• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.221-227
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• 2015

Purpose: Confronting the growing burden of dementia requires understanding the causes and predictors of dementia in order to develop preventive strategies. In Korea a large proportion (71%) of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, and the risk factors have not yet been elucidated. Dietary factors may be possible risk factors, however research on the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and dietary behaviors has been insufficient. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between compliance with the "Dietary Guidelines for Elderly (The Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2011)" and Alzheimer's disease among Korean elderly. Methods: Elderly persons who visited a University hospital or a dementia center of Seoul and agreed to participate in the examinations were selected. Among 277 subjects, 89 Alzheimer patients were selected with diagnosis and 118 subjects were assigned to the control group. Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was based on Alzheimer's disease criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) and criteria of National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA). Information on the general characteristics, health related behaviors and compliance with the dietary guidelines for Korean elderly was collected by face to face interview using a structured questionnaire. Anthropometric variables were measured during the survey. Results: Total compliance score of dietary guidelines was significantly lower in the Alzheimer's disease group than in the control group (p = 0.0001). The odds ratio of Alzheimer's disease was significantly decreased in the group with the highest dietary guideline compliance score (OR = 0.47, 95 % CI = 0.18~1.09) compared to the group with the lowest compliance score. Conclusion: The results indicate that increasing compliance with the dietary guidelines could be an effective strategy to decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease among Korean elderly.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.231-244
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• 2020

Background: As the population is aging, chronic diseases and depression are becoming the main problems in a country's healthcare system. In this study, we aimed to explore the associations between chronic diseases and depression among the elderly in South Korea. Methods: We analyzed 9,975 (men, 4,147; women, 5,828) respondents obtained from the 2014 National Survey of Living Conditions and Welfare Needs of Korean Older Persons. Our dependent variable was either 1 or 0 according to whether a respondent had depression or not, where depression was defined when the Short Form of Geriatric Depression Scale score was 8 or more points. Variables of interest were 24 types of chronic diseases and covariates included various socio-demographic and health behavior characteristics. We performed Rao-Scott chi-square tests and hierarchal logistic regression analyses by gender, reflecting the characteristics of the survey. Results: A significant difference was found in the proportion of having depression between genders (men 18.9% vs. women 23.4%). According to fully adjusted, multivariable analyses, for elderly men, relative to those without any chronic disease, the odds ratio of depression was 1.56 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-2.22) in the stroke patients group and 1.82 (95% CI, 1.01-3.25) in the osteoporosis patients group. For elderly women, the odds ratio was 1.96 (95% CI, 1.28-3.00) in the fracture/dislocation and aftereffects patients group and 1.30 (95% CI, 1.03-1.64) in the group of patients with other diseases. Conclusion: Even after being adjusted for diverse characteristics, some chronic diseases were significantly associated with depression in the elderly and the association differed between genders. Therefore, public health and medical interventions are needed to manage such chronic diseases together with curing depression symptoms.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.525-534
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• 2019

Korea is facing one of the fastest aging population problems in the world due to the extension of life expectancy and low birth rates due to economic development and the development of health care. It has become difficult to take care of elderly people in need of long-term care at home, and social problems such as dementia and the increase in stroke cases are serious problems. The government is enacting and implementing the Long-Term Care Insurance Act for the purpose of improving the quality of life for senior citizens subject to long-term care and alleviating the burden of family support in order to solve such social structure and problems for senior citizens. However, as a result of the implementation of the long-term care insurance system for the elderly, the privatization of the facilities and the disorder are causing widespread requests for public accountability of the services and the enhancement of the quality of the facilities. In addition, various arrangements are needed for the production of low-wage medical care workers, tasks for quality improvement, problems regarding financing methods, and so on. In order to maintain and develop the long-term care insurance system for the elderly, the government will consider seeking ways to improve the legal and institutional aspects according to changes in the social environment of the age, as well as seeking mental and psychological measures for the stabilization of old life as well as physical health.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.359-369
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• 2021

In this study, a complex sample logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the factors affecting the activity restriction of 2,701 normal elderly and chronically ill elderly aged 65 and over using raw data from the 8th period of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. It was found that the elderly with chronic disease felt more restricted in their activities than the normal elderly. Activity limiting factors in stroke and hypertension patients are subjective health status, economic level, stress perception, and moderate-intensity work and leisure. The factors limiting activity in patients with heart disease were subjective health status and economic level, and factors limiting activity in patients with joint disease were subjective health status and high-intensity work and leisure. Activity limiting factors for lung disease patients are education level, high intensity work and leisure, and endocrine system activity limiting factors include subjective health status, stress perception, high intensity work and leisure, and activity limiting factors for cancer patients. is subjective health status, stress perception, moderate-intensity work and high-intensity leisure. Rehabilitation programs and policy support are needed for the continuous participation of the elderly with chronic diseases.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.379-388
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• 2012

