Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion (보건교육건강증진학회지)

Korean Society for Health Education and Promotion (한국보건교육건강증진학회)
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Longevity Factors of Centenarians in Korea

  • Kim, Jong-In (Division of Health and Welfare, College of Social Science, Wonkwang University)
  • Published : 2003.12.01
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Abstract

Objectives： The purpose of this paper is to analyze longevity factors of 507 centenarians in the Republic of Korea. Methods： This paper is designed to survey physical, mental, socio-demographic and dietary factors of 507 centenarians. The data was collected by means of telephone interview from 1999 to 2001. The survey directly contacted centenarians who were able to communicate, or contacted the centenarians caregivers. The association between longevity factors of centenarians was verified by odds ratio of logistic regression. Results： Female centenarians appeared to be non-smokers more often than males (OR＝4.06, CI＝2.06, 7.98). The longevity of persons with a small waist circumference was attributed to health promotion through eating lightly as well as keeping active including walking(OR＝2.37, CI＝1.36, 4.14). A higher probability for longevity is found among optimists who live a happy life and 1aught every day (OR＝26.15, CI＝11.61, 58.89). Among centenarians, vegetarians were shown to be light eaters. More ratios of vegetarians among centenarians included those who reside in a rural district, eat bean paste soup everyday, and consume small quantities of meat (OR＝5.12, CI＝3.24, 8.08). Conclusion： Women, manual workers, under poor to middle economic status, rural residents, optimists, light eaters, vegetarians and non-smokers seemed to have a higher probability of becoming centenarians in The Republic of Korea.

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References

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