• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.51-58
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• 2006

Objectives : Obesity causes serious medical complications and impairs quality of life in older persons. We review the literature on the clinical issues related to obesity in elderly and suggest appropriate weight-management guidelines for obese older patients. Methods : PubMed Database and RISS were searched for articles relating to obesity in the elderly. We classified articles according to clinical characteristics, assessments, medical complications, and therapy. Results and Conclusions : The current data show that obesity in elderly is associated with increased mortality, metabolic abnormalities, arthritis, pulmonary abnormalities, urinary incontinence, cancer, and impaired quality of life. Therefore, clinical studies are needed to demonstrate the effectiveness andsafety of weight-loss treatments in obese elderly.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• no.28
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• pp.100-108
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to develop recommendation of sign system and color codes in making the public interior environment more accessible for the visually impaired persons. The appropriate guidelines in designing the sign system and the color codes in the public interior environment can increase the accessibility, the mobility and the safety for the visually impaired persons including the increasing elderly. By selecting the effective sign system much more desirable results can be brought: Improvement of accessibility, mobility, increase of safety, work efficiency and the psychological stability. Sign system and the color is more important for the weak-sighted people than the normal-sighted in way finding and the orientation strategies. 53 visually impaired persons participated for this study, the answers of the questionaires by the weak-sighted persons are focused on in this research. The data, the needs of users is analysed on the basis of users-oriented. The result of this study can be considered as a basic direction of sign system design and color codes in our codes in our public environment for all people especially visually impaired persons.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1996 no.11
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• pp.111-113
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• 1996

The impaired person and the elderly who has hearing loss have been continuously increased and these people's desire for participating society as a producer has been increased also. So they strongly request the aid device which can compensate their handicap. The healing aid telephone is one of the basic aid devices that helps the hearing impaired to communicate with other people and to acquire useful information. We design the new model of the hearing aid telephone and test it's efficiency in three fields - electrical, speech perception, user test. From the result of the test we certify that the new model is better for the hearing impaired to understand the meaning of telephone speech than the old general models. We expect that the advanced healing aid telephone can be developed by the research about speech perception characteristics of the hearing impaired in engineering and clinical side.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2338-2348
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• 2013

This study was performed to determine the levels of physical functioning and to reveal its association with socio-demographic characteristics, health status and health related behaviors in the elderly people admitted long-term home care insurance. The interviews were performed, during the period from December 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012, to 618 home care elderlies admitted long-term care insurance dwelling in Daejeon city. As a results, the distribution of impaired ADL and IADL group of all subjects were 45.6% in ADL, and 48.4% in IADL. in consequently, the rate of impaired IADL group was higher than that of impaired ADL group. In logistic regression analysis, the adjusted odds ratio of the impaired ADL and IADL group were significantly increased in the group of male, living with spouse or family, bear for living expenses with son and daughter, health insurance, irregular exercise, seldom with frequency of going out, seldom with activity of hobbies, Subjective health status is good, and disability of body, visual acuity, hearing ability and mastication ability is good, and without urinary incontinence and amnesia. In conclusion, the level of physical functioning in the elderly people admitted long-term home care insurance was decreased in IADL than ADL. And the level of ADL and IADL were related with the various variables of socio-demographic characteristics, health status and health related behaviors.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.936-942
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• 2017

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of cognitive based programs on cognitive functions in elderly people. Methods. The participants included a group of 9 elderly people in Changwon, from the period of May 2016 to July 2016. The test tools used were MMES-K. SADL. and GDS. The statistics used was the 20.0 version. Results. According to the results of this study, the MMSE, GDS mean scores improved after implentation of the program, but no significant improvement was shown with SADL. The MMSE of the correlation coefficient was 0.785, and the GDS of the correlation coefficient was 0.916. Both of these scores were significant in their correlation. Conclusion. In conclusion, cognitive based programs were effective among mildly cognitive-impaired elderly people, and that suitable programs must be developed on a case by case basis.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.3 s.58
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• pp.630-642
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to examine the mortality risk associated with cognitive impairment among the rural elderly. The subjective of study was 558 of 'A Study on the Depression and Cognitive Impairment in the Rural Elderly' of Jung Ae Rhee and Hyang Gyun Jung's study(1993). Cognitive impairment and other social and health factors were assessed in 558 elderly rural community residents. For this study, a Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSEK) was used as a global indicator of cognitive functioning. And mortality risk factors for each cognitive impairment subgroup were identified by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. At baseline 22.6% of the sample were mildly impaired and 14.2% were severely impaired. As the age increased, the cognitive function was more impaired. Sexual difference was existed in the cognitive function level. Also the variables such as smoking habits, physical disorders had the significant relationship with cognitive function impairment. Across a 3-year observation period the mortality rate was 8.5% for the cognitively unimpaired, 11.1% for the mildly impaired, and 16.5% for the severly impaired respendents. And the survival probability was .92 for the cognitively unimpaired, .90 for the mildly impaired, and .86 for the severly impaired respondents. Compared to survival curve for the cognitively unimpaired group, each survival curve for the mildly and the severely impaired group was not significantly different. When adjustments models were not made for the effects of other health and social covariates, each hazard ratio of death of mildly and severely impaired persons was not significantly different as compared with the cognitively unimpaired. But, as MMSEK score increased, significantly hazard ratio of death decreased. Employing Cox univariate proportional hazards model, statistically other significant variables were age, monthly income, smoking habits, physical disorders. Also when adjustments were made for the effects of other health and social covariates, there was no difference in hazard ratio of death between those with severe or mild impairment and unimpaired persons. And as MMSEK score increased, significantly hazard ratio of death did not decrease. Employing Cox multivariate proportional hazards model, statistically other significant variables were age, monthly income, physical disorders. Employing Cox multivariate proportional hazards model by sex, at men and women statistically significant variable was only age. For both men and women, also cognitive impairment was not a significant risk factor. Other investigators have found that cognitive impairment is a significant predictor of mortality. But we didn't find that it is a significant predictor of mortality. Even though the conclusions of our study were not related to cognitive impairment and mortality, early detection of impaired cognition and attention to associated health problems could improve the quality of life of these older adults and perhaps extend their survival.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.243-248
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• 2006

