A Study on Social Factors and Physical Health Status of the Long-Lived Elderly People in Ganghwa-gun Area

Han, Hye Kyoung; Choi, Sung Sook; Kim, Myung Wha; Lee, Sung Dong

Abstract

This study was to performed to assess social factors and physical health status. The subjects of the study were 103 elderly people of age over 85 years living in Ganghwa-gun area. The method of this research was based on the interview-survey with questionnaire. Chi-square test was the main data analysis method. The subject group was composed of 36 males and 67 females, the average age being 91.0 +/- 3.2 years old for the males and 91.1 +/- 3.4 years old for the females. The aged average height and weight were 161.0 +/- 7.9 cm and 54.6 +/- 7.8 kg in males, 141.0 +/- 8.2 cm and 42.2 +/- 7.9 kg in females which were lower than the Korean average standard but the mean BMIs of both male and female showed normal range. Their level of education was lower and they tended to be religious. The aged population might be economically poor. Their level of living standards tended to have been lower-middle and lower class. The mean age of their parents' death were 64.3 +/- 17.2 years in males, 59.0 +/- 14.9 years in females for the father and 70.9 +/- 15.5 years in males, 66.8 +/- 16.6 years in females for the mother. The rate of living together with their family or spouse in the female aged was 83.2% higher than in the male aged. They tended to have engaged in hobbies that require less movement. Of the kinds of hobby, "TV watching (47.8% in male and 44.9% in female) was the highest. Ratios of the drinking and the smoking elderly were 30.6%, 25.0% in male and 7.5%, 18.8% in female but they tended to have never drunken and smoked. Of the subjects, 42.9% spend 8~9 hours for sleeping in male and 35.8% spend 10 hours for sleeping in female. They tended to have not done any particular health behavior. The most common diseases were digestive disease in male, arthritis and hypertension in female. Most elderly males (47.3%) and females (61.2%) had 1~2 diseases.