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Choi, Kang, and Kim: Diet and Health Status of Elderly Women According to the Family Type
Research Article

Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2016; 21(3): 256-264.

Published online: 30 June 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2016.21.3.256

Diet and Health Status of Elderly Women According to the Family Type

Mi-Kyeong Choi1, Myung-Hwa Kang2, Mi-Hyun Kim3

1Division of Food Science, Kongju National University, Yesan, Korea.

2Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Hoseo University, Asan, Korea.

3Department of Food and Nutrition, Korea National University of Transportation, Jeungpyeong, Korea.

Corresponding author: Mi-Hyun Kim. Department of Food and Nutrition, Korea National University of Transportation, 61 Daehak-ro, Jeungpyeong-gun, Chungbuk 16106, Korea. Tel: (043) 820-5335, Fax: (043) 820-5335, mhkim1129@ut.ac.kr

Received 1 April 2016       Revised 20 June 2016       Accepted 22 June 2016

Copyright © 2016 The Korean Society of Community Nutrition

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives

This study aimed to evaluate the diet and health status of elderly women according to the family type.

Methods

A total of 307 elderly women participated in this study were divided into one of three groups according to their family type: residing with spouse (RSP; n=88), residing with son or daughter (RSD; n=119), and residing alone (RAL; n=100). Chi-square test was used to assess dietary habits and health status of the subjects by the family types.

Results

Results demonstrated significant associations between eating regular meals, person preparing meals, coffee intake, and bone fracture experience and family type. Among the three groups, the RSP and RAL groups had a higher percentage for preparing meals by themselves (p<0.001) than the RSD group. The RAL group had a lower percentage for eating regular meals (p<0.01) but a higher percentage for bone fracture experience (p<0.05) than the other groups. There were no significant differences in monthly allowance, self-estimated health status, physical activity, exercise, drinking, and dietary habits such as frequency of consumption of dairy, beans, eggs, fish, meat, fruits, and vegetables among the three groups.

Conclusions

The results showed that elderly women residing alone without a son, daughter, or spouse had more diet-related and health problems such as irregular meals and high bone fracture experience. These findings suggested that elderly women residing alone need more attention and support.

Keywords: diet, health, elderly women, living alone, family type

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General characteristics of the elderly women according to family type

kjcn-21-256-i001

1) Mean±SD

2) F-value analyzed by ANOVA test

3) N (%)

a, b:Different superscript letters in a row indicate significant difference computed by Duncan's multiple range test at α=0.05

*: p < 0.05, ***: p < 0.001

Table 2

Anthropometry of the elderly women according to family type

kjcn-21-256-i002

1) Mean±SD

2) Body mass index

3) N (%)

4) χ2-value analyzed by χ2 test

Table 3

Dietary behaviors of the elderly women according to family type

kjcn-21-256-i003

1) N (%)

**: p < 0.01, ***: p < 0.001

Table 4

Dietary habits of the elderly women according to family type

kjcn-21-256-i004

1) N (%)

2) Mean±SD

3) F-value analyzed by ANOVA test

a, b: Different superscript letters in a row indicate significant difference computed by Duncan's multiple range test at α=0.05

*: p < 0.05

Table 5

Perceived health status of the elderly women according to family type

kjcn-21-256-i005

1) N (%)

*: p < 0.05

Table 6

Activity and exercise status of the elderly women according to family type

kjcn-21-256-i006

1) N (%)

2) Mean±SD

3) F-value analyzed by ANOVA test

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ORCID iDs

Mi-Hyun Kim
https://orcid.org/http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0805-0630

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