• 한국실내디자인학회논문집
• /
• 제19권6호
• /
• pp.241-248
• /
• 2010

The population of the elderly is rapidly increased because maturation of the social welfare system and development of medical technology. However, welfare environments for the elderly are poor either in its quality or its quantity. The aims of this study is to confirm the space improvement possibility to change the Gyung Ro Dang to the senior life support center as a community welfare service network. This study is done by the comparative analysis between existing Gyung Ro Dang in korea and former cases in Japan based on the elderly's facility preference. The facility's space reprogramming alternative from that analysis is applied to change the Gyung Ro Dang to a network facility for the regional senior life support. Afterward, it is proposed that first, facilities should be expanded scale by the new education and health improvement facilities functional room that the modern elderly need. second, Facility space will be reconstitution because the Gyung Ro Dang have to be extended it's role as a community welfare network.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• 제33권3호
• /
• pp.257-262
• /
• 2000

This paper is to report our findings that vitamin B6 and folate nutritional state in the rural elderly population with alcohol dependency is poor. The present study was carried out to assess vitamin B6 and folate status in the 17 rural elderly subjects with alcohol dependency and 15 age-and sex-matched controls. Plasma and red cell folate concentrations were analyzed microbiologically, and pyridoxal-5-phosphate dependent erythrocyte alanine aspartate transminase(EAST) activity coefficients were determined using enzyme-coenzyme saturation kinetics. There was no difference in the amount of vitamin consumed between the two groups, and their intakes were 64% and 74.7%, respectively of the Korean dietary recommended allowances for vitamin B6 and folate. The mean percent activation for EAST of the total subjects was greater than 80%, suggesting an inadequate vitamin B6 status between the two groups. Folate concentrations in the red cell, but not in the plasma were significantly lower in the alcohol dependent(141.9ng/ml) subjects than that of the control(233.2ng/ml). Cigarette smokers had lower vitamin B6 and folate levels. Plasma and red cell folate levels were highest among the non-smoking, non-alcohol dependent subjects(11.7 and 257.3ng/ml, respectively) and lowest in the smoker-alcohol dependent group(6.7 and 132.9ng/ml). Finding ways to improve vitamin nutritional state such as vitamin supplementation might be necessary for the rural elderly people, especially for those with alcohol dependency.

• 대한간호학회지
• /
• 제34권8호
• /
• pp.1483-1490
• /
• 2004

Community-based centres were surveyed to determine the frequency of and risk factors for falls among elderly Koreans. We examined fall-related risk factors, including physiological and physical health, psychosocial functions, self-reported physical capacity and activity, vision, and the use of medication, among 351 elderly people aged 65 years or older, with ambulatory. Forty-two per cent of elderly Korean subjects reported at least one episode of falling in the previous 12 months, $38\%$ of whom had consequences that required either the attention of a physician or hospitalization. Factors significantly associated with an increased risk of falling were a restricted activity during the previous five years (adjusted OR 1.3), use of alternative therapy (adjusted OR 2.7), low knee flexor and extensor-muscle strength (adjusted OR 1.21 and 1.20), and poor balance with closed eyes (adjusted OR 8.32). We conclude that falls among older persons living in the community are common in Korea and that indicator of bad health and frailty or variables directly related to neuromuscular impairment are significant predictors of the risk of falling.

• 대한예방한의학회지
• /
• 제21권2호
• /
• pp.79-94
• /
• 2017

Objectives : The elderly in South Korea are the poorest among OECD countries in 2015. The aim of this study was to explore the health and life of the low-income elderly living in vulnerable areas in a metropolitan city. Methods : Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews with 7 participants from October to November 2015 and analyzed through Colaizzi's phenomenological methodology. The participants were interviewed for over 60 minutes in each person. Results : 7 categories were identified from 17 subcategories: "My life history: sick body," "Living with a sick body," "My poor but precious life," "A sense of distance from the hospital," "Narrowed area of my life," "Thankful for help," and "The village where I have lived my destiny." There is a lack of medical accessibility, mobility, and economic independence for low-income seniors. In addition, full-fledged redevelopment comes to them as violence. Conclusions : The health and life of the low-income elderly in vulnerable areas are products of many social factors, reaffirming the importance of social health.

