BACKGROUND: The Fujiwara-kyo Osteoporosis Risk in Men (FORMEN) study was launched to investigate risk factors for osteoporotic fractures, interactions of osteoporosis with other non-communicable chronic diseases, and effects of fracture on QOL and mortality. METHODS: FORMEN baseline study participants (in 2007 and 2008) included 2012 community-dwelling men (aged 65-93 years) in Nara prefecture, Japan. Clinical follow-up surveys were conducted 5 and 10 years after the baseline survey, and 1539 and 906 men completed them, respectively. Supplemental mail, telephone, and visit surveys were conducted with non-participants to obtain outcome information. Survival and fracture outcomes were determined for 2006 men, with 566 deaths identified and 1233 men remaining in the cohort at 10-year follow-up. COMMENTS The baseline survey covered a wide range of bone health-related indices including bone mineral density, trabecular microarchitecture assessment, vertebral imaging for detecting vertebral fractures, and biochemical markers of bone turnover, as well as comprehensive geriatric assessment items. Follow-up surveys were conducted to obtain outcomes including osteoporotic fracture, cardiovascular diseases, initiation of long-term care, and mortality. A complete list of publications relating to the FORMEN study can be found at https://www.med.kindai.ac.jp/pubheal/FORMEN/Publications.html .
Aged ; Bone Density ; Cardiovascular Diseases/etiology* ; Cohort Studies ; Geriatric Assessment ; Humans ; Independent Living ; Japan/epidemiology* ; Long-Term Care/statistics & numerical data* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteoporosis/etiology* ; Osteoporotic Fractures/etiology* ; Risk Factors

BACKGROUND: Preventing the need for long-term care (LTC) by identifying physical function risk factors are important to decrease the LTC burden. The objective of this study was to investigate whether grip strength and/or walking speed, which are components of the frailty definition, are associated with LTC in community-dwelling older and oldest people. METHODS: The participants were 1098 community-dwelling older and oldest people who had not received LTC at the baseline. The endpoint was receiving LTC after the baseline survey. The independent variables were grip strength and walking speed, and participants were divided into two groups based on these variables. The confounding factors were age, sex, the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-J), hypertension, diabetes mellitus, stroke, joint diseases, living alone, body mass index, and serum albumin. We calculated the hazard ratio of receiving LTC using the Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: Among the 1098 participants, 107 (9.7%) newly received LTC during the follow-up. Regarding the physical function, only slow walking speed was significantly correlated with LTC after adjusting for all confounding factors except the MoCA-J score (HR = 1.74, 95% CI = 1.10-2.75, P = .018). However, slow walking speed was still a risk factor for LTC after adjusting for the MoCA-J score and other confounding factors (HR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.03-2.60, P = .037). CONCLUSIONS The findings from this study may contribute to a better understanding of slow walking speed as a factor related to LTC, which might be a criterion for disability prevention and could serve as an outcome measure for physical function in older people.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Exercise ; Female ; Humans ; Independent Living ; statistics & numerical data ; Japan ; Long-Term Care ; statistics & numerical data ; Male ; Proportional Hazards Models

This study aimed to examine nutrition care management for in-patients with dysphagia and to evaluate knowledge on nutrition care related to dysphagia among dietitians in clinical settings. A total of 554 questionnaires were distributed to dietitians at hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province in Korea, and 147 responses were used for data analysis after excluding responses with significant missing data. Study participants worked at general hospitals (37.2%), long-term care hospitals (24.3%), hospitals (19.2%), and tertiary hospitals (11.5%). Prior education and training related to dysphagia was received by 69.9% of the respondents. The percentage of hospitals that had diet guidelines for dysphagia was 68.0%. Dysphagia diets of 2 levels and 3 levels were provided in 55.1% and 34.7% of the hospitals, respectively. Overall 74.7% of the dietitians responded that they provided information on dysphagia diets to in-patients and caregivers, but only 45.7% of dietitians did so in the long-term care hospitals. Among the respondents who used commercial thickening agents, 77.2% used only one type of commercial thickening agent. Patients or caregivers (75.7%) or nurses (34.5%) were reported to modify viscosity of liquid. Dietitians showed low levels of knowledge on nutrition care related to dysphagia (a mean of 5.14 based on possible scores from 0 to 10 points). To promote nutritional consumption and prevent malnutrition and aspiration, hospitals need the standardized diet guidelines, and dietitians should improve their expertise in nutritional care for patients with dysphagia.
Caregivers ; Deglutition Disorders ; Diet ; Education ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Korea ; Long-Term Care ; Malnutrition ; Nutritionists ; Seoul ; Statistics as Topic ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Viscosity

