• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.118-128
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• 2015

This study was performed to analyze health problems in older adults in a comprehensive manner, including usual living habits, nutritional status, and society psychological factors. Research was conducted by a structured questionnaire by interviews with a test group of 316 people over the age of 65 from April 2012 to August 2012. Elderly people's dietary intake was assessed using NSI (Nutrition Screening Initiative) by the 24-hour retrospective method, and elderly people's feeling of helplessness and sense of belonging were assessed using the measuring device. Material analysis, descriptive statistics, and regression analysis were performed using SPSS. Elderly people with increased age showed higher chances of being in the high-risk and undernourished group. Elderly with high NSI showed low intake of fat, protein, fibrin, vitamin C, E, $B_1$, $B_2$, Niacin, K, Fe, Zn, and Cu than those with low NSI. Findings from this comparative analysis indicate that elderly with better nutritional status showed a lower feeling of helplessness than those with poor nutritional status. Overall, elderly people consumed a b road variety of foods, and social emotional stability of elderly people increased at optimal dietary levels.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.163-173
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• 2014

This study investigates the dietary risk factors in elderly individuals in rural Korea by focusing on the development of service programs that can improve their health. The sample included 1,000 free-living elderly individuals aged 65 and over in rural Korea. A three-stage stratified random sampling method based on 2010 Korean census data was employed. Data on the dietary status and the need for assistance in meal management were collected through face-to-face interviews. The dietary status was evaluated based on the Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) checklist, and the outcomes for three groups classified base on their family type were examined. According to NSI scores, more than 70% of the subjects faced some nutritional risk. The activities most requiring assistance in meal management included preparing meals (18.3%) and purchasing food items (11.7%). More than half of the subjects reported that having meals at community senior centers at least once a week. The results indicate that those subjects from single-individual households were most likely to face some nutritional risk and require, assistance in purchasing food items and preparing meals. In addition, these subjects were least likely to be satisfied with their health and dietary management. To improve the dietary status of elderly individuals in rural Korea, any service programs should facilitate their daily activities by focusing on improving their diet, particularly that of those from low-income, single-individual households.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2012

This study was conducted to assess improvements in nutritional status following the application of nutrition education to elderly patients in a long-term care hospital. The study was carried out from January to May 2009, during which a preliminary survey, a pretest, the application of nutrition education, and a post-test were applied in stages. The number of subjects at pretest was 81, and the number of participants included in the final analysis was 61 (18 men, 43 women), all of whom participated in both the nutrition education program and the post-test. The survey consisted of general demographic items, health behaviors, dietary behaviors, the Nutrition Screening Initiative checklist, and nutrient intake assessment (24 hour recall method). The nutrition education program lasted for four weeks. It included a basic education program, provided once a week, and mini-education program, which was offered daily during lunch times. The survey was conducted before and after the education program using the same assessment method, although some items were included only at pretest. When analyzing the changes in elderly patients after the nutritional education program, we found that, among subjective dietary behaviors, self-rated perceptions of health (P<0.001) and of depression (P<0.001) improved significantly and that dietary behavior scores also improved significantly (P<0.001), while nutritional risk levels decreased. In terms of nutrient intake, subjects' intake of energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin C all increased significantly (P<0.001). These results indicated that nutritional education is effective in improving the nutritional status of elderly patients. We hope that the results of this study can be used as preliminary data for establishing guidelines for nutrition management tailored to elderly patients in long-term care hospitals.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.209-219
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the gender differences in the cognitive function and nutritional status among elderly people living in the community. Methods: This study used data from the 2014 National Survey on the Elderly and focused on 10,054 respondents who answered that they did not have dementia. The Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination for Dementia Screening and the Nutrition Screening Initiative were used. IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0 was used to conduct statistical analyses. Results: The cognitive function score was 25.30 for men, which was higher than for women. The percentage of subjects who showed cognitive decline was 25.5% for males and 50.2% for females, which was statistically significant (p<.001). There were statistically significant differences in the nutritional status between males and females (p<.001). There was a statistically significant negative correlation between the cognitive function and nutritional status in both men and women (p<.001, p<.001). Conclusion: These results showed that the intervention to maintain cognitive functioning should be provided to elderly women with a low education level or high number of chronic diseases and medication, and an intervention to prevent the cognitive decline of the elderly should include nutritional management for health and function maintenance.

