• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.228-249
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• 2018

In 2015, the population of elderly people in Thailand was 16% of the total population and is predicted to be over 20% by 2021 and nearly 28% by 2031. The increase of the elderly population in Thailand has also increased the proportion of dependent elderly people, and caring for them poses many challenges for both families and the government. This descriptive method research aimed to survey the health status of dependent older people in the rural community of Lampang province in northern Thailand. The participants consisted of 62 older people and 62 primary family caregivers from Hong Ha Health Promoting Hospital, Lampang, Thailand (totaling 124 people). The researchers assessed the health status of older people and their activities of daily living (ADL). In addition, researchers assessed the health status and stress of caregivers. All the participants were interviewed about their experiences with caregiving. The results showed that most of the older respondents were female with an average age of 78.15 years. Based on the ADL assessment, 50 of the 62 older persons were homebound while the rest were bedridden. The majority of older people had chronic or long-term conditions that required hospitalization from time to time. Their frequent health problems included oral disorders such as tooth decay or caries/gum disease/no teeth, reduced sight, psychological disorders, knee pain and risk of falling, low BMI, risk of malnutrition, and urinary leakage and incontinence (58.06%, 66.13%, 62.90%, 70.97%, 38.71%, 66.13%, and 37.10%, respectively). Usual care provided by the family members included personal hygiene care, food preparation and feeding, medication management, housekeeping and organizing necessary equipment, supply of needed equipment, prevention of falls, helping with travel for medical checkups and treatment, and providing companionship. Families experienced shortages of medical supplies, daily use equipment, lack of employment, inadequate income, and difficulty accessing health care services due to lack of transportation. Some caregivers experienced caregiving stress related to a lack of social interactions as well as routine caregiving activities. Families need different types of support in order to promote the well-being of older people and caregivers. This highlights the need for a community participation model for the care of older people in order to reflect sustainable long-term outcomes.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 1996

1. Out of 21 examples on a clinical base Alzheimer type dementia were 8 examples(38%), 11 vascular types(52%), 1 Alzheimer and vascular mixed type and rest 1 was secondary dementia type(NPH).2. Between the genders, there were 5 males and 3 females for Alzheimer types, 6 males and 5 females for the vascular types, 1 male for Alzheimer and vascular mixed type, and 1 female for secondary dementia type(NPH).3. For the degrees of Alzheimer type dementia there were 2 mild dementia, 4 moderate dementia, and 2 severe dementia. 4. Among the Alzheimer types 2 mild dementia were almost recovered back to normal in approximately 2 months, 2of 4 moderate dementia became significantly better in approximately 2 months and recovered to almost normal state in 3 to 5 months. The rest 2 have been under treatment for 3 months, but showed a little improvement. Out of 2 severe dementia examples, one showed a little improvement even if it has been under treatment over 2 years. The other example did not show any improvement, but dementia did not proceed any more.5. Among the 11 vascular examples, 7 recovered in 2 to 3 months, 1 in 5 months, 2 recovered in a year, and the treatment was stopped arbitrary for the last one.6 In the case of Alzheimer and vascular mixed type dementia, even the moderate dementia did not show any apparent result in 6 months.7. For NPHI (Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus), there was an improvement on dementia in 2 months after the treatment, but gait disturbance and urinary incontinence did not show any noticeable difference. As a conclusion, almost all the Alzheimer and vascular type patients recovered, but the treatment periods varied depending on the types of the dementia and the degree of seriousness, especially in the case of the severe Alzheimer patients, the treatment oniy suppression the progression of the dementia. The most important aspect from clinical point of view was even if almost all the patients were almost completely cired, they need to keep being cured for a long period of time. The method with respect to Four Constitutions is thought of the most desirable.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.264-271
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• 2007

Purpose : It is important to take a precise history of patients to diagnose enuresis. However, this is difficult to perform in the outpatient department, because the consultation time is limited. So by taking the medical histories with questionnaires, we classified the enuresis patients into monosymptomatic and non-monosymptomatic groups and compared the clinical characteristics between the two groups in order to determine whether this would aid in the diagnosis and treatment of enuresis. Methods : Thirty-four enuresis patients seen in the Department of Pediatrics at Yeungnam University Hospital from 2004 January to 2005 July were enrolled in this study. Two to three weeks before starting medical treatment, questionnaires about the patients' urination habits and past medical history were taken from the Parents with consents. Results : There were 21 patients in the monosymptomatic group and 13 patients in the non-monosymptomatic group. There was no difference in the delivery mode, birth weight, birth order, sleep habit, constipation, and treatment results between the two groups. Urinary infection was more frequently observed in the non-monosymptomatic group. There was a higher incidence of daytime incontinence and a past medical history of allergy in the non-monosymptomatic group. Oriental medicine was the most common treatment of enuresis before visiting the hospital, but the treatment effect was minimal. Conclusion : Comparison between the monosymptomatic and non-monosymptomatic group with the questionnaires was helpful for detailed diagnosis and treatment of enuresis. A more effective education for enuresis patients is needed, since before visiting the hospital many of them wasted their efforts with ineffective oriental medicine treatment. (J Korean Soc Pediatr Nephrol 2007;11:264-271)

