The Food and Drug Administration is pulling Avandia from retail pharmacy shelves due to the diabetes drug's cardiovascular threat to patients.
A 2007 analysis conducted by the Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steven Nissen, M.D., found that those with type 2 diabetes who took Avandia had a 40% increase in heart attack risk.
Starting Nov. 18, only certified doctors will be able to prescribe the drug, and only to patients who have been alerted to the risks, who have already taken the drug safely, and who have found that other medications did not control their diabetes.
Do you take Avandia? It will be nearly impossible to obtain in the future so check with your physician and start putting together a new care plan.
A new study indicates that while the Baby Boomer generation isn't ready for retirement, the next generation of seniors isn't planning that well either. Studies have shown that many Baby Boomers don’t have enough in savings to sustain them at the level of living they expect or to withstand long-term illness or health catastrophes. The picture hasn’t changed much for those who are 45 now according to a study by the Urban Institute and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Kaiser’s and the Urban Institute’s findings in “Projecting Income and Assets: What Might the Future Hold for the Next Generation of Medicare Beneficiaries” projects:
twenty years from now, the financial disparities between the highest income people in the nation and middle- and low-income people will only become more pronounced.
while income will rise across the board most beneficiaries may not be able to shoulder putting more money into their out-of-pocket healthcare costs.
The three pillars of my platform for educated aging are physical, emotional and financial health. It is never to early to start saving not just for retirement but for retirement medical costs.
A Kaiser Health News article reports that according to several studies presented at the annual conference of the American Society on Aging, hoarders are more likely to be depressed, anxious or have social phobias than to have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
It could be a by-product of growing older and being alone. Researchers found that changes in older adults's social environment created boredom and isolation. So shopping became a socially-appropriate way to interact with the world. And then, people just keep what they bought.
Another study found that about 15 percent of older adults with depression had "severe compulsive hoarding behaviors," while just 2 percent to 5 percent of non-depressed older adults are hoarders.
While hoarding in itself may be slightly dangerous, the bigger lesson is about growing older alone. In my thousands of interactions with elders, I have found that those who live a quality life exhibit certain behaviors and having broad social networks and staying active are two of those behaviors. That certainly wards off depression and gives them no time to shop!
According to a Health Day News article, seniors may be at increased risk for fractures because they take "excessive" doses of drugs used to treat thyroid problems. It suggests that regular dose monitoring of thyroid drugs is essential into older age.
Researchers examined the link between fractures and levothyroxine, widely used to treat an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism).
Many patients with hypothyroidism are diagnosed in early or middle adulthood but remain on the same drug dose as they age.
This can lead to excess levels of thyroid hormone, which increases the risk of fractures, especially in older women.
They analyzed data from over 213,500 patients, aged 70 or older who filled at least one prescription for levothyroxine during the study period. More than 22,000 (10.4 percent) of the patients suffered at least one fracture.
So check with your physician about your dosage if you are using this medication.
Medication management and cross-management of medications is so important. My mom recently had an operation in which she may not have survived. She survived and thrived. However, he recuperation has been hindered by a cocktail of medications, all of which interact and cause other medical problems.
A new report from the Alzheimer's Association called Generation Alzheimer's sheds yet more light on the disease.
"Alzheimer’s – with its broad ranging impact on individuals, families, Medicare and Medicaid - has the power to bring the country to its financial knees," said Robert J. Egge, vice president of Public Policy of the Alzheimer’s Association. "But when the federal government has been focused, committed and willing to put the necessary resources to work to confront a disease that poses a real public health threat to the nation – there has been great success. In order to see the day where Alzheimer’s is no longer a death sentence, we need to see that type of commitment with Alzheimer’s."
Here are some of the findings:
Many baby boomers will spend their retirement years either with Alzheimer's or caring for someone who has it.
An estimated 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer's.
Starting this year, more than 10,000 baby boomers a day will turn 65. As these baby boomers age, one of out of eight of them will develop Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s will darken the long-awaited retirement years of the one out of eight baby boomers who will develop it.
It is expected that 10 million baby boomers will either die with or from Alzheimer’s, the only cause of death among the top 10 in America without a way to prevent, cure or even slow its progression.
"Most people survive an average of four to six years after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, but many can live as long as 20 years with the disease.
In addition to the human toll, over the next 40 years Alzheimer’s will cost the nation $20 trillion, enough to pay off the national debt and still send a $20,000 check to every man, woman and child in America. And while every 69 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer’s disease today, by 2050 someone will develop the disease every 33 seconds.
I served as a judge forSeniorHomes.com Best of the Web awards this past year. As a result of the resources they uncovered they have produced a comprehensive senior living guide to transform contest results into a tangible, useful format for consumers.I have reviewed it and it is quite comprehensive.
