• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.448-460
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• 1994

This study was conducted to investigate risk factors for senile dementia as well as care givers' stresses and thier needs for nursing care. It was done using a retrospective survey. A convenience sample or In senile dementia patients and l20 nor-mal elders in a rural area was used. The tools used in the study were the MMSE-K(Mini-Mental State Examination-Korea) for dementia screening test and a questionaire developed by the research team. Data were collected through home visits by Com-munity Health Practitioners. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, T-test, and Chi-square test. The findings are as follows : 1. There were significant differences in age, marital status, and religions between the two groups. 2. There was a significant difference in smoling behavior between the two groups. 3. There was a significant difference in past his-tory of cancer between groups. 4. There was a significant difference in past and present elderftmily relationship between the two groups. 5. There were significant differences in intellectual activities, assuming major role in family and seeking other's help in daily life troubles between the two groups. 6. There were significant differences in stress factors such as child problem, family conflict, health problem and illegal behavior between the two groups. 7. The major problems out by families in caring for dementia patient were catastrophic reactions, dirtiness, mood change, devouring and tremor. The most serious problems faced by families was dirtiness. with catastrophic reactions, sleep distrubance, changeableness, and a suspcio-usness following. The care givers expressed chronic fatigue, anxiety, tension, depression, disorder in daily life, shamefulness, blame from neighbours and guiltiness. 8. There is need for geriatric hospitals, nursing homes, burden sharing, and counselling or education for family care givers. A replicate study in the urban area is recommended to validate the findings of this study. To explore the impact of stress in life and ‘han’ on senile dementia, a qualitative study is recommended.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.140-148
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• 2015

Objectives The aim of this study is to investigate the correlation between degenerative changes in brain [i.e., global cortical atrophy (GCA), medial temporal atrophy (MTA), white matter hyperintensities (WMH)] and neurocognitive dysfunction in Korean patients with Alzheimer's disease. Methods A total of 62 elderly subjects diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease were included in this study. The degenerative changes in brain MRI were rated with standardized visual rating scales (GCA or global cortical atrophy, MTA or medial temporal atrophy, and Fazekas scales) and the subjects were divided into two groups according to the degree of degeneration for each scale. Cognitive function was evaluated with Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD-K) and several clinical features, including apolipoprotein E ${\varepsilon}4$ status, lipid profile and thyroid hormones, were also examined. Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were performed to analyze the relationship between the degree of cerebral degeneration and neurocognitive functions. Results Demographic and clinical features, except for the age, did not show any significant difference between the two groups divided according to the degree of cerebral degenerative changes. However, higher degree of GCA was shown to be associated with poorer performance in verbal fluency test, word list recall test, and word list recognition test. Higher degree of MTA was shown to be associated with poorer performance in Mini-Mental State Examination in the Korean Version of CERAD Assessment Packet (MMSE-KC), word list recognition test and construction praxis recall test. Higher degree of white matter hyperintensities was shown to be associated with poorer performance in MMSE-KC. Conclusions Our results suggest that severe brain degeneration shown in MRI is associated with significantly poorer performance in neurocognitive tests in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, the degree of GCA, MTA and white matter hyperintensities, represented by scores from different visual rating scales, seems to affect certain neurocognitive domains each, which would provide useful information in clinical settings.