Geriatrics News and Research

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Likelihood of hemorrhage on warfarin is relatively small

Older patients with atrial fibrillation have higher rates of major hemorrhage in the brain whether or not they are using a common blood thinning therapy, according to a new study.

2 Aug 2006

First study to demonstrate IVIg effective longer than a year

A purified mixture of human antibodies called intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) provides lasting benefits to patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to researchers at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

25 Jul 2006

Long, healthy life tends to run in some families

Long, healthy life tends to run in some families, and researchers on a project supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) want to learn more about the factors that contribute to it.

13 Jul 2006

External catheters reduce risk of urinary tract infection in men

It's one of the things about a hospital stay that men loathe, and that infectious bacteria love: the urinary catheter. Now, a new study shows that a less-unpleasant option for male hospital patients is also a much safer one.

3 Jul 2006

Study identified characteristics of caregivers that may increase symptoms in dementia patients

Troublesome symptoms that accompany dementia - including wandering, hallucinations and restlessness - may increase if the patients' caregivers are young, less educated, over-burdened or depressed.

23 May 2006

Unnecessary urinary catheters - study

A study of 1,586 hospitalized patients age 70 and older at two Ohio hospitals indicates that 24 percent were given medically unnecessary urinary catheters, according to investigators led by a researcher at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.

23 May 2006

Calorie counting may lessen the effects of aging

A lifelong habit of trimming just a few calories from the daily diet can do more than slim the waistline - a new study shows it may help lessen the effects of aging.

8 May 2006

Alcohol use, comorbidity, and mortality

Older men who drink as few as two drinks twice a week and also have diseases that could be worsened by alcohol or cause problems with medications taken while drinking alcohol have higher death rates, as compared to men who either drink less or may drink more but don't have such comorbidities.

11 Apr 2006

Depression is an often undiagnosed source of suffering for elderly

Elderly patients with lesser versions of depression, a group many times larger than those with major depression, are more than five times as likely as healthy patients to descend into major depression within one year, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

11 Apr 2006

Do older people quit smoking for the wrong reasons?

Research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that elderly women are more likely to quit smoking than elderly men, while results are just the opposite for studies among younger populations.

23 Mar 2006

Older people are far more likely to successfully quit smoking

Older women appear to quit smoking and stay off cigarettes in higher numbers than men in their age group, and older men and women are more likely to quit if they have recently received a diagnosis of cancer, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

15 Mar 2006

Many nursing home residents have poorly controlled pain due to inadequate medication treatment

"The inclusion of pain as a quality measure for both short-term and long-term residents is intended to provide an incentive for nursing homes to improve their practices in this area," say researchers.

9 Mar 2006

Physical symptoms that mark frailty often reversible

In a study to determine how older people progress through different states of frailty, researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that the physical symptoms that mark frailty are often reversible and therefore amenable to intervention.

1 Mar 2006

Many nursing home residents have poorly controlled pain due to inadequate medication treatment

Data revealed the mean total PMAS was 64 percent of optimal, suggesting a generally poor score. In fact, they found that less than half of residents with predictably recurrent pain were being prescribed scheduled pain medication; 23 percent received at least one high-risk medication.

1 Mar 2006

New system accurately predicts mortality of older Americans

Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center have created an index that is 81 percent accurate in predicting the likelihood of death within four years for people 50 and older.

20 Feb 2006

Vitamin D helps prevent bone loss during osteoporosis

The risk of bone fracture resulting from falls increases as we age due to bone loss and osteoporosis. Physicians have routinely prescribed vitamin D and vitamin D- related drugs to retard bone loss, but until now, little was known about the specific targets of vitamin D in bone.

22 Jan 2006

Magnesium for stronger bones

Intake of magnesium through diet and supplements is positively associated with bone density throughout the whole body, particularly in older white adults, according to research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Researchers say the effects are similar to that of calcium.

5 Jan 2006