• Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.308-317
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• 2017

Objectives: We aimed to examine the effects of various leisure activities on cognitive impairment in young-old (aged 65-74 years) and old-old (aged ${\geq}75$ years) adults. Methods: In total, 10,279 elderly Korean individuals from the 2014 Korean National Survey on Older Adults' cohort were enrolled in our study. Cognitive impairment was assessed using the standardized score of the Mini-Mental State Examination for Dementia Screening, whereas leisure activities were recorded via self-reporting of the extent and type of leisure activity the subjects involved in over the past year. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the effect of leisure activities on cognitive impairment, while controlling for potential covariates. Results: The subjects were more likely to participate in cognitive activities than in non-exercise physical activities. After controlling for selected covariates, involvement in cognitive activities was found to be a significant predictor of cognitive impairment in both the groups, whereas involvement in non-exercise physical activities was not a predictor of cognitive impairment in individuals aged ${\geq}75$ years. Moreover, depressive symptoms, rural residence, and hearing difficulties were common predictors of cognitive impairment among elderly-Korean-individuals. Conclusion: Leisure activity involvement may help delay cognitive impairment, which is often concomitant with aging. Hence, an early intervention service may significantly benefit both young-old and old-old individuals.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.540-551
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• 2013

Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is becoming an epidemic and thereby a global health problem. Further, VDD adversely affects calcium metabolism and skeletal health, and is associated with increased risk of several diseases, e.g., autoimmune diseases, several types of cancers, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, asthma, psoriatic arthritis, and etc. To evaluate the prevalence of VDD in Korea, and then to evaluate the association of several factors with serum 25(OH)D level, the author analyzed the data of 14,456 individuals who were 10 years of age and over from the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1 & 2 (KNHANES V-1 & 2) conducted by the Korean Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. As a result, among Koreans (age $${\geq_-}$$ 10years), 65.9% of males and 77.7% of females were below optimum blood serum 25(OH)D (20 ng/mL). VDD is more severe in female than in male at all age groups. In addition, the younger generations had less 25(OH)D level than older generations in Korea. The analysis by complex sample general linear model (CSGLM) suggested that blood 25(OH)D concentration was related with gender (p < .001), residence (p = .030), occupation (p < .001), anemia (p < .001) and physical activity (p < .001). In conclusion, VDD is pandemic and it is more severe in younger generations in Korea. Further, from the results by CSGLM, serum 25(OH)D status is closely related with the life style of Koreans.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1129-1137
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• 1993

This study was carried out to analyze the effects of dietary and life-style factors on the prevalence of depression in Korea. Epidemiologic data from a nation-wide sample of 2,000 adults who were selected with the stratified random sampling method in Korea were interviewed by trained interviewers. Data were presented on the CES-D, a 20-items self-report depression symptom scale developed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies in U.S.A. The prevalence of depression among all the respondents was 13.5%, with 13.1% in urban samples and 15.5% in rural samples. The prevalence was higher in females(15.3%) than in males(11.7%). There were highly marked differences in the prevalence of depression by sex(p<0.05), age(p<0.0001), education(p<0.001) and income(p<0.01). Respondents of 60 years and over group, the less educated group(below elementary school graduated), and the less income group(less than 400,000 won/month) reported the highest rate of depression. However subjects' occupation and residence had little relation with the prevalence of depression. Drinking and smoking habit appeared to be highly associated with depression in females(p<0.0001) but not in males. The prevalence of depression and eating behavior were highly related(p<0.005). Male respondents below 20 years, 20-29, and 60 years and over depressed group reported significantly lower energy and protein intakes compared to that of the normal group. However, in the female respondents 20-29 years and 60 years and over depressed groups showed the significantly lower energy and protein intakes compared to those of the normal groups(p<0.05), it can be concluded that the various ecological factors such as epidemiological, dietary, and health factors may affect the prevalence of depression among Korean.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.75-91
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in dietary life, lifestyle factors, and stress status of Chinese students who came to study abroad to South Korea. A total of 143 Chinese students were recruited from Seoul Women's University and Wonkwang University in 2013. We used SPSS 20 for statistical analyses in this study. The mean length of residence was 2.9 years for Chinese students. Most subjects aged 20~29 years immigrated to South Korea to obtain an academic degree (bachelor, master, or doctorate). We found a significant decrease in the frequency of eating fruits and vegetables among Chinese students in South Korea after migration. Further, there was a significant increase in fast food consumption and frequency of late-night snacking and eating out. In addition, their preferred beverage changed from soft drink or tea to coffee after migration. Stress level significantly (P<0.05) increased in male students compared to female students. The high stress group watched more TV when eating compared to the low stress group. In addition, there were more students who perceived their health status as bad in the high stress group. Overall results give us useful information for targeting the most vulnerable subjects and planning nutrition intervention programs.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.1-14
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• 1973