• CELLMED
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.13.1-13.10
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• 2017

Nutrition is one of the factors influencing cognitive functions. But, the role of nutrition on cognitive functions within the elderly is recognized to a lesser degree. The aim of this academic endeavor was to analyze the affiliation between nutritional status and cognitive functions of the elderly in Korea. 316 subjects, of 114 male and 201 female aged above 65 years, were gathered from university hospital clinics, Elderly Welfare Centers, and Health Welfare Centers located in the district of Seoul, Gyeonggi province, and Incheon in Korea. The cognitive function was tested by the Korean-Mini Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) questionnaire. Nutrition intake was assessed by a 24-hour recall, a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Nutrition adequacy and quality were assessed by the Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) checklist, the nutritional adequacy ratio (NAR), and the mean adequacy ratio (MAR). The elderly with normal cognitive function status displayed significantly higher levels of calcium, riboflavin, thiamin, folate, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B6, phosphorous, potassium, iron, niacin, zinc, animal fat, animal protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, total protein, vegetable oil, vegetable protein, fiber than levels of the elderly with moderate cognitive impairment. The K-MMSE score positively correlated with of high consumption of pork, white radish, sea mustard, tomato, tangerine, grape, apple, and ice cream, and K-MMSE was negatively associated with high intake of potato, anchovy, fish cake, and mushroom. The findings suggest that nutritional status is affiliated with cognitive function within the elderly of Korea. The consumption of variety of foods and nutrients ensures adequate cognitive function in the Korean elderly.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.392-403
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• 2005

Purpose: This study was to evaluate the nutritional status of low-income elders in urban areas and factors affecting their nutritional risk. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted. The subjects were 300 elders selected from home visiting clients of DongJack Public Health Center. Data were collected using a questionnaire containing questions on socio-demographic characteristics. health behavior and disease. dietary pattern. Nutritional Screening Initiative. Geriatric Depression Scale and Barthel Index for ADL. Collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. $X^2-test$ and multiple regression analysis using SPSS. Results: Of the subjects, 63% had high nutritional risk, 21.3% moderate nutritional risk, and 15.7% good nutritional risk. NSI score was significantly different according to economic status, subjective health condition, medication, dental health, depression. regularity of diet and meal with family. Multiple regression analysis revealed that depression, subjective health condition, dental health and regularity of diet and meal with family explain 38.1% of nutritional risk. Conclusion: It is necessary to evaluate nutrition status and to control nutritional risk factors such as depression, dental health, regularity of diet and meal with family for improving the health of the low-income elderly.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.197-207
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• 2019

Objectives: This study examined the characteristics and nutritional risk of the elderly who receive home delivery services. We then analyzed the effects of the characteristics of the elderly who receive the home-delivery meal service on their nutritional risk. Methods: A total of 220 respondents who receive home-delivery meal service in Seoul participated in the survey. The survey consisted of the characteristics of the elderly (health status, tooth condition, physical activity, social participation activity, depression and relationship with neighbors), nutritional risk assessment and other general matters. The data was analyzed by using the SPSS program. Cross-tabulation analysis, t-test, correlation analysis and regression analysis were all conducted. Results: 47.0% of the subjects were under 80 years old and 53.0% were over 80 years old, The nutritional risk score, as evaluated by a Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) checklist was 10.7 points, and the high nutrition risk group was 91.5% of the subjects. The subjective self-health status score was 2.24 points (out of a total of 5 points) and the tooth status score was 3.30 points. The physical activity level was 2.17 points for the under 80 years old group and 1.76 points for the over 80 years old, and there was a significant difference according to age (p<0.01), The higher the health status, tooth condition, physical activity and social participation activity level, the lower was the nutritional risk. Further, the higher the degree of depression, the higher was the nutritional risk. Conclusions: For the healthy life of the elderly in the community, various welfare policies should be planned to increase social participation as well as to promote physical health and reduce depression.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.122-130
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• 2008

