• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.183-203
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• 2002

To know the effect of index of social ability (ISA) and function of social life (FSL) with activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), we carried out a study on the elderly with osteoarthritis daily living in Daegu city for 4 months, from April to July 2002. The followings were observed: 1. The score of functional disability of knee, ADL and ISA were better at lower age (p < 0.01). 2. The younger they are, the better FSL they have. The lower age group has good FSL (p < 0.01). 3. Weight affects more to the under 49Kg group than 50-59Kg group and 60-69Kg group in functional disability of knee, while it doesn't make much difference for the other groups (p > 0.05) and other assessment index doesn't show any relationship with weight. 4. Regarding relat ionship with height , taller group has better knee functions: it's proved by post hock examination that the over 160cm group has much higher knee function than the other groups (p < 0.05). In case of ADL, the over 160cm group and under 149cm group were better than 150$\∼$159cm group. (p < 0.01) . 5. ISA was also different depending on height . It was proved that FSL was the better for the over 160cm group than for the others as a result of post hock examination (p < 0.05). 6. In regard of how many months have passed since the attack of functional disability of knee, knee joint function was better for the 12mon$\∼$36mon group than for the others and the score of ADL was lower for the 12mon$\∼$36mon group than for the others (p < 0.01). ISA was lower for the 12mon$\∼$36mon group and the under 6mon group than for the other groups (p < 0.01). FSL was lower for the 12mon$\∼$36mon group and the under 6mon group than the other groups. (p < 0.01). 7. Comparing left knee with right one, the problem with left knee has lower score of functional disability in all items (p < 0.01). 8. Considering friction noise, knee joint function was slightly better for non-friction noise-group, but it's not statistically significant though. ADL and ISA were better for non-friction noise-group (p < 0.01), while no statistical significance was found in FSL, 9. Knee joint function was better for the group who doesn't have limitation on range of knee flexion motion (p,0.05) but no other difference was found in other items from this group. 10. Limitation on range of knee flexion motion has no statistical difference in ADL and FSL. However, ISA was better for the non-limitation group (p < 0.05) . 11. Knee joint function score has high correlation with ISA (r=0.812, p < 0.01) and FSL (r=0.732, p < 0.01) , which shows the better knee joint function, the higher the score. 12. ISA and FSL were highly correlated: the better ISA, the better FSL (r=0.893, p < 0.01), while ADL has no correlation with either knee joint function or ISA or FSL.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.813-832
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• 2009

As accessibility to health-care service in less populated rural areas is geographically limited and demand for public health-care by the aging is increasing, a new approach for health-care service such as a home care service is becoming more popular. For a home care service, health-care personnels directly visit to location of health-care clients. Such changes in provision of health services require developing innovative and scientific approaches for efficient allocation of health resources and managing services by public health-care organizations. The purpose of this study is to formulate a location model for visiting health-care districting for the rural elderly and to develop an Automated Zoning Procedure (AZP) to solve this model. Mobility, workload balance and contiguity criteria are considered in the model. Three different objective functions are evaluated; 1) minimizing the sum of network distance between the unit areas in a district, 2) maximizing spatial interaction between the unit areas in a district, and 3) minimizing tour distance that visits each unit area exactly once in a district. The AZP for solving the model is developed and applied to a rural area. The application results demonstrate that the AZP can generate different districting systems for each objective functions.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.160-165
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• 2018

