• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.31-38
• /
• 2010

Purpose: We investigated the relationship of depression and the ability to engage in activities of daily living in the elderly. Methods: Subjects (n = 182) were 60 years or older and who attended the Senior College of Gimhae Senior Welfare Center. We collected data via a questionnaire, through a Self- recording method and through individual interviews. We collected data on personal and general characteristics, level of depression, and activities of daily living. Results: Among all subjects, 51.1% reported having depressionMild depression was reported by 29.7% (54 subjects), moderate depression by 13.2% (24 subjects), and severe depression by 8.2% (15 subjects). Activities of daily living, including walking, climbing stairs, standing from a chair and sitting on and using toilets, using a telephone, bathing, shopping, cleaning house, and managing money were significantly lower in elderly subjects who were depressed (p<0.05). The greater the level of depression, the less able they were to engage in activities of daily living. Conclusion: These findings may help us achieve early detection of depression in the elderly and provide mediated arbitration so that they can have better health condition and greater ability to engage in activities of daily living.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.1-20
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study is to evaluate an education program to take care of the elderly in the rural area. The education program that includes 4 sessions are carried out in the community center. The 4 sessions are to understand rural elderly and volunteer role, help elderly's daily living, aid elderly to use welfare services and support the elderly's leisure. The subjects were 30 persons under 60 years of age living in Jangseong and Hoengsung villages. By paired t-test, knowledge on caring and the attitude for elderly and volunteer showed significant differences between before and after the education program. After the training, 66.7% of the subjects answered 'yes' to the question that asked whether they would like to participate in caring volunteer for neighboring elderly. Subjects's positively changed attitude can stimulate positive behavior that eventually enables them to provide high quality services. The satisfaction of the program showed high scores for contents, place and operation of education.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.13-27
• /
• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to review the elderly people's sexual life, their perception of sex and identify difference between perception of sex of elderly and adults. Methods: A structured questionnaire survey was conducted for 188 elderly people and 181 adults. Collected data was analyzed with frequency, percentage, $x^2$-test, t-test, ANOVA. Results: 54.0% of the elderly were keeping their sexual life. 44.6% of those keeping their sexual life had a sexual affair once or twice a month. 56.4% of them had a sexual affair with their spouses. The elderly subjects scored 2.04 on average out of the full point of 4.0 about their perception of sexual life. Specifically, male subjects scored higher(2.41) than female subjects(1.67). There was significant difference between the elderly people's perception of sexual life and adults' the perception of sexual life about the elderly. The perception of sexual life differed significantly depending on the existence and non-existence of the spouse, sex, education, health state, present sexual life, sexual frequency, sexual satisfaction, the solution of its desire, the feeling about the sex. Conclusion: It was demonstrated through this study that the elderly people were maintaining their sexual desire and life continuously, and therefore, it is conceived that the elderly people's sex should be assessed and handled from a general perspective.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.620-629
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to assess dietary habits and seasonal variation and diversity of food intakes of elderly women living alone as compared to those of elderly women living with family in a rural area. Forty nine elderly women living alone and forty one elderly women living with family who reside in Goryeong-gun, Gyeongbuk, were interviewed using questionnaires in summer 2005, and their food intakes were assessed secondly in winter and thirdly in spring 2006. The average ages were 74.7 years for elderly living alone and 72.8 years for elderly living with family. Tooth status and bone fracture experience were similar between the groups. The prevalence of musculoskeletal disease was 61.2% and that of circulatory disease was 32.7% of the subjects. Average of total score of mental depression of the subjects was 5.94 out of 12 points, and it was not significantly different between the two groups. Skipping meals was more frequent and mealtime was more irregular in the elderly women living alone as compared with the elderly women living with family. Consumption of dietary supplements was also less in the elderly women living alone. Food intakes by the elderly women living alone tended to be lower than those by the elderly women living with family. Dietary diversity score was significantly lower with the elderly women living alone as compared with the elderly women living with family only in summer (p < 0.01). Percentages of the subjects who have taken meat group and vegetable group were significantly lower in the elderly living alone compared with the elderly living with family during summer. Therefore, it is necessary to develop food assistance or supporting program suited for the season within a community for elderly women living alone.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.57 no.10
• /
• pp.1893-1895
• /
• 2008

In this paper, we investigated the maximum ankle joint plantarflexion moment(MPM) of young and elderly subjects during various modes of isokinetic contractions with special interest in the elderly females who were reported to have higher fall rate than the elderly males. Subjects include the young subjects(14 males: $22.7{\pm}2.5yrs$, 13 females: $20.5{\pm}1.3yrs$) and the elderly subjects(17 males: $65.8{\pm}10.5yrs$, 26 females: $71.4{\pm}5.2yrs$). The MPM was normalized by each subject's body weight. The MPM of elderly females was the weakest among the groups, particularly, at the eccentric contractions. The male-to-female ratio of MPM was greater in the elderly than in the young and the young-to-elderly ratio of MPM was greater in female than in male, both during the eccentric contractions. The result suggests that the decreased muscle force per body weight, especially at the eccentric contraction, may be one reason for the more frequent fall of the elderly female than the elderly male.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.31 no.7
• /
• pp.1174-1182
• /
• 1998