This study is designed to meet the following objectives: (1) To study attitude and behavior regarding marriage and age at marriage, (2) To learn correlates of age at marriage and to examine their relations, (3) To measure relative importance of the correlates of age at marriage, and (4) To study relations of age at marriage and family planning practice to fertility and their relative importance as correlates of fertility. The data are obtained by an independent cross-sectional survey in three study areas purposively selected to represent metropolitan. semihuman. rural population. The study population is confined to women age 17-50 as of survey. The overall response rate is 90%. Reliability of data is measured by . individual and aggregate inconsistency based upon a 15% subsample of the original interviews. The individual inconsistency (31%) is found to be high compared to the aggregate inconsistency (6%) for all 85 variables. However, the magnitude of differences between means is small, and the mean absolute shifts and proportional shifts are also small on the whole. In a word respondents did not change their answers too extremely or radically. The study populations of each study area are compared on some basic characteristics. It is found that the three study populations have more dissimilarities than similarities. The findings on seven different attitudinal positions of women toward marriage indicate that there have been tremendous changes in all study areas Iron "traditional" attitudes which have been prevalent for a long time in Korean society to "liberalized" or "modernized" attitudes. An apparent tendency is that women generally take a position of a "golden mean" attitude by not preferring either extreme of marriage attitudes. Nevertheless, the young, single, educated, and urbanite appears more "liberalized. " There has been some increase in ideal age at marriage from 1958 to 1970 for both sexes. No age group, marital status, or study area differentials in ideal age at marriage are found, the average ideal age at marriage in every sub-group being 24-25. Awareness of existing legal marriageable ages is low; only 4.4% are aware that "with parental permission: minimum age for males is 18 years and for females 16 years,"and only 3.7% are aware that "without parental permission: 27 years for males and 23 years for females." People in Korra tend to marry spouses who are in various social ways like themselves: the similarities include (a) education, occupational status of father, (c) economic status, (d) usual residence before marriage, and (e) religion. Both singulars and actual mean ages at marriage in this study confirm the trend of rising age at marriage previously established by other independent studies. The urban-rural differential in age at marriage is observed, but the differential narrows down gradually from 1935 to 1970. All socio-economic, demographic, and other variables pertaining to wife before and at first marriage, excluding (a) religion, (b) father′s of occupation, and (c) as: of menarche, are correlated with respondent's age at first marriage, whereas only three variables out of all socio-economic variables relating to husband before and at wife′s first marriage, viz., (a) education, (b) usual residence, and (c) economic level of his old home, are correlated with respondent′s age at marriage. Among socio-economic and modernity variables related to either husband or wife at the time of survey, only education and duration of residence are correlated with wife′s age at first marriage. Among the correlates of respondent′age at first marriage, education is in general the most important variable. However, it is found that wife′s education is more important than husband′s. The combined effects or the correlates studied explain no more than about 40% of variance for any of the selected groups of variables. Points which might counteract the effects of late marriage on fertility are not serious in Korea. For each of the correlates of the three fertility indices chosen for this study. namely, (a) number of living children, (b) number of live births, and (c) number of pregnancies, age at marriage is the major contributor to the variance in all age groups except the age group of 20-29 in which the index of family planning practice is the major contributor. The proportion of variability in fertility indices accounted for by the correlates is never more than 40% of the total variance in any age group. Based upon the findings from this study, it could be concluded that in the foreseeable future (a) celibate group will no! be increased to a point that would slow down population growth rate in Korea, (b) age at marriage will not increase continually, (c) although education stands out as the major contributing variable which independently explains the variation in age at marriage, it seems probable that education may not be the major variable in the near future, and (d) despite the fact found by this study that age at marriages has been the major contributor to the variance of each of the fertility indices used, family planning practice will play a more important role in the reduction of fertility in the Korean society. Therefore, factors interrupting practice of family planning must be eliminated and family planning program should be strengthened if further fertility reduction is needed.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.34-45
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• 2011

For the Hancheon drainage area in Jeju island, a groundwater flow model using Visual MODFLOW was developed to simulate artificial recharge through injection wells installed in the Hancheon reservoir. The model was used to analyze changes of the groundwater level and the water budget due to the artificial recharge. The model assumed that $2{\times}10^6m^3$ of storm water would recharge annually through the injection wells during the rainy season. The transient simulation results showed that the water level rose by 39.6 m at the nearest monitoring well and by 0.26 m at the well located 7 km downstream from the injection wells demonstrating a large extent of the affected area by the artificial recharge. It also shown that, at the time when the recharge ended in the 5th year, the water level increased by 81 m at the artificial reservoir and the radius of influence was about 2.1 km downstream toward the coast. The residence time of recharged groundwater was estimated to be no less than 5 years. The model also illustrated that 15 years of artificial recharge could increase the average linear velocity of groundwater up to 1540 m/yr, which showed 100 m/yr higher than before. Increase of groundwater storage due to artificial recharge was calculated to be $2.4{\times}10^6$ and $4.3{\times}10^6m^3$ at the end of the 5th and 10th years of artificial recharge, respectively. The rate of storage increase was gradually diminished afterwards, and storage increase of $5.0{\times}10^6m^3$ was retained after 15 years of artificial recharge. Conclusively, the artificial recharge system could augment $5.0{\times}10^6m^3$ of additional groundwater resources in the Hancheon area.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.317-329
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• 2021

