• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.1399-1408
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• 2007

This study was conducted to compare health and nutritional status of 45 home-living elderly people receiving free Meals on Wheels (MOW) (13 men, 32 women) and 81 low income class elderly people receiving free congregate meals (CM) (10 men, 71 women) served in Seoul. Data were obtained from questionnaires, anthropometry and interviews for the 24-hour dietary recall methods. There were no significant differences between the two groups in age and body mass index. Education level, type of housing, family type and income of the two groups also were not significantly different. In MOW, frequencies of exercise were lower while the prevalence of stroke, respiratory disease and loneliness were higher, compared with the CM. The scores of ADL, IADL and food habit of MOW were lower than those of CM. The average daily nutritional intake of both MOW and CM were as a whole under the DRI for Koreans. Energy and macro-nutrient intakes of MOW were tended to be lower than CM (except protein intakes for female). Ca, K, vitamin A, vitamin $B_1$, vitamin $B_2$, vitamin C and folate intakes of MOW were less than 50% of DRI. Percentages of subjects consuming energy less than 75% of EER and 4 nutrients intakes less than EAR were higher in MOW (42.2%) than in CM (1.2%). Our results indicated that dietary nutritional status of MOW was very poor, especially in the case of female elderly groups. For the welfare of the home-living elderly people receiving free MOW, meal service programs should be improved in quality of diet by national supports.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.171-182
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• 2009

This study was performed to investigate socioeconomic factors relating to obesity and inadequate nutrient intake in women in low income families residing in Seoul. The subjects were 125 women (aged 41-87 y) recruited from the local health center for free health examination for low income families. The socioeconomic status such as educational level, income level, and housing condition were poor. For subjects aged less than 65 years, the prevalence of obesity was 44% based on BMI (${\geq}\;25\;kg/m^2$), 48% based on WHR (${\geq}\;0.85$), and 50% based on waist circumference (${\geq}\;80\;cm$) and for those more than 65 years, these were greater and 57%, 81%, and 79%, respectively. The main food sources of daily diet were vegetables, grains, and fruits. Energy and other nutrient intake was not adequate for all subjects and the inadequacy was more profound in the elderly, showing percentages of subjects whose intake was less than EAR were greater than 50% for all nutrients except for iron and below RI were also greater than 50% for all nutrients. The prevalence of obesity and nutrient inadequacy were not associated with socioeconomic status in subjects aged less than 65 years, however, obesity was associated with household income and nutrient inadequacy was related to education (vitamin A) and housing status (protein, phosphate, and iron) in the elderly. After adjustment for ages, in the elderly, OR for obesity (BMI ${\geq}$ 25, OR = 12.601; 95% CI = 2.338-67.911) and central obesity (WC ${\geq}$ 80 cm, OR = 4.778; 95% CI = 1.103-20.696) were greater in subjects who earned less than 500 thousand Won per month than who earned more. For inadequate nutrient intake, the OR for inadequate intake of Vitamin A (OR = 4.555; 95% CI = 1.491-13.914) was greater in subjects with no education than those educated. Subjects without her own house had greater risk for inadequate intake for protein (OR = 3.660; 95% CI = 1.118-11.981), phosphate (OR = 3.428; 95% CI = 1.157-10.158), and iron (OR = 3.765; 95% CI = 1.205-11.766) than subjects possessing her house. In elderly females in low income families, the socioeconomic status was associated with the risk for obesity (income level) and inadequate nutrient intake (education level and housing status). More attention on these groups should be given for prevention of obesity and inadequate nutrient intake.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.223-235
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• 2004

Objectives: This study was to evaluate the actual condition of falls among community-dwelling elderly people and its related factors to prepare for the establishment of comprehensive prevention programs of senior population. Methods: The study subjects included 460 home residents over 65 years in a district of Chungnam Province and interviews were given to all of them, asking about experiences of falls and their related factors. The analysis of study results came to the following conclusions. Results: The rate of falls among total subjects was 35.5%. With the percentage by age and sex, over 70's and female were significantly higher than male(p=0.000) and under 69 (p=0.008). The groups with poor visual acuity and hearing ability had higher rate of falls than the normal groups based on their health status. In terms of place they experienced falls, out-door occurrence accounted for 53.4% of total falls, which was higher 46.6% of in-door. By season when falls are experienced, "winter" showed the greatest rate, and by time of the day, evening had the highest rate. By causes of falls, "Slippery ground"accounted for 30.5% and "Tumbled over" 23.5% of total falls, respectively, showing the major role of environmental causes for falls. For individual factors, "Irritability" and "Carelessness" occupied 11.3%, 10.8% of total falls, respectively. The Odds Ratios for falls in women was 2.19 times higher than in men, and those in 70's are 2.01 times higher than in 60's, and those with abnormal BMI was 3.68 times higher than in normal groups, and those with perceived symptoms was 1.94 times higher than those without. Conclusions: It is suggested that more consideration should be directed toward taking comprehensive and systematic prevention measures ranging from setting-up the injury-protective environments to allowing senior citizens to have competence in ADL activity as well as proper general health conditions, considering the higher rate of falls for elderly persons in a rural part of this country than that of western countries and the greater proportion of falls which can be ascribed to environmental factors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.455-463
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• 1996

