• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 1999

The issue of health and nutritional wellbeing becomes one of the utmost concerns for the welfare of the elderly in a society of increased aging populations. This study was conducted to assess nutritional state and to identify possible dietary factors that might influence health and nutritional state of the free living elderly women. Two hundred sixty two elderly women, aged 60-90 who are actively participating in a continuing education program for the elderly in Seoul area, were interviewed using a dietary habit questionnaire and a 24-hour recall. Anthropometric measurements such as heights, weights, body mass index, and tricep skinfolds and dental status were significantly different between the two age groups, <75 and ${\geq}$ 75 years of age. Sixty eight percent of the subjects were using nutritional supplements regularly, in the descending order of vitamin-mineral supplements(40%), botanicals(27.6%), tonic drinks(16%), and health foods(13.2%). For hot beverages, our study subjects drank coffee (33.6%) and green tea (17.9%) frequently, followed by doongulae, job's tears, citron and kyulmyung tea. With regard to micronutrients, vitamin C intake was found to be lower in the group aged over 75 compared to that below 75 (p<0.05). Calcium intake was significantly higher among the elderly with good dental status followed by the groups with gingivitis, denture, and missed teeth with poor chewing abilities (p<0.05). The amount of personal spending money was found to be a significant contributing factor (p<0.05) to the energy and nutrient intake in an individual. The results of the present study can be applied to the identification of the possible factors that might intervene the aging process, to the planning of the nutrition education program, and to the development of health food products for the promotion of health and nutrition of the elderly women.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.389-396
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• 2006

Objectives: A community-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine theprevalence of osteoporosis and to evaluate the effects of body composition, health behaviors and reproductive history on bone density in postmenopausal women. Methods: The study subjects were 362 postmenopausal women, aged 45 years old or over, who were invited to the hospital. Information on their socio-demographic characteristics and the potential risk factors such as their past medical history, smoking, alcohol intake, exercise, diet and menstrual/reproductive histories were collected by trained interviewers. Weight, height, the body mass index ($kg/m^{2}$), and body composition variables were measured. Bone mineral density of the lumbar spine was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Results: The prevalence of osteoporosis was 30.6% in the $45{\sim}64$ years old women, 52.5% in the elderly women aged $65{\sim}74$, and 68.7% in the women aged 75 years or over. After adjustment for the effect of potential covariates, those women in the highest 25% (4th quartile) of the lean body mass are less likely to have osteoporosis (aOR=0.31, 95% CI=0.12-0.76), compared with the lowest quartile group. More parity also had significantly detrimental effects on osteoporosis. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women increased with age from 46.3% of those aged 45-64 to 68.7% for those aged 75 and over. Lean body mass and parity appeared significant contributor to bone mineral density in postmenopausal women in this population.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.527-530
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• 2019

The increasing prevalence of inactivity and obesity, along with aging, has implications on work capacity of labor force. This study reports the relationships between activity level and BMI by age with objectively measured physical workload. Data were examined from a sample of 19 481 Finnish employees using an estimate of minute-to-minute oxygen consumption based on R-R interval recordings. The mean estimated %VO₂max during the working day was 12.1 (±3.6) and 15.1 (±4.5)% for men and women, respectively. Based on a linear model, the mean %VO₂max increased by 1.5%-unit per 10-year increase in age, by 2.1%-unit per 5 kg/㎡ increase in BMI, and decreased by 1.6%-unit if improving physical activity class by two (p < 0.001 for all). Overweight and obesity, together with inactivity, notably increases workload throughout the career, even though at young adulthood, the daily workload is almost the same for each person regardless of the BMI, activity level, or gender. This study highlights the importance of regular physical activity and normal weight in protecting the worker from excessive physical (cardiovascular) workload during the whole working career.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.247-260
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the individual and working environment-related factors affecting hypertension among middle-aged and elderly self-employed workers in South Korea. Methods: This was a secondary data analysis of data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA). The study sample included 1,319 middle-aged and elderly self-employed workers who were diagnosed without hypertension and older than 45 years at Wave 1 of the KLoSA. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis using SPSS 20.0. Results: About 20% of the middle-aged and elderly self-employed workers were diagnosed with hypertension within about 8 years from the baseline. the significant predictors of hypertension among the participants were age, diabetes mellitus, body mass index, frequency of health examinations, working hours per week, the presence of regular day off, and the type of job. Conclusion: Middle-aged and elderly self-employed workers are vulnerable to work-related health problems. In order to prevent hypertension among self-employed workers, it is necessary to improve the work environment-related factors as well as individual life styles.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.38-47
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• 2015

Objectives: Controlling blood pressure is a key step in reducing cardiovascular mortality in older adults. Gender differences in patients' attitudes after disease diagnosis and their management of the disease have been identified. However, it is unclear whether gender differences exist in hypertension management among older adults. We hypothesized that gender differences would exist among factors associated with hypertension diagnosis and control among community-dwelling, older adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 653 Koreans aged ${\geq}60years$ who participated in the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. Multiple logistic regression was used to compare several variables between undiagnosed and diagnosed hypertension, and between uncontrolled and controlled hypertension. Results: Diabetes was more prevalent in men and women who had uncontrolled hypertension than those with controlled hypertension or undiagnosed hypertension. High body mass index was significantly associated with uncontrolled hypertension only in men. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that in women, awareness of one's blood pressure level (odds ratio [OR], 2.86; p=0.003) and the number of blood pressure checkups over the previous year (OR, 1.06; p=0.011) might influence the likelihood of being diagnosed with hypertension. More highly educated women were more likely to have controlled hypertension than non-educated women (OR, 5.23; p=0.013). Conclusions: This study suggests that gender differences exist among factors associated with hypertension diagnosis and control in the study population of community-dwelling, older adults. Education-based health promotion strategies for hypertension control might be more effective in elderly women than in elderly men. Gender-specific approaches may be required to effectively control hypertension among older adults.