• 의료ㆍ복지 건축 : 한국의료복지건축학회 논문집
• /
• 제19권2호
• /
• pp.51-59
• /
• 2013

Purpose: At the moment, a lot of poor older people live in permanent rental housing in Korea. But many rental apartments are not suitable for elderly living because most of them have many problems related to the lack of accessibility and adaptability for older people with physical and mental disabilities. So it is necessary to upgrade the old permanent rental housing for convenience of elderly living. The purpose of this paper is to construct basic data for remodeling of worn out and small rental housing block in order to realize the concept of "Aging in Place". Methods: Questionnaires and interviews about elderly living have been conducted on 104 elderly who live in Suwon Wooman permanent rental apartment block which was constructed 21 years ago. From the collected data, dining pattern, inconvenient area, small area, satisfaction level on unit area and demand for unit expansion type have been analysed in order to find out the direction for remodeling of permanent rental apartment unit. Results: The problems of existing permanent rental apartment can be summarized into improper laundry space, small dining area, inconvenient bath and so on. According to the family size, the elderly resident has the different preference about the expansion type of his resident unit. Big families usually want to enlarge their living unit though they pay for additional monthly rental fee. Implications: Lifetime home concept adopting Universal Design has to be applied to the whole residential block especially to the social rental housing. And this concept had better be expanded to Lifetime neighbor design.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• 제9권6호
• /
• pp.637-643
• /
• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Malnutrition in the elderly is a serious problem, prevalent in both hospitals and care homes. Due to the absence of a gold standard for malnutrition, herein we evaluate the efficacy of five nutritional screening tools developed or used for the elderly. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Elected medical records of 141 elderly patients (86 men and 55 women, aged $73.5{\pm}5.2years$) hospitalized at a geriatric care hospital were analyzed. Nutritional screening was performed using the following tools: Mini Nutrition Assessment (MNA), Mini Nutrition Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF), Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002). A combined index for malnutrition was also calculated as a reference tool. Each patient evaluated as malnourished to any degree or at risk of malnutrition according to at least four out of five of the aforementioned tools was categorized as malnourished in the combined index classification. RESULTS: According to the combined index, 44.0% of the patients were at risk of malnutrition to some degree. While the nutritional risk and/or malnutrition varied greatly depending on the tool applied, ranging from 36.2% (MUST) to 72.3% (MNA-SF). MUST showed good validity (sensitivity 80.6%, specificity 98.7%) and almost perfect agreement (k = 0.81) with the combined index. In contrast, MNA-SF showed poor validity (sensitivity 100%, specificity 49.4%) and only moderate agreement (k = 0.46) with the combined index. CONCLUSIONS: MNA-SF was found to overestimate the nutritional risk in the elderly. MUST appeared to be the most valid and useful screening tool to predict malnutrition in the elderly at a geriatric care hospital.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제38권2호
• /
• pp.154-162
• /
• 2005

Objectives: To analyze the relationships of socioeconomic status(SES) to health status and health behaviors in the elderly. Methods: Data were obtained from self-administered questionnaire of 4,587 persons, older than 65 years, living in a community. We measured the sociodemographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, health status (subjective health status, acute disease, admission experience, dental state, chronic disease etc.), activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and mini-mental state examination-Korean (MMSEK). Binary and multinominal logistic regression analyses were employed to analyze factors affecting on the socioeconomic status of the elderly. Results: With regard to the SES and health status, those with a low SES had poorer subjective health states and lower satisfaction about their physical health. Also, acute disease experiences, admission rates and tooth deciduation rates were higher in those of low SES. In the view of physical and cognitive functions, the ADL, IADL and MMSE-K scores were also lower in those of low SES. However, with regard to health behaviors, lower smoking and alcohol drinking rates were found in the low SES group, and a similar trend was shown with regular physical exercise, eating breakfast, and regular physical health check-up. From these findings, we surmise that those with low SES have a poorer health condition and less money to spend on health, therefore, they can not smoke or drink alcohol, exercise and or have a physical health check-up. Conclusion: This study suggests that socioeconomic status plays an important role in health behaviors and status of the elderly. Low socioeconomic status bring about unhealthy behavior and poor health status in the elderly. Therefore, more specific target oriented(esp. low SES persons) health promotion activities for the elderly are very important to improve not only their health status, but their health inequity also.

