• 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.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.167-172
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate walking standard time and joint powers of the lower extremities on the changes of illuminations in the elderly women. Ten older women ($70.90{\pm}3.28$ years, $154.70{\pm}3.47$ cm, $53.80{\pm}5.39$ kg) with normal vision and no gait disabilities participated in this study. All the experiments were performed on a level walkway from low to high lighting (six conditions). A 3-dimensional motion capturing system, force-plate, and EMG were used to acquire and analyze walking motion, force, and muscle activity data; the sampling frequency was 100 Hz, 1000 Hz and 1000 Hz respectively. To test the differences on walking standard time and joint powers of the lower extremities between the six lighting conditions, one-way repeated ANOVAs were evaluated. The following results were drawn: First, mean standard time was about 1.3 sec/stride, and velocities were smaller with lighting increasing except 100 Lx. Second, the joint power patterns of ankle and knee were not consistent, but only hip joint power was a greatest in 6 Lx and a smallest in 400 Lx. Third, standard times(100 Lx<300 Lx, 400 Lx) were statistically significant, and hip joint max powers (100 Lx>others) were also statistically significant. But ankle and knee joint max power were not statistically significant. These results showed that standard times from low to high lighting were not consistent, and hip joint of 100 Lx has a greatest rotational torque. We suggested that gait strategies of them as to changing illuminations were not consistent and findings may represent a lack of adaptability in the elderly women.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.995-1006
• /
• 2017

This study was performed to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of osteoarthritis in the elderly using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013~2014 KNHANES VI). A total of 2,148 (936 males, 1212 females) elderly participants aged 65 years or older were selected. Prevalence of osteoarthritis was higher in 460 female (80.7%) and 167 rural (29.1%) groups, than in 110 male (19.3%) and 404 urban (70.9%) groups. While the mean values of LDL-cholesterol, triglyceride level, and waist circumference were significantly higher in the osteoarthritis group than the normal group, other parameters including height, HDL-cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, hemoglobin and hematocrit values were not. Quality of life (EQ-5D) was also significantly lower in the osteoarthritis group. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that smoking, alcohol intake, obesity, hypercholesterolemia and energy intakes were significantly different in regards to the prevalence of osteoarthritis. This study suggests that obesity and energy intakes were associated with osteoarthritis, whereas risk factors of chronic disease, such as hypertension, Hypo-high density lipoprotein, hypertrigly-ceridemia, anemia, diabetes, vigorous physical activity, moderate physical activity and walking were not. Long-term prospective study is necessary to investigate the effects of these factors on osteoarthritis.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.46-54
• /
• 2022

This is a study using data from the 8th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to identify the factors that affect the handgrip strength and health status in the elderly. Bivariate logistic regression analysis was performed on 1,470 subjects. As a result of this study, the decrease in grip strength was significantly lower for males, 70-74 or 65-69 years of age, and those who thought their subjective health status was normal or good. The decrease in grip strength was significantly higher when the education level was less than elementary school or middle school, and when the sleeping time was more than 8 hours. Considering the variables affecting hand grip strength, it can be used as basic data when establishing health policies for the elderly or health promotion policies to improve grip strength as a primary prevention activity.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.429-444
• /
• 1999