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) is critical for maintaining the health and well-being of older people in community and also institutional settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the current status of PA and related individual and organizational factors among older nursing home residents with and without dementia. METHODS: This is a secondary data analysis study of a nationwide survey of 92 long-term care facilities in Korea, and the study sample includes older residents with dementia (n=753) and without dementia (n=480). The level of PA was measured by PA time and whether or not residents had an outdoor activity over the past 3 days. Multi-variate, multi-level analyses were conducted. RESULTS: More than half of the sample in both groups had no or less than 1 hour of PA. About one out of four older people in our sample had no outdoor activity over the past 3 days regardless of whether or not they had dementia. Among the people without dementia, several individual-level factors were associated with PA, including dependency for activities of daily living, social activity participation, and caregivers' belief in the functional improvement of residents. Unlike the non-dementia group, individual- and organizationallevel factors including staffing level and having the relevant equipment for PA were associated with PA among those with dementia. CONCLUSION: Study findings provide evidence on the lack of PA among older nursing home residents, and the importance of institutional capacity with regard to human resources and physical equipment for promoting PA among people with dementia, in particular. Policies and supports are needed to promote the implementation of healthy aging programs including PA for older nursing home residents. Such programs should be person-centered with consideration to the physical and cognitive status of individual residents.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aging ; Dementia ; Humans ; Korea ; Long-Term Care ; Motor Activity ; Nursing Homes ; Nursing ; Statistics as Topic

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify factors predicting behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in persons with dementia. Factors including the patient, caregiver, and environment based on the multi-dimensional behavioral model were tested. METHODS: The subjects of the study were 139 pairs of persons with dementia and their caregivers selected from four geriatric long-term care facilities located in S city, G province, Korea. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, inverse normal transformations, Pearson correlation coefficients, Spearman's correlation coefficients and hierarchical multiple regression with the SPSS Statistics 22.0 for Windows program. RESULTS: Mean score for BPSD was 40.16. Depression (β=.42, p<.001), exposure to noise in the evening noise (β=−.20, p=.014), and gender (β=.17, p=.042) were factors predicting BPSD in long-term care facilities, which explained 25.2% of the variance in the model. CONCLUSION: To decrease BPSD in persons with dementia, integrated nursing interventions should consider factors of the patient, caregiver, and environment.
Behavioral Symptoms ; Caregivers ; Dementia* ; Depression ; Humans ; Korea ; Long-Term Care ; Noise ; Nursing ; Residential Facilities ; Statistics as Topic

Bariatric and metabolic surgery has become the clinical hot topic of the treatment of metabolic syndromes including obesity and diabetes mellitus, but how to choose the appropriate surgical procedure remains the difficult problem in clinical practice. Clinical guidelines of American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery(ASMBS)(version 2013) introduced the procedures of bariatric and metabolic surgery mainly including biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch(BPD-DS), laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy(LSG). To choose the appropriate bariatric and metabolic procedure, the surgeons should firstly understand the indications and the contraindications of each procedure. Procedure choice should also consider personal condition (body mass index, comorbidities and severity of diabetes), family and socioeconomic status (postoperative follow-up attendance, understanding of potential surgical risk of gastrectomy and patient's will), family and disease history (patients with high risk of gastric cancer should avoid LRYGB; patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease should avoid LSG) and associated personal factors of surgeons. With the practice of bariatric and metabolic surgery, the defects, especially long-term complications, of different procedures were found. For example, LRYGB resulted in higher incidence of postoperative anemia and marginal ulcer, high risk of gastric cancer as well as the requirement of vitamin supplementation and regular follow-up. Though LSG has lower surgical risk, its efficacy of diabetes mellitus remission and long-term weight loss are inferior to the LRYGB. These results pose challenges to the surgeons to balance the benefits and risks of the bariatric procedures. A lot of factors can affect the choice of bariatric and metabolic procedure. Surgeons should choose the procedure according to patient's condition with the consideration of the choice of patients. The bariatric and metabolic surgery not only manages the diabetes mellitus and weight loss, but also results in the reconstruction of gastrointestinal tract and side effect. Postoperative surgical complications and nutritional deficiency should also be considered. Thereby, individualized bariatric procedure with the full consideration of each related factors is the ultimate objective of bariatric and metabolic surgery.
Anemia ; epidemiology ; Bariatric Surgery ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Biliopancreatic Diversion ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Body Mass Index ; Comorbidity ; Contraindications ; Diabetes Mellitus ; surgery ; Disease Management ; Gastrectomy ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Gastric Bypass ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Gastroplasty ; methods ; mortality ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Informed Consent ; Laparoscopy ; adverse effects ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Long Term Adverse Effects ; epidemiology ; Malnutrition ; epidemiology ; Obesity ; surgery ; Patient Acuity ; Patient Care Planning ; Patient Compliance ; Postgastrectomy Syndromes ; epidemiology ; Postoperative Complications ; epidemiology ; Risk Assessment ; methods ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms ; epidemiology ; Treatment Outcome ; Weight Loss

