• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.111-118
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• 2018

Korea is facing a surge in the aging population, showing that population aged 65 and above will be accounted for 42.5% of the total population in 2065 with the emphasis on the over-80 population consisting of 19.2%. In response to this abrupt change in population structure, the number of traffic fatality accident referring to older driver as aged 65+ years had been increasing from 605 fatalities in 2011 to 815 fatalities in 2015 resulting in increases in 34.7% in oppose to happening to decreases in 17.2% about non-older driver. With Logit analysis based on Newton-Raphson algorithm utilizing older driver's traffic fatality data for the 2011-2015 years, it was found that the likelihood of an accident resulting in a fatality for super older driver aged 80 years and above considerably increased compared to other older driver with aging classification: 2.24 times for violation of traffic lane, 2.04 times for violation of U-turn, 1.48 times for violation of safety distance, 1.35 times for violation of obstacle of passing; also average annual increase of traffic accident cost related to super older driver was fairly increased rather than other older driver groups. Hence, this study proposes that improving and amending transport safety system and Road Traffic Act for super older driver needs to be urgently in action about license management, safe driving education, etc. when considering the increase of over-80 population in the near future. Also, implementing a social agreement with all ages and social groups to apply with advanced driver assistance system for older driver groups will be able to become a critical factor to enhance safe driving over the face of the country.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.387-394
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• 2014

Objective: The purpose of this study is to survey trend and the real state of ageing population in UK, and its charge organizations, relevant policies and studies. Background: As in other countries, UK population is ageing and people aged 65 or over account for about 17% of population in UK. Considering this ageing population, there are varying basic studies and policies for older people in UK. Method: First, the author consulted ageing and its policies in UK with some faculties in an UK university. Next, based on the results of consultation, wide literature survey was conducted, which includes papers in relevant academic journals, publications and website surfing. Results: A number of basic studies for surveying status and characteristics of older people as well as simple population trend for them have been conducted in UK. Healthcare services are free for all UK residents, and varying social care services including equipment, home and residential cares, financial support, etc., are provided by local governments. Cost of social cares is means-tested and is not free for everyone. There are a number of governmental or non-profit organizations dedicated to help older people access social care services or to financially fund research projects older people. Conclusion: There are more basic studies, and healthcare and social care services for older people in UK, compared to Korea. Application: It would be useful as basic data for establishing effective polices for old people in Korea.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.161-182
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• 1994

The steady rise in life expectancy resulting from progress in medical science and economic growth and improved living conditions is responsible for large and increasing-number of older peoples in our country. The older peoples who are increasing make up a large percentage of our total population. Now a day the percentage of older people 60 and 65 years old over compose around 8.7% and 5% of the total population in each. In spite of such a rapidly increasing trend of older population, there has had no provisions for elderly welfare in our country. The reason why some children do not want to take care of their older parents, and the other is the lack of elderly welfare, are responsible for large and increasing anxiety of livelihood and alienation to the number of older peoples. As mentioned above, especially studying Swedish elderly welfare model of many developed countries, it intend to provide many of the useful materials to make the elderly welfare systems in our country. The main research for Swedish elderly welfare are as follows : (1) Old age pension systems (2) Social service systems (3) Health care service systems (4) Housing care service systems.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.697-705
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• 2014

The exposed population of a vulnerable group to high ozone episodes (exceeding 60 ppb/8h) was estimated in Busan metropolitan city from 2000 to 2010. The frequency of high ozone days at monitoring sites and the number of the population aged over 65 were used to calculate the accumulated (total, seasonal, and yearly) number of the exposed older population (EOP) to high ozone episodes during the study period based on administrative areas, by interpolation and zonal mean methods in ArcGIS software. The older population in this city had increased significantly from 2000 to 2010 (representing over 10% of the total population in 2010). The vulnerable areas (e.g. the eastern area of the city) of the EOP to high ozone episodes were different from the areas with frequent high ozone episodes (e.g., the western area) due to the increase of the older population in particular areas. The difference was more significant in spring than in any other season, and in 2010 than in previous years (2000 and 2005).

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.49 no.10
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• pp.609-617
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• 2011

The geriatric population is the most rapidly growing part of the general population, which leads to an increase of chronic conditions and illnesses that will influence both oral and systemic health. The most common chronic diseases in elderly population are arthritis, hypertension, heart diseases, diabetes, and cognitive impairment. Chronic impairments such as visual, hearing, orthopedic, and speech disorders are also prevalent among older adults. All these chronic conditions have potential oral complications and the treatments of systemic diseases also has implications for the maintenance of oral health. Therefore, oral health care professionals should catch up with increasing knowledge in this field and can modify the treatment strategy for older adults. In addition, oral health care professionals should understand the changing need of oral health problems in this age and prepare the future demand.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.36-49
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• 2000

Evaluation of nutritional status is an essential element in providing appropriate intervention strategies to achieve the highest level of health, Nutritional assessment of the older population is complicated by many factors which do not significantly affect the nutritional status in young adults, therefore, it should be considered in two ways; community-dwelling elders group and hospitalized or institutionalized elderly group. To sort out the individuals with nutritional problems in a community efficiently, nutrition screening tools must be simple, relatively inexpensive, and applicable to a large number of subjects. Combination of tools and indicators such as 24-hour food recall, body weight and height, and questionnaires on eating practices, and the presence of chronic diseases is practically applicable as basic tools of nutritional screening of older age group. However, the lack of validated screening techniques remains a barrier in improving nutrition. Validation is only limited to energy, BMI, protein intake of the older populations living in western countries. Further refinement of nutritional assessment tools is demanded to figure out whether those are practically applicable to community-living older adults in Asian Society. A careful and systematic evaluation of nutritional assessment tools should be carried out prior to implementation of stepwise nutrition service to the heterogeneous older population. For an in-depth nutritional assessment at the individual level, we need to extend research efforts to clarify the requirements of nutrients due to aging and diseases. More cost-effective method that will allow rapid analysis of survey results are needed so that information can be readily available to policymakers.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.495-503
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• 2023