The Department of Health and Human Services has outlined goals, strategies and actions it will take to reduce health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities.
The define a health disparity as a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage. Racial and ethnic minorities still lag behind in many health outcome measures. They are less likely to get the preventive care they need to stay healthy, more likely to suffer from serious illnesses, such as diabetes or heart disease, and when they do get sick, are less likely to have access to quality health care.
The five overall goals for reducing disparities and associated action steps include:
Transform Health Care: expanding insurance coverage, increasing access to care through development of new service delivery sites and introducing quality initiatives such as increased utilization of medical homes.
Strengthen the Nation’s Health and Human Services Workforce: recruiting undergraduates from under-served communities for public health and biomedical sciences careers, expanding and improving health care interpreting and translation, and supporting more training of community health workers.
Advance the Health, Safety and Well-Being of the American People: implementing the CDC’s new Community Transformation Grants, and additional targeted efforts to achieve improvements in cardiovascular disease, childhood obesity, tobacco-related diseases, maternal and child health, flu and asthma.
Advance Scientific Knowledge and Innovation: implementing a new health data collection and analysis strategy authorized by the Affordable Care Act, and increasing patient-centered outcomes research.
Increase the Efficiency, Transparency and Accountability of HHS Programs: ensuring that assessments of policies and programs on health disparities will become part of all HHS decision-making. Evaluations will measure progress toward reducing health disparities.
Elderly heart failure patients who need skilled nursing care after discharge from the hospital face a higher risk of poor outcomes and even death, according to the American Heart Association.
Researchers from the University of Colorado-Denver School of Medicine analyzed data from 15,459 Medicare patients, with an average age of 80, who were discharged from the hospital after three or more days of treatment for heart failure.
Approximately 14% of the seniors discharged to skilled nursing care facilities died within 30 days after hospitalization.
Four percent of those discharged to their homes died within a month.
Within a month of discharge, 27% of the study participants were re-admitted to the hospital.
Twenty-four percent of those discharged to their homes were re-admitted to the hospital, researchers found.
Moral of the story - rehab at home if at all possible with skilled in-home care to help you.
Many elderly men may be undergoing unnecessary—and perhaps complicating—prostate cancer screenings, according to a study on the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening methods in the United States. Researchers reported that nearly half of men in their seventies underwent PSA screening in the past year, almost double the screening rate of men in their early fifties. Men aged 85 and older were screened just as often as men in their early fifties.
Researchers said in a release: “We're concerned these screenings may prompt cancer treatment among elderly men who ultimately have a very low likelihood of benefiting the patient and paradoxically can cause more harm than good.”
Potential complications include incontinence, impotence, and bowel dysfunction, according to researchers.
The PSA screening rate was 24% in men ages 50 to 54, increasing with age until a peak of 45.5% in ages 70 to 74.
Screening rates then declined with age, with 24.6% of men 85 or older reporting being screened.
The researchers suggested that physicians should be more selective in recommending PSA testing for older men, particularly those with a limited life expectancy.
I agree with the researchers that the side effects of the test, especially if there is no cancer, out weigh the benefit. Though I also sense some age bias going on as well. What is not said is what they are thinking, essentially these people are going to die soon anyway so why go through costly and needless treatments. That is fine until it is your family member or yourself facing a diagnosis.
Nursing homes with high quality ratings are sued almost as often as lower performing nursing homes, according to a new study published by the New England Journal of Medicine. And researchers found litigation or its likelihood does not necessarily result in better care.
Researchers analyzed information about nursing home lawsuits provided by five large U.S. nursing home chains, between 1998 and 2006.
On average, each nursing home received one claim every two years.
The most common lawsuits responded to falls (26.6%) and pressure ulcers/bed sores (15.9%).
Other notable claims cited dehydration, malnutrition and excessive weight loss, physical or verbal abuse and medication errors.
"The results are sobering," the study's co-author David Stevenson, told HealthDay News. “One of the fundamental things that the risk of a malpractice claim is supposed to spur is deterring poor quality care. What we found was that the return on being a high-quality facility relative to a low-quality facility isn't great."
Is this one of those "you can't fight city hall" moments? There is no doubt that we are a litigious society. Many suits are unnecessary and ambulance chasers and people looking for a quick buck are to blame. Then there are legitimate claims that result out of medical error and / or negligence. To think that these do not give the organizations sued pause is disturbing. Perhaps they have built the average cost of lawsuits into their budget!
One-half of caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia surveyed for a new caregiver study find an equal balance of positive and negative experiences in their caregiving. One-third (33 percent) say their caregiving experience is more positive than negative. That from the 2011 report, “What Made You Think Mom Had Alzheimer’s?” conducted by the National Alliance for Caregiving and sponsored by Pfizer Inc.
