Search results for "Geriatrics"

Meta-research in geriatric medicine: tips from an associate editor

2022

Prescription-grade crystalline glucosamine sulfate as an add-on therapy to conventional treatments in erosive osteoarthritis of the hand: results fro…

2022

Abstract Objective To evaluate the efficacy of prescription-grade Crystalline Glucosamine Sulfate (pCGS) as an add-on treatment to conventional therapy, compared to usual therapy alone, in patients with erosive osteoarthritis of the hand (EHOA). Methods This 6-month retrospective case–control study included patients with concomitant knee osteoarthritis and symptomatic EHOA. Participants were stratified into two groups based on whether or not pCGS (1500 mg/day) was added to the conventional therapy (education and training in ergonomic principles, exercise and use on-demand of symptomatic drugs) for hand osteoarthritis. Patients were evaluated at baseline, after 3 and 6 months. Primary outcom…

Senile cataract: a review on free radical related pathogenesis and antioxidant prevention

1990

Abstract Glutathione metabolism plays an essential role in the homeostasis of the lens. Thus, it is not surprising that experimental depletion of this substance leads to a process of lens disorganization similar to senile cataract and that in all types of irreversible cataract there is a decrease in the glutathione content of the lens. Therefore, it may be useful in preventive geriatrics to raise the glutathione concentration of the lens and, since glutathione monoethyl ester can cross the capsule and membranes of the lens, administration of this compound may be the treatment of choice. This could be complemented by long-term administration of small doses of acetylsalicylic acid, in the ear…

Association of frailty with fall events in older adults: A 12-year longitudinal study in Korea

2022

Background: Evidence has shown that frailty is associated with the risk of falls in older people. However, the components of frailty that have the highest association with fall events are largely unknown. Methods: This study analyzed panel data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. We used the Korean Frailty Instrument, which includes domains for social isolation, exhaustion and weakness estimated by grip strength, to assess frailty. Fall event data were collected during follow-up visits. Results: A total of 3122 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older were included at baseline in 2006 and were followed up every 2 years until 2018. The participants with frailty had a higher …

The informal caregiver's burden of dependent people: Theory and empirical review.

2009

This paper reviews the main theories and results of the existing research to date about the concept of the informal caregiver's burden. The explanation of the burden concept, the theoretical approaches which attempt to explain it, the variables which have emerged in the investigation, the predictors of its appearance, as well as the intervention programs developed to relieve burden, allow us to approach the appropriate solutions to deal with the current social and political reality of this problem. In this sense, the psycho-educational intervention programs framed within the respite services jointly with the knowledge of the determining variables of the burden can comprise the first optimal…

Associations of socio-economic position and disability among older women in Britain and Jyväskylä, Finland

2005

The aim was to compare the pattern of associations in measures of socio-economic position and disability among British and Finnish older women. In Britain data from the British Women's Heart and Health Study was used. Women from 23 towns took part in a nurse-assessed medical examination and postal questionnaire (n = 4286). In Finland, data from the Evergreen study was used. Eight hundred and four women from the city of Jyväskylä were interviewed at home. Socio-economic position was measured according to social class in childhood, education, use of a car, home ownership and previous occupation. Disability measures included questions on difficulties in washing/dressing and climbing stairs. Lo…

Do aging employees benefit from self-regulative strategies? : A follow-up study

2020

SOC-strategies (selection, optimization, and compensation) are crucial for well-being and adaptation throughout the life course. The workforce is aging rapidly, thus the age-conditional premises of SOC theory require attention. This study explored (1) whether older employees used SOC strategies more often (compared to younger employees), and (2) whether older employees benefited more from SOC strategies in relation to occupational well-being (job burnout, work engagement). The study was based on follow-up data including three occupational subsamples of different age (N = 1,020). There were no significant age-conditional differences in the take-up of SOC strategies. However, older (white-col…

Longitudinal Study on Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART): Clustering Approach for Mobility and Cognitive Decline

2022

The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) is a computer-based go/no-go task to measure neurocognitive function in older adults. However, simplified average features of this complex dataset lead to loss of primary information and fail to express associations between test performance and clinically meaningful outcomes. Here, we combine a novel method to visualise individual trial (raw) information obtained from the SART test in a large population-based study of ageing in Ireland and an automatic clustering technique. We employed a thresholding method, based on the individual trial number of mistakes, to identify poorer SART performances and a fuzzy clusters algorithm to partition the da…

Outdoor mobility and social relationships of elderly people.

1997

Social relationships and activities are important elements in the quality of life of older people. With advancing age, they are made more difficult through the possible loss of physical functions, through societal processes of differentiation, and through unfavourable environmental and technological conditions. Therefore, mobility becomes a fundamental prerequisite for the participation in social relations and activities. This article presents some initial findings of a project which investigates the mobility needs of the elderly and the main factors hindering their desired mobility in three European countries. It became apparent that there is a clear connection between the social situation…

Brain aging and late-onset Alzheimer's disease: many open questions.

2012

ABSTRACTDespite decades of research in the field of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a real understanding of its molecular pathophysiology and treatments relevant to the day-to-day lives of patients remain out of reach. Research has, with good reason, focused on certain key pathways and potential mechanisms, but sometimes this has been at the expense of work on other theories, which may be slowing down progress in this field. Interesting theories at present include oxidative stress and caloric restriction. Work on the Aβ cascade should continue but with a shift in focus to its intracellular effects and an awareness that additional pathogenetic factors and processes must be involved – most importan…