions: The finding suggest that the Countermeasures of elderly's depression alleviation should include stress management.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.337-362
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• 2009

The purposes of this study are to review the community-based care programs for the elderly among NPOs, focused on the Regional Council on the Social Welfare and Elderly Club, in Japan and to examine the way these programs help the community elderly to live independently in their own home in the community. First, the community welfare policy for the aged and service delivery organizations in Japan are reviewed. Second, using the informations about the elderly support programs carried out by the Regional Council on the Social Welfare and Elderly Club, various kinds and processes of specific programs developed to meet the local characteristics are introduced. Applicability of these programs to rural Korea is discussed.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.1830-1833
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• 2019

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) causes not only pain during walking but also walking disorders. Therefore, intervention for older patients with OA is important. Objective: To study investigated the effects of kinesio taping (KT) on pain and walking ability in elderly persons with knee OA. Design: One group, pre-post design Methods: This study enrolled 12 community-dwelling elderly people with knee OA. KT was applied on the surrounding structures, including the patellar and bilateral lateral ligaments. Assessment was made using the visual analog scale and GAITRite system to measure pain and walking ability during KT and non-KT conditions. Results: In this study, compared to the non-KT condition, the KT condition showed a significant improvement in walking ability and pain reduction during walking (velocity, cadence, step length, and stride length) (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that knee KT has a positive effect on pain reduction and walking ability of the elderly with OA.

• 한국노년학
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.309-325
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• 2021

This study explored the differences in health information verification behavior according to digital literacy and health empowerment between elderly and non-elderly groups. Targeting a total of 1,000 people in the two groups, demographic characteristics according to digital literacy and health empowerment were investigated. Interestingly, this study found that elderly people fell primarily in the category of low digital literacy and high health empowerment. However, non-elderly people were frequently found in the high digital literacy and low health empowerment category. Also, our analyses found an interaction effect in digital literacy and health empowerment on health information verification behavior in the elderly group, while the main effect of health empowerment was verified in the non-elderly group. These results imply that the elderly need to improve both digital literacy and health empowerment, while the non-elderly need to focus on developing subjective confidence through health empowerment.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.1233-1245
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to examine changes in university students' perception toward the aged and the aged welfare after the volunteer program of home care for the elderly. We classified students who are majoring in social welfare in a university into two groups according to the participation of the volunteer program: the participation group (N=34), and the non-participation group (N=38). Their attitudes towards the elderly were measured by the semantic differential scale developed by Sanders et al. The respect for the elderly, and the knowledge and interest about the aged welfare were examined by 4-point Likert scales. The result of this study shows the effect of the volunteer program, as follows: ① There was no differences between the participation and non-participation groups on the baseline except the interest about the elderly welfare: the participation group had significantly more interest than the non-participation group. ② The participation group had significantly more positive attitudes toward the elderly and higher respect for the elderly after participating the program. However, there were no changes among the non-participation group. As a conclusion, we suggest that the volunteer program for the elderly might affect young people's attitudes toward the elderly.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.36 no.8
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• pp.851-858
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• 2003

Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) has recently become a common cytogenic assay system for detecting exposure to chemical mutagens and carcinogens. One application of SCE is the monitoring of populations believed to have been exposed to such agents. A cross-sectional study of SCE frequency in peripheral blood lymphocytes from 45 Koreans aged 61 to 84 years was conducted. The effect of cigarette smoking and age on SCE was assessed by different degrees of smoking status such as smokers (n = 14), ex-smokers (n = 16) and non-smokers (n = 15). Mean spontaneous SCE per cell for the smokers (11.5 $\pm$ 1.1) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that for the non-smokers (8.8 $\pm$ 0.3). However, mean SCE frequencies per cell for the ex-smokers (10.3 $\pm$ 0.6) were not significantly different from those of the smokers or the non-smokers. The smokers showed an increased number of high SCE frequency cells (HFCs) when compared to the ex-smokers and non-smokers (p < 0.05). The mean SCE frequencies of the non-smokers showed a statistically significant increase (p < 0.05) with the subject's age. These results show that age and smoking habits contribute a great deal in setting a higher degree of basal DNA damage in elderly Koreans, and smoking appeared to be a more significant damaging factor than age.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.418-423
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Spirulina, a blue-green alga, is widely produced and commercialized as a dietary supplement with bio- and immune-modulatory functions. We have previously shown that spirulina had favorable effects on lipid profiles, immune functions, and antioxidant capacity in healthy Korean elderly. Despite favorable effect of spirulina supplementation, some sub-populations have shown a poor response to supplementation. Obesity is a factor related to poor-response. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the immuno-modulation, antioxidant capacity, and lipid-lowering effect of spirulina in obese and non-obese Korean elderly. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The subjects were 78 elderly aged 60-87 years. In a randomized double blind, placebo-controlled study, subjects were fed either placebo or spirulina daily, at 8 g for 12 weeks. Subjects were divided into the non-obese group and the obese group based on body mass index (BMI) criteria for Asians suggested by the International Obesity Task Force: $BMI<25kg/m^2$ (non-obese) and $BMI{\geq}25kg/m^2$ (obese). RESULTS: In the non-obese group, spirulina supplementation showed a significant lowering effect on plasma concentration of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol, a significant increase in interleukin (IL)-2 concentration (P < 0.01) and a significant increment (P < 0.05) in IL-2/IL-6 ratio, and a significant increase in total antioxidant status level and a significant decrease in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances level. However, these effects were not observed in the obese group. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrated that blood lipid lowering and immune and antioxidant improving response for spirulina supplement was affected by obesity in Korean elderly.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.412-421
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• 2019

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify the status of Successful Aging among the elderly aged 65 and over in rural areas and to compare factors related with Successful Aging between "kyung-ro-dang" users and non-users. Methods: A total of 181 elderly aged 65 or older were selected from four districts (Heung-upri, Mejiri, Sajerri, and Daeanri) of Wonju city. A survey method using face to face interviews was applied to collect information. Successful aging was measured on a 5-point Likert-type scale using the successful aging scale developed for the Korean elderly, which indicates the higher the score, the higher the level of successful aging. Descriptive statistics, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were computed; the level of significance was set at 5%. Hierarchical polynomial regression was applied to find out the factors associated with successful aging. Results: Of the total, 112 elders used kyung-ro-dang and 69 elders who did not use kyung-ro-dang. The level of successful aging of the elderly was higher among kyung-ro-dang users than non-users. The factors related to successful aging among kyung-ro-dang users were walking and social participation. Users who walk more than 4 times per week and social participation activities have a higher level of satisfaction. In the case of non-users, a higher level of monthly income, having a spouse, social support, and social participation associated with a higher level of successful aging. Conclusion: Monthly income, social participation, and social factors were found to be related to successful aging along with physical and mental health conditions among the elderly in rural areas. Therefore, it can be concluded that income, social as well as mental and physical factors, are more critical for successful aging in the rural community care in Korea.