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Korea is quickly becoming an aged society. Dementia is also becoming a vital public health problem in Korea. Cognitive impairment as a pre-stage of dementia shares most risk factors for dementia. The aim of the present study was to determine associations of serum levels of vitamins A, C, and E with the risk of cognitive impairment among elderly Koreans. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 230 participants aged 60-79 years from Yangpyeong cohort were included. Cognitive function was assessed by the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination for Dementia Screening. The logistic multivariable regression model was applied to determine the effect of serum vitamins A, C, and E on the risk of cognitive impairment. RESULTS: There was no significant association between the risk of cognitive impairment and serum levels of vitamin A and vitamin C. There was a significant odd ratio when the second tertile group of beta-gamma tocopherol level was compared to the first tertile group [odds ratio (OR) = 0.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.14-0.98, P for trend = 0.051]. In subgroup analyses, there were significant negative associations between beta-gamma tocopherol level and the risk of cognitive impairment in men (OR = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.03-0.87, P for trend = 0.028), non-drinkers or former drinkers (OR = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.02-0.66, P for trend = 0.025), and non-smokers or former smokers (OR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.09-0.82, P for trend = 0.017). CONCLUSION: Serum beta-gamma tocopherol levels tended to be inversely associated with the risk of cognitive impairment. Further prospective large-scaled studies are needed to examine this association.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.143-171
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• 2017

Along with the well-established evidence on the negative effect of social isolation on physical mental health and mortality, increasing attention has been paid to multi-dimensional nature of social isolation. In this study, the main effect and interaction effect of objective and subjective social isolation on heterogeneous age cohort related to the onset of dementia, which is becoming a social problem due to rapid aging of health issues, was examined through binary logistic regression analysis. Data came from the first wave of Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project (KSHAP) (N= 814). Findings showed 1) in the young-old, objective isolation was a significant on the incidence of dementia, 2) in the old-old, subjective isolation increased the risk of dementia. In summary, the relative influence of objective and subjective social isolation related to the incidence of dementia varies depending on the young-old and old-old. On the other hand, the interaction effect of objective and subjective social isolation on dementia was not significant in both the young-old and old-old. Based on the findings, we discussed implications and suggestions for future research and relevant policy and program development(dementia-friendly communities) for ameliorating objective and subjective social isolation.

• 한국노년학
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.759-776
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• 2012

This study analysed the income-related health inequality of the aged in Korea applied to EQ-5D. Two decompositions were used in analysis. One was the decomposition of income-related health inequality into six different dimensions of EQ-5D, and the other was to decompose it by sub-group such as sex, region, existence of spouse. The results are summarized as follows. First, the health concentration index(CI) of the aged was .0254, which meant that there were pro-rich inequality in elderly people's health levels. The same patterns were also seen in the analysis of different dimensions of EQ-5D such as mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. Second, mobility accounted for 35.8% of total EQ-5D score, most contributing to CI of the dimensions of EQ-5D. The CIs by the dimensions ranged from .0091 for mobility to .0013 for self-care. Third, The decompositions by sub-groups showed that the contributions of sex, region, and existence of spouse to health inequality was similar to each other, all of three sub-groups accounted for 10 % of inequality respectively. Fourth, the inequality within group was higher in female group, rural area, and the aged without spouse. The average health level of these groups was lower than that of the other ones, too. These facts indicated that old women, the aged without spouse, and the elderly in rural area were the most vulnerable groups in health problems. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to health problems of these groups in the policy making of health security and social welfare services.

• KIPS Transactions on Computer and Communication Systems
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.251-260
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• 2021

Gait analysis is one of the research fields for obtaining various information related to gait by analyzing human ambulation. It has been studied for a long time not only in the medical field but also in various academic areas such as mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, and computer engineering. Efforts have been made to determine whether there is a problem with gait through gait analysis. In this paper, as a pre-step to find out gait abnormalities, it is investigated whether it is possible to differentiate whether experiment participants wear elderly simulation suit or not by applying gait data to machine learning models for the same person. For a total of 45 participants, each gait data was collected before and after wearing the simulation suit, and a total of six machine learning models were used to learn the collected data. As a result of using an artificial neural network model to distinguish whether or not the participants wear the suit, it showed 99% accuracy. What this study suggests is that we explored the possibility of judging the presence or absence of abnormality in gait by using machine learning.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.373-383
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• 2021

