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Background : In spite of widespread knowledge of importance of functional assessment for optimal care for the elderly patient, there was rare national survey for the level of ADL and IADL of community dweling elderly in Korea. For correspondence of expanding home care for the elderly, this study aimed to assess and find standard level of ADL and IADL of the elderly residents in community. Methods : For generalization in Korean medical envirnment of the results, randomized sampling was done among districts of Korea by numbers of elderly residents 2,000 elderly persons are surveyed in this study, and data were collected by face-to-face interview with home resident elderly by community health nurses and medical students. ADL and IADL were assessed with Korean version of Katz ADL and modified Lawton IADL instruments. Results : Though mean scores of functional assessments for Korean elderly were 16.2/18 in ADL and 9.9/12 in IADL. and they were resulted in highly shifted distribution to high levels of function, 38% of community dwelling elderly are dependent with ADL and 49.7% are dependent with IADL. ADL and IADL scores were significantly related to various demographic factors, that is, gender, age, economic status, living with spouse, perception of heallth. Especially, the elderly living alone is at risk for functional decline. Conclusion : Korean elderly has worst function in bathing(29.2% of respondents) with ADL items, but many elderly complained of dysfunction for in-door transfer(26.7%) and continence(18.6%) With IADL items, the function of long-distance transfer using public vehicles(subway or bus) is most highly affected(41.9%)
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