• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.67-71
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a community-based cognitive stimulation program on cognitive function and subjective memory in the elderly with mild cognitive impairment. This study was applied by selecting 15 users who understood the purpose of this study and agreed to participate in the shelter program for more than 3 months from April 2019 to August 2019 at the D Dementia Center in G located, Gyeonggi-do. The program consisted of a total of 36 cognitive stimulation programs 3 times a week a total of 3 months. Cognitive stimulation program stimulates cognitive function through various activities such as orientation reinforcement, cognitive training, recall, music, art, and physical play, and is used for the purpose of improving social function. It consists of folk songs, percussion instruments, national gymnastics, dance, games, and traditional games. As a result of the cognitive stimulation program, the average cognitive function increased by 2.13 points from 26.33 points before implementation to 28.46 points after implementation, and a statistically significant result was obtained (p=0.000). Subjective memory decreased by 3.53 points from the average of 7.13 points before the cognitive stimulation program was implemented to 3.60 points after the implementation, and a statistically significant result was obtained (p=0.000). It can be confirmed that this works. Dementia is leading to a cost burden, and congnitive function decreases the aqulity of life. It brings various burdens. It is necessary to study cognitive stimulation programs applied to various environments in the future.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.22-31
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• 2017

Purpose: The purposes of this secondary analysis study was to examine prevalence, risk factors and unmet healthcare needs among adults with hypertension. Methods: A sample of 3,386 adults over the age of 40 with hypertension were drawn from the Korea Health Panel Study (2013). Using SPSS 22.0 version, descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, chi-square and logistic regression were performed. Results: Results showed that 18.9% of the sample reported unmet healthcare needs with the most frequently cited one was financial burdens (43.2%). The reported experiences of unmet healthcare needs differed by gender, marital status, vision or hearing impairment, memory problem, impaired mobility, subjective health status, total family income, depressive episode and the difficulty in making decisions. The sample participants were more likely to report unmet healthcare if they had vision impairment, low income and perception that their health status as moderate to poor. Those without vision impairment were less likely to report unmet healthcare needs. Conclusion: The identified risk factors of unmet healthcare needs should be addressed which would enhance access both to health care and to resolution of unmet healthcare needs. Since visual ability seems to impact perception of unmet healthcare needs, it may be useful to find ways to address this factor.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.45-53
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• 2013

Objectives Non-major depression with fewer symptoms than required for a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-4th edition diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) has consistently been found to be associated with functional impairment. In this study, we aim to estimate the cognitive impairment and the quality of life in elderly patients with subsyndromal depression (SSD) compared with non-depressive elderly (NDE). Methods The Korean version of Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview was administered to 194 outpatients with depression and 108 normal controls. SSD is defined as having five or more current depressive symptoms with core depressive symptoms (depressive mood or loss of interest or pleasure) during more than half a day and more than seven days over two weeks. Depression was evaluated by the Korean form of Geriatric Depression Scale of a 15-item short version. Global cognition was assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination in the Korean version of CERAD assessment packet (MMSE-KC). Subjective cognitive impairment was assessed by the Subjective Memory Complaint Questionnaire. Quality of life was evaluated by the Korean Version of Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey. Results The mean score of the MMSE-KC in the SSD group was lower than that in the NDE group with adjustment for age, gender, and education [F = 4.270, p = 0.04, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA)]. If we defined those having Z-score of MMSE-KC < -1.5 as a high risk group of cognitive impairment, the odds ratio for the high risk group of cognitive impairment was 1.86 [95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.04-3.34] in SSD and 7.57 (95% CI 3.50-16.40) in MDD compared to NDE. The scores of physical component summary (F = 9.274, p = 0.003, ANCOVA) and mental component summary (F = 53.166, p < 0.001, ANCOVA) in the SSD group were lower than those in the NDE group with adjustment for age, gender, and education. Conclusions The subjects with SSD, as well as those with MDD, showed impairment of global cognition and also experienced low quality of life in both physical and mental aspects, compared to the NDE group.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.158-168
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• 2023

Background and Purpose: Facial emotion recognition deficits impact the daily life, particularly of Alzheimer's disease patients. We aimed to assess these deficits in the following three groups: subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and mild Alzheimer's dementia (AD). Additionally, we explored the associations between facial emotion recognition and cognitive performance. Methods: We used the Korean version of the Florida Facial Affect Battery (K-FAB) in 72 SCD, 76 MCI, and 76 mild AD subjects. The comparison was conducted using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), with adjustments being made for age and sex. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was utilized to gauge the overall cognitive status, while the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB) was employed to evaluate the performance in the following five cognitive domains: attention, language, visuospatial abilities, memory, and frontal executive functions. Results: The ANCOVA results showed significant differences in K-FAB subtests 3, 4, and 5 (p=0.001, p=0.003, and p=0.004, respectively), especially for anger and fearful emotions. Recognition of 'anger' in the FAB subtest 5 declined from SCD to MCI to mild AD. Correlations were observed with age and education, and after controlling for these factors, MMSE and frontal executive function were associated with FAB tests, particularly in the FAB subtest 5 (r=0.507, p<0.001 and r=-0.288, p=0.026, respectively). Conclusions: Emotion recognition deficits worsened from SCD to MCI to mild AD, especially for negative emotions. Complex tasks, such as matching, selection, and naming, showed greater deficits, with a connection to cognitive impairment, especially frontal executive dysfunction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.547-555
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• 2014