Our society is aging rapidly. In this super-aged society, the increase in healthcare costs are considered a national problem that undermines the sustainability of social security. Various services for healthcare for the elderly have been promoted to address this. However, most of them have focused on healthcare after the outbreak of chronic diseases and lack preventive healthcare. Most of the preventive healthcare projects are only pilots. In this paper, the current status of health care services for senior citizens at home and abroad was analyzed and based on this, the limitations and improvements were analyzed to propose the establishment of IoT-based Total Silver Care Center. IoT-based Total Silver Care Center may be conveniently monitored the health status of the elderly through various sensors, medical devices, and smart bands. And based on this, it can improve the quality of nursing services through time-saving and work efficiency of nursing providers. In addition, health care interventions may be provided in a timely manner if there is a change in the health status of users. And real-time imaging systems can help overcome mental difficulties.

• 한국노년학
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.195-209
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing file-up family stress in the caregivers of patients with dementia. Data was collected by questionnaires from 102 families with a member having a dementia, at neurology departments of hospitals, temporary shelter for dementia patient, and nursing homes for the elderly. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression. In results, the score of file-up stress showed a significantly negative correlation with the score of level of family hardiness(r=-.200, p=.026), social support(r=-.361, p=.004), relative and friend support(r=-.416, p=.001), and F-COPES(r=-.345, p=.048). The multiple regression analysis revealed that the most powerful predictor of file-up family stress was family cost for patients with dementia. The results contribute to the understanding of Korean family caregivers' perceptions of caregiveing. Further researches should be conducted with the consideration of Korean traditional custom that family should take care of the elderly family members.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.85-89
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• 2015

Background: The study was designed to assess the changes in working conditions through a comparative analysis of the characteristics of working conditions in 2006 and 2010. Methods: We performed a comparative analysis of the data related to the first Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) and the second KWCS in the categories of demographic characteristics, quality of labor, exposure to hazards, and health problems. Results: From our analysis of the demographic characteristics, we saw an increase in labor force participation rate of women and elderly people. As a result of the investigation with regards to working hours, the ratio of employees who worked for ${\geq}49$ hours per week was decreased and the ratio of employees who worked for ${\geq}40h/wk$ increased. As for exposure to hazards, exposure to tobacco smoke notably decreased in 2010 compared with 2006. With regards to health problems, there was a sharp increase in the number of people who complained of muscle pain in their arms and legs. Conclusion: KWCS data included many aspects of working conditions as a nationwide sample. In addition, because this is a periodic nationwide survey, the labor force, working hours, harmful factor exposure, and the change in health problems characteristics according to the flow of time could be investigated. The information comparing the main results of the first survey conducted in 2006 and the second survey conducted in 2010 obtained through this study can be used as an important base material for the establishment of the national policy.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.393-402
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• 2014

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe the risk of dysphagia among older adults in senior centers and to find the relationships between the risk of dysphagia and dysphagia-specific quality of life. Methods: The participants were 260 community-dwelling older adults, aged 65 years in two senior centers. Data were collected by self-report questionnaires or face to face interviews. The instruments were the modified dysphagia risk assessment scale for elderly and dysphagia-specific quality of life questionnaire. The data were analyzed using t-test, $x^2$-test, logistic regression, and pearson's correlation. Results: 162 older adults (62.3%) were classified as having the risk of dysphagia. Severe dry mouth (OR=15.677, CI=2.986~82.297), neurologic disease (OR=10.125, CI=1.092~93.899), gastritis (OR=5.731, CI=1.482~22.173), denture discomfort (OR=2.969, CI=1.016~8.677), teeth discomfort (OR=2.61, CI=1.311~5.196) were the significant factors predicting the risk of dysphagia. There is a significant correlation between the risk of dysphagia and dysphagia-specific quality of life. Conclusion: Dysphagia could be a major health problem among community dwelling older adults. It can affect the dysphagia-specific quality of life. Older adults having severe dry mouth, neurologic disease, or gastritis should receive dysphagia risk assessment and proper management on a regular basis. An effective nursing intervention needs to be developed for the older adults with risk factors of dysphagia.