A survey was conducted to investigate the perceptions of health and foods, and the food habits among the elderly men who came to the Tap-Gol park on a daily basis. A total of 253 subjects were selected for this study. The data was analyzed through the $X^2-test$, Duncan's multiple range test and Pearson Correlation by the use of SAS program. The results were as follows. The majority of the subjects were in their 70's. 56.1% of them lived with their sons' families, 9.1% lived alone, and 27.3% lived with a spouse. 32% of the subjects were living with the expense less than 50,000 won per month. Although some were suffering from such diseases as arthritis, indigestion, and hypertension etc., the subjects were generally in good health. Their dependance on dietary supplements were insignificant. Most of the subject had a common-sensible notion as to health. They put emphasis on the three factors for the maintenance of good health: a balanced diet, a peace of mind and exercising. With regard to the food habits, the majority were fair in general. The subject living with family had more regular meals than the single people did. 41.5% of the subjects responded that they had irregular meals, mainly for lunch due to a poor appetite or a financial problem. The respondents cited protein food, milk, fruit, sea weeds and food cooked with oil as conducive to good health. But what they consumed did not match what they thought was good, particularly milk. The results of this study lead to the suggestion that Korea need to develop such a lunch program for the elderly as is practiced in the U.S., through which dietary motivation can be stimulated and a low-priced and balanced diet offered at least for one meal a day.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.351-361
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• 2017

In Korea, as the elderly population increases, elderly medical facilities and nursing care workers are increasing in labor force, but nursing care workers are avoiding nursing care workers due to poor working conditions and many physical and mental exhaustion of nursing care workers. Therefore, in this study, 284 nursing care workers were surveyed to search resources and to find alternatives to enhance the quality of life of caregivers. The result of research, The first, effected positively on the quality of life in environmental and social on a married women. The more a religion, effected positively on the quality of life in environmental and social, psychological. The higher the salary, effected positively on the quality of life in environmental and social, physical. The second, the support of a Superior effected positively on the quality of life in environmental and physical and the support of a colleague effected positively on the quality of life in social and physical. The third, the support of a Superior moderated by self-efficacy of the quality of life in the social and psychological. This results suggest that can be influential variables the support of social and the self-efficacy as an alternative to burnout of the care workers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.234-242
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• 2013

In 2007, Long-Term Care Insurance Law was enacted to share the family burden of caring for the elderly who are unable to perform every day living activities due to their old age and chronic diseases such as senile dementia, diabetes mellitus, stroke and more. Backed by this law, since 2008, care workers have been sent to the elderly care centers or each elder's home to help them not only with their recovery from illnesses, but also with general activities from dressing, eating, bathing, walking even to toileting. However, according to the recently released survey by National Human Rights Commission, it has been found that the caring workers are in a very poor working condition including low income, abused blanket wage system, shortage of welfare services, extra works and even sexual harrassment. It is becoming an important issue due to fast-ageing population, the fact that the care workers have had experiences of violation in their right of labor while they are at work needs to be carefully treated. In that sense, this article presents some difficulties the caring workers face and proposes effective ways to solve these problems through the perspective of human rights and human labor rights based on the report written by National Human Rights Commission. In short, for this law to function properly and to boost the worker's capability of providing better services to beneficiaries, followings can be good answers - enhanced management and supervision on caring plans and care centers, providing immediate counselling and protection for victimized care givers, training courses offered to promote service receiver's sincere respect and strengthened awareness upon care givers.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.247-260
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• 2018