This study was performed to explore the effects of a dance therapy on physical and psychological characteristics in the elderly. The design of this study was a non-equivalent pre-post test experiment. The subjects consisted of elderly persons living in a facility located in Suweon and Bucheon. Fifty eight subjects, aged between 65 and 93 years who had normal cognition, sensory function, balance, and resting blood pressure. They underwent tests of balance, flexibility, muscle strength, depression, and anxiety as baseline data before dance therapy, and at 6th week and at the end of the 12nd week after following dance therapy. Twenty seven elderly persons were assigned to the experimental group and participated with the dance therapy between April and July, 1998. The dance therapy was developed by the author with the help of a dance therapist and a physiatrist. This therapy was based on the Marian Chace's dance therapy and Korean traditional dance with music. The dance therapy consists of 50 minutes session, 3 times a week for 12 weeks. One session was consisted of warming-up, expression, catharsis, sharing, and closing stage. The intensity of the dance therapy was at the 40 % of age-adjusted maximum heart rates. Data were analysed with mead standard deviation, Chi-square test, unpaired t-test, repeated measures ANOVA, and Bonferroni multiple regression using SAS program. 1. The results related to the physical characteristics were as follows : 1) The balance (standing on one leg, walking on the balancing bar), flexibility and muscle strength (knee extensor, knee flexor, ankle plantarflexor and dorsiflexor) of the experimental subjects significantly increased over time mere than that of the control subjects. 2) The experimental group had significantly higher score for balance, flexibility, muscle strength of knee extensor, and knee flexor than the control group at the 12nd week after dance therapy. 3) The experimental group had significantly higher score for muscle strength of ankle dorsiflexor and plantarflexor than the control group at the 6th week and the 12nd week after dance therapy. 2. The results related to psychological characteristics were as follows : 1) Scores of Geriatric Depression Scale, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and Zung's Self-rating Anxiety Scale of the experimental group were significantly decreased over time more than that of the control group. 2) The experimental group had significantly lower score for depression than the control group at the 12nd week after dance therapy. 3) The experimental group had significantly lower score for anxiety than the control group at the 6th week and the 12nd week after dance therapy. The findings showed that the dance therapy could be effective in improving the balances, flexibility, and muscle strength of lower limb, and effective in decreasing the depression and anxiety of the elderly. Additional merits of the dance therapy would be inexpensiveness, easy accessibility, and increasing interpersonal relationship. It can be suggested that the dance therapy is effective in the health promotion of the elderly.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.352-363
• /
• 2016

The study was an exploratory research on the awareness of informatization and attitudes to information technology (IT) and its use among elderly women in a metropolitan area. The questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data on IT use or non-use of elderly women aged 60 or older in senior welfare centers in Seoul, Korea. The data on 343 cases were analysed using SPSS 21.0. As a result, the rate of internet use was relatively high and different according to socio-demographic factors, such as age. The elderly women's attitudes like the levels of awareness and expectation of informatization were positive. Elderly women learned to use IT for psychological, emotional reasons as well as for practical ones, and the satisfaction level of IT use was relatively high. Finally, most IT non-users were indifferent and ignorant about IT use. In addition, the dissatisfaction level of IT non-use was normal, but elderly women had a relatively positive expectation of IT use in the future. This study may contribute to understanding the diverse pictures of IT use and the digital divide in old age, and assist in the development of practical programs and policies for the informatization and welfare for older adults.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.441-452
• /
• 2000

The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of urinary incontinence and its relating factors elderly communities. Subjects of this survey consisted of 877 elderly women and men in one Kun. Korea, who were over 60 years old. The design for this study was descriptive: the subjects were interviewed by well trained investigators from July 9. 1999 to July 20. 1999. During that survey period, the subjects were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, $X^2-test$. T-test using an SAS program. The results of the study were the following: 1. The prevalence rate of urinary incontinence was 20.1 %. of the total. The types of urinary incontinence were mixed incontinence 44.3%. stress incontinence 38.1%. and urge type incontinence 17.6%. 2. The relating factors of urinary incontinence were as follows: 1) 33.5% of UI(urinary incontinence) subjects reported urine loss once a month. twice or three times a week 23.3%. one or two times a day 17.0% 2) 38.1% of elderly reported only 1 to 2 drops. 1 t-spoon 36.9%. 1 T-spoon 15.9% 3) The volume of urine loss registered by changing underwear was 63.1 %. no necessity of changing underwear was 22.1 %. or using some type of pads was 13.1%. 4) 62.5% of UI subjects never discussed their UI problem with other people. 73.9% of the total had never experienced any treatment for their UI problem. The reasons for not receiving medical cure were their typical conception about urinary incontinence taking UI as a normal part of aging 76.2% and due to their bad financial situation 9.2%. 3. Women had more prevalence of UI than men (p=0.01), and it was found that the worse the subjective health state. the higher the prevalence of UI (p=0.001). However. there was no statistical difference in daily frequency of UI (p>0.05). The more nocturnal incontinence (p=0.001), the more intermittent stream experience (p = 0.01), the more retention experience (p = 0.01), and the more incomplete the emptying experience (p=0.001), the higher the prevalence of UI. 4. UI groups had lower ADL scores than non UI groups(p=0.01). The level of depression in the group of urinary incontinence was significantly higher than that of non incontinence group (p=0.0001). As shown above, the elderly people suffering from UI haven't been treated properly: their subjective health state and their ADL competence was lower, and their depression level was higher than non UI groups. Therefore, the development of a proper urinary incontinence management program are required so that they can lead more healthy lives. Also continual case studies for the elderly people with UI are necessary.

