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Morbidity and related factors among elderly people in South Korea: results from the Ansan Geriatric (AGE) cohort study

BACKGROUND: A thorough examination of the morbidity and comorbidity profiles among the elderly and an evaluation of the related factors are required to improve the delivery of health care to the elderly and to estimate the cost of that care. In South Korea where the aged population is rapidly increa...

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Autores principales: Woo, Eun-kyung, Han, Changsu, Jo, Sangmee Ahn, Park, Min Kyu, Kim, Sungsoo, Kim, Eunkyung, Park, Moon Ho, Lee, Juyoung, Jo, Inho
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2007
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1784082/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17241463
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-7-10
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author Woo, Eun-kyung
Han, Changsu
Jo, Sangmee Ahn
Park, Min Kyu
Kim, Sungsoo
Kim, Eunkyung
Park, Moon Ho
Lee, Juyoung
Jo, Inho
author_facet Woo, Eun-kyung
Han, Changsu
Jo, Sangmee Ahn
Park, Min Kyu
Kim, Sungsoo
Kim, Eunkyung
Park, Moon Ho
Lee, Juyoung
Jo, Inho
author_sort Woo, Eun-kyung
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: A thorough examination of the morbidity and comorbidity profiles among the elderly and an evaluation of the related factors are required to improve the delivery of health care to the elderly and to estimate the cost of that care. In South Korea where the aged population is rapidly increasing, however, to date only one study using a limited sample (84 subjects) has provided information on morbidity and related factors among the elderly. Using a large, stratified, random sample (2,767 subjects) from the population-based Ansan Geriatric study, the present study sought to assess the morbidity and comorbidity, and to determine the relationships of these variables with sociodemographic and health characteristics in elderly people in South Korea. METHODS: A total of 2,767 subjects (1,215 men and 1,552 women) aged 60–84 years were randomly selected from September 2002 to August 2003 in Ansan, South Korea. Data on sociodemographic and health characteristics, and clinical diagnosis were collected using questionnaires. When available, the medical records and medications taken by the subjects were also cross-checked. RESULTS: Of the total subjects, 78.0% reported diagnosed disease, 11.0% had been cured, and 46.8% had been diagnosed with more than two diseases. The mean number of morbidities per person among elderly Koreans was 1.62 ± 1.35 (mean ± standard deviation), and women had a greater number of diseases per person than did men. The most common morbidities were chronic diseases such as hypertension, arthritis, and diabetes mellitus. In women, osteoporosis and arthritis were the second and third most prevalent diseases, respectively. Morbidity was significantly associated with gender, employment, household income, alcohol intake, self-assessed health status, and worries about health. CONCLUSION: These data will enhance understanding of the patterns of health problems among elderly Koreans and will contribute to the application of appropriate intervention strategies.
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spelling pubmed-17840822007-01-31 Morbidity and related factors among elderly people in South Korea: results from the Ansan Geriatric (AGE) cohort study Woo, Eun-kyung Han, Changsu Jo, Sangmee Ahn Park, Min Kyu Kim, Sungsoo Kim, Eunkyung Park, Moon Ho Lee, Juyoung Jo, Inho BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: A thorough examination of the morbidity and comorbidity profiles among the elderly and an evaluation of the related factors are required to improve the delivery of health care to the elderly and to estimate the cost of that care. In South Korea where the aged population is rapidly increasing, however, to date only one study using a limited sample (84 subjects) has provided information on morbidity and related factors among the elderly. Using a large, stratified, random sample (2,767 subjects) from the population-based Ansan Geriatric study, the present study sought to assess the morbidity and comorbidity, and to determine the relationships of these variables with sociodemographic and health characteristics in elderly people in South Korea. METHODS: A total of 2,767 subjects (1,215 men and 1,552 women) aged 60–84 years were randomly selected from September 2002 to August 2003 in Ansan, South Korea. Data on sociodemographic and health characteristics, and clinical diagnosis were collected using questionnaires. When available, the medical records and medications taken by the subjects were also cross-checked. RESULTS: Of the total subjects, 78.0% reported diagnosed disease, 11.0% had been cured, and 46.8% had been diagnosed with more than two diseases. The mean number of morbidities per person among elderly Koreans was 1.62 ± 1.35 (mean ± standard deviation), and women had a greater number of diseases per person than did men. The most common morbidities were chronic diseases such as hypertension, arthritis, and diabetes mellitus. In women, osteoporosis and arthritis were the second and third most prevalent diseases, respectively. Morbidity was significantly associated with gender, employment, household income, alcohol intake, self-assessed health status, and worries about health. CONCLUSION: These data will enhance understanding of the patterns of health problems among elderly Koreans and will contribute to the application of appropriate intervention strategies. BioMed Central 2007-01-22 /pmc/articles/PMC1784082/ /pubmed/17241463 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-7-10 Text en Copyright © 2007 Woo et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Woo, Eun-kyung
Han, Changsu
Jo, Sangmee Ahn
Park, Min Kyu
Kim, Sungsoo
Kim, Eunkyung
Park, Moon Ho
Lee, Juyoung
Jo, Inho
Morbidity and related factors among elderly people in South Korea: results from the Ansan Geriatric (AGE) cohort study
title Morbidity and related factors among elderly people in South Korea: results from the Ansan Geriatric (AGE) cohort study
title_full Morbidity and related factors among elderly people in South Korea: results from the Ansan Geriatric (AGE) cohort study
title_fullStr Morbidity and related factors among elderly people in South Korea: results from the Ansan Geriatric (AGE) cohort study
title_full_unstemmed Morbidity and related factors among elderly people in South Korea: results from the Ansan Geriatric (AGE) cohort study
title_short Morbidity and related factors among elderly people in South Korea: results from the Ansan Geriatric (AGE) cohort study
title_sort morbidity and related factors among elderly people in south korea: results from the ansan geriatric (age) cohort study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1784082/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17241463
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-7-10
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