• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2019

Purpose: The goal was to use electronic health records to identify factors and outcomes associated with falls among patients admitted to hematology units. Methods: This retrospective case-control study included data from a tertiary university hospital. Analysis was done of records from 117 patients with a history of falls and 201 patients with no history of falls who were admitted to the hematology unit from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014. Risk factors were analyzed using hierarchical logistic regression; patient outcomes were analyzed using multiple logistic regression, Cox proportional hazards regression, and multiple linear regression. Results: Clinical factors such as self-care nursing (OR=4.47, CI=1.64~12.11), leukopenia (OR=6.03; CI=2.51~14.50), and hypoalbuminemia (OR=2.79, CI=1.31~5.96); treatment factors such as use of narcotics (OR=2.06, CI=1.01~4.19), antipsychotics (OR=3.05, CI=1.20~7.75), and steroids (OR=4.51, CI=1.92~10.58); and patient factors such as low education (OR=3.16, CI=1.44~6.94) were significant risk factors. Falls were also associated with increased length of hospital stay to 21.58 days (p<.001), and healthcare costs of 17,052,784 Won (p<.001). Conclusion: These findings can be a resource for fall prevention education and to help develop fall risk assessment tools for adults admitted to hematology units.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.1101-1112
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• 2005

Purpose: This study was done to suggest directions for developing exercise interventions for fall prevention in the elderly in Korea in the future, Method: Twenty five articles for fall prevention exercises were reviewed and analyzed. Result: $84.0\%$ of subjects were older adults age 65 and older living in the community. The most frequently performed interventions were lower limb strength and balance exercises together $43.3\%$, group exercise $70.0\%$, exercise 3 times/week $60.0\%$, 60 min per session $36.7\%$, duration of 12 weeks and 1 year $23.3\%$ each. The most frequently used outcome variables were static balance $84.0\%$, lower limb muscle strength $72.0\%$, dynamic balance $56.0\%$, and falls $56.0\%$. The effect of exercise interventions on fall prevention was inconclusive. Lower limb strength exercises with resistance were effective for increasing muscle strength. Balance exercises with various movements for balance were effective for increasing balance. Conclusion: Exercise interventions for fall prevention is recommended for older adults with risk factors of falling. The desirable type of exercise intervention is lower limb strength and balance exercise together.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.200-209
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the effects of a fall prevention program on knowledge, efficacy, and prevention behavior of falls among the low-income elderly. Methods: This study used a nonequivalent control group pre and post test quasi-experimental research design. The study was conducted from August to October, 2008 with 20 subjects in the experimental group and 22 in the control group who were registered at the public health center of S District in D City. Results: Hypothesis 1 "The experimental group that participated in the fall prevention program will show a higher degree of knowledge about falls than the control group" was supported. Hypothesis 2 "The experimental group will have a higher degree of self-efficacy of falls than the control group" was not supported. Hypothesis 3 "The experimental group will report fall prevention behavior more frequently than the control group" was supported. Conclusion: It was verified that the fall prevention program in this study was an effective intervention to improve knowledge about falls and fall prevention behaviors among the low-income elderly. The results can be used as part of an intervention to prevent falls for the vulnerable elderly such as the low-income elderly.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.99-110
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the experience and meaning of falls among care workers caring for the elderly. Methods: The participants comprised 10 care workers in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The data collection period was from September to November 2020, and the data were obtained through individual in-depth interviews. The collected data were analyzed using the content analysis method of qualitative research. The main interview questions were as follows: First, in the event of a fall, "can you tell us about your experience and how you dealt with the fall?; second, "can you tell us about your role and the role of family members or the center that manages falls that occur outside of nursing visits.", third, "can you tell us about the difficulties in managing falls based on your experience?", and fourth, "how are falls that occur during nursing visits managed?" Results: As a result of analyzing the experiences of nursing care workers of falls while caring for elders in their homes, five main themes were derived. These were understanding the characteristics of the elderly at home, understanding possible emergency situations, providing caring services, minimizing physical harm, and delivering clear information. Conclusion: A significant finding of this study was that care workers who visit and provide care to elders at home confirmed the need for standard guidelines on appropriate responses in the event of a fall at home and the importance of managing emergencies arising from falls among elders at home. These results highlight the need for the development of emergency response education programs, such as programs on fall care among nurses and care workers who provide care to the elderly, and for enhanced understanding of the fall risk of elders who live at home.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2018

Objective: Older persons with diabetes mellitus (DM) are particularly more likely to have fallen in the previous year than those without DM. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the risk of falls and type 2 DM in older adults who are 65 years of age or above. Design: A systematic review. Methods: PubMed and other two databases were searched up to August 2, 2018. Observational and cohort studies evaluating fall risk in people who are 65 years of age or above with DM were included. This review extracted the following information from each study selected: first author's surname, year of publication, country, average follow-up period, sex, age at enrollment, study population, measurement variables, relative risk, 95% confidence intervals and controlled variables. Results: This review involved nine cohort studies with 3,765 older adults with DM and 12,989 older adults without DM. Six studies compared with or without DM and two studies compared fallers with non-fallers with DM. Risk factors for falls included impaired cognitive function, diabetes-related complications (peripheral nerve dysfunction, visual impairment), and physical function (balance, gait velocity, muscle strength, and severity of physical activities). Conclusions: People who are 65 years of age or above with DM have increased risk of falling caused by impaired cognitive function, peripheral nerve dysfunction, visual impairment, and physical function in community-dwellers. For adults who are 65 years of age or older with DM, research fields and clinical settings should consider therapeutic approaches to improve these risk factors for falls.

