The proportion of older middle-aged Americans who report disabilities related to mobility increased significantly from 1997 to 2007, in contrast to the disability decline that has been found among Americans ages 65 and over, according to a new study by the RAND Corporation and the University of Michigan.
Loyola fitness expert comments on the important role of exercise, balance and posture in older adult independence.
From the time presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt first discussed health care reform in 1912, the topic has been a precedent-setting issue in the U.S. The 2010 passage of health care legislation is no different, but has many Americans in a quandary about how it will affect them. This is especially true of senior citizens.
A new study by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is the first to refute the widely held belief that intentional weight loss in older adults leads to increased risk of death.
Self-esteem rises steadily as people age but starts declining around the time of retirement, according to a longitudinal study of men and women ranging in age from 25 to 104.
More than one in four elderly Americans lacked the capacity to make their own medical care decisions at the end of life, according to a University of Michigan study to be published April 1 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A self-administered test to screen for early dementia could help speed the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of memory disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease.
McGill University researcher and international collaborators genetically manipulate a rat to create the ideal model for studying Alzheimer’s disease in humans.
It is estimated that Alzheimer's disease affects 5.3 million Americans and that number is expected to double by 2050. Caregivers shoulder a particularly heavy burden as the illness alters the dementia patient's behavior, mood and judgment, impeding his or her ability to engage in normal, everyday activities. In response to this mounting public health challenge, experts at Weill Cornell Medical College have spent four years creating ThisCaringHome.org, an interactive, multimedia Web site for caregivers of Alzheimer's and other dementia patients.
Among seniors, women and patients with diabetes and dementia are the most likely to fall into the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan "donut hole" — the gap occurring after beneficiaries reach their annual coverage limit and before catastrophic coverage kicks in.
By enhancing the activity of immune cells that protect against runaway inflammation, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center may have found a novel therapy for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. In a new study published in the March 25, 2010 online edition of Science, the researchers reveal how treating these immune cells with an investigational drug wards off inflammation by holding a particular enzyme at bay.
Findings from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology could provide good news for elderly patients who suffer from sleep apnea. The research results from Prof. Peretz Lavie and Dr. Lena Lavie of the Faculty of Medicine show that elderly patients with moderate sleep apnea live longer than their counterparts in the general population.
People with Alzheimer’s disease experience a rate of cognitive decline four times greater than those with no cognitive impairment according to a new study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and American Academy of Nursing develop “Best Practices for Elder Care” online course, with support of NYU's Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing
A $5 million gift from the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation will support research on progressive neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s Disease. The gift will establish The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for Bioinformatics Research and Imaging for Neurosciences (BRAIN) at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute.
Orthopedic surgeons are seeing a wave of exercise-related injuries among baby boomers -- a phenomenon dubbed “boomeritis.”
Chronic feelings of loneliness take a toll on blood pressure over time, causing a marked increase after four years. A new study shows, for the first time, a direct relation between loneliness and larger increases in blood pressure four years later—a link that is independent of age and other factors that could cause blood pressure to rise.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, together with Wake Forest University, will play a key role in a new study that seeks to determine whether a program of structured physical activity can prevent or delay major mobility disabilities in older adults.
Two months after the devastating earthquake hit Haiti, the needs of older adults in the region remain an urgent priority. Dr. Martin Gorbien, a geriatrician, and Lauren Kessler, a licensed clinical social worker, both from Rush University Medical Center, will be among the first older adult specialists to travel to Haiti to provide care at make-shift nursing homes.
A family history of Alzheimer’s is one of the biggest risk factors for developing the memory-robbing disease, which affects more than 5 million Americans and is the most common form of senile dementia. Now an international collaboration led by NYU Langone Medical Center researchers has found the likely basis for this heightened familial risk—especially from the maternal side.
Purchases of cholesterol and diabetes prescription drugs by elderly Medicare beneficiaries reached nearly $19 billion in 2007 – about one-fourth of the approximately $82 billion spent for medications for the elderly.
According to a U-M study, it is common for patients 65 and older to receive potentially inappropriate medications when treated in an emergency room. Nearly 19.5 million older patients, or 16.8 percent of eligible emergency visits from 2000-2006, received one or more of these medications.
With spring in the air, it’s time to shake off the winter doldrums, lace up the running shoes and get moving. While many older people tend to slow down in winter, experts at the VA Maryland Health Care System’s Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) say that keeping active all year is a key to good health, particularly for senior citizens.
At age 55, men can expect another 15 years of sexual activity, but women that age should expect less than 11 years, according to a study by University of Chicago researchers published March 10 by the British Medical Journal. Men in good or excellent health at 55 can add 5 to 7 years to that number. Equally healthy women gain slightly less, 3 to 6 years.
The Alzheimer Research Forum, an authoritative news source for neurodegenerative disease research, has reported extensively on the story of Dimebon, which was just reported to have failed in a clinical trial.
The field is abuzz with the word “prevention,” but how to pull off this vaunted goal? It's been held back by a strange Catch-22 of cost, time, and biomarker validation. That might change with a bold initiative led by Eric Reiman, Pierre Tariot, and others at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute. Read Gabrielle Strobel's five-part series.
