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January 2006 This month's topics: Dementia Exercise Aging Baby Boomers Stroke Other Items of Iterest |
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| Pain Treatment Increases Activity Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (November 2005) |
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| Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia can get in the way of diagnosing and treating chronic pain. Patients may, for instance, be unable to express what they are feeling. Researchers observed 25 nursing home residents with moderate to severe dementia during an eight-week period. In addition to receiving their usual psychotropic medications, they were given the painkiller acetaminophen (Tylenol) for |
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| four weeks, and a placebo
for four weeks. Those who received acetaminophen were more active and
socially engaged than the others, and they spent less time alone in their
rooms and more time interacting with others.
Conventional Antipsychotics Can Cause Harm Too New England Journal of Medicine (December 1, 2005) |
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administratin issued an advisory in April, 2005, stating that atypical antipsychotic medications increase mortality among older persons. The advisory, however, did not apply to conventional antipsychotic medications. Using data from 9,142 patients with dementia who were treated with a conventional antipsychotic drug, and 13,748 who were treated with an atypical antipsychotic drug, |
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| researchers found that
conventional antipsychotics may be even more dangerous than atypical antipsychotics.
In the first 180 days of use, 17.9 percent of those using a conventional
agent (such as Haldol or Thorazine) died, compared with 14.6 percent of those
using an atypical antipsychotic (such as Zyprexa or Seroquel). These results
suggested that conventional antipsychotics are at least as likely as atypical
agents to increase the risk of death.
Relatives at Risk Would Participate in Research Neurology (November 7, 2005) |
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| Most relatives with a close blood relative with Alzheimer’s disease say they would be willing to have their loved ones enroll them in research studies when they could no longer give consent themselves. Researchers asked 229 men and women, who were all over the age of 70 and had at least one close relative with Alzheimer’s disease, about their views on a variety of research scenarios. More than 90 percent |
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| of the people surveyed
said they would be comfortable with a relative enrolling them in low-risk
studies such as clinical trials testing new Alzheimer’s drugs. The riskier
the scenario, the less likely participants would say they would want
a relative to agree to it for them. Even for the riskiest scenario,
however, more than half of the men and women said they would accept
a relative’s
consent on their behalf.
Call for Presentations Alzheimer’s Association (December 2005) |
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The 14th Annual Alzheimer’s Association Dementia Care Conference will be held September 10-14, 2006, at The Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. Abstracts are now being accepted electronically in the following four tracks: Early Stage, Creative Person-Centered Approaches, Late Stage/Palliative Care, and Innovative Models of Care. Abstracts will be accepted until March 1, 2006, at: www.alz.org/careconference . |
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| Counseling Increases Physical Activity American Journal of Preventive Medicine (November 2005) Two types of counseling were compared to determine which was more effective in increasing activity. Over a period of six years, 100 older adults were followed. One group received brief advice from a clinician to exercise for three to five minutes. The second group received advice from a clinician plus counseling by a health educator, consisting of three face-to-face counseling sessions and 12 phone calls in the |
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| first three months, and then every other week for the next three months. Those who received the health educator counseling had significantly greater participation, increasing activity by 57.69 minutes at three months and increasing by 62.84 minutes at six months. Researchers concluded that counseling “resulted in improvements in moderate-intensity physical activity and motivational readiness among older adults.” |
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Exercise Helps Reduce Risk of Osteoarthritis Arthritis & Rheumatism (November 2005) |
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Previous research suggests that exercise can help persons with osteoarthritis (OA). Researchers from Sweden believe exercise also can help reduce the risk of developing OA by improving the state of the knee cartilage. They studied a group of 45 volunteers at risk of OA because they had had an operation to remove part of their knee cartilage. They were assigned either to an exercise program or acted as controls doing no exercise. The program consisted of a one-hour, supervised exercise session three times a week |
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| for
four months. Those who exercised had an increase in cartilage, while those
who did not exercise had a decrease. The exercise group reported improvements
in pain, quality of life, and physical performance.
