BACKGROUND The Korean population is aging rapidly and the number of health threats is increasing. The elderly obese population is also increasing and this study aimed to evaluate the association between body mass index (BMI) and health-related quality of life in the elderly Korean population. METHODS The Korean version Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) was admini...

Recently, human models developed based on measurement data of human bodies have been effectively used to study human-related biomechanical characteristics in various research fields. Several research bodies in the USA, Europe, and Japan have expressed significant interest in developing human models for their own people. Basically, as the human models developed in foreign countries show remarkab...

A two-year, multidisciplinary study (N = 800) was conducted on attitudes about end-of-life decision making among elderly individuals in four ethnic groups (African American, European American, Korean American, and Mexican American). On a quantitative survey, Korean Americans reported negative attitudes about the use of life-sustaining technology for themselves but positive attitudes about its u...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical characteristics of dysphagic elderly Korean patients diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia as well as to examine the necessity of performing a videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) in order to confirm the presence of dysphagia in such patients. METHOD The medical records of dysphagic elderly Korean subjects diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia were retro...

BACKGROUND Korea is one of the fastest aging countries and is expected to become a super-aged society within 12 years. The Korean Urban Rural Elderly (KURE) study was developed to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics and establish the prevention and management of major disorders of the elderly in Korea. METHODS/DESIGN The KURE study is a community-based prospective cohort study on hea...

This research aims to develop a questionnaire of deviant behavior for the Korean elderly people which may make a big contribution to the examination of deviance behavior of the elderly people and may play an important role in providing a methodological basis. In order to accomplish the purpose of the this study, there were three different stages; (a) making preliminary question items, (b) refin...

This study examined the association between English language proficiency and health outcomes in a regional probability sample (n = 205) of elderly Chinese and Korean immigrants. Data support that these two Asian ethnic subgroups differ in English proficiency and health-related quality of life. Chinese and Korean elders had poorer health than the national norms, and poor English proficiency was ...

OBJECTIVE Polypharmacy is widespread in the elderly because of their multiple chronic health problems. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and predictors associated with polypharmacy in a nationally representative sample of Korean elderly individuals. METHODS We used the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service - National Patient Sample (HIRA-NPS) data fr...

To test the hypothesis that the intake of psychotropics may increase the risk of hip fracture, a cohort study was conducted upon elderly Korean women. The Korean Elderly Pharmacoepidemiology Cohort was constructed from members of the Korea Medical Insurance Corporation over 65 yr of age who were living in Busan Metropolitan City in 1993. Study participants (n=6,043) were female respondents to a...

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to establish a stature-predicted equation using knee height, and perform a clinical validation on a Korean population. METHODS Using nationwide data obtained from 'Size Korea 2004', a stature-predicted equation was drawn and cross validation was performed using knee height in 5,063 subjects (2,532 males, 1,785 premenopausal females, and 746 postmenopausal females) ...