• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.412-419
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• 2016

Objective: Because the number of geriatric cancer patients is on the rise but information on treatments for this population is limited, this study aimed to analyze clinical characteristics and the factors that influence treatment decisions among elderly cancer patients.Method: Data on elderly cancer patients (≥65 years of age) who were admitted to a traditional Korean medicine hospital from March 2014 to February 2016 were collected. We compared the clinical characteristics and overall survival rates of the chemotherapy group and the non-chemotherapy group.Results: Nineteen patients were included in this study. Nine people received chemotherapy, and ten people did not receive chemotherapy due to concerns about quality of life. Age, activities of daily living (ADL) score, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status all showed differences between the two groups, although median survival times did not differ significantly between the two. Compared with chemotherapy alone, traditional Korean medicine combined with chemotherapy prolonged median survival times.Conclusion: Old age and low ECOG performance status and ADL scores appear to be influential factors for the decision to undergo chemotherapy. Further studies are needed to confirm that these factors influence decisions about cancer treatment methods among geriatric cancer patients.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.1107-1116
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• 2010

The elderly people with advancing years have many problems such as the decline of the proprioceptive, visual & vestibular function and muscle weakness. Furthermore the decrease of the reflex which influences the balance ability in sudden change of the movement could cause the falls. The difficulty of the balance caused by the fear releated to the fall aggravates the Falls Efficacy and causes a lot of the disability of the independent activities of daily living. The purpose of this study was the effect of a Virtual Reality Program on Static Balance control and Fall efficacy of Elderly people. 14 elderly people(subjects) who were ≥65years of age partiripated in this study and they were divided into VR(Virtual Reality) group(n=7) and Control group (n=7). VR group took the general physical therapy & IREX and only the general physical therapy was carried out in the control group. VR group of intervention was carried out for 30min. total 8times. They were evaluated by BIO-Rescue, Fall Efficacy Scale before and after treatment. The Static Balance control and Fall efficacy were assessed by Bio-Rescue & Falls Efficacy Scale. The analysis of the resulf was assessed by Wilcoxon signed test & Mann-Whitney U test. The result showed that the static balance of VR group with the open eyes was improved in a static balance test and range of the movement was increased in limited of stability. And Falls Efficacy was also efficacious. IREX was effective to static balance control and Falls Efficacy of the elderly When we think about these effects, various treatments and objective assessments using VR program will be needed for the elderly

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.1311-1327
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• 2010

This study was conducted to identify the relationship between depression and subjective/objective health status, and to examine predicting factors on depression in the elderly in Korea. This study was a secondary analysis using the data of Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(VI-1) 2007. A total of 939 data from the subjects ≥60 years who completed health-related survey were used for analysis. Data were analyzed using SAS (version 9.1) PC program. Depression was identified in the 20.3% of the older subjects. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that women (OR=2.04), senior high school graduation (OR=0.27) and lowermiddle household income (OR=2.83) were significant associating factors(p<0.05). After adjustment for socio-demographic factors, hypertension (OR=1.93) and asthma (OR=3.32) as objective health status, and stress (OR=7.27), limited activity in daily living due to fracture or joint injury (OR=6.59) and poor self-rate health (OR=1.64) as subjective health status were found as factors predicting depression in the elderly(p<0.05). According to the type of health status, the subjects who had chronic disease or perceived poor physical health were 5.94 times more likely to have disposition to depression than the subjects who had no chronic disease or perceived good physical health (p=0.001). These findings suggest that preventive education and intervention focus on preventing and managing chronic diseases such as hypertension, asthma, fracture and joint injury should be needed to decrease depression in the elderly.