Objectives: While older adults using community care services are known to be vulnerable for depression, community care utilization (CCU) may help to improve the mental health of these elderly. To date, however, it is much less clear how CCU affects depressive symptoms in the elderly population. This study focuses on the trajectory of depressive symptoms across years of CCU among older adults in Korea. Methods: Using the 2006-2019 Korean Welfare Panel Survey, this study is focused on elderly born in 1940 or earlier and selected 3281 persons for baseline interviews in 2006. This consisted of 35 800 person-year observations during a period of 14 years. Panel data analysis were employed to construct years of CCU. Results: After controlling for covariates, linear term of years using community care was negatively associated with depressive symptoms, but a quadratic term was positively significant. The trajectory of depressive symptoms across the years of CCU follows a U-shaped curve. Older adults in the first year of using community care reported the highest level of depressive symptoms. However, a significant and steady decrease in depressive symptoms was observed during the following 9 years of CCU, which then gradually increased. The level of depressive symptoms at the 14th year of using community care remains significantly lower than the level at the outset of its utilization. Conclusions: This finding implies that CCU could be beneficial for improving mental health among older adults.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.323-330
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• 2018

The growth of the older population is expected to further increase social problems associated with population aging, such as isolation, poverty, and depression. The emerging issues associated with the older population are also expected to provide further momentum on studies about the dwelling environment as factors that ensure the health of older people as well as improve their quality of life. Therefore, approaches for explaining the issues of the older age group should be diversified using a variety of factors and appropriate analytic tools. Studies on measuring depression have principally focused on assessing an objective self-report questionnaire, usually in a highly structured, textual form which may not reflect the cognitive impairment of older adults. The aim of this study was to define and measure dwelling depression among older adults in Korea. There are two specific hypotheses in this study as follows: (a) there will be statistically significant relationships with dwelling dissatisfaction and depression, and (b) dwelling depression tools containing text and images will be, respectively, assessment tools that have a good construct with content validity and reliability. In the first experiment, to define and measure dwelling depression, 301 people over 65 years old living in single and two-person households were surveyed using a text-based dwelling depression questionnaires from September 1-30, 2017. In the second experiment, to examine whether the projective image questionnaire could serve as a suitable replacement for the text-based questionnaires, the same participants were surveyed from January 22 to February 2, 2018. The results show that depression has a close correlation with dwelling dissatisfaction. In addition, the geriatric dwelling depression index (GDDI) based on the projective image was refined. Additionally, the projective image questionnaire has a close correlation with the text-based questionnaire. Finally, through ROC curve analysis, it was found that the projective image questionnaire can accurately predict a depression group. To this end, this preliminary study examined the validity of the projective image questionnaire in older adults to make this instrument feasible for older populations and to contribute to a profound understanding of geriatric depression due to the living environment. We hope they will provide a basis for further research on psychological diagnoses using projective images.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.398-406
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• 2022

Objectives: While the risk of depression is expected to substantially increase among older adults receiving community care, leisure life satisfaction can be regarded as a key component in enhancing the mental health of those receiving community care. However, it is not yet known whether community care utilization increases the risk of depression, or what role is played by leisure life satisfaction in these settings. This study investigated the relationship between community care utilization and depression, as well as the main effect and the moderating role of leisure life satisfaction on the link between community care utilization and depression among older adults. Methods: This study, using the 2019 Korean Welfare Panel Survey, conducted multiple regression analysis on data from 4494 elderly people aged 65 years or older. Results: After controlling for potential covariates, older community care recipients were more likely to report symptoms of depression than those who did not receive community care. Meanwhile, leisure life satisfaction was negatively associated with depression in older adults. The test for interaction between community care utilization and leisure life satisfaction revealed that leisure life satisfaction significantly attenuated the link between depression and community care utilization. Conclusions: The findings of this study imply that leisure life satisfaction could play a meaningful role in improving the mental health of older adults receiving community care. Welfare policies affecting older adults should consider leisure life satisfaction as an important resource for reducing depression in community care settings.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.spc
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• pp.563-576
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify personal factors, social factors, and environmental factors related to physical activity in older adults in urban and non-urban areas. Methods: We used source data from the 2017 Community Health Survey. The subjects of this study included some older adults aged 65 and over, and analyzed the data of 23,043 older adults living in the urban and 34,063 older adults living in the non-urban area. Results: The common factors influencing physical activity in older adults by region include current smoking and drinking, BMI, sleep duration, and subjective health status, help with neighbors, frequency of meeting with neighbors and friends, participation in social and leisure activities, and falls experience (p<.001). However, the living environment, public transport satisfaction, and medical service use significantly associated with physical activity for only older adults living in the urban area (p<.001). Conclusion: In order to improve physical activity in older adults in the community, it is necessary to consider not only the improvement of individual factors that practice health behaviors but also health promotion strategies that take into account social and environmental factors because there are environmental differences among regions.