Depression is the most common mental health problem in the elderly. While the incidence in community-dwelling older adults is no higher than in the general population, the risk increases significantly with medical illness or institutionalization. Depression is probably the best researched of the psychiatric disorders in the elderly, with epidemiological evidence indicating that older adults have the highest suicide rate of any age group (one-fourth of all suicides are carried out by persons age 60 or older by taking sleeping pills suicide). (more…)
Research indicates that anxiety symptoms are more prevalent in elderly people than in any other age group, occurring at about t ...
Abuse of drugs and alcohol is not uncommon among the elderly. The high rate of prescribed medication use, increased physiologic ...
Most older adults adapt successfully to the multiple developmental and social changes and late life depression that are common ...
It is estimated that about 6 million Americans over 65 suffer from depression in late life. The sad reality is that 10% are loo ...
Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions Research documenting the efficacy of Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions in treating the psyc ...
Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions Research documenting the efficacy of Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions in treating the psychological problems of older adults is encouraging. Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatic complaints (e.g., chronic pain elderly, insomnia) in multiple controlled studies. However, research also has indicated that there may be multiple variables to consider in determining whether Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions is the best approach to use with a specific patient and a specific problem. For example, differential effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions compared to other forms of psychotherapy is less certain. (more…)
Cognitive-behavioral interventions approaches to managing the distress associated with physical/somatic complaints problems sho ...
Abuse of drugs and alcohol is not uncommon among the elderly. The high rate of prescribed medication use, increased physiologic ...
Research indicates that anxiety symptoms are more prevalent in elderly people than in any other age group, occurring at about t ...
Depression is the most common mental health problem in the elderly. While the incidence in community-dwelling older adults is n ...
Most older adults adapt successfully to the multiple developmental and social changes and late life depression that are common ...
” class=”index-image” width=”120″ />
The proportion of elderly at any age without any chronic conditions is small, and disease can trigger a cascade of events resulting in functional deficits and disability. An increase in the number of activities with which an elder has difficulty increases linearly with comorbidity, that is, coexistent medical conditions that further complicate not only the genesis of a functional deficit but also its treatment. For example, rehabilitation for a stroke for an individual who also has painful, degenerative changes in the foot and a low tolerance for stressful activity secondary to angina with exertion would present a particular rehabilitation challenge. Yet, this example encapsulates geriatric rehabilitation specialist’s emphasis on care and function, not cure and disease. (more…)
The overarching goal of physical therapy rehabilitation is to return the individual to as close to the premorbid level of funct ...
There are numerous basic Activities of Daily Living instruments that seek to quantify basic physical functions and obtain a numeric ...
Beneficiaries of the Medicare program have three rehabilitation-related benefits established by federal statute: physical thera ...
There are a number of issues that must be considered in geriatric pain assessment. The major issues that merit attention are pr ...
Most older adults adapt successfully to the multiple developmental and social changes and late life depression that are common ...
Other reliable surveys combine factors of family history and your lifestyle to arrive at an estimate of longevity. This survey (below) may make you feel better if, like Richard’s and mine, your family history is not filled with 100-year feats of aging. It focuses on activities over which you have some control. When I applied for life and disability insurance, the agent asked me if I participated in high-risk activities such as piloting aircraft, scuba diving, sky diving, unprotected sex, or intravenous drug use. (more…)
Dollars and Scents If perfume is on your shopping list this holiday season, manufacturers want you to believe their fragranc ...
Chronic diseases are not generally prevented by vaccines or cured by medication, nor do they just disappear. To a large degree, ...
Have you heard of the Longevity Now Program and whether it can really improve your health? This program is apparently a powerfu ...
As baby boomers, we have always gone through life knowing that countless other Americans were sharing experiences very similar to o ...
The majority associated with leading cause of deaths in America are due to medical health issues, not accidents, regardless of what ...
Cancer occurrence rates in a period of time for a given population is expressed in various ways. The incidence rate is a direct measure of the probability of developing cancer and is usually expressed per year. Incidence rates may be crude (all ages) or age specific. Since cancer is very age dependent, age specific rates are usually more informative. Cancer in elderly is more prevalent compare to cancer in younger age. When comparing population groups with different age distributions (such as the United States vs. China), the incidence rate should be age adjusted by multiplying each age-specific rate by the percent of individuals in a population with the same ages and then summing these to produce a single value. For etiological studies, incidence rates tend to be more informative than mortality rates, as they identify all diagnosed cases. (more…)
Cancer is the second leading cause of mortality after heart disease and the leading cause of death among women ages 40 to 79 and me ...
Animal studies support a cancer-promoting role for fat, and in humans, epidemiological data strongly suggest that dietary fat i ...
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common neuropsychiatric condition that is frequently unrecognized and untreated, resul ...
