• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.61-69
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• 2019

Background: Scarce data have been reported on the efficacy of concomitant atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation in patients undergoing bioprosthetic valve replacement. Methods: From 2001 and 2014, 146 consecutive patients ($69.3{\pm}9.4years$, 84 females) who underwent bioprosthetic heart valve replacement concomitant with AF ablation were assessed. We evaluated long-term rhythm and valve-related outcomes. Results: During 49.1 months of follow-up (interquartile range, 22.5-96.8 months), 7 in-hospital and 49 (6.7% per person-year) post-discharge deaths occurred. The thromboembolic event-free survival rate at 5 years was $79.2%{\pm}3.5%$. The freedom from AF recurrence rate at 5 years was $59.8%{\pm}4.9%$. Multivariate analysis showed that old age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.11; p=0.002), previous cardiac operation (HR, 3.01; 95% CI, 1.22-7.43; p=0.02), and a large left atrial (LA) dimension (HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00-1.05; p=0.045) were significantly associated with AF recurrence. Conclusion: The overall long-term clinical outcomes in these predominantly elderly patients undergoing AF ablation concomitantly with bioprosthetic valve replacement were satisfactory; however, AF recurrence was frequent. Older age, a history of prior cardiac surgery, and large LA size were associated with an increased risk of AF recurrence.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.197-209
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was done to examine good death awareness, attitudes toward advance directives (ADs), and preference for care near the end-of-life (PCEOL) of hospitalized elders in long-term care hospitals. Relevant characteristics were investigated as well as correlation of the variables. Methods: This descriptive research study involved 161 hospitalized elderly patients in long-term care hospitals. A self-report questionnaire was used to measure Good Death Scale, ADs Survey, PCEOL Scale, and general characteristics. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation with SPSS/WIN 23.0. Results: In terms of good death awareness, a significant difference was observed; in according to age (F=3.35, p=.037), payer of treatment costs (F=3.98, p=.021), mobility (F=3.97, p=.021), heard discussion about ADs (t=-3.89, p<.001), and willing to complete ADs (t=2.12, p=.036). As far as attitudes toward ADs, the participants presented significant difference depending on religion (t=2.38, p=.018), average monthly income (F=3.91, p=.022), duration of hospital admission (F=5.33, p=.006), person to discuss ADs (t=-2.76, p=.006). On PCEOL, there was a significant difference, depending on religion (t=-3.59, p<.001) and perceived health status (F=3.93, p=.022). Finally, as for how the variables were related to each other, good death awareness and attitudes toward ADs had a weak positive correlation with PCEOL. Conclusion: To help seniors staying in nursing homes face a good death and enjoy autonomy, there should be educational and support systems that reflect each individual's sociodemographic characteristics so that the seniors can choose what kind of care they want to receive near the end-of-life.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2019

There is a growing demand for public rental housing since housing price increased rapidly and socially vulnerable people need more stable housing. The purpose of this study is to investigate housing evaluation (satisfaction), moving plan, and residential service according to the type of the public rental housing and the characteristics of the resident, and to suggest the development direction for comprehensive housing services including the community level. Data used for analysis in this study are from 2016 Seoul panel survey of public rental housing residents. A total of 3009 questionnaire from public rental households were collected in 2016 Seoul panel survey. In order to investigate housing requirements, we analyzed household characteristics, housing satisfaction, moving plans, welfare services, residential activities and community facilities, social environment. In this study, the difference of residential satisfaction, moving plan, and residential service according to the type of the public rental housing and the characteristics of the resident is analyzed to identify their housing demands. As a result, there were differences in residential satisfaction, moving plan, and residential service depending on type of public rental housing and characteristics of residents. Residents in public rental housing modified from the multi-family housing after purchase showed lower residential satisfaction, and higher intention for moving plan compared to residents living in other type of public rental housing. In the residential service, residents in permanent lease type have higher experience of housing service as well as demand on housing service. Especially single household, elderly household, female household, or household with handicapped person indicated higher demand for housing services.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.252-259
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• 2022

In order to discuss the implications for demographic changes due to an aging society, this study sought to verify the effect of generational age with a focus on the case of the national housing scale transaction in Seoul Seocho-gu. For the result, variance and linear regression analysis, and when the analysis showed a significant correlation between age and transaction price, and corrected the trading region and year, it was also confirmed that the higher the age in most regions, the lower the trading price tendency. Based on the results of this analysis, efforts to improve the adequacy and fairness of pricing in trading cases, and the direction of policy change due to the aging of the population were discussed, and on the basis of this, we even proposed measures for the support of the policy authorities. In addition, the management condition of individual communal houses was an important factor in the sale and the lack of utilization of Internet-based platforms was expected to be the cause of the low price sale. However, due to the use of 2nd order data on real trading cases, the direction of subsequent research was presented together with respect to the limitations of not being able to control a wider variety of individual characteristics.