• 재활복지
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.193-212
• /
• 2017

The elderly often produce irrelevant speech and get off-topic more easily than the young; the former also has difficulty generating fewer syntactic structures and makes errors of grammatical morphemes. In particular, the elderly might have more difficulty writing since it requires more complex cognitive processes than storytelling. The participants in this study were 32 young people and 32 older people. They were asked to write a short story of Korean fairy tale('Heungbu Nolbu'). The data was analyzed in narrative composition and syntactic structures. The study revealed the following: First, in composition aspects, the elderly group showed significantly lower total number of story grammar and episodes. In addition, the elderly produced more off topic statements. Second, in syntactic aspects, although there was no significant difference in the number of producing complex sentences between two groups, the elderly group generated more inadequate cohesive devices and used fewer relative and adverbial clauses. These findings suggest that the elderly have a tendency to perform tasks by producing more off-topic statements and shows decreasing coherence by using lower number of relative and adverbial clauses. However, this study also uncovers that the elderly were able to write more complex and longer sentences using visual feedback.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.21-29
• /
• 1975

Radioimmunoassay for the measurement of plasma renin activity (PRA) was performed in 43 normal Koreans and 45 patients with essential hypertension. Plasma samples were drawn in supine position in the morning and after upright posture for 4 hours. Urinary sodium excretion rates were measured in the concurrent 24 hour urine samples, as an index of their sodium balance. The results were as follows: 1. There was an inverse correlation between 24hr sodium excretion and PRA. The normal values of PRA in supine position ranged from 1.0 to 7.0 ng/ml/hr. when 24 hour sodium excretion were between 50 to 150 mEq. PRA in elderly tended to be low. 2. When stimulated by 4 hour upright posture, PRA increased by 2.6 times from the baseline value. 3. Of the 45 patients with essential hypertension, PRA was low in 10 cases (22.2%), normal in 28 cases (62.2%), and high in 7 cases (15.6%). 4. In the normal and high renin groups, who tended to be younger in ages, mean diastolic blood pressure and BUN were higher than in low renin group. Though hypertensive retinopathy and left ventricular hypertrophy in ECG were more prevalent in the former, no significant differences were noted as in the case of serum cholesterol. 5. There were 8 cases of cardiovascular complications (7 with cerebral vascular accident, 1 with myocardial infarction); 3 in low renin group (30%), 2 in normal renin (7.1%) and 3 in high renin group (42.9%). This figure indicated higher rate of cardiovascular complications in high renin groups, and lower rate in normal renin group. But the incidence of the complication was not significantly low in low renin group.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.226-235
• /
• 2020

Objectives: Decreasing muscle strength in old age has become a significant health problem because it increases the risk of falls or fractures and transfers to other diseases. The precise role of dietary protein intake in preventing or reducing muscle weakness is unclear. This study examined the relationship between handgrip strength and protein intake in Korean female elderly. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that used data from the Seventh Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES) on female subjects aged 65 years and older. Low handgrip strength (LHGS) was defined as a handgrip strength below than 18 kg. Dietary intake data were obtained using the 1-day 24-hour recall method. Multiple regression was performed to test whether there is an independent relationship between the grip strength and protein intake, and the association between protein intake and LHGS was confirmed through multiple logistic regression. Results: The mean age of the 2,083 elderly females was 73.3 ± 0.1 years, and the prevalence of LHGS was 35% (n=734). Elderly women with an LHGS consumed less energy, total protein, and animal-based protein than those in the normal group. A multiple regression analysis after adjusting for covariate revealed a significant positive association between the handgrip strength and energy, protein, and animal-based protein intake. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio (OR) of LHGS in female elderly with the highest quartiles of consumption of energy [OR, 0.65; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.43-0.82; P for trend=0.004], and animal-based protein [OR, 0.59; CI, 0.40-0.87; P for trend=0.037] were significantly lower than those in the lowest quartiles. Conclusions: The energy intake and animal-based protein intake were negatively associated with the LHGS. These results suggest that adequate energy intake and protein intake, particularly those from animal-based sources, for elderly women in Korea are beneficial in lowering the risk of LHGS.