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Valentina Harmjanz often tapped into music on her smartphone to connect with older patients she visited at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital. The UT Southwestern medical student met with patients as part of the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP), a joint effort between UTSW and the Hobson Wildenthal Honors College at the University of Texas at Dallas.
It’s a common misconception that older adults need less sleep than those younger, but many get fewer hours due to insomnia and various health problems, including sleep apnea and heart trouble. In addition to a reduced quality of life, long-term health consequences of poor sleep include high blood pressure, weight gain, stroke, heart attack, diabetes, memory problems, and even increased risk of death, said Deborah Freeland, M.D., Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and a member of UTSW’s Division of Geriatric Medicine.
About 1 million people in the United States have Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological disorder that ranks second to Alzheimer’s among the most common neurodegenerative diseases. While many tend to associate Parkinson’s with hand tremors, it can cause a broad range of symptoms, affecting both motor and nonmotor functions.
With flu cases on the rise, geriatric specialists at UT Southwestern Medical Center say vaccinations are particularly important this year for people 65 and older who are more at risk from complications than other age groups.
Falls and broken bones are common among older adults, but they’re not a natural part of aging. That’s why Cedars-Sinai geriatricians created a bone health and falls risk consultation program to catch at-risk people before they break a bone or help them avoid another fracture in the future.
Cedars-Sinai geriatrics experts will present their latest advances in research and care in person at the annual scientific meeting of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) in Orlando May 12-14, sharing innovations to improve both the quality of patient care and quality of life for older adults.
The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP), designed to prevent delirium and improve older patients’ hospital experience, has recently been folded into the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) CoCare portfolio. HackensackUMC has been participating in the HELP model since 2008.
WHAT: Zaldy Tan, MD, a highly respected memory and geriatric medicine specialist at Cedars-Sinai, is available to comment on both sides of the controversy surrounding the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of aducanumab for Alzheimer’s. Aducanumab, the scientific name…
UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers report that older adults are increasingly using cannabis to treat a variety of common health conditions, including pain, sleep disturbances and psychiatric conditions like anxiety and depression.
UC San Diego researchers report that a class of drugs used for a broad array of conditions, from allergies and colds to hypertension and urinary incontinence, may be associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline, particularly in older adults at greater risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
Early reports suggest the case fatality rate for those over 80, which constitutes nearly half of nursing home residents, is more than 15 percent. In areas where there is a shortage of ICU beds and respirators, even the most carefully thought out ethical approaches to rationing these resources will place older patients at a lower priority. Nursing homes must be prepared to manage patients who have had or have COVID-19 infection.
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