The largest single risk factor for developing cancer is age. The incidence of cancer increases exponentially with age, although ...
Potential benefits of T treatment in older men must be weighed against risks of adverse effects. In young hypogonadal men, physiolo ...
Obesity results from an imbalance between caloric consumption and caloric expenditure over a prolonged period. Weight gain occurs when there is a greater consumption of calories than expenditure. The expenditure of calories is complex and results from likely combinations of metabolic, genetic, and individual factors. Genetics and environment may predispose to weight gain, but it is only the consumption of calories in excess of utilization that can cause weight gain. (more…)
Weight loss improves many of the adverse health outcomes associated with obesity, including preventing or delaying the onset of ...
Adipose tissue fat is not simply a reservoir for excess nutrients, but rather an active and dynamic organ capable of expressing ...
Some medications exist for weight loss. These medications are moderately effective, although they often have side effects that ...
Concomitant with the global increase in obesity is the increase in the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome, also known ...
There are new strategies to address the 3 critical factors for body health: blood sugar, insulin and inflammation. These formul ...
Common beliefs about older workers include beliefs that they are physically unable to do their job; have a high rate of absenteeism; have a high rate of accidents; are less productive, less motivated, and less receptive to innovations than younger people; and are unable to learn. While these are rather commonly held beliefs, there are few actual data to support these assumptions; in fact, most research studies indicate that these stereotypes are inaccurate. (more…)
Given the widespread use of technology in most occupations, one important issue concerns how the influx of technology will affe ...
Creativity is most often defined as the individual capacity to generate ideas that are both original and useful. In everyday li ...
As mentioned earlier, the tendency to reminisce as we grow older was regarded by many gerontologists as a pathology until Robert Bu ...
In past decades, the traditional understanding of education, which was exclusively oriented toward formal learning in childhood ...
Older Person Care • Older persons should benefit from family and community based care and protection in accordance with e ...
First the blood vessels. The walls of the arteries stiffen with age. And the largest blood vessel in the body, the aorta, gets longer and dilates as you get older. These developments can occur just from aging and in the absence of significant atherosclerosis in the vessels. They are secondary to changes that are happening to collagen and elastin and to deposits of calcium. The actual tonus (or tension) of the arteries also increases with the progressive thickening of the layer of the arterial wall that is present under the inside lining. These changes may contribute to high blood pressure and damage to the arteries, which encourage atherosclerosis. (more…)
Growing older results in the various changes in the anatomy and physiology of human cardiovascular system. This affects in both hea ...
In older patients without apparent cardiovascular disease, the number of cardiac myocytes declines, while residual myocytes enlarge ...
Aging is recognized as one variable factor of increase the risk of high blood pressure. Generally, as people get older, the blo ...
With heart disease risk being the number one cause of death among older Americans, you should pay particular attention to known ...
For trained physicians, aging is often defined by the age-related diseases and disorders people experience as they grow older. In fact, aging is often portrayed as a disease that is amenable to treatment, just like any other elderly chronic diseases that physicians are trained to diagnose and treat. This is not an unexpected view of aging given the Western disease-oriented model of medical education. Examples of the conditions that anti-aging practitioners endeavor to treat or postpone include cardiovascular disease, cancer, sensory impairments, muscle and bone loss, loss of skin elasticity, and decline in sexual activity in elderly function. (more…)
HGH is the current buzz word in anti aging circles. It has gained wide media coverage and is being hailed as the ultimate in an ...
Many people believe that if you are aging and your face has some damage on them because of this, you can not reverse the aging ...
The prevalence of sexual dysfunction in women approaches 43%, and age is an important correlate. The underlying etiology of sexual ...
When approaching menopause or during post-menopause period, most women suffered from menopausal symptoms irritability like ...
The systemic benefits of exogenous Growth Hormone therapy in the healthy elderly remain unclear and controversial. Studies have ...
As mentioned earlier, the tendency to reminisce as we grow older was regarded by many gerontologists as a pathology until Robert Butler showed it could be a highly positive way of integrating experiences and coming to terms with the past. As such, life review became a method for group therapy, creative writing groups, and as a source for living history drama. Some researchers went even further. They described elements of wisdom and aging creativity in the life review process. Not only were older adults of learning and expressing themselves, but because of their treasure house of past experience, they could also be ideal students and could make excellent teachers. (more…)
It is in this same period that college-and university-based Institutes for Learning in Retirement (ILRs, later renamed Lifelong ...
In past decades, the traditional understanding of education, which was exclusively oriented toward formal learning in childhood ...
The term education describes the process of acquiring abilities, skills, experiences, and knowledge systems as well as the resu ...
Over the past 60 years, many documents, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have addressed the rights of ...
Young people rarely worry about their physics capacities. As a matter of fact they take tremendous pride in their physical well b ...