• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.183-205
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• 2000

This research was designed to compare the health condition and the quality of life of the elderly inpatients with those of the normal elderly people. The subjects of study were 482 elderly inpatients and 304 normal elderly people. The research was conducted in July and August using the instrument WHOQOL. The results of the research are as follows: For the level of health, it was recognized that male was healthier than female, having higher the education, living in the city rather than in the rural, keeping the normal life than being in the hospital. There were little difference in the past medical histories of the elderly inpatients and the normal elderly people. As to the diseases currently under the treatment, there were some difference between the elderly inpatients and the normal elderly people but the tendency was similar in the kinds and the frequencies. As to the recognition for the quality of life between the elderly inpatients and the normal elderly people based on the records reflected on each of the domains of WHOQOL, the normal elderly people more positively recognized in the overall quality of life and the following domains: physical, psychological, level of independence, and spirituality/religion/personal beliefs. The normal elderly people more positively recognized especially in the level of independence domain (mobility, activities of daily living, dependence on medication or treatments, working capacity). In the social relationships domain only the sexual activity was significant and the normal elderly people more positively recognized. The elderly inpatients showed the correlation of over 0.5 in the overall quality of life and the following domains: environment, social relationships, physical, psychological, level of independence. It was over 0.6 in the physical domain and the domains of psychological and level of independence. and the psychological domains of level of independence and social relationships. For the points of overall quality of life, it had no correlation with hospitalization but the health condition, residential district, occupation, and taste exerted a significant effect. As a result of separate analyses of the elderly inpatients and the normal elderly people, the health condition and the age only were the common variable which would exercise a significant effect. Besides, the primary factors which would exercise the quality of life were the occupation and taste for the elderly inpatients, and the residential district and source of income for the normal elderly people. In conclusion, it is first and foremost important to improve the standard of health for the overall quality of life for the elderly people, regardless of hospitalization. Therefore, a plan must be urgently drawn up for revitalization of the health promoting projects for the elderly people and the public health projects for the elderly people, and the investment must be increased for settlement of health problems of the elderly people.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.61-71
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• 1999

Sleep is a necessity for survival. Disruption of sleep leads to numerous adverse physiological and psychological consequences. These could be particularly undesirable for older patients, who are subject to many additional factors. But there is limited research related to hospitalized elderly in Korea. The purpose of the study is to explore sleep patterns and disturbing factors of before and after hospitalization, in order to present basic information regarding elderly sleep to develop nursing intervention. The sample consisted of 32 elderly men and women between the ages of n and 87 years. Data collection was done from September to November 1997. Measures of sleep patterns and related factors were obtained from self-reported sleep questionnaires. Analysis of data was done by use of t-test, paired t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The results of this study were summarized as follows : 1. In comparision between before and after admission of their sleep pattern, “sleep onset” tends to be delayed and nocturnal sleep time was significantly reduced. So, hospitalized elderly reported less total sleep time than before admission. 2. Regarding the sleep disturbing factors, medication(hypnotics ; 37.5%), physiological factor (snoring ; 59.4%) environmental factor (pillow ; 78.1%), emotional factor(anxiety related to disease ; 37.5%), and illness factor(fatigue ; 34.7%) were reported. 3. Significant differences in gender were found. Men had more disturbances in sleep than women owing to difficulty in falling a sleep and lack of nocturnal sleep. Women consumed more sleep inducing drugs. Significant increase was reported in napping during the day with increasing age. 4. Significant differences between good sleepers and poor sleepers were found for the following variables : nocturnal sleep time, total sleep time, bed time, sleep onset latency time, sleep latency time after nocturnal awakening, time spent in bed upon arousal, environmental factors, and emotional factors. In conclusion, it was found that the quantity and quality of sleep were significantly altered in hospitalized elderly, but adequate strategies for better sleep were not practiced. Further research is needed to develop Intervention strategies to promote sleep and to prevent sleep problems.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.129-135
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• 2021

Objectives: The present study reports case of an elderly kwashiorkor patient who was treated with Korean Medicine. Methods: A 68-year-old female patient with weight loss, general weakness, chills, anorexia, and dizziness after over 100 episodes of diarrhea visited the hospital. Blood tests showed hypoalbuminemia and anemia, and ultrasonography revealed fatty liver disease. The patient was diagnosed with kwashiorkor, and her symptom differentiation was Yang deficiency followed by Both Qi-Blood deficiency. Sayeok-Tang, Soshiho-Tang, Insamyangyeong-Tang, and Gongjin-Dan, herbal drugs, were given to the patient during 40 days of hospitalization. Results: After 40 days of hospitalization, her symptoms were reduced, and the blood test results improved. Conclusion: This case presents the therapeutic potential of Korean medicine in the treatment of kwashiorkor.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.124-130
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• 2008

