• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.140-148
• /
• 2008

This study was conducted to compare of health status, dietary behaviors and nutrient intakes according to family types of the elderly in rural areas. Family types were divided into three types-elderly living alone, elderly living with spouse, and elderly living with spouse and children. Subjects were 119 persons aged over 65 years (34 male, 85 females) living in rural areas and period of survey was from 29 January 2007 to 2 February. General environmental factors, health status, dietary behaviors and nutrient intakes were compared according to family types, the elderly living along showed a significantly lower in monthly income(p<0.01), self perceived health status(p<0.001), Instrumental Activity of Daily Living(IADL) score, and General Self Efficacy Scale(GSES) score compared to the elderly living with spouse and those living with spouse and children. However, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale(CES-D) was higher than those of the elderly living family members (p<0.05). In addition, sum of dietary behavior score was the lowest in the elderly living alone (22.3 in elderly living alone, 24.1 in elderly living with spouse, 23.4 in elderly living with spouse and children, p<0.001) and nutrient intakes of potassium, zinc, vitamin C(p<0.01 respectively), calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin B6 and folic acid(p<0.05 respectively) also reported to be significantly lower in the elderly living alone than in others of two types. From these results, health status, dietary behavior pattern and nutrient intakes of the elderly living alone were found to be inadequate overall, so measures to deal with these health and nutritional status were needed.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.200-210
• /
• 2016

This study was performed to reveal the factors determine self-rated health status between middle aged and elderly living in community. The subjects for this study consisted of 142 middle aged and 201 elders who lived in 3 cities of convenience sampling method. The Data was collected through personal interviews with questionnaires from March to July, 2014. For the data analysis, descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression were used with SPSS Statistics program. The determinants on self-rated health status were present illness, stress management, health responsibility, fatigue, anger, tension, and social support among the middle-aged persons and physical activity, present illness, confusion, and exercise among elderly persons. On the basis of the results in this study, we should develop differentiated health promotion programs through education, counselling and health examination for the middle-aged adults and elderly.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.352-364
• /
• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Given the increasing proportion of the Korean population that is aged 65 years and older, the present study analyzed the relationship between diet quality and sarcopenia in elderly persons by using data from the 2008-2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). SUBJECTS/METHODS: Data for 3,373 persons aged 65 years and over (men: 1,455, 43.1%) were selected from the 2008-2011 KNHANES. Sarcopenia assessments are based on a formula that divides a subject's appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) by their weight (wt) and multiplies that result by 100 ([ASM/wt] × 100). Sarcopenia is present if the subject's result was less than one standard deviation (SD) below the sex-specific mean for a young reference group. For evaluation of diet quality, data obtained via the 24-hour recall method were used to calculate the Diet Quality Index for Koreans (DQI-K). A general linear model was applied in order to analyze general information and nutritional intake according to sarcopenia status. For analysis of the relationship between diet quality and sarcopenia, a binominal logistic regression analysis was undertaken. RESULTS: The sarcopenia prevalence rate among the study subjects aged 65 years and over was 37.6%. The DQI-K of those without sarcopenia was 3.33 ± 0.04 points, while that of those with sarcopenia was 3.45 ± 0.04 points (P < 0.05). The relationship between diet quality and sarcopenia revealed that subjects aged 75 and older had a poor diet quality, and their odds ratio (OR) of sarcopenia presence was significantly higher (OR: 1.807, 95% confidence interval: 1.003-3.254, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that poor diet quality was related to sarcopenia presence in Koreans aged 75 and older. In order to improve the diet quality of the elderly (aged 75 and older), it is necessary to develop dietary improvement guidelines.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.16 no.10
• /
• pp.6679-6687
• /
• 2015

purpose : The purpose of this study was examine the effect of self-transcendence and loneliness on quality of life of the elderly. Method : This was a descriptive survey study. The subjects was 171 elderly persons. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and stepwise multiple regression were used in analysis of data. Results : Average score were 2.7 for self-transcendence, 2.0 for loneliness, and 3.0 for quality of life. Statistically significant positive correlations were observed between quality of life and self-transcendence. however, from the statistical point view, significantly negative correlation was observed between quality of life and loneliness. self-transcendence, economic status, general health status, loneliness and spouse were significant predictors of quality of life. Conclusion : This study will provide basic information for use in development of a program to encourage a quality of life for elderly persons.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.29-37
• /
• 2002

This study was designed to assess diet and health-related factors of older adults in Korea. Subjects females were 2,660 adults aged 50 and over living in Korea. Males were 847 persons and were 1813 persons. The mean weight and height for males and females were 63.8 $\pm$ 0.3kg / 164.0 $\pm$ 0.2cm and 57.0 $\pm$ 0.2kg /150.6 $\pm$ 0.1cm respectively. BMI (body mass index), body fat, and percent fat were significantly greater in females than in males. The muscle mass and body water were significantly greater in males than in females. Twenty-one percent of total subjects lived alone and 26% with spouse only. Most of the subject's self-reported income was in middle level (65%) or low level (24%). Proportion of subjects who answered 'very poor' or 'poor' on perceived health status was higher in older group. The 50-64 years old group was facing more stress than 65yr and over group. Among male subjects,38.4% were current-smokers and 22.0% were ex-smokers. But only 6.5% of female subjects were current-smokers. Males turned out to have better dietary habits-meal frequency per day, mealtime regularity, regular meal size and balanced eating-than females (p < 0.001). This study revealed that the diet and health-related factors affect nutritional status and chronic diseases of the elderly. For better management and evaluation of health status of the elderly, more effective nutritional assessment tools should be developed.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.66 no.2
• /
• pp.439-446
• /
• 2017