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.22-36
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• 1997

Functional recovery of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) patients were studied by examining functional independence measure (FIM) to evaluate the functional state of the patients at admission to and at discharge from the hospital and its relationship with the family support. Study subjects consisted of 129 CVA patients, who were admitted and received rehabilitation treatment at K Medical Center of Oriental Medicine from August 3 to December 18, 1997. The results were as follows: 1) Total FIM score was $72.37{\pm}25.16$ at admission and $101.67{\pm}22.13$ at discharge. The difference of average score was 29.30, which was statistically significant by paired t-test. 2) The largest difference between FIM scores at admission and at clischarge was observed in items of walking and wheel-chair riding, and the smallest clifference in items of social interaction. 3) The recovery was faster with motor function than with cognitive function, because the difference of FIM scores at admission and at discharge was much larger with motor function. 4) Recovery was better in groups under age 49 than in groups above age 70. Functional recorvery was prominent especially in groups with normal sensory state and speech functions, and groups without urinary incontinence. Recovery was less significantly in patients with paraplegic patients hospitalized longer than 2 months, patients with family all the time, and patients with CVA over 11 days. 5) We could not find any relationship between functional recovery and family support. FIM scores were lower in groups of old age(r=-0.325), long stayed in hospital (r=-0.426), and long period of time after the onset of disease(r= -0.339) with a reciprocal correlation between FIM scores and these parameters. 6) Stepwise multiple regression analysis was done to evaluate factors to affect the recovery from CVA. FIM score at admission could explain 51.2 % of the functional recovery. Important factors were periods of hospitalization, state of sensory function, age, and education (listed in decreasing order of importance). In total, they could explain 64.89% of the functional recovery. These results indicate that functional recovery of CVA patients, who were admitted to oriental medicine hospital for rehabilitation treatment, could be estimated by measuring FIM scores. Recovery was significantly better at discharge from the hospital than at admission and motor function recovery rate was much faster than that of cognitive function. 2. Recommendation Based on these results, we recommend following further studies. 1) Comparative study of recovery of motor function and of sensory function would be necessary by measuring FIM scores once a week to evaluate the recovery of CVA patients. 2) It would be interesting to see whether there is any difference of functional recovery between patients treated with either western medicine or oriental medicine. 3) Psychological factors affecting the recovery of CVA patients need to be studied.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.1721-1731
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• 2011

This study was performed to determine the levels of depression symptoms among community elderlies and to reveal its related factors, specifically aimed at revealing social and family supports. The interviews were performed, during the period from July 1, to August 31, 2010, to 412 elderlies in urban areas. As a results, significantly higher level of depression symptoms was laid on those with lower social supports and family supports(p=0.000), and the subjects' depression was a negative correlation with social and family support. On multiple regression analysis, the level of depression symptoms was influenced by the variables of social and family support, with or without disability of visual acuity, sense of satisfaction in daily life, number of friends, educational level, with or without spouse, activity of hobbies and urinary incontinence. In conclusion, the level of depression symptoms was so complicatedly influenced by variable factors as well as socio-demographic characteristics, health-related behaviors, health status, social support net-work and social activities. Especially, the level of depression symptoms was more influenced by social supports and family supports.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.411-422
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between quality of life and demographic characteristics and health-related behavioral characteristics, and their relevance to variables that represent health conditions among metropolitan-dwelling older adults. The study subjects were 380 senior citizens aged 65 or older living in the D metropolitan area, and data collection was conducted by visiting them for interviews in June 2019. A binomial logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between independent variables (demographic characteristics, health-related behavioral characteristics, health condition variables) and the dependent variable (quality of life) while controlling for gender and age. As a result, the factors related to quality of life for those surveyed were education level, spousal status, living status, bear for living expenses, average monthly allowance, satisfaction with daily life, evaluation of sleep quality, smoking and eating habits, amount of regular exercise, hobbies, subjective health status, physical disability (if any), hearing ability, visual acuity, mastication ability, urinary incontinence (present or not), and amnesia. The above results suggest that quality of life for the elderly living in urban areas is significantly related to variables that indicate demographic characteristics, health-related behavioral characteristics, and health condition.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.153-164
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• 2021

Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of Heat-sensitive Moxibustion on Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Methods: We searched articles from Academic Journals(CAJ) online databases, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS), Searching key words were '前列腺增生', '熱敏灸' and '열민구', '전립선비대'. The search range included randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Among the articles published to 2020, 10 articles were found. After review the title, abstract and original, 3 articles were selected finally to rule out treatment combined with completely different treatments. Result: The Heat-sensitive moxibustion at acupoints in the treatment of Benign prostatic hyperplasia were significantly superior to control group after treatment in the symptoms of patients, IPSS, QOL, PVR and Qmax(P<0.05). The Heat-sensitive moxibustion can significantly reduce the incidence of temporary urinary incontinence after Transurethral resection of the prostate(TURP) and improve life quality and satisfaction of patients(P<0.05). The individualized desensitization saturated time and amount of Heat-sensitive moxibustion is superior effective to general amount and time of traditional moxibustion in the total effective rate, IPSS, Ru and Qmax(P<0.01) for Benign prostatic hyperplasia. Conclusion: Heat sensitive moxibustion directly transfer heat to the source of a disease. So it can be considered as a good treatment for Benign prostate hypertrophy. It was also shown a better effect on BPH compared to traditional moxibustion, According to the thermo principles of tumor, if the tumor cell's death temperature of 43℃ is reached, that can cause tumor degeneration. Therefore I think Heat sensitive moxibustion can be applied to various tumor disease. The results of this study could be applied to clinical treatment of BPH. However, additional large-scale clinical researches should be conducted.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.1577-1589
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to compare the health status, functional status, and home environment hazards by the fear of falling and explore the factors that contribute to the fear of falling. This was a descriptive study. Data were collected for two years with 973 older adults who enrolled in a health center at A city. Trained nurses visited subjects' home and collected data using Resident Assessment Instrument MDS-HC. The average age of the subjects was 76.8 (±7.6) and female was 74.8%. 20.7% of subjects reported fear of falling. In terms of the fear of falling, two groups were compared. There were significant differences in vision, urinary incontinence, pain that interrupts daily activity, unstable gait, comorbidities, frequency of depressive or anxious sign. The greater the age, IADL and ADL dependency, comorbidities, unstabled gait, the more fear of falling. In conclusion, this study reassured the importance of assessing the major factors related to fear of falling such as age, IADL and ADL, comorbities, gait among older adults. This study will contribute to establish strategies for preventing fall. Reducing the fear of falling through the comprehensive nursing intervention will ultimately improve the quality of life in the elderly.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2017

Objectives: Sleep disturbance is a very rapidly growing disease with aging. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of sleep disturbances and its predictive factors in a three-year cohort study of people aged 60 years and over in Korea. Methods: In 2012 and 2014, we obtained data from a survey of the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. We asked participants if they had been diagnosed with stroke, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, arthritis, pulmonary tuberculosis, asthma, cataract, glaucoma, hepatitis B, urinary incontinence, prostate hypertrophy, cancer, osteoporosis, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, or metabolic syndrome. Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination for dementia screening in 2012, and depression was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale in 2012 and 2014. In 2015, a structured clinical interview for Axis I psychiatric disorders was administered to 235 people, and sleep disturbance was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The perceived stress scale and the State-trait Anger Expression Inventory were also administered. Logistic regression analysis was used to predict sleep disturbance by gender, age, education, depression score, number of coexisting diseases in 2012 and 2014, current anger score, and perceived stress score. Results: Twenty-seven percent of the participants had sleep disturbances. Logistic regression analysis showed that the number of medical diseases three years ago, the depression score one year ago, and the current perceived stress significantly predicted sleep disturbances. Conclusion: Comorbid medical disease three years previous and depressive symptoms evaluated one year previous were predictive of current sleep disturbances. Further studies are needed to determine whether treatment of medical disease and depressive symptoms can improve sleep disturbances.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.32-39
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• 2006

Objectives : The aim of this study was to examine the developmental and clinical characteristics associated with nocturnal enuresis in Korean children. Methods : Three hundred eighteen children with nocturnal enuresis, together with their parents, completed a parent questionnaire consisting of a Child Behavior Checklist(CBCL). Data related to the prenatal, perinatal and developmental history, past and current medical history were collected. Ninety-three normal students were selected as the control group. Results : The nocturnal enuresis group attained diurnal and nocturnal urinary control significantly later than those in the normal control group.49.2% of the children with nocturnal enuresis had the family history of nocturnal enuresis. Daytime incontinence was present in 41.3% of the nocturnal enuresis group. The percentages of sleep-related disturbances were significantly higher in the nocturnal enuresis group when compared to the normal control group.42.6% of the children with nocturnal enuresis experienced pharmacotherapy, and 0.4% experienced enuresis alarms. Conclusion : The results of this study suggest that children with nocturnal enuresis in Korea have a high genetic load and a possibility of developmental delay, which supports the neurodevelopmental point of view with regard to the etiology of nocturnal enuresis. The physicians in Korea prefer pharmacological interventions to alarm interventions in treating Korean children with nocturnal enuresis.