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.21-26
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• 2011

In 2001, an independent official board was constituted in Japan to investigate aircraft and railway accidents. In the past 10 years, many accidents and serious incidents have been investigated and these official reports were published by the board, on which the author had sat for 9 years as boarding member. In the interim, there were several train disasters which mocked our trust in railways and also many apparent trivial incidents. In recent years, serious incidents, which a door of running rail cars opens suddenly with some trouble, happen 2 or 3 times in a year. For the past 10 years, such incidents have happened 14 times and 13 cases of them were closed by the board mentioned above. In these 13 cases, no one fell off the rail car, so that the death toll was none luckily. In this paper, these 13 serious incidents are picked up among all the reports published by the board and outlined using some tables. Especially, fall accidents of passengers are discussed mainly from the view point of impact force and duration time. Then, the equation of HIC (Head Injury Criteria) and the risk curves in terms of the HIC are dealt with properly.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.122-131
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the factors related to fear of falling (FOF) in different age groups from community-dwelling mid to late-adults. Methods: To identify the factors related to FOF, data of 162,684 adults over 45 years of age from 2019 Community Health Survey was analyzed using logistic regression with complex samples. Results: Factors related to FOF found in all age groups were sex, previous experience of falls, physical activity levels over moderate intensity, subjective health status, number of chronic diseases, stress, depression, and cognitive decline. In the 45-64 age group, the FOF was significantly higher in the groups of low education level and low monthly household income. In the 65-74 and over 75 age groups, the FOF was significantly higher in the groups of not living with spouse and walking not practiced. Conclusion: We suggests that understanding of risk factors and early detection of fall risk patients in each age group are necessary to establish and apply tailored fall prevention programs for prevention and management of the FOF in community-dwelling mid to late-adults.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2018

Purpose: The main objective of this paper is, to assess environment, care process, and patient-related factors associated with patient falls. The study also aims at identifying various factors that would affect inpatient falls and, therefore, helping both caregivers and designers contribute to better prevent inpatient falls in their own areas of expertise. Methods: A retrospective analysis of inpatient falls that occurred in the unit of General Medicine in the United States has been conducted and environment, care process, patient-related factors associated with those falls have been analyzed at the same time. Results: The study identified several factors associated with inpatient falls. They range from environmental factors to care process- and patient-related factors. Patient visibility and patient accessibility can matter to patient falls and where those falls occur, along with patient days per room, the percentage of patient days with high fall risk patients per room, the percentage of high fall risk patients per room. Implications: The findings of the study can provide design implications that can be incorporated into design process and design decisions to promote fall prevention in inpatient care units. Inpatient falls can be effectively reduced when caregivers and designers work together to understand the complex nature of inpatient falls and the importance of multidisplinary efforts among various experts in the areas of healthcare.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.11
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• pp.2131-2137
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• 2008

In this paper, COP (center of pressure) during quiet standing and squat-and-stand movement was analyzed to compare the postural control of young and elderly subjects with special interest in the elderly females who were reported to have higher fall rate than the elderly males. Subjects include the young subjects (10 males: $21.8{\pm}2.6yrs$, 10 females: $20.4{\pm}0.3yrs$) and the elderly subjects (8 males: $75.5{\pm}4yrs$, 8 females: $72.3{\pm}3.5yrs$). Analysis parameters were the mean of the distance between the instantaneous COP and the average COP (COP distance) and the mean of the COP movement velocity (COP velocity) in both AP (anterio-posterior) and ML (media-lateral) directions. During quiet standing, the COP distance in ML direction of elderly females was significantly greater than that of elderly males and the COP velocity of elderly females in both ML and AP direction were significantly greater than those of all the other groups. During squat and stand movement, the COP distance of elderly females was not significantly different with that of the elderly males. However, the COP velocity of elderly females was significantly greater than that of all the other groups. The large lateral weight shift (COP distance) of elderly females during quiet standing may explain their greater fall rate. However, this does not apply to squat-and stand movement. In contrast, COP velocity results show that the elderly females' COP is rapidly trembling compared to that of elderly males during both quiet standing and squat and-stand movement. This results suggest that rapid trembling or postural sway may reflect the reduced postural control ability and the risk of falling.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.189-199
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• 2019

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of combine exercise on the fall injury related index and myokine in elderly women. Sarcopenia leads to a loss of strength, alter on to a decreased functional status, impaired mobility, a higher risk of falls, and eventually an increased risk of mortality. Aerobic exercise characterized by rhythmic and repetitive movements of large muscles, for sustained periods that depends primarily on the use of oxygen to meet energy demands through aerobic metabolism, and that is structured and intended to generate improvements in cardiopulmonary fitness, body composition, and cardiorespiratory health. Resistance training has performance in the elderly. As combined exercise therapy can be used to enhance muscle functions and cardiopulmonary functions, it is being highlighted as an effective health management methods for the aged. The myokine has been regarded an important factor of exercise how muscle communicate adipose tissue, bone and muscle to exert beneficial effects at the whole body level.