This study investigated the age dependencies in ambient air pollution-associated asthma hospitalization from 2003 to 2005 in Seoul. For all ages and the age groups of 0-14, 15-64, and 65+years, the Generalized Additive Model (GAM) was used to estimate the relative risks of daily asthma hospitalization associated with changes in particulate matter and ozone. The time-trends, seasonal variances, day effects, temperature, humidity, and pressure at sea level were controlled in the models. Significant associations were observed between asthma hospitalization and the levels of $PM_{10}$ and $O_3$. The relative risks (RRs) of asthma hospitalization for every 10 unit increases in $PM_{10}({\mu}g/m^3)$ and $O_3$(ppb) were 1.008 (95% CI 1.005-1.012), and 1.012 (95% CI 1.003-1.020), respectively. Evaluated over $10\;{\mu}g/m^3$ increase in $PM_{10}$, we found the relative risks of asthma hospitalization to be 1.009 (95% CI 1.004-1.014) in 0-14 age group, and 1.015 (95% CI 1.008-1.022) in 65+ age group. Considering 10 ppb increase in $O_3$, those were 1.014 (95% CI 1.003-1.024) in 0-14 age group, and 1.025 (95% CI 1.009-1.041) in 65+ age group. It was concluded that current levels of ambient air pollution in Seoul make a significant contribution to the variation in daily asthma hospitalization. Further reduction in air pollution is necessary to protect the health of the community, especially that of the higher risky groups including children and elderly population.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.244-250
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate medication and related factors including: gender, age, duration of hospitalization, MMSE, and ADL in elderly who were hospitalized in long-term care facilities. Methods: A total of 282 elderly people who were hospitalized for more than a month were asked to fill in a structured questionnaire which was used to collect data regarding their gender, age, duration of hospitalization, MMSE, ADL, and medication. Results: The average number of drugs per patient was 7.50. Subjects taking 6-7 medications were the highest ranking (23.7%). According to multiple regression analysis, the most significant factor relating to the number of drugs prescribed for each subject were the ages of the subjects (p=.007). Conclusion: We found that the number of prescribed drugs taken by those who were hospitalized were related to age. A tailored strategy is needed to decrease the number of drugs according to age and to control the medicines prescribed to the elderly who are hospitalized in long-term care facilities.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.231-240
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate the depression of the main caregivers for the elderly in Korea by using a descriptive survey study. A total of two hundred eight participants who admitted at five nursing homes located in G city were analyzed using SPSS 25.0. There was a significant difference in depression according to general characteristics: higher level in extended family in family type. Participants showed significantly higher level of depression in cases of less than five years' hospitalization periods or Decision maker of elderly's hospitalization high level burden for expenses among caring related characteristics. They also had higher level of depression in cases of high level burden for expenses. less than 60 minute in commuting time, or non-satisfaction for nursing home service among caring related characteristics. Although we need more evidences through future studies, the findings from this study will be useful in the development of nursing intervention program for reducing the depression of the main caregivers for elderly population.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 1998

The literature review for fall in the elderly has been done for the better quality of life of increasing elderly people toward 21 st century. Because 30 to 50% of over sixty five years old persons have experiences of fall, five percent of the fallen have trauma such as bone fracture requiring hospitalization and three quarter of people who die as fall are over 65 year old, fall is important health problem of them. There are very little societal interest in and research related to fall. Therefore, among recent foreign and our literatures studying literature review of frequency of fall, risk factors and assessing method for tall, and the management of fall prevention program, I would like to find research direction. Conclusivelly, we should study extensively the survey of the elderly's fall and on the basis of it. developing fall prevention program, promote the elderly's health through fall prevention.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.292-299
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether poor preoperative nutritional status in elderly patients exhibited a negative influence on postoperative clinical outcomes. Methods: The medical records of 645 elderly patients were examined retrospectively. The patients had undergone major surgery between January 2017 and January 2018. Their nutritional status was measured using the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002. The data were analyzed using the chi-squared test, the Mann-Whitney U test, logistic regression, linear regression, Cox proportional hazards regression, and the Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results: Preoperative malnutrition was found in 73 patients (11.3%). Poor preoperative nutritional status was significantly associated with pressure ulcers, length of hospitalization, discharge to patient care facilities rather than home, and mortality rate at three months. Conclusion: Preoperative malnutrition in elderly patients was associated with negative postoperative clinical outcomes. These results indicate that an effective nutritional program before surgery can lead to a more rapid postoperative recovery.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.94-100
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• 2005

Background: Although trauma has been the major cause of death in korea, there are few reports describing the epidemiologic characteristics of trauma victims according to age-group. Thus, this study aimed to describe the epidemiologic characteristics of trauma victims visiting an urban emergency medical center in Korea. Method: This study was conducted with all trauma victims who visited the emergency departments of Asan Medical Center from April 11, 2005 to May 10, 2005. After the subjects were divided into three groups such as child (${\leq}14$ years old), adult(15-64 years old) and elderly(${\geq}65$ years old), the prehospital courses, injury mechanisms, injury severities and clinical results were compared. Result: Among total 5,927 patients who visited the emergency medical center, 896(15.1%) patients were trauma victims. Although child under the age of 15 comprised 28.7% of the total trauma victims, less severe injuries(injury severity score < 9) accounted for 97.7% of the cases. The hospitalization rate for injury among child was 21.5%. however, although elderly aged 65 comprised only 5.9% of the total trauma victims, more severe injuries(injury severity score ${\geq}9$) accounted for 30.2% of the cases. The hospitalization rate for injury among elderly was 56.4%. Conclusion: Patterns of injury and clinical results by age-group were considerably different. less severe and non-hospitalized injuries were more common in child than other age-groups. while severe and hospitalized injuries were common in elderly.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.36-50
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• 2009

Korean Government had performed three pilot programs to introduce the long term care insurance system. Persons aged 65 or older who are dependent on others for daily living could use long term care services in the pilot program. The long-term care insurance covered nursing home services, home care services and cash benefits. The cash benefits are included that for elderly at home and for patients in geriatric hospital. This study investigated whether there had been any change in the medical care utilization according to cash benefits for geriatric hospitalization. This study used National Health Insurance claims and Long term Care Insurance claims 2003 through 2006. Data were composed of subjects who undertook both insurance coverage. The subjects was divided into two groups. Case group included participants with the cash benefits of geriatric hospitalization. Control group included persons without the cash benefits selected by random sampling according to the distribution of case group. This study showed that the amount of medical care utilization of the case group is more significantly increased than the control group after adjusted their health condition and functional condition. This result will be helpful for making decisions on whether the cash benefit of geriatric hospitalization can be introduced into long term care insurance system.