• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.74-90
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• 2021

Background: It is getting important to improve the oral health status of the elderly because oral health status may affect their health status of the whole body. In this respect, we aimed to explore the association of oral health status and behavior factors with self-rated health status by sex. Methods: Using the data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for health surveys and oral examinations (2016-2018), we analyzed a total of 3,070 people aged 65 or older (men: 1,329; women: 1,741). Our dependent variable, self-rated health status, was divided into two groups: not good (bad and very bad) and good (very good, good, and fair), whereas our independent variables of interest were oral health status and behavior factors. In addition to descriptive analysis and the Rao-Scott chi-square test, reflecting survey characteristics, we conducted hierarchical multivariable logistic regression analyses adjusted for socio-demographics and health status and behavior factors. All analyses were stratified by sex. Results: The proportion of people having 'not good' self-rated health was 36.5% in women but 24.5% in men. In a model adjusted for all covariates, the self-rated health status showed significant association with the self-rated oral health status. For example, in men, the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health was high in people having 'poor' (odds ratio [OR], 5.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.34-12.03) self-rated oral health status and in those having 'fair' (OR, 4.03; 95% CI, 1.68-9.70) in comparison with those having 'good' self-rated oral health status. Dental status regarding speaking difficulty seemed to be very important in influencing self-rated health status. For instance, in women, compared to people having 'no discomfort' speaking difficulty, the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health was high in people having 'not bad' (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.14-2.24) and 'discomfort' (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.30-2.47) speaking difficulty. The covariates significantly associated with the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health were: physical activity, chronic disease, stress, and body mass index in both sexes; health insurance type and drinking only in men; and economic activity only in women. Conclusion: Oral health status and behavioral factors were associated with self-rated health status among the elderly, differently by sex. This suggests that public health policies toward better health in the elderly should take their oral health status and oral health behaviors into account in a sex-specific way.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 2007

This study aims to examine the existing conditions of elderly housing facilities and to understand the characteristics and types of outdoor living environments utilized by the elderly. To achieve this, this study relied on two methods: a descriptive method of researching publications and related scholastic writings, and an empirical study that included a survey of present conditions and interviews with the elderly and their nursing care providers. Additionally, evaluation of usage patterns and physical traces were carried out in twelve cases. First, the study showed that all of the facilities, which are fixed in particular areas, had difficulty providing spatial diversity that met the needs of residences. This means that these areas lack flexibility. Activity programs were, however, carried out in a lively manner in well-equipped spaces. Second, an evaluation of outdoor living environments showed that basic facilities were more than adequate, in general. Consideration of resident's physical strength and taste, however, was evaluated as low, indicating that facilities and spaces should be considered to reflect the ages, physical capacity, diverse tastes and hobbies of the elderly, as well. Third, examining the usage patterns of outdoor living activities of residents, the purposes of using outdoor spaces of elderly housing facilities were mainly 'to take a walk' and 'to engage in simple physical exercise' and the walkway, simple sports facilities, and building entrances were highly utilized. The importance of outdoor living environments values was a mean of 4.07 and satisfaction was 4.17. This indicates that residents thought that outdoor living environments are very important and currently satisfied with them.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.154-162
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• 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.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.67-87
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• 2006

Objective: In order to provide basic data required to evaluate the knowledge and behavior of old people towards health promotion and primary factors that influence them, to develop a health educational program. Method: A survey was conducted from March 6th 2004 to June 10th 2004. A total of 949 senior citizens over 60 participated in the survey. Results: The old people was the lower the educational level they had, the lower the level of health education experience they had and the lower the frequency of regular health check-ups they had. In regards to health education and health promotion, seniors citizens were neglected because of a lack of health awareness and knowledge, wrong habits related to healthy living, low access to medical examination, poor economic state, and low educational level. In addition to social atmosphere and systematic efforts by the government, senior citizens tried to find their own ways to have healthy living by improving their educational level, health awareness, and level of health knowledge, and lifestyle. Conclusion: Therefore, not only their family members, but local communities, public organizations, and the whole nation should make every effort to provide a effective health education system by using health educators for senior citizens. There is also a need to prepare a practical and systematic health education program for senior citizens so that they can enjoy comfortable and healthy living in their old age.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.255-260
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• 2017

In Korea, traffic accidents between pedestrians and vehicles in 2015 account for 38.8% of all accidents. This study proposes a system design that can measure the risk of conflict between a vehicle and a pedestrian. Firstly the systemdetect and estimate the position, speed, and directional data of the vehicle and the pedestrian. And then it estimate the conflict point between a vehicle and a pedestrian. The risk of conflict is quantified by estimating the pedestrian safety margin (PSM), which is the time difference between the arrival of the pedestrian at the crossing point to the point of conflict and the vehicle approaching the point. In this system each data is acquired through an external monitoring based evaluation module and an individual wearing module. In the future, such a system can be used for decision making such as the design of road hazard improvement facilities and the designation of the elderly protection area.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.35-47
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• 2022

