Health Behavior and Health Condition of the Rural Young-Old and the Rural Old-Old in an Agricultural District.
- Author:
Seong Ho HWANG
1
;
Myeong Sook LEE
;
Sung Kook LEE
Author Information
1. Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Kyungpook National University, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Young-old;
Old-old;
Health behavior
- MeSH:
Aged;
Contracts;
Demography;
Health Behavior;
Health Promotion;
Hearing;
Humans;
Mental Health;
Motor Activity;
Oral Health;
Republic of Korea
- From:Journal of Agricultural Medicine & Community Health
2011;36(4):207-217
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to garner useful information through a comparative analysis of health behaviors and health states between the young-old and old-old elderly in a rural Korean area. METHODS: We define the young-old elderly as those 65 to 74 years of age, and the old-old as those over 70. The survey was administered in October and November of 2009 at senior citizen centers in Sangju City, Kyongsangbuk-do, South Korea. The number of subjects surveyed approximated the demographics of the aged population of the administrative district of centers of 24 eup, myeon, and dong. RESULTS: Compared with the young-old elderly, the old-old were vulnerable to population sociological characteristics. While there were many cases of contraction of diseases, only a small percentage of old-old elderly were engaged in regular exercise. In addition, the old-old elderly lagged behind the young-old in terms of physical activity, mental and oral health, hearing, and vision. CONCLUSIONS: The vulnerability of the old-old elderly in terms of physical and mental health needs to be acknowledged as various characteristics of the elderly that appears according an age group. A variety of disease prevention and health promotion programs that focus on the health behavior and status of the young-old and old-old elderly need to be developed and put into practice.