Two out of three caregivers feel that caring for their loved one gives them the opportunity to “give back” (65 percent)
Nearly one-half of caregivers feel they now have a closer personal relationship with the person to whom they provide care (46 percent)
More than four in 10 feel they now live more “in the moment” than they did before (44 percent)
When asked how they have been changed by their caregiving experience, 67 percent are more grateful, 60 percent are more accepting, 56 percent are more patient and 51 percent are more assertive.
Emotional stress appeared as one of the prevalent negative feelings associated with caregiving. In fact, 61 percent of caregivers reported feeling highly stressed. Forty (40) percent indicated feelings of guilt that they were not doing more to help their loved one and 39 percent reported anger with themselves for becoming frustrated with their loved one.
The study looked at the care recipients’ condition, diagnosis of the illness, actions taken and information sources used, the impact of the caregiving situation, profiles of caregivers and background on the caregiving situation. Results found that caregivers’ views of their situations were related to two factors: the stage of their loved one’s illness and the choice they felt they had in assuming their caregiver role.
The “Caregivers of Individuals with Alzheimer’s or Dementia 2011” report is based on a quantitative survey of 1,000 family caregivers, age 18 or older, who provide unpaid care to an individual with Alzheimer’s, dementia or age-related mental confusion or forgetfulness. Respondents were screened to ensure their care recipient was at least 40 years old.
My mom has had some medical issues and is in rehab. She by no means has any mental incapacity. In fact she has all her marbles so to speak. Yet the toll on my sister as a caregiver has been equal to the studies in this report. She is certainly more stressed and has certainly become more aggressive as a patient advocate. I think she will look back at this time as one where her relationship with mom has grown and actually be grateful for the experience. Right now though she is living it so she is probably too close to it.
My point - there are caregivers of all kinds not just Alzheimer's and we need to be aware of their needs too.
The House Ways and Means Committee has launched an investigation of AARP, particularly in the way it uses its lobbying power to advance its business that sells supplemental and Part D coverage to Medicare beneficiaries.
A hearing on April 1 was preceded by a report BEHIND THE VEIL: The AARP America Doesn’t Know prepared by Reps Wally Herger (R-CA) and Dave Reichert (R-WA).
Here are some excerpts:
AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, is a tax-exempt non-profit membership organization for those aged 50 years and older. As such, AARP has long been regarded as a protector and advocate of the nation’s senior community. What is less known is the extent to which AARP operates as a massive for-profit enterprise and how that conflicts with its legal requirements to “primarily operate to promote the common good and social welfare of a community of people.”
and
As the facts set forth in this report reveal, AARP is not simply a non-profit entity claiming to advocate on behalf of America’s seniors. AARP is in fact a large, complex and sophisticated organization with over $2.2 billion in total assets and had revenues in excess of $1.4 billion in 2009 alone. When measured by the products it endorses and profits it derives from those deals, AARP is one of the nation’s largest insurance companies and by far the largest provider of Medicare plans to seniors. The
and
Democrats’ health care law, which AARP strongly endorsed, could result in a windfall for AARP that exceeds over $1 billion during the next 10 years..
In a statement posted on the AARP website, the organization said it had nothing to hide.
I know there are deep feelings among boomers and seniors about the AARP. What are your thoughts?
We have had some health issues with mom this year. At 89 we almost lost her but she is a trooper. It occurred to me that despite my 26 years in healthcare, I knew little really about the healthcare experience. So here are two blogs I guest wrote.
In a recent survey from the Society of Actuaries respondents were asked about the changing nature of healthcare delivery and the ability to pay for long-term care. Though 93% said that pursuing a healthy lifestyle is their primary risk-management strategy, the report suggests that this is their ideal view not the realistic one.
Only 32% of retirees and 20% of pre-retirees said they have begun saving for the possibility of needing long-term care. Less than half—46%—of retirees say they are worried about not being able to afford a nursing home stay. When it comes to planning for major financial decisions, 80% of people do not look more than 20 years ahead, according to the report. Only 5% plan past their lifetime.
More information on the report is available at the Society of Actuaries website. http://www.soa.org/
Hannah Daniel writes for a blog backed by 1Dental.com, which offers affordable dental plans nationwide.
Those who wear dentures could be putting more than artificial teeth in their mouth every day.
Denture-wearers know that you must soak the mouthpiece in either water or a mild solution for at least 8 hours every day (typically at night) in order to prevent them from becoming brittle and not fitting properly. However, some people may think that merely soaking it is an effective cleaning method. That could be a dangerous assumption. A recent study conducted on orthodontic retainers showed that those mouthpieces could contain several harmful microbes not normally found in the mouth. A similar situation could easily occur with dentures.