Objective: This study developed a new shower carrier prototype to reduce caregivers' muscle burden and to increase use convenience by reflecting the needs of domestic long-term care institutions. Background: In the long-term care institutions, one of the ADL(Activities of Daily Life) factors is bathing/showering. Recently, bath/shower-assisting equipment is actively being introduced in care institutions to reduce the caregivers' care cost, but most of the domestic equipment was designed to imitate foreign products and rarely reflected the needs of care institutions. Method: Based on Korean elderly people's body information, the bed size(length: 1,900mm, width: 650mm) was set-up, and a variable headrest with a newly designed headform was developed to provide the comfort for the elderly and convenience for caregivers. To reduce caregivers' muscle burden on transferring and showering activities, a 3-step column lifting module equipped with dual actuators(lowest/highest levels from the ground: 600/1,100mm, Stroke: 500mm) was developed, and the wheelbase parameter(length: 1,250mm, width: 580mm) was defined securing the turn-over safety of the shower carrier. The drivability tests were performed for the prototype and foreign product, and the male and female subject's muscle activities were measured through the tests. Results: The structural stability of the shower carrier prototype was secured by finite element analysis, and the muscle activities of the subjects through the drivability tests largely decreased in the prototype, compared to the foreign product. Conclusion: In this study, a new shower carrier prototype was developed to possibly reduce caregivers' muscle burden and to increase use convenience based on the needs of long-term care institutions. It was expected that the drivability performance of the prototype could be relatively superior to that of the foreign product. Application: The results obtained from the study can be applied for the optimal development of a shower carrier including other equipment to effectively care for the elderly.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.640-652
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• 2008

Hypertension is among the most common and important risk factors for stroke, heart attack, and heart failure which is considered to be the leading cause of death in Korea. The prevalence rate of hypertension in Korea is 27.9%, according to the 2006 Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey. Since non-pharmacologic nutrition education is recommended as the first step in the management of hypertension, evaluation of nutrition program is needed to form strategies for improving patients' dietary adherence. This study was designed to evaluate the overall effectiveness of a hypertension nutrition education program (HNEP) for reducing the salt intake, at a public health center located in Gyunggi-province. The HNEP was offered for 16 weeks from May to September in 2007. Nutrition education activities included cooking classes, food preparation demonstrations, physical fitness programs, salty taste preference test sessions, games, case-study presentations, planning and evaluation of menus, etc. Forty patients participated fully in the program which had 47 female enrollees. Data about nutrient intake (24-hour recall), nutrition knowledge, food behavior were collected before (baseline) and after the program. Changes after program completion indicated the following: 1) diastolic blood pressure was decreased (p < 0.05), 2) sodium (salt) intake was also decreased (p < 0.01), especially baseline high salt intake group, 3) nutrition knowledge was improved (p<0.001), 4) dietary behaviors for maintaining a low salt diet was improved (p < 0.001), 5) participants preferred cooking class from nutrition education methods. As a conclusion, it appears that a nutrition education program for hypertensive female elderly for reducing the salt intake might effectively decrease blood pressure and salt intake. It also improves nutrition knowledge, dietary behavior, and finally adherence to a recommendable low-sodium diet.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.331-339
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• 1997

With increases in senior citizens and changes in family structure, the need for long-term care system for elderly is increasing, however, the capacity and environment of Korean facilities are very limited. Health and nutritional status of long-term care residents are worse than free-living elderly. In this study, general food service management and health care practices in long-term care systems were investigated. Questionnaire were sent to the directors of all 162 long-term care facilities in Korea and 81 returned the complete answers. The results showed 1) There are slow but steady increase in long-term care systems in Korea, however, the capacity is far from adequate. Less than 10,000 elderly were resided in the facilities. Most of the systems were free-nursing homes and supported by the goverment. Staffing structure revealed that most of the facilities had a director, a secretary, nurses, but only 21% of the systerm hired a dietitian. It showed the shortage of nurses, physical therapists, and dietitians. Therefore, food purchasing, menu planning, food delivery, and the other food service management processes are handled by non-professionals, such as director, secretary, or cooks. Modified fool frequency questionnaire were used to get the frequencies of each food items used in menu and a menu-analysis was made on the one-day menu provided by the facilities. The results showed relatively satisfactory in nutrients content and food frequencies., however, this was about what was used in menu, not what was eaten by the residents. Therefore this results did not tell that the food intake status of individuals. In most facilities general health checkup was done on a regular basis, and had residents with various chronic degenerative diseases, such as hypertension, neuralgia, stroke, arthritis, diabetes. But the items checked on health checkup included weight, height, blood and urine tests, X-ray test, which suggested that the checkup lists should be revised to accomodate the health problem of the aged today.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.392-399
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• 2016

