• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2017

Objectives: Although the number of the oldest-old is rapidly increasing due to longevity, very little is known about the trajectory of depressive symptoms(DS) and its related factors among the oldest-old. Much less is known about whether the trajectory of DS differs by gender among the oldest-old. The current study aims (1) to estimate the trajectory of DS and (2) to examine whether the trajectory differs by gender among the oldest-old. Methods: Sample consists of 296 persons aged 85 and over who participated in the Korean Welfare Panel Study data. Data were processed using the latent growth curve modeling to estimate the trajectory and multi-group SEM to examine gender difference. Results: This study showed that (1) the trajectory of DS was increasing over time and (2) the DS trajectory of males was much more rapidly increasing than that of females, indicating male oldest old are more vulnerable to depression than female oldest old in later life. Conclusions: Given the fact that females are known to be more vulnerable to depression, the findings are counterintuitive to the previous knowledge on depression and gender difference. Based on the findings, implications for intervention and education related to DS among the oldest-old.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.72-83
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was to investigate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and risk factors in elderly people (old vs oldest-old) with arthritis. Methods: The Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) was used with a sample of 1,084 elderly people with arthritis aged 65 or above. Results: We found that the prevalence of depressive symptom was greater for oldest-old people (66.7%) compared to old people (56%). Significant differences between old people and oldest-old people were found for education, living with spouse, number of generation, regular exercise, body mass index (BMI), ADL limitation, self-rated health, and depression. Significant differences existed between depression and non-depression in terms of all variables except region and BMI among old people. But, among the oldest people, ADL limitation and self-rated health showed differences. The Logistic regression analysis revealed that religion, medical comorbidity, ADL limitation, self-rated health were significantly associated with depressive symptoms in old people. But, in oldest-old people, none of the variables were associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The findings show that there are age differences in depression and related factors in elderly people with arthritis. Longitudinal studies, which covered depressive symptom severity and which are controlled for a large number of potential confounders, will need to complement the results of this study in the future.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2021

Purpose: Malnutrition affects all age groups, but older adults are particularly more vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies. This study evaluated the age-specific factors affecting malnutrition in hospitalized older adults. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on inpatient elderly people who received artificial nutrition from 2010 to 2017. Data of demographics, diagnosis, type of nutrition therapy, number of comorbidity, fall risk assessment, Acute Physiologic Assessment and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) score, and intensive care unit admission were collected. Malnutrition was defined as a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5 kg/m². Patients were classified as the young-old (65~74 years old), the old-old (75~84 years old), or the oldest-old (85 years old or older). Results: A total of 7,130 older adults were included, and 4,028 patients were classified as the young-old, 2,506 into the old-old, and 596 into the oldest-old. Proportion of malnutrition was higher in the oldest-old compared to the other groups. In multivariate analysis, parenteral nutrition, alcohol, and high risk of falls were factors affecting malnutrition in all groups. Parenteral nutrition and alcohol in the young-old, high risk of falls in the old-old, and male sex in the oldest-old were the factors affecting malnutrition by the age group. Conclusion: Older age was the most significant factor affecting malnutrition. Specific strategies by age are needed to improve nutritional status in hospitalized older adults as influencing factors for malnutrition vary among different age groups.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of life satisfaction and the significant factors which impact on life satisfaction of young-old (60-69 yr), old (70-79 yr), and oldest-old (80 yr or above) women. Methods: The participants for this study were 289 elderly Korean women living in the city of Daegu and Kyongpook province. The data were collected using structured questionnaires. ANOVA, Chi-square, and multiple regression with the SPSS program were used to analyze the data. Results: There were statistically significant differences among young-old, old, and oldest-old women regarding the existence of spouse, income, educational status, and religions. The model including variables related to physical, psychological, financial, and social aspects of life, explained variance of life satisfaction of elderly women differently, such as 55% of young-old, 37% of old, and 66% of oldest-old. Finally, self-esteem was the only predictor in explaining the level of life satisfaction among old women regardless age. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the study, implications for practical services for elderly women and recommendations of further study are provided. Nursing interventions should be developed to improve life satisfaction of elderly women according to age differences.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.419-431
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• 2014

Purpose: The aim of this study was to understand the determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) according to age groups in vulnerable elderly women. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with 1,533 elderly women beneficiaries of the visiting health care program in Seoul. The participants were divided into three age groups: the young-old (n=753, 65-74 years), old-old (n=602, 75-84 years), and oldest-old (n=178, 85 years or older) groups. HRQOL was measured using the SF-8 questionnaire. Results: HRQOL was found to be worse in the oldest-old group (p=.007). Factors associated with HRQOL differ by age groups. In the young-old and old-old groups, higher HRQOL showed significant correlation with a higher level of self-rated health (SRH) and a lower level of depression, instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) dependence, and the number of chronic diseases. In addition, higher HRQOL was observed for elderly living alone than for those living with family. In the oldest group, higher HRQOL showed significant correlation with a lower level of depression, activities of daily living (ADL) dependence, and a higher level of SRH. Conclusions: In age specific groups, lower levels of HRQOL were observed for the oldest-old group than for the other age groups. Age group-specific nursing strategies may be required for improving HRQOL levels of vulnerable elderly women.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.359-382
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• 2009

Little research has been done to understand the dynamics of well-being among the oldest old, although Korea experiences a rapid increase of this population group. This study explored the effects of demographic characteristics, physical condition, stressful life events and worries on life satisfaction of aged 85 and over. The moderating effects of psychosocial resources in buffering the negative effects of the life events and worries on life satisfaction of this group were also examined. The survey data collected from 213 community residing aged 85 and over was used for analyses. Major findings are as follows. First, most frequent stressors of the oldest old were health related problems. Second, greater worries, higher income status, lower level of physical impairment, co-residence with adult children were significantly related to higher life satisfaction of the oldest old. Third, emotional support from adult children as well as self-esteem of the older persons had buffering effects on the relationship between worries and life satisfaction. According to the results, implications for practice and services to increase life satisfaction of the oldest old were discussed.