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the association between subjective distress symptoms and argon welding among workers in Gyeongnam Province shipyard. Method: 31 argon and 29 non-argon welding workers were selected as study subjects in order to measure concentrations of personal dust, welding fumes and other hazardous materials such as ZnO, Pb, Cr, FeO, MnO, Cu, Ni, $TiO_2$, MgO, NO, $NO_2$, $O_3$, $O_2$, $CO_2$, CO and Ar. An interviewer-administered questionnaire survey was also performed on the same subjects. The items queried were as follows: age, height, weight, working duration, welding time, welding rod amounts used, drinking, smoking, and rate of subjective distress symptoms including headache and other symptoms such as fever, vomiting and nausea, metal fume fever, dizziness, tingling sensations, difficulty in breathing, memory loss, sleep disorders, emotional disturbance, hearing loss, hand tremors, visual impairment, neural abnormality, allergic reaction, runny nose and stuffiness, rhinitis, and suffocation. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software, version 18. Data are expressed as the mean ${\pm}SD$. An ${\chi}^2$-test and a normality test using a Shapiro wilk test were performed for the above variables. Logistic regression analysis was also conducted to identify the factors that affect the total score for subjective distress symptoms. Result: An association was shown between welding type (argon or non-argon welding) and the total score for subjective distress symptoms. Among the rate of complaining of subjective distress symptoms, vomiting and nausea, difficulty breathing, and allergic reactions were all significantly higher in the argon welding group. Only the concentration of dust and welding fumes was shown to be distributed normally after natural log transformation. According to logistic regression analysis, the correlations of working duration and welding type (argon or non-argon) between the total score of subjective distress symptoms were found to be statistically significant (p=0.041, p=0.049, respectively). Conclusion: Our results suggest that argon welding could cause subjective distress symptoms in shipyard workers.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.59-70
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• 2022

Background and Purpose: Neurofilament light chain (NfL) has been considered as a biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease (AD). We measured plasma NfL levels in older adults with cognitive complaints and evaluated their clinical usefulness in AD. Methods: Plasma levels of NfL, measured by using the single molecule array method, were acquired in a total of 113 subjects consisting of subjective cognitive decline (SCD; n=14), mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n=37), or dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT; n=62). Plasma NfL level was compared among three groups, and its association with cognitive and functional status was also analyzed. Results: After adjusting for age, plasma NfL level was higher in subjects with DAT (65.98±84.96 pg/mL), compared to in subjects with SCD (16.90±2.54 pg/mL) or MCI (25.53±10.42 pg/mL, p=0.004). NfL levels were correlated with scores of the mini-mental state examination (r=-0.242, p=0.021), clinical dementia rating (CDR) (r=0.291, p=0.005), or CDR-sum of boxes (r=0.276, p=0.008). Just for participants who performed amyloid positron emission tomography (PET), the levels were different between subjects with PET (-) (n=17, 25.95±13.25 pg/mL) and PET (+) (n=16, 63.65±81.90 pg/mL, p=0.010). Additionally, plasma NfL levels were different between vascular dementia and vascular MCI, and between Parkinson's disease- dementia and no dementia. Conclusions: This pilot study shows that in subjects with DAT, plasma NfL levels increase. Plasma NfL level correlated with cognitive and functional status. Further longitudinal studies may help to apply the plasma NfL levels to AD, as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and predicting progression.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.833-845
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• 2021

Parkinson's syndrome is a degenerative brain disease that presents characteristic motor symptoms of tremor, rigidity, and gait disturbance. In addition to these motor symptoms, Parkinson's syndrome also presents non-motor symptoms (NMSs) such as sleep disturbance and cognitive decline. NMSs reduce patient's quality of life and psychosocial functioning and cause economic burden on the patient, so appropriate evaluation and treatment are required. Lewy body dementia is one of the several diseases belonging to Parkinson's syndrome. Its symptoms such as cognitive function, memory impairment, and hallucinations occur with Parkinsonism. Although drug therapy is being used with drug treatment to treat non-motor symptoms, it has limitations such as side effects, which stimulated interest in other complementary treatment methods such as oriental medicine treatment, dance, and yoga. The patient in this case complained of tremor in the right upper extremity, muscle hypertension and pain, and persistent vision, memory, and cognitive decline. The patient was diagnosed with probable Lewy body dementia. The patient was hospitalized for 4 months and received acupuncture and herbal medicines. After treatment, the patient's NMS scale scores decreased from 90 to 63, and the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale scores (summed I, II, and III) decreased from 17 points to 8 points. The Beck Depression Inventory score decreased from 22 points to 13 points. In addition, the patient's subjective evaluation revealed improvement. In this case, a patient diagnosed with probable Lewy body dementia who did not respond to the standard treatment and did not want to take medications showed improvement in not only motor symptoms but also NMSs after integrative Korean medicine treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.629-635
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• 2019

In term of the factors affecting psychosocial adjustment of breast cancer patients, their quality of life after surgical operation, radiation, and chemotherapy were systematically meta-analyzed. As a result, their qualities of life of the patients that had radiation therapy was the lowest right after the therapy, and gradually increased after the end of the therapy. However, after six months, their quality of life failed to reach the same level before the therapy. They had depression and side effects the most right after the therapy, and somewhat reduced them after the end of the therapy. In case of surgical operation, the more they were educated, the more they had psychosocial adjustment, and the more they had a medical examination and took out an insurance policy, the more they had psychosocial adjustment. In case of chemotherapy, their cognitive function is influenced so that they have impairments in memory, learning, and thinking stages. Since subjective cognitive impairment has a relationship with depression, it is necessary to monitor depression of chemotherapy patients. Given the results of this systematic meta-analysis, when three types of therapies (surgical operation, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy) are applied to patients with breast cancer, it is necessary to recognize their psychosocial adjustment, depression, anxiety, and quality of life in the nursing and radiation therapy fields and thereby to introduce an intervention program for a holistic approach.