BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Estimating age- and sex-specific population attributable risks (PARs) of major risk factors for stroke may be a useful strategy to identify risk factors for targeting preventive strategies. METHODS For this case-control matched study, consecutive patients aged 18-90 years and admitted to nine nationwide hospitals with acute ischemic stroke between December 2008 and June...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES The study objectives were to examine the participation rate in food assistance programs and explore the factors that contribute to such participation among the Korean elderly population. SUBJECTS/METHODS The study sample comprised 3,932 respondents aged 65 years or older who were selected from a secondary data set, the fourth Korean Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS). The fact...

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to verify the association between wealth or income level and health status after adjusting for other socio-economic position (SEP) indicators among Korean adults aged 45 and over. METHODS Data were obtained from the 1st wave of Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (households: 6,171, persons: 10,254). We used self-rated health status and activities of daily living (...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between multiple chronic diseases and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and elderly populations. METHODS This study was performed using the 2009 Korean Community Health Survey, which targeted adults over the age of 40 (N = 156,747 participants, 88,749 aged 40-59 years and 67,998 aged ≥60 years). The Korean version of th...

Background Protein intake in South Korea is generally considered to be adequate; however, there is concern that it may be inadequate among the elderly. This study evaluated the adequacy of protein intake, the source of protein, and the distribution of protein intake in daily meals in the Korean elderly population. Methods Data were obtained from 1,484 men and 2,028 women aged 60 years or olde...

BACKGROUND Although the proportion of the elderly patients with incident end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients has been increasing in Korea, there has been a lack of information on outcomes of dialysis treatment. This study aimed to assess the survival rate and to elucidate predictors for all-cause mortality among elderly Korean patients initiating dialysis. METHODS We analyzed 11,301 patie...

BACKGROUND Sarcopenia is an age-related loss of muscle mass and strength. Coffee has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that have been shown to be inversely related to the mechanism of sarcopenia. While there have been some studies on the effect of coffee on sarcopenia in animals, studies on the topic in humans are rare. Therefore, we investigated this relationship in elderly Korean m...

[Purpose] In this study, we investigated the effects of combining exercise with a cognitive-enhancement group program on cognition and depression in a group of community-dwelling elderly people. [Subjects and Methods] The study's subjects consisted of 30 community-dwelling elderly people of both genders, whose average age was 78 years. They participated in a program of physical exercise combine...

OBJECTIVE A community survey was performed to investigate the factors and perspectives associated with happiness among the elderly in Korea (≥60 years). METHODS Eight hundred volunteers selected from participants in the Ansan Geriatric study (AGE study) were enrolled, and 706 completed the survey. The Happiness Questionnaire (HQ), which asks four questions about happiness, was administered. T...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES By the year 2050, thirty-eight percent of the Korean population will be over the age of 65. Health care costs for Koreans over age 65 reached 15.4 trillion Korean won in 2011, accounting for a third of the total health care costs for the population. Chronic degenerative diseases, including coronary heart disease (CHD), drive long-term health care costs at an alarming annua...