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.51
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• pp.332.1-332.8
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• 2018

Background: The trend of aging society is occurring globally, and with it, one of the health problems that is emerging is frailty. Efforts are being made to account for the increasing prevalence of frailty, and various modifiable factors are being considered in regards to frailty. Because social contact has shown beneficial effects in terms of health in previous studies, it is increasingly being considered in relation to frailty. The purpose of this study was to assess the association of different types of social contact with frailty status. Methods: A total of 1,200 Korean elders aged 70-84 years old were included in the study. Using Fried's Cardiovascular Health Study index to categorize the frailty status, the relationship between frailty status and frequency of contact (i.e., with family members, friends, or neighbors) was analyzed using multinomial logistic regression accounting for confounders. Results: Adjusting for all covariates, frequency of contact with friends was the most statistically significant. Less frequent contact was associated with a significantly higher odds of pre-frailty: monthly (odds ratio [OR], 2.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27-3.20), and rarely (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.17-2.99), with daily contact group as reference. Also, those contacting friends monthly (OR, 5.04; 95% CI, 2.29-11.08) or rarely (OR, 3.23; 95% CI, 1.58-6.61) were more likely to be frail compared to the daily group. Conclusion: Frequency of social contact, especially with friends, is strongly associated with frailty.

• The Journal of Sustainable Design and Educational Environment Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.35-45
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to analyze the types of present situation data related to school facilities through existing literature and related systems and to develop indicators related to improvement of educational environment that can have an important influence on students' education and life in general. In this study, we conducted a second Delphy Survey to establish the educational environment improvement index. As a result, a total of 88 education environment improvement indicators were set, including 43 indicators on the quantitative aspects of the area, adequacy of general classrooms, and appropriateness of multi-purpose steel sugar, 34 indicators on the qualitative aspects such as the level of seismic performance, age of fire facilities, aging of toilets, and aging of finishing materials, and 11 indicators on operational aspects such as energy usage and user satisfaction.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.201-208
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to analyze the claim data of Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service to determine what factors affected the length of stay in patients aged 65 and older and undergoing total knee arthroplasty due to the principal diagnosis of gonarthrosis by the type of medical institutions. As a result of making an analysis, gender, age, medical security type, severity, residential area and the number of sickbeds were identified as the factors that influenced the length of stay in each type of medical institutions. At this point in time when an increase in the elderly population triggered by population aging and another subsequent increase in medical expenses put a heavy strain on household and national economy, it's necessary to consider how to shorten the length of stay and how to ensure the efficient management of sickbeds based on the findings of this study. In addition, this study is of significance in that it could be used as basic data on quality life-care for elderly patients by the introduction of a systematic management system geared toward lessening patient burden for medical expenses.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.33-47
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• 2021

In urban declining areas, the population is decreasing, and drying environments such as buildings and facilities are aging. Therefore, it is vulnerable in the event of disaster, and recovery takes a lot of time and money. The purpose of this study is to develop an evaluation technique for comprehensively diagnosing disasters in declining areas and to present implications through case analysis. Evaluation indicators were selected to calculate the comprehensive diagnosis index of disasters, and weights were calculated for each class, including disaster types, components, and evaluation indicators, through Analytic Hierarchy Process analysis. The comprehensive diagnoses index for each type of disaster was calculated with the calculated weight, and the risk according to the level of urban decline was analyzed. As a result of analyzing Seoul as a case area, it was analyzed that the overall risk of disasters was high in southern regions such as Seocho-gu, Dongjak-gu, Geumcheon-gu, and Gangseo-gu, and relatively low in downtown and northern Seoul, parks and green areas. The results of this study are of academic significance in that they presented a comprehensive diagnostic index evaluation system and technique for each type of disaster, including natural and social disasters.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.603-622
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• 2012

The population aged 95 years and older in Seoul approximately increased to five-fold over the past 10 years, while nationwide rates increased to three-fold. In order to examine the dietary habit and nutritional status of oldest-old population living in Seoul, we recruited 87 subjects (25 males and 62 females) aged 95 years and older. The prevalence of underweight (BMI < 18.5 $kg/m^2$) and obesity (BMI ${\geq}25kg/m^2$) were 18.2% and 18.2% in males, and 20.8% and 9.4% in females, respectively. In self-assessment of health, only 25.3% answered to be unhealthy. More males exercised regularly and reported a wide range of activities than females. The average of %Kcal from carbohydrate, protein and fat (C : P : F) was 64.9 : 13.8 : 21.2 in males and 68.1 : 14.2 : 17.7 in females. The average daily energy intake was 1,307 kcal in males and 1,304 kcal in females. More than 75% of subjects were taking under estimated average requirements (EAR) for vitamin $B_1$, $B_2$ & C and Ca. The average of mean adequacy ratio (MAR) was 0.66 in males and 0.70 in females, and 28.8% of males and 12.9% of females were in MAR < 0.50. Based on MAR, 32.0% of males and 14.5% females were classified as normal and 16.0% of males and 25.8% of females were classified as malnourished. Our subjects were taking more animal food, especially milk and its products, compared to those living, in rural areas. However, a significant proportion did not meet the EAR for vitamin $B_1$, $B_2$ & C and Ca.