In the U.S. and around the world, the popularity of minimally invasive cosmetic procedures continues to increase. Soft tissue injectables, also known as dermal fillers, are popular procedures that improve the appearance of aging and sun-damaged skin by restoring lost volume and filling lines. A recent clinical study sheds light on how cross-linked hyaluronic acid, CL-HA, a widely used dermal filler, works to improve skin appearance.
An analysis of Medicare data indicates that elderly patients who are hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU) and survive to be discharged from the hospital have a high rate of death in the following three years, and that, in particular, patients who receive mechanical ventilation have a substantially increased rate of death compared with both hospital and general population controls in the first several months after hospital discharge, according to a study in the March 3 issue of JAMA.
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that patients admitted to hospice care who have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) are rarely having their ICDs deactivated and are receiving electrical shocks from these devices near the end of life.
Individuals who report having greater purpose in their lives appear less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or its precursor, mild cognitive impairment, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The field of Alzheimer disease research is abuzz with the word “prevention,” but how to pull off this vaunted goal? It's been held back by a strange Catch-22 of cost, time, and biomarker validation. That might change with a bold initiative led by Eric Reiman, Pierre Tariot, and others at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute. Read Gabrielle Strobel's 5-part series.
Research at the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine suggests a novel route to improving the symptoms of subsyndromal depression (SSD) in seniors through the regular use of “exergames” – entertaining video games that combine game play with exercise. In a pilot study, the researchers found that use of exergames significantly improved mood and mental health-related quality of life in older adults with SSD.
As many as half of all women and a quarter of men over the age of 50 can expect to sustain a fractured bone related to osteoporosis or low bone density. To enhance prevention and treatment of these fragility fractures, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center has implemented an innovative program called Own the Bone™ developed by the American Orthopaedic Association.
Older patients hospitalized for acute care or a critical illness are more likely to experience cognitive decline compared to older adults who are not hospitalized, according to a study in the February 24 issue of JAMA.
Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have found that elevated cerebrospinal fluid levels of phosphorylated tau231 (P-tau231), a damaged tau protein found in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, may be an early diagnostic biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease in healthy adults.
Losing a spouse can be one of the most trying and emotional periods in an individual's life. However, what may be just as trying for individuals is dealing with the financial situation a loved one leaves behind.
According to a recent University of Michigan study, elderly people with visual disorders that are left untreated are significantly more likely to develop dementia. Early treatment of visual problems may delay the development of dementia.
Examining brain tissue from over 500 individuals in 11 countries, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues found a new risk factor for the second-most-common cause of early-onset dementia after Alzheimer’s disease.
One-third of people over the age of 65 wait longer than necessary for lifesaving, new kidneys because their doctors fail to put them in a queue for organs unsuitable to transplant in younger patients but well-suited to seniors, research from Johns Hopkins suggests.
Over time, skin suffers from wear and tear, and wrinkles, spots and growths begin to appear. The February issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter covers some of these normal changes and possible treatment options.
Doctors at Rush University Medical Center are offering pediatric patients diagnosed with chronic illnesses acupuncture therapy to help ease the pain and negative side effects like nausea, fatigue, and vomiting caused by chronic health conditions and intensive treatments. The confluence of Chinese and Western medicine at Rush Children’s Hospital is part of a study to analyze and document how acupuncture might help in reducing pain in children and increase quality of life.
Known for their cutting-edge coverage of Alzheimer research news, the editors of Alzforum have compiled a list of the most important trends from the past year.
A Mediterranean diet may help people avoid the small areas of brain damage that can lead to problems with thinking and memory, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010.
Researchers have designed arthritis simulation gloves that reproduce the reduction in functional capacity experienced by persons with arthritis. The gloves help those responsible for consumer products understand how arthritis affects a person’s ability to grasp, pinch, turn, lift and twist objects.
People who experience memory loss or a decline in their thinking abilities may be at higher risk of stroke, regardless of whether they have been diagnosed with dementia, according to a new study published in the February 2, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Investigators have identified a biomarker that could help doctors select patients with rheumatoid arthritis who will benefit from therapy with drugs such as Enbrel, a tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-antagonist drug.
As a practicing geriatrician and health policy expert, Dr. Richard Stefanacci recognizes the major components of healthcare reform that cannot wait any longer to be addressed, especially those negatively affecting older Americans and Medicare patients. Dr. Stefanacci identifies key issues and changes that can make healthcare reform a reality.
The largest epidemiological study of Parkinson's disease in the United States has found that the disease is more common in the Midwest and the Northeast and is twice as likely to strike whites and Hispanics as blacks and Asians. The study is based on data from 36 million Medicare recipients.
Joslin Diabetes Center scientists uncover clues toward treating age-related conditions via the blood.
Researchers have developed a new tool to deliver DNA in gene therapy. DNA delivered to the retina with a peptide called PEG-POD was expressed 215 times more efficiently than delivery of DNA alone. The finding highlights PEG-POD as a tool for non-viral gene therapy treatments for eye disorders such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.
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