• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.305-314
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• 2016

Background: The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of and factors associated with long-term care (LTC) utilization under public long-term care insurance (LTCI) among end-of-life older adults in Korea. Methods: Using a 5% sample of older people aged 65 or older and their health and LTC insurance data, two-part model analyses were conducted. We compared LTC uses and their determinants during the last year of life among decedents in the year 2010 with those of survivors. We also compared the medical uses of the same sample with their LTC uses. Results: The end-of-life elderly were more likely to use LTC, and their expenditure on LTC was higher than their counterparts. Whether or not older people used LTC during their last year of life was significantly affected by age, sex, health insurance, household income, and living alone; however, LTC costs of the decedents were only affected by functional status, which may have been due to the reimbursement scheme of the current LTCI, which is mainly based on functional dependency level. For the survivors, having chronic diseases significantly increased the likelihood of LTC use, which was not the case for the decedents. End-of-life elderly with relatively low social economic status were more likely to use the LTC other than medical services, while the health conditions affected their medical uses most significantly. Conclusion: The study findings provide key information for predicting demand related to the increasing LTC needs of Korean older people at the end of life.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.338-346
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between oral health impact profile, depression and quality of life among community-dwelling elderly persons in South Korea. Methods: The design of this research was cross-sectional descriptive study. The participants were 266 community-dwelling individuals aged 65 and older. Data were collected from November 20 to December 20, 2011. The measurements for assessing the subjects' oral health, depression, quality of life were OHIP-14, GDS-SF and QOL. Data were collected using self-administered or interviewer-administered questionnaires. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression. Results: The participants' mean age was 77.68, and 86.5% were female, 42.9% were living-alone elders. Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis found that oral health impact profile was significantly associated with depression (r=-.622, p<.001), QOL (r=-.400, p<.001), number of disease (r=.298, p<.001), age (r=.198, p=.002), education (r=-.149, p=.015), eating habit (r=.185, p=.003). The QOL was explained 54.7% by depression (${\beta}$=-.619), oral health impact profile (${\beta}$=-.127), number of benefited welfare service (${\beta}$=.235), perceived health (${\beta}$=-.327), eating habit (${\beta}$=-.094) using stepwise multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: These results indicate that the intervention program of oral health promotion for community-dwelling elders is needed from now on.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.412-419
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• 2016

Objective: Because the number of geriatric cancer patients is on the rise but information on treatments for this population is limited, this study aimed to analyze clinical characteristics and the factors that influence treatment decisions among elderly cancer patients.Method: Data on elderly cancer patients (≥65 years of age) who were admitted to a traditional Korean medicine hospital from March 2014 to February 2016 were collected. We compared the clinical characteristics and overall survival rates of the chemotherapy group and the non-chemotherapy group.Results: Nineteen patients were included in this study. Nine people received chemotherapy, and ten people did not receive chemotherapy due to concerns about quality of life. Age, activities of daily living (ADL) score, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status all showed differences between the two groups, although median survival times did not differ significantly between the two. Compared with chemotherapy alone, traditional Korean medicine combined with chemotherapy prolonged median survival times.Conclusion: Old age and low ECOG performance status and ADL scores appear to be influential factors for the decision to undergo chemotherapy. Further studies are needed to confirm that these factors influence decisions about cancer treatment methods among geriatric cancer patients.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.82-88
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• 2020

With the development of medical care in the 21st century and the rapid development of the 4th industry, electronic devices and household goods taking into account the physical and mental aging of the silver generation have been developed, and apps related to health and health are generally developed and operated. The apps currently used by the silver generation are a form that provides information on diseases by focusing on prevention rather than treatment, such as safety management apps for the elderly living alone and methods for preventing diseases. There are not many apps that provide information on foods that have a direct effect and nutrients in that food, and research on apps that can obtain information about individual foods is insufficient. In this paper, we propose an app that analyzes food factors and provides self-medication for health promotion of the silver generation. This app allows the silver generation to conveniently and easily obtain information such as nutrients, calories, and efficacy of food they need. In addition, this app collects/categorizes healthy food information through a textom solution-based crawling agent, and stores highly relevant words in a data resource. In addition, wide deep learning was applied to enable self-medication recommendations for food. When this technique is applied, the most appropriate healthy food is suggested to people with similar eating patterns and tastes in the same age group, and users can receive recommendations on customized healthy foods that they need before eating. This made it possible to obtain convenient healthy food information through a customized interface for the elderly through a smartphone.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.18-22
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• 2007

Purpose: The rapid change to an aging society generates an increase in the incidence of chronic diseases. Many chronic patients have been facing their illnesses without enough preparation. In order to solve these problems, we designed and tested a public healthcare service based on ubiquitous technology. Method: Telemedicine has emerged as new medical care system of chronic disease. However, public potential of its technology is difficult to know under current traditional health care system. In this work, we developed a Personal Digital Access (PDA) phone based healthcare system by trained visiting nurses for elderly patients. A field test was performed by SeongBuk Public Health Center in Seoul, Republic of Korea (ROK). Result: Surveys were generated to assess the effects of this system compared to conventional public health system. Findings of trials demonstrate that healthcare coordination enhanced by PDA phone technology is satisfactory to the patients and nurses compared to previous one because prompt responses arouse their recognition of health. Conclusion: Ubiquitous healthcare system applied to public health service proved to be efficient and time-saving to monitor and control the chronic illnesses of large population.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.10a
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• pp.370-372
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• 2021