• CELLMED
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.12.1-12.4
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to suggest that compassion is used as a mechanism to improve immunity by activating people's parasympathetic nerves. Compassion is pity and heartbreak for the misfortune of others. The instinctive emotion of compassion is the basis for humans to achieve and develop society. This is also linked to the laws of nature and the factors of evolution that Kropotkin, famous for his "mutual assistance (mutualism)" that all things help each other. Compassion is an individual's instinctive emotion and at the same time a driving force for forming and developing society. If the Hopeful World (希望世上) performs Korean traditional music healing at a nursing home, first, it will have a positive healing effect on the elderly in the nursing home, who are the audience. Second, positive healing effects can also be expected from performers. The stronger the compassion, the greater the healing effect. Third, people who watch the performance also enjoy the healing effect. This seems to have brought about a synergistic effect by combining the feelings felt while looking at the excellent behavior felt by seeing the poor person. It seems that this effect can be named the compassion effect that developed the Mother Teresa effect. The Mother Teresa effect refers to a significant improvement in the body's immune function just by volunteering or seeing good things. By expanding this Mother Teresa effect, it can be inferred that a pitying heart, helping behavior, and being with good behavior will all help improve the human immune system. This can also be called the compassion effect. Therefore, we think having compassion activates the parasympathetic nerves, improving your mood, and increasing your immunity.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2023

Objectives: This study investigated the effect of cognitive impairment on the association between social network properties and mortality among older Korean adults. Methods: This study used data from the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. It obtained 814 older adults' complete network maps across an entire village in 2011-2012. Participants' deaths until December 31, 2020 were confirmed by cause-of-death statistics. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the risks of poor social network properties (low degree centrality, perceived loneliness, social non-participation, group-level segregation, and lack of support) on mortality according to cognitive impairment. Results: In total, 675 participants (5510.4 person-years) were analyzed, excluding those with missing data and those whose deaths could not be verified. Along with cognitive impairment, all social network properties except loneliness were independently associated with mortality. When stratified by cognitive function, some variables indicating poor social relations had higher risks among older adults with cognitive impairment, with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of 2.12 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.34 to 3.35) for social nonparticipation, 1.58 (95% CI, 0.94 to 2.65) for group-level segregation, and 3.44 (95% CI, 1.55 to 7.60) for lack of support. On the contrary, these effects were not observed among those with normal cognition, with adjusted HRs of 0.73 (95% CI, 0.31 to 1.71), 0.96 (95% CI, 0.42 to 2.21), and 0.95 (95% CI, 0.23 to 3.96), respectively. Conclusions: The effect of social network properties was more critical among the elderly with cognitive impairment. Older adults with poor cognitive function are particularly encouraged to participate in social activities to reduce the risk of mortality.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.47-59
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• 2021

This study aims to review the trends of the population outflows in the metropolitan area of Busan and to investigate the factors that affect population out-migration to the Seoul metropolitan area. The following variables are considered for analysis: traditional population movement variables and quality of life variables, such as population, society, employment, housing, culture, safety, medical care, greenery, education, and childcare. The 'domestic population movement data', provided by the MDIS of the National Statistical Office, was used for this research. Out of the total of 57 million population movement data in the period 2012 - 2017, population outmigration from Busan to the Seoul metropolitan area was extracted. Independent variables were drawn from public data sources in accordance with the temporal and spatial settings of the study. The multiple linear regression model was specified based on the dataset, and the fit of the model was measured by the p-value, and the values of Adjusted R2, Durbin-Watson analysis, and F-statistics. The results of the analysis showed that the variables that have a significant effect on population movement from Busan to the Seoul metropolitan area were as follows: 'single-person households', 'the elderly population', 'the total birth rate', 'the number of companies', 'the number of employees', 'the housing sales price index', 'cultural facilities', and 'the number of students per teacher'. More positive (+) influences of the population out-movement were observed in areas with higher numbers of single-person households, lowers proportions of the elderly, lower numbers of businesses, higher numbers of employees, higher numbers of housing sales, lower numbers of cultural facilities, and lower numbers of students. The findings suggest that policies should enhance the environments such as quality jobs, culture, and welfare that can retain young people within Busan. Improvements in the quality of life and job creation are critical factors that can mitigate the outflows of the Busan residents to the Seoul metropolitan area.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.3 s.54
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• pp.539-553
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• 1996

