• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.347-357
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between frailty and oral health among some elderly community residents. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 240 elderly in the Gwangju-Jeonnam area from October 1, 2019, to November 30, 2019, based on convenience sampling. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics of the subjects, frailty level (Kihon checklist), and Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index. Results: There were 66 (27.5%) frail elderly, and the GOHAI group with a score less than 45 constituted 187 (77.9%), which was higher than the group with a score of 45 or higher. The distribution of the frail elderly was indicated to be higher in the people with older age (p<0.05), lower educational level (p<0.01), current economic inactivity (p<0.05), living alone (p<0.01), more chronic diseases (p<0.01), and GOHAI score below 45 (p<0.01). Compared to those with a good oral health-related quality of life, those with a poor quality of life showed a 3.03 times higher risk of frailty (95% CI=1.291-7.107)(p<0.05). Conclusions: By recognizing the need for oral health care of the elderly through these results and by identifying the relationship between frailty and oral health, it is possible to consider oral health as a predictor of frailty.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.479-488
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate factors affecting low body weight of solitary elderly people by grasping the illness and health behavior of elderly living alone. Using the raw data of the community health survey from 2014, the data of 922 elderly living alone who are 65 years or older were used for the final analysis. Data were analyzed by technical analysis statistics, The Rao Scott $x^2$ test, and logistic regression analysis using the composite analysis module of the SPSS/WIN 22.0 program. The results of this study showed that elderly living alone had a high percentage of chronic diseases as well as poor health behaviors such as smoking, drinking, lack of exercise, poor eating habits, difficulties in dentistry due to dentures, and poor subjective health status. Result of logistic regression analysis the risk probability of low-weight due to gender of the elderly living alone is as follows. Risk of low body weight because of smoking was 3.004 times among occasional smokers in women and the elderly, while risk of low body weight due to walking amount is less than 3 days the possibility that the person walking is low is 1.420 times significantly higher. When feeling subjective stress, the possibility of low body weight was 2.220 times greater for male elderly and 1.282 times for female elderly. The probability of low body weight for a person with a poor subjective health level was 3.633 times for male elderly and 1.590 times for female elderly. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to establish appropriate nursing intervention and management strategies to improve health behavior of low body weight elderly living alone. It is also necessary to conduct additional studies considering various variables such as physical, psychological, and social characteristics of low-weight elderly individuals.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.376-387
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• 1997

The elderly are the most rapidly growing segment of the population in Korea and the largest consumers of expensive medical care. It is reasonable to believe that improving the nutritional status would be beneficial to reducing morbidity and to impro- ving the quality of their lives. This study was conducted to assess the health status and the Nutritional Risk Index of the elderly, and to provide the basic data for the Elderly Nutrition Improvement Program at the Public Health Center. One hundred and forty seven(76 males. 71 females) aged 60 years and over living in Suwon, were assessed with anthropometric measurements, body fat analysis, blood pressure measurements, and a set of questionnaires about health and other related variables. Over half of them had less than a junior middle school education and were considered low income. The percentage of overweight and obese subjects was 33% by the BMI(Body Mass Index), and the prevalence of hypertension was 28$\%$(males) and 31$\%$(females). They had a lot of self-recognized health problems, the male elderly complained about more than the female elderly. In the case of psychological health status, however, the female elderly showed a higher proportions of depression than the male elderly(p$\ll$0.05). In social health status, the elderly had good relationships with friends and collegues, whereas they had poor relationships with their families. They had many nutritional risk factors, and smoking was the most prevalent risk factor for the male elderly and anemia was for the female elderly. The results of this study suggest that Elderly Nutrition Improvement Programs should be planned that can be easily followed. It would be helpful to design a program focusing on individual phychological and social health status, this would increase the efficiency of the program.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.688-695
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• 2015

Purpose: The institutionalized elderly have placed the most vulnerable state, and the report about the oral health status of the institutionalized elderly was scarce. The aims of the current study were to investigate the oral health status of institutionalized elderly. Materials and methods: The survey of the oral health status was carried out on 487 institutionalized elderly from 4 longterm care facilities of Seoul metropolitan city, Gyunggi province, and Gangwon province in Korea. Results: The prevalence of dental caries, root caries, and dental calculus of the institutionalized elderly was 19.2%, 15.3%, and 23.7%, respectively. The percentage of edentulism among the institutionalized elderly was 26.2%. Those who had poor oral hygiene and tongue coating were 43.9% and 90.5%, respectively. The percentages wearing complete and removable partial denture on maxilla were 12.8% and 3.3%, respectively. The percentages wearing complete and removable partial denture on mandible were 7.8% and 5.6%, respectively. The percentages of institutionalized elderly needing complete and removable partial denture on maxilla were 29.7% and 27.2%, respectively. The percentages of institutionalized elderly needing complete and removable partial denture on mandible were 24.5% and 30.9%, respectively. Conclusion: The oral health stuatus of institutionalized elderly was poor. For the oral health promotion of elderly in longterm care facilities, it is essential to educate nurses and caregivers about the importance of the oral health and oral hygiene method.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships of social networks to health status among the urban low income elderly. Method: Using a sample of 598 elderly aged 65 years and higher, social networks, health status were measured by the Social Networks Scale (LSNS), Perceived Health Status, GDSSF-K, K-ADL respectively. The t-test, ANOVA and Tukey-test and Pearson's correlation analyses were performed using SPSS 18.0. Results: 41% of subjects didn't contact with relatives at least once a month. 56% of subjects saw or heard less than monthly from relative with whom they have the most contact. 47% didn't have relatives who one can rely on private matters. Social networks among the low income elderly significantly differed by marital status, health insurance type, economic status, regular exercise, living with family. Social networks were significantly correlated with perceived health status (r=.201), cognitive function (r=-.154) and depressive symptoms (r=-.301). Conclusion: Poor social networks were found in urban low income elderly. Poorer social networks were related to worse health status and more depressive symptoms. Interventions targeting at increasing social networks are urgently needed for low income elderly.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.78-90
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• 2009