According to the Clinical Research Center for Dementia, 840,000 Koreans aged 65 or older had dementia patients, with a prevalence rate of 10.39%. The prevalence rate is one in 10 elderly people, but difficult for families to take care of them all day. Judged that possible to manage the conditions and schedules of elderly people living alone by utilizing AI speaker system where schedule management is stored. This paper implements modules for AI schedulers in patients with dementia. Configured to link AWS, a remote IOT, inside the raspberry pi, and to output the schedule to speakers using a calendar from Google API. Through this study, judged that ease of scheduling will help manage and schedule dementia patients.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.30-40
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• 2015

Objectives: This study was performed to investigate the associations of food security with socio-demographic characteristics, nutrient intakes and mental health status among older Korean adults. Methods: This study was conducted using data from the 2008-2010 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Subjects were 4,451 adults aged 65~98 years. Food security was measured using a self-reported question on food sufficiency of subjects' household. Based on the answers, study subjects were classified into secure, mildly insecure, moderately insecure, and severely insecure groups. Dietary intake was estimated by 24-hour dietary recall. Nutrient intake was assessed by dietary reference intakes (DRI). As for mental health status, the data on mental stress, depression, and suicide ideation were used. Results: Rate of food insecurity in older adults was 14.3%. Old age, being female, low education, low income level, living alone, and discomfort in daily living were more related to food insecurity. Means of nutrient intakes were significantly different according to food security status. Intakes of calcium, potassium, and vitamin $B_2$ were lower than recommended intakes in all groups. Consumption amounts of soy and soybean products, vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, vegetable oils, meats, eggs, seafood, and dairy products were lower in food insecure groups. Mental stress, depression, and suicide ideation were higher in food insecure groups independent of the gender and income level. Conclusions: These present findings suggested that food security is related to mental health as well as nutrition status in older Korean adults. A national system that include food and psychosocial support programs for the elderly should be considered in order to improve the overall health of older Korean adults.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.259-271
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• 2017

The present study was designed to examine the impact of socioeconomic, health-related, and health behavioral factors on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the Korean elderly by gender. The subjects comprised 688 men and 898 women aged 65 or more who had participated in the Sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2014. The associations of factors with the HRQoL as measured with the European Quality of Life 5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) Index were examined in a general linear model. The most influential factor on the HRQoL was depression in both men and women. The perceived health status and walking activity were also associated with the HRQoL in both men and women. The living arrangement and educational status were associated with the HRQoL in women, while the body mass index was associated with the HRQOL in men. Depression management and the promotion of walking activity are essential to the HRQoL of the Korean elderly. Particular attention must be paid to the HRQoL of older women who live alone and have a lower level of education.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.185-191
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• 2020

Background: From January 2018, a policy was applied to differentially apply the co-payment for medical expenses of 15,000 won or more from 30% to 10%-30% for each medical fee. This policy lowers the burden on the medical use of the elderly, and it is necessary to analyze the effect of the policy by confirming changes in medical use and supply behavior after 2 years. Methods: The National Health Insurance Service's national medical use database was used. As for the analysis method, first, the medical use and medical supply behavior change over the age of 65 years were confirmed, and second, in order to check the net effect of the policy, the 66-year-old as the experimental group and the 63-year-old as the control group were selected as the control group. The propensity score matching was performed using the variables of age, living alone, income quartile, residence, disability, chronic disease, and co-morbid disease scores, and then it was analyzed using the difference in difference analysis method. Results: The share of the number of treatments under 15,000 won decreased from 37.0% in 2017 to 20.2% in 2018, while the share of the number of treatments under 15,001-20,000 won increased from 8.0% to 22.7%. It was confirmed that the reason for the increase in the cost of treatment per treatment was the result of the increase in the amount of physical therapy and examination. As a result of the policy effect, the burden of co-payment per person was reduced, and as a result, the number of hospital visits per person and the total medical cost per person increased. Conclusion: The self-pay rate differential policy reduced the burden of medical expenses for the elderly and confirmed the increase in medical use. However, the interpretation of the increase in medical use was not able to distinguish whether the unsatisfactory medical care was satisfied or the inducement demand. Efficient allocation of resources is a more important point in the future when the super-aged society is in front. It is necessary to prepare a plan to induce rational medical use within a range that does not impair the medical accessibility of the elderly.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.623-633
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• 2018

This study aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of how the presence or absence of a partner affects the life characteristics of persons aged 65 or older. For this, the subjects were divided into the married group and the single group to investigate sociodemographic characteristics, health conditions, self-rated health level, disease morbidity, limitations in life due to health conditions and health-related quality of life. An assessment was carried out by analyzing local communities' health survey data of 3 years from 2014 to 2016. The results revealed that the single group had more women, a lower household income, poorer health conditions, and a higher chronic disease morbidity rate than the married group, and thus their self-rated heath level was lower as well. These characteristics were found to contribute to a lower quality of life in the single group than the married group. To this day, we have viewed the elderly as one of the groups based on age and only tried to identify their average characteristics, thus overlooking their various inherent problems. The results of this study suggest that physical, emotional and social problems seen among the elderly need a comprehensive measure. In addition, this study found that public health approaches and social welfare systems should be improved to develop personalized support programs for the elderly.