Posts Tagged ‘senior care’

September 1, 2010

Sex and Aging in Baltimore, MD

Survey Finds Sexual Desire and Activity Important to Seniors

I came across an interesting article at About.com about one’s sexual desire as they age. Read the excerpt here, and the full article at http://seniorliving.about.com/od/healthyseniorsex/a/senior_sex_surv.htm.


Frequency of senior sexual activity declines slightly from 50s to early 70s

By Sharon O’Brien, About.com Guide

The first comprehensive national survey of senior sexual attitudes, behaviors and problems in the United States has found that most people ages 57 to 85 think of sexuality as an important part of life and that the frequency of sexual activity, for those who are active, declines only slightly from the 50s to the early 70s.

Data from the University of Chicago’s National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), presented in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that many men and women remain sexually active—participating in vaginal intercourse, oral sex and masturbation—well into their 70s and 80s.

Sex and Aging: Sexual Activity Affected by Health More Than Age
The survey also found that senior sexual activity was closely tied to overall health, which was even more important than age. As health declined steadily after the early 70s, so did the prevalence of sexual activity, particularly for women. Among those who remained sexually active, nearly half reported at least one sexual problem, such as lack of desire (43% of women), vaginal dryness (39% of women) or erectile dysfunction (37% of men).

“We found that older adults remain interested and engage in sex, yet many experience bothersome sexual problems that can compromise both health and relationships,” said Stacy Tessler Lindau, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and of medicine-geriatrics at the University of Chicago and lead author of the study.

Sex and Aging: Too Little Known about How Sex Changes as People Age
With the first wave of baby boomers entering their 60s, older adults make up the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. Yet the “lack of reliable information about how sexual activity and function might change with age and illness, combined with taboos around discussing sex in later life, contributes to worry or even shame for many older adults,” she added.

Many medical conditions and treatments can iinterfere with senior sexuality. American men spend more than a billion dollars each year on medications to improve sexual function. Despite such frequent problems, few older men (38%) and even fewer women (22%) had discussed sex with a physician since age 50, the researchers found. Men were more likely to do so, perhaps because effective drugs are available. Nearly 1 in 7 men (14%) reported taking medication to improve sexual function.

Sex and Aging: Many Women Outlive Their Sexual Partners
The survey documented another significant gender difference in senior sexuality. While 78 percent of men ages 75 to 85 have a spouse or other intimate relationship, only 40 percent of women that age do, a consequence of the age disparity of relationships coupled with women’s greater longevity.

“Sexuality is an important part of a healthy and engaged life at older ages for both women and men,” said co-author Linda Waite, PhD, the Lucy Flower Professor in Urban Sociology at the University of Chicago and Director of the Center for Aging at NORC. For the vast majority of men, aging is a partnered experience, Waite said, “but women’s sexuality is more often affected by the death or poor health of their spouse.”

NSHAP, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was created to discover how social relationships, especially intimate relationships, influence health as people age. Between July 2005 and March 2006, the researchers interviewed 3,005 people ages 57 to 85 in their homes. They asked about social and marital history, sexual activity and function, and physical and mental health.

Continue reading…

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August 26, 2010

Do You Have a Depressed Parent in Baltimore, MD?

I found some great advice about depression in the elderly and what signs to watch out for. Read the excerpt here and the full article at Prevention.

Is Your Parent Depressed?

7 million Americans over age 65 suffer from the disease, and many are not getting the help they need. Here’s how to make sure your mom or dad isn’t one of them.

By Trisha Gura, PhD

Amy Caldwell first sensed that her mother was depressed during a phone call last September. “My life is miserable,” said the 77-year-old widow, who lives in Tempe, AZ, and suffers from asthma. “I don’t want to live any longer.”

Caldwell’s heart sank. Was this a genuine suicide threat? Caldwell, 43, who lives in Boston, decided not to take a chance and flew out to see her mom.

