Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze characteristics related to the activity of Daily
Living (ADL) and dementia among the elderly people who have Medicaid. The
cross-sectional descriptive survey study was a nationwide randomization sampling
among the population of elderly families who have Medicaid. The data were collected
during the month of October, 1999 and total sample was 1,027 elderly people. There
were major findings according to the studies.
In the results of the ADL assessment most of elderly people were within the 24 to 45
point range. Also, 63.3% of elderly people who made 45 points do not need help when
performing daily activities according to the 15 areas of activity components, and 4.9% of
these people couldn't do their daily activities.
The results of the Dementia assessment were 70.6% of elderly people were in the
normal range, 21.7% have a mild case, and 2.8% have severe case of dementia. These
were found by using instruments for mental states, which simplified to items of
detection of early dementia.
In the result of these tests, there was a significantly positive correlation between ADL
and degree of dementia with the pearson correlation coefficients.
As a result of these studies, the author recommend to strengthen function and
organization of public health like a visiting nurse center for elderly people who are over
65 years old. In addition, the government should apply early detection and management
system for dementia in the community continuously and cost-effectively, especially for
elderly people who live alone and are vulnerable elderly as our priority.