This study examined the mental health status (depression, cognitive impairment and dementia) and its association with the related factors in the elderly people who were admitted from long-term care insurance. The study subjects were 1,488 people (male 740, female 748) aged over 70 years of age who had been recognized for long-term care insurance services in the years 2011~2014 from the National Health Insurance Corporation. The data collected from the National Health Insurance Corporation set forth a lifestyle questionnaire, itemized health screening tests, and long-term care as recognition data for research purposes. As a result, depression, cognitive impairment, and dementia of subjects increased significantly with age. As a multiple logistic regression result, the risk ratios of depression, cognitive impairment, and dementia, which indicated the mental health status, were significantly higher in women than in men, in the lower body weight group than in the overweight group, in the smoking group than in the non-smoking group, and in the drinking group than in the non-drinking group. These results suggest that the mental health status (depression, cognitive impairment, and dementia) of subjects decreased with increasing age, particularly the group with poor health related behaviors, such as smoking, drinking, and regular exercise, indicating that the mental health condition is lower than in the good group.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.495-508
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the eating behaviors and dietary quality of various aged adults. This study conducted through questionnaire and dietary survey by 24-hr recall to 850 adults residing in Samcheok. Subjects were divided into four groups according to the age in male and female, which included 20~29 yrs group (male n = 94, female n = 66), 30~49 yrs group (male n = 201, female n = 216), 50~64 yrs group (male n = 88, female n = 96), and $\geq65$ yrs group (n = 46, female n = 43). In male, 20~29 yrs group had a larger proportion of subjects who skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner compared to other groups (p < 0.001, p < 0.05, p < 0.01). The daily food and energy intakes in $\geq50$ yrs group were significantly lower than those of < 50 yrs. Protein and fat intakes of 20~29 yrs group were significantly higher than those of the other groups. But ND (Nutrient Density) of minerals as like calcium, iron and plant iron in 20~29 yrs group were significantly lower than those of other groups. The KDDS (Korean's Dietary Diversity Score) of 20~29 yrs group, 30~49 yrs group, 50~64 yrs group and $\geq65$ yrs group in male were 4.1, 3.8, 3.7 and 3.5 respectively and there was significant difference (p < 0.001). In female, skipping breakfast and dinner were significantly higher in 20~29 yrs group than in other groups (p < 0.001, p < 0.001). And the use of nutrient supplementation was higher in 30~49 yrs group than that of other groups (p < 0.05). The daily energy intakes was higher in 20~49 yrs group than that of $\geq65$ yrs group. The ND (Nutrient Density) of animal protein, vitamins A and $B_1$ in 20~29 yrs group were significantly lower than those of other groups. The KDDS of 20~29 yrs group, 30~49 yrs group, 50~64 yrs group and $\geq65$ yrs group in female were 4.0, 3.9, 3.9 and 3.6 respectively and $\geq65$ yrs group was significant lower than other groups. According to these results, $\geq65$ yrs and 20~29 yrs group had more dietary habit problems and poor nutrition status than 30~64 yrs group. The results of this study revealed that nutritional management and education for adequate meals should be emphasized in adults and elderly.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.176-184
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• 2019

Purpose: It is unclear whether adding concurrent chemotherapy (CT) to definitive radiotherapy (RT) following induction CT is a tolerable and cost effective treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients aged 70 years or older with comorbidities. This study evaluated the actual clinical outcomes between concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) and RT alone following induction CT or not in patients (≥70 years) in a single institution's clinical practice. Materials and Methods: A total of 82 patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC between 2004 and 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Their treatment tolerance and clinical outcomes such as overall survival (OS), locoregional recurrence (LRR), treatment toxicities and distant metastasis (DM) were evaluated. Early mortality rates were also evaluated as 4-month mortality after RT. Results: Fifty-four patients received CCRT and 28 patients received RT alone. Induction CT before RT was performed for 68.5% and 50.0% in CCRT and RT alone groups. Treatment tolerance was significantly worse in CCRT (p = 0.046). The median survival was 21.1 and 18.1 months for CCRT and RT alone, which was not statistically significant. LRR and DM were also not different. Most early deaths after CCRT were attributed to non-cancer-related mortality. Acute esophagitis of grade ≥2 occurred more following CCRT (p = 0.017). In multivariate analysis, a Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) of ≥5 and a weight loss of ≥5% after RT were associated with poor OS. The factors adversely affecting 4-month survival were a CCI of ≥5 and CCRT. Conclusion: There were no significant differences in OS, LRR, and DM between CCRT and RT alone treatment in elderly patients. However, there was a poorer tolerance and higher incidence of acute esophagitis in the CCRT group. Specifically, when the patients had a CCI of ≥5, RT alone seems to be reasonable with a low probability of early death.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.43 no.6 s.208
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• pp.113-131
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to investigate older people's planning for estate distribution by examining the factors associated with their will-holding status. This study used data from the 1994 Assets and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) Survey, Wave One. The objectives of this study were (a) to establish profiles of older people who have a written will and to compare their financial portfolios across will-holding status; (b) to identify factors that influence the decision to make a will, and (c) to draw implications for family economists, financial educators, planners, and policy makers. The results suggested that a household's financial resources (i.e., liquid and illiquid assets, housing equity, and household income) positively influence the probability of having a will. Older people who resided in a community property state and who were in poor health were less likely to be will-holders than their counterparts, holding financial resources and other variables constant. Demographic characteristics such as age, education, and race, and behavioral characteristic also were significant determinants of the likelihood of having a will. Volunteer participation and charitable contribution, which are proxies for altruism, increased the likelihood of having a will. The probability of having a will also was higher among those who had life insurance and had gwen inter-vivos gifts of more than $\$5,000$ to their children or grandchildren in the past 10 years. On the other hand, the likelihood of having a will declined with increasing number of biological children. From the findings, implications for financial planners and educators were suggested along with directions for future research.