Senior Health (8)
Overeating is associated with an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in people 70 or older, aging researchers are reporting.
Alzheimer's disease can erase a person's memory of once-familiar surroundings, as well as make it extremely difficult to adapt to new surroundings. As a result, people who have Alzheimer's may wander away from their homes or care centers and turn up lost, frightened and disoriented — sometimes far from where they started.
Alcohol and Aging
It is well known that moderate alcohol consumption can have positive health benefits. For instance, there are many studies that confirm that a couple of glasses of red wine a day can be good for the heart. But if you're a senior in good health, light to moderate consumption of alcohol may do a lot more.
A new UCLA study suggests moderate alcohol consumption by seniors may help prevent the development of physical disability that would prevent them from performing common tasks such as walking, dressing and grooming.
When elderly patients complain they have a lack of energy, doctors shouldn't dismiss it as a normal part of aging, say researchers who found that lack of energy (anergia) is associated with several health problems and higher rates of hospitalization and death.
Sneezes and Broken Bones
Fragility fractures can be costly, and if not managed correctly, addiitonal health complications may arise that can delay recovery. Loyola University Hospital is launching an interdisciplinary Geriatric Fracture Program to reduce hospital stays and complications from broken hips and other age-related fractures.
An aging associated disease is a disease that is seen with increasing frequency with increasing senescence (age).
Age associated diseases are to be distinguished from the aging process itself because all adult humans age, but not all adult humans experience all age-associated diseases.
Examples of aging-associated diseases are: age-related macular degeneration, Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, cancer, cataract, dementia, diabetes, hypertension and osteoporosis. The incidence of all of these aging associated diseases increases rapidly with aging (increases exponentially with age, in the case of cancer).
Altered blood flow in the brain due to high blood pressure and other health conditions may lead to falls in elderly people according to new research published in the May 18, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Among older adults, falls are the leading cause of injury deaths. They are also the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma. Many who fall at an elderly age become permanently disabled. Twenty-five percent of those who fracture a hip in a fall require life-long nursing care. About fifty percent of the elderly who sustain a fall-related injury will be discharged to a nursing home rather than return home.
These are some alarming statistics, for this reason identifying risk factors for falls and implementing safe guards to help prevent the elderly from falling is vital.