Objectives: The Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (QOL-AD) scale is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the quality of life (QOL) in the elderly with dementia. This study aimed to develop the Korean version of Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (KQOL-AD) scale for the demented elderly living in the community. Methods: KQOL-AD was administered to two groups: 24 demented elderly and 72 cognitively impaired elderly with no dementia (CIND) who were living in the community Each elderly person and their caregiver rated the elderly QOL. The Korean version of mini-mental state examination (MMSE-K), the clinical dementia rating (CDR), the activities of daily living (ADL), and the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) were also assessed. The reliability and validity of the KQOL-AD were examined. Results: In the dementia group, the internal consistency (Cronbach's $\alpha$), the split half and the test-retest reliabilities of the KQOL-AD were excellent. Scores on the KQOL-AD were significantly correlated with the scores of the NPI, but they were not significantly correlated with scores of the MMSE-K, CDR and ADL. In addition, the CIND group showed similar results to the dementia group. Conclusions: KQOL-AD might be a reliable and valid instrument for assessing QOL in the elderly with dementia It could be used as an important outcome measure for research on the demented elderly.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.24-32
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• 2016

Objective: The visually impaired have limited access to health care services and related information, and thus, they can have serious hurdles against properly taking medications. Despite that it is important to improve self-care ability of the visually impaired for correct medication use, there have been few studies investigating their needs for health care services in Korea, particularly focusing on proper medication usage. This study is to explore safety-related issues regarding mediation usage among the visually impaired based on in-depth interview. We particularly focus on any obstacles for safe use of medicines including experience on medication-related adverse effects in order to provide preliminary evidence for policy measures to improve proper medication use among the visually impaired. Methods: Study sample was visually impaired individuals who resided in Seoul area and were registered in the National Association of Visually Impaired. The association helped the process of recruiting the study participants. In-depth interview for each study participants was conducted. Each interview was recorded and later converted into a written script to extract core contents for the analysis. Results: The study participants comprised of three women (42.9%) and four men (57.1%). One was in his 20's, and there were four participants in 30's and two in 40's. Fully impaired participants were majority (5 out of 7). Limitation to physical access to health care providers and health information were the key factors to hamper safe medication utilization among the study participants. Difficulty reading medication information and may take the wrong medication or incorrect doses of medication, resulting in serious consequences, including overdose or inadequate treatment of health problems. Visually impaired patients report increased anxiety related to medication management and must rely on others to obtain necessary drug information. Pharmacists have a unique opportunity to pursue accurate medication adherence in this special population. This article reviews literature illustrating how severe medication mismanagement can occur in the visually impaired elderly and presents resources and solutions for pharmacists to take a larger role in adherence management in this population. Conclusion: The visually impaired had difficulties reading medication information and identifying medicines, and took incorrect doses of medications. Public support for safe medication use and medication management among the visually impaired is necessary.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.665-672
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• 2002

It was identified that how many homebound bedridden elderlies and their primary caregivers were depressed, and which factors affected the bedridden elderly's depression. Method: The subjects were 191 homebound bedridden elderlies and their primary caregivers. The affecting factors were classified into two categories : bedridden elderly and their primary caregiver related factors. Then bedridden elderly's factors were classified demographic and disease-related factors again. The stepwise regression was used to identify significant factors. Result: The prevalence of bedridden elderly's and caregiver's depression was 77.8% and 67.0%, respectively. And the model explained 33.3% of variance of bedridden elderly's depression. Cognitively-impaired female elderlies who had depressed caregivers were found to be more depressed. And caregivers who perceived burden were identified to be more depressed. Conclusion: It is recommended that the health professionals need to identify bedridden elderlies and caregivers at risk of depression. Especially elderlies who is in poor cognition, those who are female, and those whose caregivers were depressed might be considered carefully in all counseling or follow-up. Also the primary caregivers must be helped to access already available formal and informal support.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.2002-2011
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• 2015

This study was performed to determine the levels of physical function (ADL, IADL) and to reveal its association with the related factors in the elderly people. The study subjects were 1,756 (male 872, female 884) people aged over 70 who received medical check-ups and long-term care services between 2009 and 2012 from the National Health Insurance Corporation. As a result, the distribution of impaired ADL and IADL increased significantly with age. Logistic regression showed that the risk ratio of impaired ADL was increased significantly in the following groups: female, urban, low weight, stroke history group, smoking, alcohol drinking, and not regular exercise group. The risk ratio of an impaired IADL were increased significantly in the group of females, low weight, smoking, alcohol drinking. On the other hand the risk ratio of an impaired ADL and IADL was similar in each age group. As above results, the levels of ADL and IADL in the study subjects are closely related to the socio-demographic characteristics and health related behaviors. In particular, they suggested that the levels of ADL and IADL were lower in the poor group of the health-related behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol drinking, and regular exercise.