She set up appointments with a family physician and pulmonologist, who put her mother on a new regimen that eased her breathing problems for a couple of months. But then her mother suffered another attack and, during a dispiriting phone conversation with Caldwell’s brother, dropped another bomb: “I should just get a razor, slit my wrists, and get this over with already.”

This time, Caldwell’s brother hopped on a plane, while Caldwell contemplated the inescapable truth: In addition to the physical ailments her mother suffered from, she was very likely depressed.

That put her mom in the company of 2 million other Americans over age 65 who suffer from depression, as well as another 5 million who struggle with some but not all symptoms of the crippling disease. Their plight is one of the great hushed-up scandals of American health care:

As many as 90% of people suffering from depression in late life are not getting the care they need. The suicide rate in adults age 75 and older is a shocking 1 1/2 times the average–higher than that of any other group, including teenagers.

Elderly people receiving home care are twice as likely to suffer major depression as those in nursing homes. A whopping 78% of them receive no treatment at all. Patients diagnosed with major depression spend almost twice as much money on their health care as patients who don’t have the disease.

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For the best in Elder Care, visit CMK Home Care at www.cmkhomecare.com.

August 18, 2010

Summer Safety in Baltimore, MD

Summer Tips for Elderly: Stay in Air Conditioning, Drink Plenty of Water

I found this article with tips on keeping the elderly safe in the summer heat. Please read the excerpt here, and the full article at McKnight’s.

Summer can be dangerous for elderly and frail individuals, who are especially prone to heat-related injuries. But taking certain precautions can reduce these risks. The elderly are less able to adapt to hot weather, and typically have a reduced “thirst reflex” that can prevent them from drinking adequate amounts of water, according to Dr. Thomas Cavalieri, founder of the New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging. The elderly should not be left in un-air-conditioned spaces for too long, and should be checked twice daily for signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke, he and other researchers suggest.

…continue reading here.

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August 10, 2010

Sleep Apnea Could Raise Heart Risks for Older Men in Baltimore, MD


From middle age to age 70, the sleep-time breathing disorder could pose a hazard, study suggests.

The snoring and breathing disturbances of sleep apnea may be more than just a nuisance, with a new study linking the condition to higher risks for heart failure and heart disease in middle-aged and older men.

However, the study found no correlation between sleep apnea and coronary heart disease in women, or in men older than 70.

“The key here is that there is a lot of undiagnosed sleep apnea, and that, at least in men, it is associated with the development of coronary heart disease and heart failure. Only about 10 percent of sleep apnea cases are diagnosed, ” said Dr. Daniel Gottlieb, associate professor of medicine, Boston University School of Medicine.

Gottlieb noted that while the jump in heart risk was noteworthy, it was not as large as that seen in previous clinic-based studies of sleep apnea because the participants were drawn from a broad community-based population.

According to background information in the study, sleep apnea sufferers awaken suddenly during the night struggling to breathe, often experiencing a shot of blood pressure- raising adrenaline. Most often, they go right back to sleep, unaware of what happened. But the awakenings are repeated, sometimes up to 30 times an hour, depriving the sufferer of vital oxygen and sound sleep.

The research is published online July 12 in Circulation.

In the study, almost 2,000 men and about 2,500 women — all free of heart problems at the beginning of the research — were recorded as they slept using polysomnograms, which measured the presence and severity of sleep apnea as calibrated on the Apnea-Hypopnea Index.

About half had no symptoms of sleep apnea, the team found, while half had mild, moderate or severe symptoms.

Participants were then contacted at various times from 1998 to the final follow-up in April 2006. During that time, 473 cardiac events occurred, including 185 heart attacks, 212 heart bypass operations, and 76 deaths. There were also 308 cases of heart failure; of these 144 people also had a heart attack.

The study found that men between 40 and 70 years of age who had severe sleep apnea were 68 percent more likely to develop heart disease, and 58 percent more likely to develop heart failure, than those without the condition. Increasing severity of sleep apnea was also associated with obesity, high blood pressure, hypertension and diabetes, all of which are known contributors to heart disease.