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the association between cohabitation status and sleep quality in family members of people with dementia (PwDs). Methods: Data of 190 365 participants aged ≥19 years from the 2018 Korea Community Health Survey were analyzed. Participants were categorized according to their cohabitation status with PwDs. Multiple logistic regression and ordinal logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between the cohabitation status of PwDs' relatives and sleep quality measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and PSQI subscales. Results: Compared to participants without PwDs in their families, both cohabitation and non-cohabitation with PwDs were associated with poor sleep quality (cohabitation, male: odds ratio [OR],1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08 to 1.52; female: OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.20 to 1.64; non-cohabitation, male: OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.24; female: OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.33). In a subgroup analysis, non-cohabiting family members showed the highest odds of experiencing poor sleep quality when the PwD lived alone (male: OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.91; female: OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.24 to 2.01). Cohabiting male and female participants had higher odds of poor subjective sleep quality and use of sleeping medications than non-cohabiting male and female participants, respectively. Conclusions: The residence of PwDs and cohabitation status may contribute to poor sleep quality among PwDs' family members. The circumstances faced by cohabiting and non-cohabiting family members should be considered when evaluating sleep quality in family members of PwDs, and appropriate interventions may be needed to improve sleep quality in both cohabiting and non-cohabiting family members.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.91-99
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• 2002

A recent survey investigated that there were over one thousand un-controlled closed landfills(1,072 sites) in Republic of Korea. Most of these landfills were constructed before 1986. Waste management act were not promulgated at that time, so they usually do not have dranage system and leachate treatment facility. Also, considerable attention has been received to landfill leachate pollution, leachate has an adverse impact on the surrounding environment such as soil, groundwater, and water supply source. According to the result of survey for closed landfill management, it was reported that 875 sites out of 1,072sites(81.6％) have no leachate treatment facility and 630 sites out of 1,072sites(58.7％) have been used for farm lands and residence. Consequently it is hard to do postclosure care continuously in most of cases and these uncontrolled landfills have contaminated farm lands and residence. The average age of these landfills are ranged mostly between 2 to 15 years. Much time and advanced technology are needed to remediate these uncontrolled landfills, therefore the survey for present status of closed landfill sites is required and suitable treatment processes should be prepared. With this point of view, We has been investigated to find out the present status of closed landfill, problems of post management and discussed plans for remediation and reuse. Remedial actions of un-controlled landfill have been carried out the many cities since 1997 upto now. Most frequently applied technology were reuse after excavation and there were several cases to capping in the surface of landfill and to construct subsurface barriers. It is considered that landfills in use have a possibility not to be controlled because of inadequate construction and improper management. Therefore remediation of uncontrolled landfills and recovery technology should be develop continuously Especially, it has been expected that resource technology of landfill gas as a energy has some advantages in controlling odors in the site area and accelerating stabilization of landfills with the energy.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.27-42
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to investigate the intention to utilize u-healthcare services in Korea. Specifically, this study attempted to identify the relationships among the intention to use u-healthcare, consumer's demographic characteristics, and personal information technology level. We conducted telephone interview and collected data from 406 householders 20 years old or older. The results showed significant differences in use intention of u-healthcare service by innovation, gender, and their interaction term. Residence area and average time of internet use had significant effect on the use intention of u-healthcare service. Also, the interaction term between innovation and education level had a significant effect on use intention. Based on the results we concluded that the consumer's characteristics and information technology level had a significant effect on the use intention of u-healthcare service.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.797-810
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• 2010

This study examined perceived discomforts encountered in residential facilities such as individual houses and apartments, and suggested a procedure for improving the problems in the living residence. The participants consisted of two groups of people: normal and underprivileged people; the underprivileged group was classified into 3 sub-groups: elderly people (over 65 years old), handicapped people and pregnant women. To identify inconvenient places and design factors in the residential housing, a total of 200 subjects (50 for each group) participated in the survey using the 7-point Likert scale. As a result, all the user groups mainly answered a high degree of discomfort due to narrow parking places, doorsills, and height differences between floors. The elderly, the handicapped, and the pregnant women replied that it is uncomfortable to use ramps and utility rooms. In a follow-up study, one-to-one in-depth interviews were conducted with some of the participants to analyze the detailed causes of inconvenient places and design factors. This study also suggested the procedure for solving the problems in various design factors from perspective of universal design, by considering prior studies which focused on a certain user group like the elderly. This procedure was suggested to consider as many user groups as possible at the same time. The results can be used to understand the discomforts of various user groups on residential housing. The procedure can also be used to develop universal design guidelines for the living residence.