Printer Friendly Page
VA RESEARCH SHOWS GERIATRIC HEALTH CONDITIONS
HAVE MAJOR EFFECT ON HALF OF ALL SENIORS --
"Older
adults tend to have one or more geriatric
conditions which are
not considered diseases and can be missed by
physicians."
For more information on geriatric veterans, use
the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=GERIATRIC&op=and
Story here...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
releases/2007/08/070807135617.htm
Story below:
-------------------------
Geriatric Health Conditions Have Major Effect
On Half Of All Seniors
Science Daily — A broad study of adults ages 65 and older has found that
half of them have one or more conditions that can affect their ability
to participate in activities of daily living, such as bathing and
dressing on their own.
Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System analyzed the
responses of more than 11,000 participants in the national Health and
Retirement Study. They found that 50 percent of older adults had a
moderate to severe form of at least one of the following conditions:
cognitive impairment, falls, incontinence, low body mass index,
dizziness, vision impairment or hearing impairment.
The researchers also studied whether the respondents had difficulty with
activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, eating, toileting or
transferring) and needed assistance to complete the tasks. They found
that people with geriatric conditions had about the same level of
dependency when performing activities of daily living as older patients
with chronic diseases, including heart disease, chronic lung disease,
diabetes, cancer, musculoskeletal conditions, stroke and psychiatric
problems.
The study -- which appears in the Aug. 7 issue of the Annals of Internal
Medicine -- fills a major gap in research about older patients. Although
conditions such as incontinence and falls have been studied extensively,
the total impact of geriatric conditions on health and disability in the
older adult population has not been investigated, notes lead author
Christine Cigolle, M.D., MPH, lecturer in the U-M Health System
Department of Family Medicine and a physician in the Veterans Affairs
Ann Arbor Healthcare System's Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical
Center (GRECC).
"The focus in medicine has long been on diseases, and how to diagnose
and treat them. But that focus often isn't helpful in regard to older
adults; they tend to have one or more of these geriatric conditions,
which are not considered diseases and can be missed by physicians,"
Cigolle says.
"Our study is the first to look at all seven of these common conditions
together, and we found that they are very common and increase
dramatically in prevalence with age," she says. "To me, that says that
clinicians need to ask patients about these issues. In many situations,
they may be able to help manage the condition before it leads to
disability."
In the medical world, experts have debated how to categorize conditions
such as the ones in this study. Some are called geriatric syndromes,
while others fall outside of categories typically used by physicians.
The lack of consistent terminology has been one obstacle to the
appropriate diagnosis and treatment of these conditions, says senior
author Caroline Blaum, M.D., M.S., associate professor in the Division
of Geriatric Medicine at U-M and a research scientist at the Veterans
Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System GRECC.
Such obstacles need to be overcome so that older adults can receive the
best health care possible, she says. "Geriatric conditions are integral
to the health and function of older adults and should be addressed in
their care," Blaum notes.
The researchers found a strong link between the conditions and
dependence on others to help with activities of daily living. Just 2.6
percent of survey participants without any of the geriatric conditions
were dependent on others for help with activities. That percentage
jumped to 8.1 among people with one of the conditions, 19.4 among people
with two conditions, and 45 among people with three or more conditions.
All conditions increased in prevalence with advancing age. Among older
adults with cognitive impairment, for instance, 55 percent were 80 or
older. Overall, 39 percent of people ages 65-69 were found to have one
or more of the conditions. The percentage rose to 82 among people ages
90 and older.
Additionally, compared to those with no geriatric conditions, people
with increasing numbers of conditions were older, female, from a
minority ethnic group, unmarried, and had less education and a lower net
worth.
The data used in this study are from the 2000 wave of the Health and
Retirement Study (HRS), a biennial longitudinal health interview survey
of adults ages 50 years and older in the United States. The HRS is
sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and performed by the
Institute for Social Research at U-M.
In addition to Cigolle and Blaum, authors of the study were Kenneth M.
Langa, M.D., Ph.D., of the U-M Medical School Department of Internal
Medicine, the U-M Institute for Social Research and the Ann Arbor VA
Center for Practice Management and Outcomes Research; and Mohammed U.
Kabeto, M.S., and Zhiyi Tian, M.A., M.S., of the Department of Internal
Medicine.
The study was supported by grants from the John A. Hartford Foundation
and the National Institute on Aging and by the Ann Arbor VA GRECC.
Reference: Annals of Internal Medicine, Aug. 7, 2007, Vol. 147, pages
156-164. "Geriatric Conditions and Disability: The Health and Retirement
Study."
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by
University of Michigan Health System.
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