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate empathy ability, communication, and nursing performance among registered nurses (RN) and nursing assistants (NA) in long-term care hospitals. METHODS: Participants were 155 nursing personnel (RN 80 and AN 75) who worked in 8 long-term care hospitals in G city and J Province. Data collection was conducted from July 6 to August 6, 2016. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and stepwise multiple regression were used with SPSS/WIN program version 23.0 for data analysis. RESULTS: Nursing performance of RN was significantly influenced by communication ability (β=.88, p<.001) and university graduation (β=.25, p=.025). Nursing performance of NA was influential by communication ability (β=.77, p<.001) and marriage (β=.42, p=.018). CONCLUSION: Findings show that communication ability of RN and NA is important in nursing performance. Therefore, there is a need to develop programs to improve communication ability and validate the effectiveness of the programs in improving nursing performance of nursing personnel working at long-term care hospitals.
Communication* ; Data Collection ; Empathy* ; Humans ; Long-Term Care* ; Marriage ; Nurses' Aides ; Nurses* ; Nursing* ; Statistics as Topic ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between utilization of home care services under the national long-term care insurance system and family caregiver distress. METHODS: A secondary data analysis was conducted in this study using data collected in 2011 and 2012 from the Korean version of International Resident Assessment Instrument (interRAI) Home Care assessment system. The study sample included 228 clients receiving community based home care and their family caregivers in Korea. Descriptive statistics, χ² test, t-test, and Heckman selection model analysis were conducted using SAS 9.3. RESULTS: Presence of family caregiver distress was significantly associated with days of nurse visits (β=-.89, p=<.001) and home helper visits (β=-.53, p=.014). Level of caregiver distress was also significantly associated with days of nurse visits (β=-.66, p=.028). Other factors which were significantly associated with caregiver distress were depression, cognitive function, inadequate pain control, social support for older adult, and caregiver relationship to the older adult. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that visiting nurse service and appropriate support programs for Older Adults and family caregivers experiencing caregiver distress should be developed and provided to families based on the health care needs of older adults and their family caregivers for effective and sustainable home care.
Adult* ; Caregivers* ; Cognition ; Delivery of Health Care ; Depression ; Home Care Services* ; Humans ; Insurance, Long-Term Care ; Korea ; Long-Term Care ; Nurses, Community Health ; Social Control, Formal ; Statistics as Topic

INTRODUCTIONIn the context of rapid population ageing and the increase in number of activity of daily living (ADL) limitations with age, the number of older persons requiring human assistance in Singapore is likely to grow. To promote informed planning for the needs of these elderly, we project the number of resident Singaporeans 60 years of age and older with 1 or more ADL limitations requiring human assistance through 2030.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe proportion of community-dwelling older adults with ADL limitations requiring human assistance, stratified by gender and age group, was calculated utilising a recent nationally-representative survey of older Singaporeans. The proportion of older adults in nursing homes with ADL limitations was estimated based on available literature. Together, these prevalence estimates were applied to a simulation of the future population of older adults in Singapore to derive an estimate of the number of individuals with ADL limitations requiring human assistance through 2030.

RESULTSBy 2030, the number of resident Singaporeans aged 60 years or older with 1 or more ADL limitations requiring human assistance is projected to be 82,968 persons (7% of the total population aged 60 years or older). Of this number, 38,809 (47%) are estimated to have 1 or 2 ADL limitations, and 44,159 (53%) are estimated to have 3 or more.

CONCLUSIONThe number of elderly Singaporeans with activity limitations is expected grow rapidly from 31,738 in 2010 to 82,968 in 2030. Estimates of the number of older individuals with ADL limitations requiring human assistance are of value for policymakers as well as acute and long-term care capacity planners as they seek to meet demand for health and social services in Singapore.

Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Forecasting ; Health Services for the Aged ; statistics & numerical data ; Homes for the Aged ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Independent Living ; Long-Term Care ; statistics & numerical data ; trends ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Singapore

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to explore the impact of registered nurse/nurses' aid (RN/NA) staffing and turnover rate on inpatient health outcomes in long term care hospitals. METHODS: A secondary analysis was done of national data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Services including evaluation of long term care hospitals in October-December 2010 and hospital general characteristics in July-September 2010. Final analysis of data from 610 hospitals included RN/NA staffing, turnover rate of nursing staff and 5 patient health outcome indicators. RESULTS: Finding showed that, when variables of organization and community level were controlled, patients per RN was a significant indicator of decline in ADL for patients with dementia, and new pressure ulcer development in the high risk group and worsening of pressure ulcers. Patients per NA was a significant indicator for new pressure ulcer development in the low risk group. Turnover rate was not significant for any variable. CONCLUSION: To maintain and improve patient health outcomes of ADL and pressure ulcers, policies should be developed to increase the staffing level of RN. Studies are also needed to examine causal relation of NA staffing level, RN staffing level and patient health outcomes with consideration of the details of nursing practice.
Activities of Daily Living ; Dementia/physiopathology ; Humans ; Inpatients/*psychology ; Long-Term Care ; National Health Programs ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/psychology/*statistics & numerical data ; Personnel Turnover ; Pressure Ulcer/etiology ; *Quality Indicators, Health Care ; Risk Factors