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| To determine whether variation in resistance exercise volume affects muscle function and physical performance response in older adults, researchers compared 28 older men and women who were assigned to either a single-set or three-set exercise group. Progressive-resistance training consisting of seven exercises targeting the major muscle groups was performed on exercise machines twice weekly for 20 weeks at eight-repetition |
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| maximum intensity. Results showed that
resistance training consisting of only single-set exercises is sufficient
to significantly enhance muscle function and physical performance, although
muscle strength and endurance gains are greater with higher-volume work.
Findings have application in designing time-efficient exercise regimens to
enhance muscular function.
Exercise Alone May Not Prevent Cognitive Decline Archives of Neurology (November 2005) |
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Findings from studies investigating whether physical activity reduces the risk of cognitive decline in old age have been inconsistent. This study from the Chicago Health and Aging Project reported that exercise alone may not protect against mental decline. For an average of 6.4 years, researchers followed 4,055 adults aged 65 years or older who were able to walk across a room and participated in at least two of the three follow-up assessments. On average, study participants engaged in nearly four hours of physical activity each week. Physical activity did not appear to be |
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| associated with higher mental function at the start of the study. While increased hours of physical activity appeared to be associated with slower rates of mental decline, this association did not hold true when the participants were engaged in mentally stimulating activities. |
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| Life
Expectancy Up Again but Boomers Beware The National Center for Health Statistics (December 2005) |
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| The U.S. government reported another increase in the life expectancy rate, but it also found a disturbing trend in the health of aging Americans. Americans’ life expectancy has increased by nearly two years since 1990. A child born in 2003 can expect to live 77.6 years on average, up from 75.4 years in 1990 and 77.3 in 2002. Half of Americans ages 55 to 64, a group that includes the oldest of the Baby Boomers, however, have high blood pressure, and two in five are obese. The 55-to-64 age group is expected to rise from 29 million Americans in 2004 to 40 million in 2014. |
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| Baby
Boomers’ Intergenerational Relationships Pew Research Center (December 8, 2005) |
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This national survey conducted in fall 2005 among 3,014 adults, including 1,117 Baby Boomers, looked at intergenerational relationships within families. In the past year, half of all Baby Boomers were raising one or more young children and/or providing primary financial support to one or more adult children. Another 17 percent whose |
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| only children were ages 18 and older were providing some financial assistance to at least one such child. This study also found two in 10 Boomers provide some financial assistance to a parent. One in eight boomers is sandwiched between responsibility for supporting a parent and a child. Baby Boomers Approach Age 60: From the Age of Aquarius to the Age of Responsibility is available at: http://pewresearch.org/socialtrends/socialtrends-boomers120805.pdf. |
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| New Treatment for Stroke Recovery Stroke (December 2005) |
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| Alternately applying heat and cold to the paralyzed arms and hands of stroke patients helps improve function. This is the first time the technique called thermal stimulation has been tried as a method of stroke rehabilitation, according to Taiwanese researchers. Thermal stimulation is used in orthopedic rehabilitation and in the treatment of swallowing difficulties when caused by a stroke |
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| or other conditions.
In this study, researchers gave half of the stroke patients standard rehabilitation
therapy and the other half standard treatment plus thermal stimulation. Patients
had five 20- to 30-minute sessions a day for six weeks, with alternate applications
to a hand and wrist of a cold pack and a hot pack. The thermal stimulation
patients had significantly better recovery on four of six measures of function.
Stroke Risk Increases after Heart Attack Annals of Internal Medicine (December 6, 2005) |
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A pronounced increase in the risk of stroke is seen following a heart attack, and stroke seems to dramatically increase the risk of dying after a heart attack. The findings are based on a study of 2,160 persons living in Rochester, Minnesota, who experienced a heart attack and were followed for approximately six years. In the 30 days after a heart attack, the risk of stroke was 44 times higher than that seen in persons without a previous heart attack. Moreover, a two- to three-fold increased risk of stroke remained during the first three years after |
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| a heart attack. Risk factors for stroke included older age, previous stroke, and diabetes. |
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| Tea
May Reduce Risk for Ovarian Cancer Archives of Internal Medicine (December 12, 2005) |
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| Swedish researchers have found promising but far-from-conclusive evidence that drinking a couple cups of tea every day might help reduce the risk of developing ovarian cancer. The study involved 61,057 Swedish women who answered a questionnaire about their diets and then were tracked for an average of 15 years. During that time, 301 women developed ovarian cancer. Those who reported drinking two or more cups |
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| of tea a
day were 46 percent less likely to develop the disease than women who drank
no tea. Drinking less than two cups also appeared to help, but not as much.