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the associated factors of the perceived health status of the elderly in Korea and to provide basic data for developing nursing interventions for the elderly's health management. Methods: This study used a descriptive correlational research design. The subjects of this study were 335 elderly people over 60 yr living in an urban city. Data were collected through personal interviews using questionnaires from September 2006 to March 2007. Empirical indicators of perceived health status were measured by SF-36, nutritional screening initiative (NSI), activities of daily living (ADL) Index, and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) scale. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and hierarchical regression. Results: The mean age of the subjects was 72.8 and 57.0% of subjects were female. 41.5% of variance in physical health was explained by nutrition, ADL, IADL, and the number of years attending school. Among them the most important factor was ADL. 13.2% of variance in mental health was explained the number of family, nutrition, and IADL. Among them the most important factor was nutrition. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop supportive interventions for improving the perceived health status of elderly people by considering the most important factors shown in this study.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.312-324
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• 2015

Purpose: This study addressed the relationship among nutritional risk, stress, and health related quality of life for older women with a foreign daughter-in-law. Methods: A descriptive research design was used for this study. The subjects of this study were 112 older women with a foreign daughter-in-law all of whom were over 65 years and living in D city. Personal interview was used for data collection. Nutritional risk, stress, and health related quality of life were measured using Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI), Family Inventor of Life Events and Changes (FILE), and Medical Outcome Study (MOS) Short-form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36), respectively. Results: Older women with a foreign daughter-in-law showed negative correlation between quality of life related health and nutritional risk, stress and age, and positive correlation between Activities of Daily Living (ADL); 46% of variance in health related quality of life of older women with a foreign daughter-in-law was explained by nutritional risk, ADL, stress and occupation. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, we suggested that specialized programs should be established to help in development of social relationship networks for older women who have a foreign daughter-in-law.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 2008

This study was performed to identify association between nutritional status and health risks of the elderly. This was a cross-sectional study involving low income elderly women in Gwangju, Korea (${\geq}$65y, n = 92). Socio-demographics, life style characteristics, health conditions, dietary intakes based on 24h-recall method, anthropometric measures, and clinical biochemistry parameters were examined. Anthropometric and clinical parameters included wt, ht, waist, hip, body protein, body fat, abdominal fat, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein, albumin, hemoglobin, hematocrit, fasting blood glucose, ferritin, IL-2, IL-6, TNF-${\alpha}$, CRP, TAS, TBARS, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure. The subjects were divided into three groups based on age (65-74y, 75-84y, 85y${\leq}$) and were divided into two groups according to the sum of the Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) checklist score (adequate nutritional status, NSI score ${\leq}$3; at risk of malnutrition, NSI score >3). Mean and frequency of variables were estimated. Analysis of Variance, Tukey test, Chi-square test, and Multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Mean BMI and body fat were 25.1 $kg/m^2$ and 40.0%, respectively. However, for over 80% of subjects, the intakes of energy, fiber, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, Ca, K, and Zn were less than the Korean DRI (EAR or AI). The subjects who had lower NSI score tended to have better health status, eat meals frequently, have less depression, and exercise regularly. The subjects who had higher NSI score tended to have tooth problems, to eat alone most of time, and to be physically unable to cook or feed. Serum IL-6 and TNF-${\alpha}$ were significantly related with nutritional status which suggested higher tendency of inflammatory response. Serum IL-2, TAS, and glucose were significantly correlated with body fat (%) or abdominal fat (%). These results suggest that improving the nutritional status, increasing regular exercise, maintaining normal weight are beneficial to health care of low income elderly women.