• 대한인간공학회지
• /
• 제29권4호
• /
• pp.611-617
• /
• 2010

To find out why elderly drivers have more frequent traffic accidents on intersection than any other one, this study was conducted to examine the characteristics of elderly drivers' driving behavior on intersection using a multifaceted driving behavior indicator. To do that, the driving behavior of both young adult drivers and elderly drivers were compared and analyzed, using a graphic driving simulator. As a result, compared with young adult drivers, elderly drivers showed a poor driving performance, and a high ratio of visual scanning time on the specific direction regardless of driving situation. Also, compared with young adult drivers, elderly drivers had a high overall level of arousal, and the phasic arousal activity on the specific stimulus was low. These results imply that through the intervention which induces the change in multifaceted indicators mentioned earlier, they could be helped to drive more safely on intersection.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• 제33권8호
• /
• pp.864-872
• /
• 2000

This study intended to evaluate the validity of the simple nutrition screening test that had been developed with the elderly living in Cheongju as a subject. Nutrition screening score(NSS) and reference standards for nutritional and health status(nutrient intakes, mean adequacy ratio, perceive health, and serum albumin, hematocrit, and hemoglobin) were estimated by using the date obtained in 1996 from the 174 elderly living in Taejon, Statistical analysis showed significant correlations between mean adequacy ratio(MAR) and NSS(r=0.341) and also between NSS and biological indices such as albumin and hematocrit, Around 65-75% of the elderly with perceive health and low level of serum albumin, hemoglobin and hematocrit had NSS$\leq$ll. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values(PPV) were calculated from the crosstabulation of the three categories of NSS(high, moderate, and low nutritional risk) and low categories MAR(< 0.75, undernutrition;$\geq$0.75, normal) to validate the cut-off point for high or low nutritional risk by NSS. It was suggested that point l1 was appropriate as a criterion to determine high risk of undernutrition, but point 16 was better than 17 as criterion to determine low nutritional risk in the Taejon elderly. When point ll was used as a criterion of high nutritional risk, sensitivity, specificity, and PPV are 59.5, 60.5 and 82.1 respectively. When point 16 was used as a criterion of low nutritional risk, sensitivity, specificity, and PPV are 25.6, 95.4, and 64.7%, respectively. In conclusion, nutrition screening test that had been developed can be a simple, easy, and proper instrument to classify the high risk group of undernutrition. A further validation study seems to be required among other groups of individuals for the screening test to the finalized as a more valid instrument identifying Korean elderly at nutrition and health risk(Korean J Nutrition 33(8) : 864-872, 2000)

• 한국치위생학회지
• /
• 제14권6호
• /
• pp.895-902
• /
• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to investigate the actual oral health status and dental fear level in the elderly. Methods: Data were collected by questionnaire interview method from June 15, 2013 to December 14, 2013. The subjects were elderly over 65 years old in Jeonbuk province. The study instrument was structured questionnaire including general characteristics of the subjects(3 questions), oral health management status(16 questions), Dental Fear Survey(DFS, 9 questions). Cronbach alphas were 0.804 and 0.959 in the study. Higher score of oral health management status showed good oral health care and higher DFS showed higher level of dental fear. Data were analyzed by t-test, one way ANOVA, post-hoc Scheffe test, and Pearson correlation analysis. Higher dental fear was defined below 33.3%. Results: Women tended to have better oral health than male. Women brush their teeth more frequently than male. Most of the elderly answered that it was important to brush teeth for 3 minutes, to use dental floss and to have oral health education(p<0.05). Score of dental fear level was similar in men and women. Those who were above 69 years old tended to have dental fear. Poor oral health condition was closely related to dental fear. Conclusions: The oral care in the elderly showed considerable differences between the groups and affected the dental fear. It is important to implement the nationwide dental care for the elderly in the future.