• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.223-235
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• 2004

Objectives: This study was to evaluate the actual condition of falls among community-dwelling elderly people and its related factors to prepare for the establishment of comprehensive prevention programs of senior population. Methods: The study subjects included 460 home residents over 65 years in a district of Chungnam Province and interviews were given to all of them, asking about experiences of falls and their related factors. The analysis of study results came to the following conclusions. Results: The rate of falls among total subjects was 35.5%. With the percentage by age and sex, over 70's and female were significantly higher than male(p=0.000) and under 69 (p=0.008). The groups with poor visual acuity and hearing ability had higher rate of falls than the normal groups based on their health status. In terms of place they experienced falls, out-door occurrence accounted for 53.4% of total falls, which was higher 46.6% of in-door. By season when falls are experienced, "winter" showed the greatest rate, and by time of the day, evening had the highest rate. By causes of falls, "Slippery ground"accounted for 30.5% and "Tumbled over" 23.5% of total falls, respectively, showing the major role of environmental causes for falls. For individual factors, "Irritability" and "Carelessness" occupied 11.3%, 10.8% of total falls, respectively. The Odds Ratios for falls in women was 2.19 times higher than in men, and those in 70's are 2.01 times higher than in 60's, and those with abnormal BMI was 3.68 times higher than in normal groups, and those with perceived symptoms was 1.94 times higher than those without. Conclusions: It is suggested that more consideration should be directed toward taking comprehensive and systematic prevention measures ranging from setting-up the injury-protective environments to allowing senior citizens to have competence in ADL activity as well as proper general health conditions, considering the higher rate of falls for elderly persons in a rural part of this country than that of western countries and the greater proportion of falls which can be ascribed to environmental factors.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.229-235
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• 2011

Purpose: The present study was performed to evaluate the safety of ophthalmic lenses in domestic market since eyeglasses wearers could be exposed to the negligent accident by damaged ophthalmic lenses. Method: Totally, 160 ophthalmic lenses (NK55, ${n_{d}}$ = 1.56) with the refractive powers of -3D, -6D, +3D, +6D manufactured by 4 companies in domestic market were evaluated using drop ball test. In accordance with FDA standard, steel ball (~16 g) was freely dropped on these ophthalmic lenses from 127 cm high and the surfaces of lenses were observed. Results: From the study, center thicknesses of NK55 ophthalmic lenses manufactured by 4 different companies showed somewhat different numbers even though the lenses had the same refractive index and powers. All convex lenses of +3D, +6D were evaluated as the safe lenses since there was no damage such as crack and broken found on the lens surfaces after drop ball testing. However, some noticeable broken was shown on the surfaces of concave lenses with relatively thinner center thickness. Especially, 59(73.8%) of total 80 concave lenses with the refractive power of -3D and -6D classified as unacceptable lenses to FDA standard. Conclusions: From the results, the negligent accident by damaged ophthalmic lenses should be considered as well as the correction of visual acuity, design and price when customers purchase eyeglasses. Thus, the enforcement regulation like drop ball testing of uncut ophthalmic lens could be suggested to guarantee the safety of ophthalmic lenses in domestic market.