Previous studies on whether tea might help prevent various kinds of cancer
have yielded conflicting results.
Good Sleep and Sociability Promote Health Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Online Edition (December 5, 2005) |
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Older women who sleep well and/or have strong social ties have lower levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), an immune system protein that promotes inflammation and that tends to increase with age. IL-6 has been linked to a variety of diseases. Researchers examined the interplay between social engagement, sleep quality, and blood levels of IL-6 in 74 older women. Those |
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| who slept well had low
levels of IL-6, as did women who reported strong social relationships. But
having either good social relationships or good sleep quality appears to
compensate for difficulties with the other. That is, IL-6 levels were only
higher in women who slept poorly and who reported poor quality social relationships.
The fact that good social ties can compensate for poor sleep, and vice versa,
suggests a complex relationship between these social and biological factors.
Hospital-Level Care at Home Annals of Internal Medicine (December 6, 2005) |
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| Providing hospital-level care for patients aged 65 or older in their own home appears to be feasible and safe, and may reduce costs. Researchers at John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, compared outcomes between patients who were treated in-hospital with those of patients who consented to hospital-at-home care during two 11-month intervals. The patients were being treated for pneumonia, chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or soft tissue inflammation. The hospital-at-home participants were 74 percent less likely to develop delirium |
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| and 51 percent less likely to require sedatives. Fewer patients in the home group than the hospital group experienced critical complications and fewer died. Costs averaged $5,081 and $7,480, respectively.
The State of Aging Research Public Agenda for the Alliance for Aging Research and the American Federation for Aging Research (December 11, 2005) |
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Scientists say the aging research field is on the threshold of a new way of thinking, shifting focus from specific age-related illnesses to searching to understand aging itself as a biological process. The study is based on 49 in-depth telephone interviews with a diverse set of researchers who |
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| collectively study
all major aspects of aging. They identified three major factors that
are driving progress in the field of aging research: research in genetics,
development of new technology, and integration of knowledge from different
fields. The Science of Aging Gracefully: Scientists and the Public Talk about
Aging Research is available at: http://www.publicagenda.org/research/research_reports_details.cfm?list=95.
Trust and Sources of Health Information Archives of Internal Medicine (December 12/26, 2005) |
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| Americans are likely to first turn to the World Wide Web when seeking health information, even though they trust their physicians more to provide them with accurate medical information, according to a nationally representative survey. A total of 6,369 persons 18 years or older were studied. The main outcome measures were online health activities, levels of trust, and source preferences. Sixty-four percent of the population in 2003 |
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| reported
ever going online, with the same percentage of the online population having
looked for health information for themselves or others at least once in the
prior 12 months. Physicians remained the most highly trusted information
source. When asked where they actually went, nearly half of the respondents
reported going online first, with only 11 percent going to their physicians
first.
Awards for Social Entrepreneurs Civic Ventures (December 2, 2005) |
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Nominations are now being accepted for the new Purpose Prize, five $100,000 investments in Americans over the age of 60 who are combining their passion, creativity, experience, and entrepreneurial skills to tackle issues of social significance. Sixty semi-finalists also will be honored for their social innovations. The Purpose Prize is part of a national initiative to inspire and encourage older Americans to use their experience for the greater good as they reach the cusp of retirement. A $1.5 million Fund for Innovation will provide grants to help prize winners and finalists expand their community work and take breakthrough ideas to scale. The application deadline is February |
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| 28, 2006, and the first awards will be given out in June, 2006. To nominate someone or apply, visit www.leadwithexperience.org |
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