This study examined the distribution of metabolic syndrome according to the age groups among the elderly people to reveal the sociodemographic and health related factors. The survey in 2011~2014 from the National Health Insurance Corporation under regular medical check-ups, which received a recognition survey targeted 1,756 people aged over 70. Multiple logistic regression was performed on the relation metabolic syndrome and its related factors. As a result, the risk ratio for metabolic syndrome increased significantly in females than in males, living with a family than living alone, high economic status than in the low group, obese than in the normal weight group, have a history of stroke group than the no history group, smoking group than the non-smoking group, and drinking group than the non-drinking group. The distribution of metabolic syndrome differed significantly according to the sociodemographic characteristics and health-related variables.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.229-237
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• 2021

Among the elderly and patients with mild brain diseases (such as dementia and stroke), when there is a certain degree of self-acting ability and cognitive ability, exercise and cognitive rehabilitation are often required. However, since most of the existing rehabilitation systems are separated or specialized in exercise or cognitive rehabilitation, there is a need for a form linking both. In this paper, we propose a game-type rehabilitation system that enables both exercise and cognitive rehabilitation using CAN communication protocol, one of ICT technologies. This system uses the CAN BUS structure to separate and combine each individual module constituting the rehabilitation system in various forms. A prototype of the proposed system was actually produced to show that various types of rehabilitation environments can be implemented according to the degree of cognitive ability and motor ability of the patient (or the elderly). In addition, through several experiments using this system, it is possible to implement exercise/cognitive parallel rehabilitation applicable to various environments.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.354-377
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• 2002

Aging population is a global trend and Korea is no exception. Due to the progress of the medical and scientific sectors, increase in the average lifetime incurred increase in the number of elderly people. Meanwhile, the family function of supporting the elderly has become a major issue in a society due to the changes in the society's structure and increased entry of the women into the workforce. As a means to substitute the protection of the elderly who are not protected at their respective homes and to replace the tending needs, weekly protection centers and short-stay centers for the elderly were established and operated in Seoul since 1992. However, structured and satisfactory services are not yet to be provided, thus this research intends to understand the current situation at the short-stay centers for the elderly, to identify users' characteristics and to conduct study on nursing need for the health reasons so that the results of the research can be utilized as basic data for the development of nursing care program. Towards this end, this research targeted 142 elderly people who were undergoing treatment at the 11 short-stay centers for the elderly out of total of 13 located in Seoul that were willing to cooperate. The research was conducted from April to May 2002, with the measurement tool developed by Rhee, Seon-ja (2001) to measure the level of nursing need. Then data was collected and analyzed using SPSS program. The results are as follows. The general characteristics of users of the short-stay centers for the elderly were: 123 females $(86.6\%)$, 19 males $(13.4\%)$ and 72 elderly were over the age of 80 $(50.7\%)$. Among these, 24$(16.9\%)$ were living by themselves. Among the illnesses that the subjects were inflicted with were: dementia $(54.2\%)$, stroke $(54.1\%)$ and high blood pressure $(50.7\%)$, in the respective order. Despite the fact that they were diagnosed with illnesses, $47.2\%$ responded that they do not undergo special treatment due to financial reasons. When the level of needs for nursing care among the elderly who use the short-stay centers is divided into informational. physical. and emotional need levels and scored between zero to two, the level of emotional need is the highest with 1.80, followed by physical (1.45) and informational (1.44) need levels. As for the realities of services at the centers and improvement areas, restriction on term was cited as the greatest inconvenience with $38.7\%$, followed by lack of budget (24 respondents, $16.9\%$). Wishful services were financial assistance $(46.5\%)$, medical and nursing services $(40.1\%)$, meal provision service $(8.5\%)$ and counseling service $(4.9\%)$, in the respective order. Based on the above mentioned results, the research identified the need to develop nursing program for the patients of dementia that can be applied onto the short-stay centers and the need to develop volunteer service, backed by societal support. Also, placement of specialized cadre of professionals is needed so that medical and nursing service functions can be provided in a complementary manner.