Search results for "Geriatric"
showing 10 items of 1602 documents
Life-lines of Finnish people aged 83-87.
2004
This article presents the characteristics of the life-lines drawn by older Finnish men and women. The study was part of the Evergreen Project, Finland. Seventy-eight persons aged 83–87 participated in an interview, in which they were asked to draw a life-line. The life-line was drawn on a standardized sheet as a continuous line which showed the intensity of positive and negative affects during the course of life. An interview concerning the major life events on the life-line and the most positive and negative life periods was administered after the life-line was drawn. The shape of the life-line was analyzed by calculating the level, trend, and variance, as well as the maximum and minimum …
Nutritional status, physical performance and disability in the elderly of the Peruvian Andes
2016
Background: Although nutritional status plays an important part in the physical performance and disability of older people, this relationship has been little studied in developing countries. Aims: A study on the effects of nutritional status on the physical performance and functional status of elderly people living in rural areas of the Peruvian Andes. Methods: The study concerned 222 people aged ≥65 years living in a rural area of the Peruvian Andes. The Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) was used to classify participants as malnourished (MNA <= 17), at risk of malnutrition (MNA 18-23), or well-nourished (MNA>= 24). The short physical performance battery (SPPB) and six-minute walking …
Mobility difficulties and physical activity as predictors of mortality and loss of independence in the community-living older population.
2000
OBJECTIVE: In older people, mobility impairments and physical inactivity are risk factors for further disability and death. We studied the interaction of physical activity and mobility impairment as a predictor of dependence and mortality. DESIGN: A population-based, prospective study. The data were collected in structured interviews in the year 1988 and 8 years later in the year 1996 as part of the Evergreen Project. PARTICIPANTS: Subjects were 1109 independently living, at baseline 65- to 84-year-old people in the city of Jyvaskyla, in central Finland. METHODS: Participants were ranked into four groups: (1) Intact mobility and physically active (Mobile-Active), (2) Intact mobility and sed…
Body Mass Index and Waist Circumference as Predictors of Disability in Nonagenarians: The Vitality 90+ Study.
2017
Background Only scarce data exist on the association between obesity and disability in the oldest old. The purpose of this prospective study is to examine if body mass index and waist circumference (WC) are associated with incident mobility and activities of daily living (ADL) disability in nonagenarians. Methods We used longitudinal data from the Vitality 90+ Study, which is a population-based study conducted at the area of Tampere, Finland. Altogether 291 women and 134 men, aged 90-91 years, had measured data on body mass index and/or WC and did not have self-reported mobility or ADL disability at baseline. Incident mobility and ADL disability was followed-up on median 3.6 years (range 0.…
Effect of co-morbidity on the association of high body mass index with walking limitation among men and women aged 55 years and older.
2007
Background and aims: Obesity among older persons is rapidly increasing, thus affecting their mobility negatively. The aim of this study was to examine the association of high body mass index (BMI) with walking limitation, and the effect of obesity-related diseases on this association. Methods: In a representative sample of the Finnish population of 55 years and older (2055 women and 1337 men), maximal walking speed, chronic diseases, and BMI were ascertained in a health examination. Walking limitation was defined as maximal walking speed of less than 1.2 m/s or difficulty in walking 500 meters. To analyze the effects of chronic conditions, smoking, marital status, and education on BMI class…
Difficulties in mobility among elderly people and their association with socioeconomic factors, dwelling environment and use of services.
1995
The purpose of this study was to clarify the extent to which elderly people have difficulties in mobility, and determine their association with socioeconomic factors, dwelling environment and use of services. The study groups were composed of two random samples of 800 persons aged 65–74 and 75–84, respectively. In all, 1224 non- institutionalized persons (80%) were interviewed at home. The respondents were asked to assess their ability to get about the house, negotiate stairs and walk outdoors, as well as manage certain physical exercise tasks. Difficulties in getting about outdoors were found most frequently among the women in the older age group (52% reported difficulties), and least freq…
Assessment of health literacy among older Finns
2018
Aims: This study examined the feasibility of the HLS-EU-Q16 (in Finnish) for use among older Finns and whether the health literacy score correlates with indicators of health and functioning. Methods: To determine the feasibility of the instrument, we first conducted a focus group discussion with nine participants. For the quantitative analyses, we used data from the AGNES cohort study, collected between October 2017 and April 2018 at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. 292 75-year-old Finnish men and women were interviewed face-to-face in their homes. Health literacy was measured with the HLS-EU-Q16 and health literacy score, ranging from 0 to 50, computed. The reproducibility of the in…
The relationship between different settings of medical service and incident frailty
2018
Background: Some studies have reported a potential association between usual source of health care and disability, but no one has explored the association with frailty, a state of early and potential reversible disability. We therefore aimed to explore the association between older persons' self-reported usual source of health care at baseline and the onset of frailty. Methods: Information regarding usual source of health care was captured through self-report and categorized as 1) private doctor's office, 2) public clinic, 3) Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), or 4) hospital clinic/emergency department (ED). Frailty was defined using the Study of Osteoporotic Fracture (SOF) index as the…
Successful aging: The role of cognitive gerontology
2017
International audience; This commentary explores the relationships between the construct of successful aging and the experimental psychology of human aging—cognitive gerontology. What can or should cognitive gerontology contribute to understanding, defining, and assessing successful aging? Standards for successful aging reflect value judgments that are culturally and historically situated. Fundamentally, they address social policy; they are prescriptive. If individuals or groups are deemed to be aging successfully, then their characteristics or situations can be emulated. If an individual or a group is deemed to be aging unsuccessfully, then intervention should be considered. Although scien…
Relation Between Genetic Factors and Frailty in Older Adults.
2018
Frailty is a geriatric syndrome that identifies individuals at higher risk of disability, institutionalization, and death. We previously reported that frailty is related to oxidative stress and cognitive impairment-related biomarkers. The aim of this study was to determine whether frailty is associated with genetic variants.Longitudinal population-based cohort of 2488 community-dwelling people from Toledo, Spain, aged 65 years or older.We obtained blood samples from 78 individuals with frailty and 74 nonfrail individuals who were nonfrail (according to Fried criteria) from the Toledo Study of Healthy Ageing and extracted DNA using the Chemagic DNA blood kit.Sample genotyping was carried out…