The study included around 500 adults from the Berlin Aging Study (BASE) – a database of people aged 70 or older living in the former West Berlin.
It found that all participants involved in providing care or help to grandchildren had a reduced risk of dying during study follow-up than non-helpers. Similar positive effects were also found for participants who help support adult children and others in their social network.
But the study does have limitations, the main one being that it can't prove cause and effect.
Journal of Nursing Scholarship; Indianapolis49.1 (Jan 2017): 44-53.
To present an emerging innovative care model that supports participation and thriving by older adults in residential care, by introduction to new technology and mobilizing volunteer services. Qualitative, exploratory study, introducing tablet computers to 15 older adults in two municipalities. The intervention encompassed weekly workshops over the course of 1 year with volunteer adolescents as personal tutors. Observations of workshops, interviews with nurses, and repeated semistructured interviews with older adult participants eliciting their perspective on use, experiences, perceived usefulness, and overall evaluation of the intervention. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Atypical Antipsychotics and the Risk of Falls and Fractures Among Older Adults: An Emulation Analysis and an Evaluation of Additional Confounding Control Strategies. SSSFT staff can use the OVID link, or you can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
22/05/2017 / Leave a comment / Permalink
New campaign to help reduce the risk of falls in older people
Related topics: Adult services / Health / My area
Residents and organisations across Shropshire are being asked to support a new campaign to help older people reduce their risk of falling.
diagram of vulnerable people, linking in with preventing falls campaign
Let’s talk about the F-word
The ‘Let’s talk about the F-word’ campaign launched today (Monday 22 May 2017) is being led by Shropshire’s public health service Help2Change and Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin.
Open access. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is frequently accompanied by white matter hyperintensities and executive dysfunction. Because acetylcholine is important in executive function, these symptoms may be exacerbated by subcortical hyperintensities (SH) located in cholinergic (CH) tracts. This study investigated the effects of SH on cognitive changes in CAD patients undergoing a 48-week cardiac rehabilitation program.
The campaign was developed at UHNM by Dr Amit Arora and his team and is designed to try to stop older people becoming deconditioned whilst in hospitals or care homes. The initiative is helping to educate patients, relatives, and staff on the myths and facts about being active in hospitals and care homes promoting physical and functional independence. Prolonged bed rest in older people can lead to substantial loss of muscle, physical strength, and functional ability which may lead to increased dependency and demotivation.
Implications for practice and research
Healthcare professionals need to be aware of the potential increased risk of injury for patients when planning treatments, particularly for patients presenting with multiple risk factors for falls.
Future research should focus on establishing the severity of symptoms that antidepressants are used for in addition to a hip fracture event rate to ensure a balanced picture for determining treatment options.
To read the full article, log in using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details
Background: Exergames (exercise-based videogames) for delivering strength and balance exercise for older people are growing in popularity with the emergence of new Kinect-based technologies; however, little is known about the factors affecting their uptake and usage by older people.
Depression independently increases the risk of falls in older people, but the mechanism for this relationship, as well as the specific falls type involved, remains unclear. To read the full article, log in using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details.
This overview considers causes of disordered eating, including eating disorders, in older people. Eating disorders are becoming more common in older adults and research has shown a related mortality of 21%. The wide range of medical and pharmacological causes of weight loss in older people means that eating disorders may go undetected, occurring insidiously and surreptitiously. To read the full article, log in using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details.
The NHS is trialling new wearable sensors, based on technology used by NASA and the CGI film industry, to help identify older patients at risk of falls as part of a new drive to tackle frailty.
The technology will help make one small step a lot easier for the over-65s (although giant leaps may still prove a challenge).
The aim of this study was to revise the 10-item Aggressive Behaviour Risk Assessment Tool for predicting aggressive events among residents newly admitted to long-term care homes. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
The evidence for a prospective association of vitamin D deficiency with the occurrence of late-life depression is limited. We aimed to study the long-term association between vitamin D serum levels and depression in a large population-based study of older adults. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is a common cause of visual hallucinations in older people. The relationship between CBS and cognitive impairment is unclear, but anecdotal reports exist of dementia emerging in patients diagnosed with CBS. This work set out to determine if there is an increased incidence of dementia, and increased severity of cognitive impairment, in people with CBS compared to controls from the same clinical setting. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Open access. Air travel is now a common feature of most of our elderly population's lives. There is little by way of warnings, rules or recommendations for our patients with psychiatric diagnoses, in particular dementia, who intend to travel by plane, in contrast to other specialties. In this article I highlight an adverse outcome of long-haul air travel as a result of delirium and resulting accelerated decline in overall cognitive function. I review literature related to the topic and suggest ways to minimise precipitating factors for stressors prior to and during flights. This article suggests that more thought should be given to the title question.
Conclusions: Physical frailty status is associated with older peoples’ ICT use independent of age, education, and opinions on ICT use. This should be taken into consideration when designing preventive and assistive technologies and interventions for older people at risk of health impairment.
The results don't tell us anything about what happens in humans. They suggest this substance may be useful for further research in humans at some point. They certainly don't provide a reason to drink gallons of red wine, in the hope of seeing an anti-ageing effect.
This study aimed to assess older adults' (OAs') attitudes toward depression screening in primary care settings with a survey and explore the impact of an educational pamphlet on these attitudes. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
We examined the feasibility of Aging Well by Design, a Lifestyle Redesign®–inspired intervention for community-dwelling older adults. The original Lifestyle Redesign program was shortened to 3 mo and implemented as a community outreach program of a major health care system. SSSFT staff - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.