Purpose: This study investigated depression, ADL, ADL, QOL, and their relationships to examine the physical and, emotional health status of low income elderly in the local community. Methods: The subjects included 507 elderly 65 years of age in Jeonju, Korea. Data were collected through personal interviews with questionnaires. Results: The average depression score of the subjects was 8.7. There was significant difference in the level of depression as a function of the level of education and perceived health status. The items showing the highest level of functioning in ADL were consciousness and recognition, and the item combining the highest leveling of functioning in IADL was using phones. Regarding ADL and IADL, there were statistically significant differences in age. living condition and perceived health status. The levels of quality of life of the subjects were significantly different with respect to gender and, perceived health status. There were statistically significant correlations between the subjects' depression, ADL, IADL, and QOL. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the low income elderly in the local community were in poor physical and, psychological health. Based upon the outcome, health promotion programs to improve depression, ADL, and IADL of low income elderly in the community are needed.

• Korean Journal of Rural Living Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.171-184
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• 1994

This study intends to provide basic informations on the rural elderly women's health status and health care practices which can be utilized for the welfare policies. Participants in this study are 133 elderly women over 60 who are lived in rural area. For the data analysis, Frequency, Correlation, Crosstabs, Oneway-Anova and LSD test are used. Physical health status is slightly lower than psychological health status and they are related to respondent's age, coresidence type, subjective economic status, subjective health status, participation in farming and health care type. Eighty-two percent of (he respondents perceived their health condition as poor and Neuralgia is the most frequent health problem. Women's health care practices are passive and somewhat restricted by age, educational status, coresidence type, necessary time to medical institution, and health status.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was to investigate the factors affecting the self-rated health of vulnerable elderly in community. Methods: The subjects were 2,328 elderly over 65 years who were enrolled in the Visiting Health Care Center in J-gu of S-city from Apr. 2007 to Sep. 2008. Data were collected using questionnaires including general characteristics, health related behavior and health status by nurse at the time of enrollment. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, test and multivariate logistic regression. Results: 47.2% of the male subjects and 57.2% of the female subjects rated their health "poor". Gender differences were observed in the factors affecting on Self-Rated Health. ADL, depression and the number of diseases played a major role for men, whereas depression, IADL, the number of diseases, ADL, regular exercise and education played a major role for women. These factors explained $17{\sim}29%$ of variance in Self-Rated Health. Conclusion: Gender-specific programs for vulnerable elderly may be developed based on this study. Both physical and psychological functions need to be integrated into the programs to improve self-rated health of vulnerable elderly.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.188-203
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• 2005

The study was performed to provide basic data for developing a coordinated health and social service model. Method: The subjects consisted of 1000 residents in Wonju city. The sampling process was randomized stratified into 26 geographical areas. The data was collected from Apr. 16nd, to May. 15nd, 2002 by using a structured questionnaire that included general characteristics, the patterns of disease, the family function and the community support systems. The collected data was analyzed by the SPSS. windows program via descriptive statistics, correlation testing and t-tests. Result: 61.7% of the elderly perceived their health status as being poor. There were correlations among age, income and the way clients perceived their health status. The prevalence rate of chronic disease was 70.8% in the elderly. The prevalence rate for arthritis was the highest (33.6%). The average number of diseases in the target populations was 2.31; it was 2.65 in the deprived elderly group and 2.47 in the elderly group. 35.4% of residents did not have any family care giver. 61.2% of the clients needed support by the health and social services. Conclusions; Coordinated health and social services need to be allocated by priority to the elderly and to the socially and economic deprived clients.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.74-80
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• 2014

Objectives More than half of the elders suffer from chronic sleep disturbances. Moreover, sleep disturbances are more prevalent in patients with depressive disorder than in community dwelling elderly. In this study, we aim to estimate the risk factors of poor sleep quality and its effect on quality of life in patients with late life depression. Methods This study included 159 depressive patients aged 65 years or older who completed Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A global PSQI score of 5 or greater indicates a poor sleeper. Structural diagnostic interviews were performed using the Korean version of Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Depression was evaluated by the Korean form of Geriatric Depression Scale (KGDS). Global cognition was assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination in the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease assessment packet. Quality of life was evaluated by the Korean version of Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36). Results The frequencies of poor sleepers were 90.5% in major depressive disorder, 71.8% in minor depressive disorder, 47.1% in subsyndromal depressive disorder, and 73.0% in all types of depressive disorders. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that female [odds ratio (OR) = 2.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.20-6.67] and higher KGDS score (OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.05-1.21) were risk factors of poor sleep quality in patients with late life depression. In the analysis of ANCOVA adjusted for age, gender, education and KGDS score, the mean scores of vitality mental health and mental component summary of SF-36 were lower in poor sleepers than in good sleepers. Conclusions Poor sleepers among patients with late life depression are very common and are associated with female and higher KGDS scores. Poor sleep quality causes a significant negative effect on mental health quality. So researchers and clinicians should be more vigilant in the evaluation and treatment of sleep disturbances in patients with late life depression.