• Survey Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.1-26
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• 2011

Mortality for oldest-old age (aged 80 or over) in Korea has never been studied mainly due to lack of data leaving its quality aside. The rapid aging recently occurring in Korea, which no other country has never experienced, must introduce a drastic change in the structure of future population pyramid, requring a careful investigation on mortality level, pattern, and trend for the oldest-old age in Korea. For mortality trend, we need to extend the past mortality data, which has provided only an open-ended age interval 80 or 85 years and over, to age-specific mortality up to 115 years old. A prerequisite for such an extension is constructing a Korean standard mortality by which one can figure out the mortality level and pattern of the oldest-old age. A Korean standard mortality is proposed by applying one relational model and eleven functions from which we select best models for each sex in terms of three measures of fits and three consistencies of mortality. Then we extend the mortality of the open-ended age intervals by providing a method to avoid the longitudinal consistency of mortality.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.121-135
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• 2004

'Long-life' which has been the perennial interest to human beings also carries the risk of multiple losses such as the death of the family members and friends, the loss of physical and cognitive functions. In that regards, living a long life to be the 'oldest-old' could mean not only a 'symbol of successful aging' but also a hardship and low quality of life at the same time. Therefore, the issue of the quality of life of the oldest old has been the subject of the much of the public and research concern in recent days. While there has been increased awareness about the importance of the subjective aspects of the quality of life and meanings attached to the extended life, most researches on the quality of life of the oldest-old have focused only on the objective conditions of the quality of life such as health, economic status and housing conditions. To overcome these limitations this study aims to explore the subject meaning of 'living a long life' in Korean society by investigating centenarians and their caregivers' interpretations of aging experiences. Qualitative data were gathered from the forty-nine Korean centenarians and their caregivers through in-depth interview. Each interview was tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Researchers read each transcript a number of times to get some emerging themes. Most striking result was the fact that most of the centenarians express the 'guilty feelings' and try to offer the 'excuses' about their long life. This results were quite contrary to the results of the studies, done in Japan and western countries like Sweden, United States and Germany, where most of the oldest-old express quite positive interpretations about their long-life and take pride in their longevity. Lack of social support, cohort characteristics of the Korean oldest-old and the cultural interpretations linking the death of children to the long life of older generation are given as possible factors to these unique findings of Korean study. The policy implications of the results are discussed.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.391-396
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to present basic research data to utilize magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with analyzing intracerebral regional distributions of ischemic cerebrovascular disease of middle aged and oldest-old aged people. We retrospectively analyzed middle-aged group (average age of 44.2 year-old, 43 males, 26 females) and oldest-old aged group (average age of 84.7 year-old, 58 males, 71 females) who taken MRI screening for ischemic cerebrovascular disease from May 2006 year to January 2008 year. The intracerebral vascular were classified into 8 vessels, which anterior communication artery (ACoA), posterior communication artery (PCoA), anterior cerebral artery (ACA), middle cerebral artery (MCA), posterior cerebral artery (PCA), internal carotid artery (ICA), common carotid artery(CCA), and basilar artery (BA). The result of middle-aged group showed that more ischemic cerebrovascular diseases appeared in men than women, and it affected in MCA mostly. In oldest-old aged group, ischemic cerebrovascular diseases occurred evenly spaced in intracerebral region of right, left, and both vessels, and women have more than men. For men, the most occurred in ICA and for women the most occurred in MCA. Specially middle-aged group in men showed that more ischemic cerebrovascular diseases in MCA appeared than oldest-old aged group in men. It is suggested that the analysis on ischemic cerebrovascular could be helpful in the clinical diagnosis and treatment.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.400-410
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that influenced the health-related quality of life of young-old (65-74 yr) men, old-old (75-84 yr) men, and oldest-old (85 yr or above) men in vulnerable aged received home care from public health center. Methods: The participants for this study were 318 aged Korean men living in D city. The data was collected from August to October, 2009 using structured questionnaires. Chi-square, One way ANOVA, Duncan test, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient and multiple regression with the SPSS WIN 14.0 program were used to analyze the data. Results: There were statistically significant differences among young-old, old-old, and oldest-old men regarding the health-related quality of life, health promoting behavior, IADL (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living), rehabilitation, depression, and social support. The model including variables related to physical, psychological, and social aspects of life, explained variance of the health-related quality of life of aged men differently, such as 39.6% of young-old, 35.4% of old-old, and 47.0% of oldest-old. Finally, IADL and social support were predictors in explaining the level of health-related quality of life among vulnerable old men regardless of age. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the study, nursing interventions should be developed to improve health-related quality of life of vulnerable aged men according to age differences.