Portable low-cost Kinect sensor was used to analyze standing balance ability of the elderly. Eighty subjects who can walk alone and have a normal cognitive level participated in this experiment. Based on Berg Balance scale (BBS) test with 52 points, subjects were divided into Healthy older (HO: 46 persons, BBS: $53.80{\pm}1.19$) and Impaired older (IO: 34 persons, BBS: $49.06{\pm}2.03$) group. Each subject performed 30 seconds four different standing balance tests (EO: Eyes Open, EC: Eyes Close, EOf: Eyes Open on foam, ECf: Eyes Close on foam). Five variables (Mean distance, Range of distance, Root mean square, Mean velocity, 95% ellipse area) were calculated from the hip joint center movement of Kinect sensor. Results showed that there were significant differences between groups for four different standing tests. Calculated variables from kinect sensor showed significant correlation with BBS score. Especially, mediolateral mean distance, mediolateral root mean square, mediolateral range of distance and 95% ellipse area showed discriminative ability for all tests. Mean values of variables of IO were higher than those of HO, which means the decreased balance ability in IO compared with HO. Therefore, it was possible to estimate simple balance assessment of the elderly using portable low-cost Kinect sensor.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
• /
• v.7 no.7
• /
• pp.599-608
• /
• 2017

This study investigated factors that are associated with companion animal ownership among urban elderly persons. This study was based on data from 2014 Seoul Survey, and a total of 4,717 people aged 60 years or older were selected for the analyses. Community level data were from 2014 Seoul statistics and they included park area per person, number of elderly recreational facilities, and number of public sports facilities based on 25 districts of Seoul Metropolitan City. This study examined differences between companion animal owners and non-owners concerning individual level factors and community level factors. Factors that are associated with companion animal ownership were examined using multilevel logistic regression analysis. Among individual level variables, companion animal ownership was associated with gender, marital status, income, number of household members, and housing type. Among community level variables, park area per person was a significant factor that is associated with companion animal ownership. Study findings can be used Based on study findings, implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.25 no.1 s.85
• /
• pp.59-75
• /
• 2007

This review synthesizes research during the past 15 years on the family relations of older persons. After discussing two background issues-sociodemographic changes of later life families and the status of the elderly-the following topics are addressed; relationships between aged parents and adult children, couple relationships, grandparents' relationship with their grandchildren and sibling relationships. Family relationships are vital support systems providing emotional and instrumental support in the lives of older persons. Mutual assistance and affection among family members were found to be common characteristics. Although research on family gerontology has increased in quantify, there are feater needs to develop qualitative, longitudinal and theory grounded studies to capture the rich complexity of family life. Other challenges and suggestions for future research on older persons' family relationship are presented.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.223-234
• /
• 2008

This study aimed to develop the elderly care program for seniors in rural areas and to evaluate its efficacy through pre- and post-tests. For them, this study carried out a total of 8 sessions that includes 4 aims, such as understanding rural elderly, volunteer activities, psychological help, and aids to daily living, on 36 persons over the age of 60 years in rural areas. The data was analyzed by paired t-test to 36 elderly. The results of the study are as follows. First, looking at changes in knowledge about aging, objective evaluation of knowledge showed significant differences (t=-2.22, p<.05), but evaluation of elderly's perception-change didn't show significant differences between before and after. Second, volunteer attitude didn't show significant differences between before and after, but after the training, 75% of them answered 'yes' to question that asked whether they'd like to participate in elderly's volunteer caring activity for other elderly within the town in the future, which gave us certain expectation that the attitude towards volunteer activities might change positively in the future. Third, objective evaluation of knowledge for psychological help didn't show significant differences between before and after. But elderly's subjective perception showed significant differences (t=-2.82, p<.01). Fourth, evaluating changes in knowledge for elderly's aiding daily life, both the objective evaluation and subjective evaluation didn't show significant differences between before and after. Fifth, satisfaction of the program showed high scores over 4 points: contents, education methods, education place, education time. The most helpful topics for them were counseling (27.8%) and dementia (27.8%), followed by elderly and aging (16.7%), elderly's residential environment (13.9%), elderly's dietary life (9.3%) and volunteer activities (5.6%).

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.182-196
• /
• 1997

Physiological changes that affect nutrient absorption and utilization occur in older adults, and the collection of nutritional information is an important part of examining the nutrition and health issue. A nutritional survey using the 24-hour recall method was performed to identify nutritional quality and leading patterns of food group intake for protein, vitamin C, P and Fe were over 1, whereas those for vitamin A, $B_1$, $B_2$, niacin and Ca were below 1. The MAR(Mean Adequacy Ratio) was relatively low(0.75). The percentage of energy from carbohydrate, protein, and fat was 65.1, 15.6, and 19.5, respectively, thus the quantities of energy source were ideal. The Older subjects revealed poorer nutrition quality than the younger subjects did. The food group intake pattern of the elderly was not diverse, only 9% of them consumed all food groups in a day. These results suggest that nutritional guidelines for older Koreans should focus on the maintenance of adequate energy intake. In addition, selection of foods with high protein and calcium, such as dairy food, should be emphasized, particularly in the older elderly. Nutrition programs should target individuals at risk of not receiving enough nutrients, like the oldest elderly, and persons with lower education.