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, approximately 14 million Americans suffer from coronary heart disease, the most common cause of death in the United States.

Dr. Jordan S. Josephson, a sinus, snoring and sleep apnea specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said the study is important because “it brings a greater awareness to the public about sleep apnea.” He believes that sleep apnea, linked to heart disease through this and other studies, may be an indirect factor in many heart deaths.

Experts estimate that the condition affects 24 percent of men and 9 percent of women, but Josephson believes the numbers are actually higher because people don’t know they have a problem unless a partner or spouse tells them they snore.

“Sleep apnea is [also] the number one medical cause for divorce and the ending of partnerships,” added Josephson, because many couples end up sleeping apart, not sleeping well, and not functioning well during the day.

Dr. Stuart Fun Quan, another of the study’s authors, agreed that the under-diagnosis of sleep apnea is “unfortunate.”

…continue reading HERE.

August 2, 2010

Baltimore, MD: Link Between Depression, Cholesterol May Differ by Gender

MONDAY, July 26 (HealthDay News) — Gender-specific regulation of cholesterol levels may help prevent depression in the elderly, suggests a new study.

French researchers followed a large group of men and women aged 65 and older for seven years. They found that depression in women was associated with low levels of “good” high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), which puts them at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, including stroke.

Previous research has shown that certain types of stroke increase the risk of depression.

In contrast, depression in men was linked with low levels of “bad” low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). This association was strongest in men with a genetic vulnerability to depression related to a serotonin transporter gene.

The study appears in the July 15 issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry.

“Our results suggest that clinical management of abnormal lipid levels may reduce depression in the elderly, but different treatment will be required according to sex,” corresponding author Dr. Marie-Laure Ancelin, of INSERM, Montpellier, France, said in a journal news release.

…continue reading HERE.

July 15, 2010

TAKE A WALK TO BETTER HEALTH AND INDEPENDENCE

Science Daily has reported a University of Georgia study that states older adults can decrease their risk of disability and increase their likelihood of maintaining independence by 41 percent by participating in a walking exercise program.

The study, which appears in the current issue of the Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy, also found that walking program participants increased their peak aerobic capacity by 19 percent when compared to a control group and increased their physical function by 25 percent.

“In the past decade, researchers have focused on the benefits of strength training in maintaining independence, but until now we didn’t have good evidence using an objective performance measure that a walking program would improve physical functioning,” said study co-author M. Elaine Cress, professor of kinesiology and researcher in the UGA Institute of Gerontology. “Our study found that walking offers tremendous health benefits that can help older adults stay independent.”

Getting people to stick with exercise programs can be notoriously difficult, but the researchers found that every single member of the group stayed with the program for its four-month duration. “People really enjoyed the program,” said Moore-Harrison, now a post-doctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. “It gave them an opportunity to make new friends and get to know their neighbors. By increasing their aerobic capacity, the walking group was better able to perform their daily tasks and had more energy left over for recreational activities, like going out dancing.”

The researchers assessed health status and bodily pain through questionnaires and examined disability by measuring performance on factors such as balance and walking. Physical functioning was measured through both questionnaires and through tests that measured how well the volunteers performed daily activities such as climbing a flight of stairs and putting on and removing a jacket.  The researchers found that physical function increased by 25 percent in the walking exercise group, compared to a decrease of 1 percent in the control group. And while the control group saw their risk of disability increase over the four-month period, the walking exercise group saw their disability risk go from 66 percent to 25 percent – a decrease of 41 percent in just four months.

“We know that walking is good for you, but too many people still aren’t doing it,” Moore-Harrison said. “This study shows that just walking on a regular basis can make a huge impact on quality of life.”

The research was supported by the UGA Institute of Gerontology Seed Grant, the Northeast Georgia Area Agency on Aging and the Georgia Gerontology Consortium Seed Grant. The research was done in cooperation with the Athens Housing Authority.