The study was conducted from May to September in 1994 to investigate applicability of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly-Screening version(HHIE-S) in parallel with the pure-tone audiometer to the initial screening test of noise-induced hearing loss(NIHL) in some noise-exposed workers. Subjects were selected by systemic sampling that took every 10th person from 6, 700 workers taking the annual occupational health examination by the department of Health Maintenance of Dongsan Hospital Keimyung University in Taegu. The authors administered the pure-tone audiometric test and self-reported questionnaire of HHIE-S including items of sociodemographic and job-related variables concurrently. The final subjects analysed were 1,019(488 males and 531 females) excluding fourteen persons who had many missing values in their questionnaires. The reliability coefficients of HHIE-S scale by Cronbach's alpha were 0.84. In the univariate analysis of hearing handicap measured by the HHIE-S, work duration, military service and the hearing threshold loss at 1KHz and 4KHz by the initial audiometer were significant in males while age, work duration and hearing threshold loss at 1KHz and 4KHz were significant in females. In the stepwise linear regression analysis, hearing threshold loss at 1KHz and 4KHz, was the only selected variable explaining the hearing handicap in males and hearing threshold loss at 1KHz and 4KHz, age, and work duration were selected in females. In ROC curves for HHIE-S scores against NIHL as gold standard which was defined by the follow-up audiogram as more than 30dB of the average of 0.5/1/2KHz and 50dB at 4KHz, the optimal cutoff for the parallel HHIE-S appeared to be 8. The results suggest that HHIE-S appeared to have some reliability and validity in this data and might be used in screening NIHL in parallel with pure-tone audiometer in noise-exposed workers.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.1429-1444
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of elderly people's difficulties in emotional regulation on their quality of life and to suggest possible ways of improving their emotional regulation. The subjects in this study were 345 senior citizens who participated in community education programs and used senior centers. A survey was conducted in person, and the instrument used to check their difficulties in emotional regulation was Gratz & Roemer(2004)'s inventory that was rearranged to serve the purpose of this study. When a factor analysis was carried out, their emotional regulation difficulties were categorized into five factors, which were respectively named troubles in emotional response handling, difficulties in accurate emotional awareness, difficulties in emotional coping, and difficulties in emotional reception. The findings of the study were as follows: First, the senior citizens were different from one another in emotional regulation difficulties according to their personal characteristics involving gender, income, financial state, hospitalization experience over the past three months, and presence or absence of disease. Second, their quality of life significantly varied with gender, age, presence or absence of spouse, form of residence, education, income, financial state, hospitalization experience and presence or absence of disease. Third, as a result of investigating the influence of their emotional regulation difficulties on the overall quality of life, a better quality of life was found among those who were male and who had an income and suffered from fewer diseases. And a lower quality of life was found among the senior citizens who faced difficulties in emotional response handling, who had difficulties in emotional control and who lagged behind in terms of emotional coping. Accordingly, the emotional regulation difficulties of the senior citizens could be said to be closely linked to their quality of life. Given the findings of the study, in which way elderly people could be helped to improve their emotional regulation in consideration of their own personal characteristics was discussed, and how to classify their emotional regulation difficulties from various angles to relieve them of the troubles was suggested.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.141-155
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• 2024

Background: This study aimed to identified the relationship between the risk of obstructive sleep apnea, subjective health, and health-related quality of life among the middle-aged and elderly population in Korea. Methods: Adults aged 40 or older were extracted from the total 22,559 respondents to the 2019-2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey VIII, and secondary analysis was conducted on a total of 6,659 middle-aged and elderly people with no missing values. Logistic regression analysis and multiple regression analysis were conducted to examine the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea risk factors and subjective health as well as quality of life. Results: The subjective health status decline in the high-risk group compared to the non-risk group for obstructive sleep apnea was statistically significantly higher, with an odds ratio of 1.84 (p<0.001). The health-related quality of life was also statistically significantly lower by 0.02 points (β, -0.02; p<0.001). As a result of subgroup analysis on specific variables, the association between the risk of obstructive sleep apnea and subjective health and health-related quality of life was statistically significant depending on gender, sleep time, presence of depression, household income, and number of household members. Based on the obstructive sleep apnea risk group, women had a higher correlation with low subjective health and lower health-related quality of life scores than men. Sleeping time of more than 8 hours or less than 6 hours was more associated with low subjective health and lower health-related quality of life score than sleeping time of 6-8 hours. Patients with depression were more likely to have low subjective health than those without depression. The lower the household income level and the smaller the number of household members, the higher the association with low subjective health and the lower the health-related quality of life score. Conclusion: It is essential to recognize that the risk of obstructive sleep apnea not only directly affects sleep disorders but also impacts individuals' subjective health and quality of life. Consequently, social support and education should be provided to raise awareness of this issue. Particularly, programs for preventing and managing obstructive sleep apnea should target vulnerable groups such as women, individuals in single-person households, low household income, and those with depression, aiming to improve their subjective health and quality of life.