The purpose of this study was to compare the nutritional status and the immunocompetence of elderly women residing in urban and rural areas. Dietary food records and anthropometric measurements were used to evaluate the nutritional status of subjects. The immune function of subjects was assessed by total and differential white blood cell(WBC) counts. Total B and T Lymphocytes, and T cell subsets were quantified by flow-cytometer. Immunoglobulin G, A, and M concentrations were also measured as an index of humoral immunity. Elderly women in rural area showed a relatively lower dietary intake of total energy, protein, and iron than did urban elderly women. Total WBC, neutrophil counts, eosinophil counts, and the percentage of neutrophils among total leukocytes were significantly higher in urban elderly women than in rural women. Although the numbers of lymphocytes were not significantly different, the percentage of Lymphocytes among total leukocytes as greater in rural elderly women than in urban. Both groups did not show any significant differences in numbers of T cell subsets and NK cells. Immunoglobulin G, A, and M levels were not significantly different between the two groups, but the numbers of subjects placed under the deficient range of immunoglobulins were greater in rural than in urban elderly women. from the present study, it could be suggested that poor nutritional intake may selectively affect the number of immune cells, thereby influencing the immunocompetence of elderly women. (Korean J Nutrition 31(7) 1174-1182, 1998)

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.97-102
• /
• 2011

Electroglottography (EGG) is a common method for providing non-invasive measurements of glottal activity. EGG has been used in vocal pathology as a clinical or research tool to measure vocal fold contact. This paper presents the results of pitch, jitter, and closed quotient (CQ) measurements in electroglottographic signals of young (mean = 22.7 years) and elderly (mean = 74.3 years) male and female subjects. The sustained corner vowels /i/, /a/, and /u/ were measured at around 70 dB SPL since the most notable among EGG variables is the phonation intensity, which showed positive correlation with closed phase. The aim of this paper was to measure EGG data according to age and gender. In CQ, there was a significant difference between young and elderly female subjects while there was no significant difference between young and elderly male subjects. The mean value for young males was higher than that for elderly males while the mean value for young females was lower than that for elderly females. Thus, it can be said that in mean values, increased CQ was related to decreased age for females, while CQ decreased for males as the speaker's age decreased. Although the laryngeal degeneration due to increased age seems to occur to a lesser extent in females, the significant increase of CQ in elderly female voices could not be explained in terms of age-related physiological changes. In standard deviation of pitch and jitter, the mean values for young and elderly males were higher than that for young and elderly females. That is, male subjects showed higher in mean values of voice variables than female subjects. This result could be considered as a sign of vocal instability in males. It was suggested that these results may provide powerful insights into the control and regulation of normal phonation and into the detection and characterization of pathology.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.373-381
• /
• 2007

The elderly population in Korea is growing rapidly and their nutritional status is not acceptable. Data were collected from the self-administered questionnaire of 495 free living elderly, over 65years old, in Korea to asses the intake and consumption pattern of milk and dairy products. The questionnaire contains demographics, health related characteristics, and perception on milk, and consumption behaviors of milk and dairy products. Most of the elderly subjects understood that milk is good foods in terms of nutritive value and health. And 67% of the subjects satisfied with the sanitation status of milk on the markets. The kind of milk that majority of the subjects consumed was whole milk, and only 5.1% of them consumed low fat milk. Less than 20% of the subjects consumed milk everyday, living alone group consumed milk less frequently than living with others. It was found that the majority of the elderly subjects did not meet current recommendation for milk. Liquid and curd type yogurt were the major dairy products used among elderly, and the reasons were good taste and digestion. They believed that these kinds of dairy products help constipation and digestion problems. The price of milk was ranked for the first factor needed to be considered for milk and dairy products consumption in elderly korean.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.454-463
• /
• 2000

The purpose of this study was to assess the biochemical nutritional status of the long-lived elderly. The subjects of the study were 148 elderly people of age over 85 years living in Kyungpook Sung-Ju area who have no problem in daily living. The anthropometric measurement and biochemical assessment of the blood sample were carried out. The subject group for this study was composed of 25.9% males and 74.1% females, the average age being 87 years old. The mean Body Mass Index(BMI) of the male and female subjects were 20.7 and 21.2 respectively. The average body fat amounts of the male and female were 21.4% and 29.8% respectively, and the average waist/hip ratios were 0.9 and 0.7 respectively. The mean levels of the total blood protein and albumin of the subjects were in the normal ranges. The mean levels of serum cholesterol and triglyceride were 167.9mg /dL and 123.9mg/dL respectively. The mean levels of the subjects below normal range of hemoglobin were 63.5%. Serum levels of antioxidant nutrients were very poor. The mean levels of serum lipid peroxidation products were 3.3nmol/mL. BMI and WHR were positively correlated with the serum cholesterol levels. The resuts showed that the long-lived elderly had good nutritional status except for antioxidant nutrients status. In addition antioxidant supplement for long-lived elderly may be effective to maintain healthy life in later years.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.3 no.5
• /
• pp.707-714
• /
• 1998

This cross-sectional study was designed to describe in nutritional and health status of the Korean elderly residing in America using demographic variables, dietary, anthropometric and functional status indicators, and to investigate possible relationships among these variables. Sixty elderly persons aged 61-91 years were assessed in their homes. Dietary intake was estimated by the 24-hour recall and brief dietary questionnaire. The following anthropometric measures were taken : weight, height, knee height, triceps skinfold, and midarm circumference. Functional status was measured by activities of daily living(ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living(IADLs) questionnaires, and a measure of psychosocial status as "happiness score"(a life satisfaction questionnaire). Intakes of energy, calcium, magnesium, folacin, vitamin B6, and zinc were low in this elderly sample. Females 75 years of age and older had extremely low energy intakes. A large percentage of subjects reported difficulty with both activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. Subjects over 75 years of age reported more difficulty than younger subjects for most activities. Gender differnces were seen in anthropometric variables and energy intake. Happiness scores were similar in subjects, regardless of age or gender, however, happiness score was significantly correlated with the energy and protein intake(p<0.05). Several difficulties were encountered during the assessment of this elderly sample. The conditions in the home were unpredictable and often inadequate for the anthropometric measures in particular. Further research is needed to improve current methodologies so that they may be more adaptable to the conditions found in homes. in homes.