Purpose : As the number of patients with systemic diseases is increasing in the old, the relevance of oral health is gaining particular research interest. To provide fundamental resources for dental services, this study examined the relationship between doctors' diagnoses of circulatory diseases and patients' awareness of oral health and oral care behaviors. Methods : SPSS 26.0 was used to assess various variables, including doctor's diagnosis of circulatory diseases, gender, age, household income quintile, participation in economic activity, marital status, subjective level of oral health awareness, mastication discomfort, speaking and chewing discomfort, dental inspection, use of oral care goods, teeth brushing during the previous day, and untreated oral conditions. Results : The circulatory diseases suffered by the subjects were as follows: 56 % high blood pressure, 36 % dyslipidemia, 6 % stroke, and 8 % myocardial infarction or angina. A higher age meant a higher diagnosis rate of high blood pressure (p<.001) and stroke (p<.001). Those with dyslipidemia showed a higher rate of receiving oral inspection (p=.040), and an untreated oral condition was more frequently observed among those not diagnosed with the disease (p=.035). The subjects who were not diagnosed with stroke showed a higher rate of oral inspection (p<.001), while those who had a prior experience of stroke suffered a higher rate of mastication discomfort (p=.020). People who had high blood pressure showed a lower rate of using oral care goods (p<.001), and those diagnosed with stroke showed a lower rate of brushing teeth the previous day. Conclusion : This study found a correlation between the diagnosis of circulatory diseases and the awareness of oral health and oral care behavior. Consequently, oral health education should be included in mental health-related education, and customized training to teach teeth brushing and the use of oral care goods should be provided to patients with circulatory diseases during dentist visits.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.387-398
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• 2022

This paper presents a system that remotely monitors lone seniors at home and promptly alarms caregivers to recommend appropriate medical care services upon detecting abnormal behavior and critical conditions such as collapsing, excessive coughing, degradation of sleep quality, fever, and unusual indoor moving lines. Our system offers contactless monitoring techniques based on heterogeneous IoT sensors and deep learning to minimize the disruption to lone senior's daily life. In addition to the design and implementation of the sensor data collection and analysis system, we share our experience in installation, deployment, configuration, maintenance of the system through the case study conducted on the actual lone seniors living in Seoul Metropolitan. Based on our research, we recommend further development directions to prepare for the nationwide expansion of our system.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.179-203
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to identify (1) the attitudes of seniors toward library digitalization, (2) factors that lead them to use digital information in libraries, and (3) factors that hinder or prevent them from using digital information in libraries. As a result of conducting 1:1 in-depth interviews with 20 senior users of the National Library of Korea, the majority of seniors had a favorable attitude toward library digitalization. 'Librarian' and 'vision and font size' were found to be the most important factors for seniors' use of digital information. These two factors are factors that enable the use of digital information, but they are also factors that prevent or hinder the use of digital information. In addition, factors for the use of digital information include 'characteristics of the content' and 'convenience', factors for non-use include 'attitude and psychological factors' and 'physical properties of books', and hindering factors include 'website usability issues'.

• Journal of the Health Care and Life Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.105-114
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• 2023

This study aims to analyze the secondary data of disease distribution and medical service behavior according to gender and income by using the 17th wave data of the Korea Welfare Panel, which is being distributed in April 2023. Data for 7,865 people of raw data generated using the R language were collected, and among them, missing values (NA, - 2,012) were analyzed for 5,853 people. For analysis, average income by health status and gender, relationship with chronic diseases, outpatient visits to medical institutions by gender/age group, type of medical institution used by age group, and annual health checkup usage rate by gender/age group were examined. Through this, the medical utilization rate was higher in men than in women, and the utilization rate of hospitals and clinics was high.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.103-113
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• 1999

The authors surveyed the inhabitants of a rural area to assess the patterns of medical utilization on dermatoses. Seven hundred and sixty new outpatients of dermatoses were examined and surveyed with formed questionnaire from March 1997 to February 1999. The results are as follows; 1. Among 760 new outpatients, the number of male patients was 283(37.2%) and that of female patients was 477(67.3%). 2. The most common dermatoses was Tinea pedis(34.9%), and follows senile pruritus, contact dermatitis, housewife eczema, seborrheic dermatitis, numular dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, Tinea corporis, Tinea ungium, acne vulgaris, impetigo, keratolysis exfoliativa, chronic urticaria, Tinea cruris and Molluscum contagiosum in orders. 3. Drug store was the most frequent places where patients initially visited for their skin diseases(39.6%) and followed by non dermatologic clinic, dermatologic clinic and general hospital in orders. 4. One hundred and twenty one(15.9%) patients have been experienced folk treatment. It was founded that the topical vinegar application or soaking was the most common method. Many patients felt no symptom improvement after the folk treatment(48.8%). Seventeen point four percent of patient felt symptom worsened. The results of this study suggest that many of the rural inhabitants are lack of understanding on their dermatoses. So many physician who are in charge of the primary care in rural area have to pay attention to the common dermatoses and educate patients on their medical utilization.