Dentures and Retainers Comparison
Researchers at the Eastman Dental Institute at University College London recently found that if retainers are not cleaned thoroughly and regularly, excessive germ buildup could easily occur. Those microbes could transfer to the wearer’s mouth as soon as they placed the mouthpiece. For their study, they compared oral samples from those who wear retainers and from those who do not wear a dental mouthpiece.
Everyone’s mouth contains hundreds of different bacteria, many of which are beneficial, but for this study scientists were looking for two in particular which are not normally found in a healthy mouth:
Staphylococcus (Staph infection)
Candida (a type of yeast/fungus)
More than 50% of retainer wearers had these microbes on their tongues and inner cheeks as well as on their retainers. This doesn’t post a dire threat for healthy individuals, but it could cause more serious harm for those with weakened immune systems, like many seniors. These bacteria typically live in small communities covered with a thin layer of slime, called biofilm, and once established, they can be very difficult to remove. Those who wear dentures could face the same risk, since dentures are placed in and out of the mouth on a regular basis.
Preventing Bacteria in Dentures
Transmission of microbes can occur when a denture is frequently moved between its storage place and the mouth. Those storage containers are typically plastic and rarely washed. Proper hygieneis currently the most effective way to prevent transmission of these microbes, according to researchers. Patients and caregivers should also be made aware of the consequences of not adequately cleaning their dentures, as many seniorsfail to brush or disinfect their denturesbefore or after each use. Here are some tips for keeping these microbes at bay:
Wash your hands before and after handling your dentures.
Denture-wearers who still have some of their permanent teeth should brush their dentures before and after each use with a separate toothbrush from what they use to brush their permanent teeth.
Wash the denture case in the top rack of your dishwasher every few weeks (if it’s a basic plastic case).
Those who normally soak their dentures in water nightly should still soak it in diluted mouthwash or a special dental device cleaner at least weekly.
Dentures remain in the mouth all day every day, so proper care is necessary to maintain a healthy-looking smile. If dangerous microbes are allowed into the mouth, it could rot any remaining permanent teeth or cause infections in the gum or supporting bone structure. With some careful attention to hygiene, seniors can help prevent these harmful microbes from entering their mouths.
Advance directives, which allow people to plan ahead for end-of-life care, can be too vague taccording to some experts. That is why a growing number of states are promoting a program to help guide physicians with a patient's specific instructions.
Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, or Polst are meant to complement advance directives.
A Polst is signed by both the patient and the doctor and spells out such choices as whether a patient wants to be on a mechanical breathing machine or feeding tube and receive antibiotics.
14 states and regions adopted Polst programs recently and another 16 states and six regions are developing programs.
The program also trained health-care providers to discuss end-of-life treatment choices with patients.
Planning Ahead
Advance directives allow patients to make their end-of-life wishes known in the event they are unable to communicate. Here are some typical advance directives: A living will: This instructs family and medical providers on the treatments that a patient wants to receive. The most common decisions involve these life-sustaining treatments: a) Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR): Used when a patient's heart or breathing stops. b) A Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order: A written physician's order that prevents the health-care team from initiating CPR. c) A Do Not Intubate (DNI) order: Intubation is the placement of a tube into the nose or mouth in order to have it enter the windpipe (trachea) to help the patient breathe. d) Artificial nutrition and hydration: Used when patients are no longer able to take food and fluid by mouth. Medical power of attorney lets patients select someone else, usually a family member or close friend, to make care decisions when patients are temporarily or permanently unable to communicate or make decisions on their own. Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, or Polst, is a medical order form signed by the patient and the doctor. It becomes part of the patient's medical record and provides specific instructions to the medical team on such issues as the use of mechanical breathing machines and feeding tubes. Source: Caring Connections
A Polst form is an official medical order, says Susan Tolle, director of the Center for Ethics in Health Care at Oregon Health & Science University, a developer of the Polst program. Unlike an advance directive, which can be misplaced or vaguely worded, a Polst spells out specific treatment instructions and remains part of a patient's medical record. In Oregon, for example, the documents also are stored in a state registry so emergency medical technicians as well as hospitals have access to them. States that have adopted the Polst program also have put in place general protections for medical personnel who follow the directives.
Advance directives, which also allow people to designate a surrogate to make decisions about care, vary state by state. While some states' forms may be highly specific, they may be printed out and stored somewhere where they can't be found when needed. Many states also accept other documents such as a form called Five Wishes that allows people to spell out what kind of quality of life they want, and make requests such as having their bodies massaged with oils for comfort.
A study supported by the National Institutes of Health last year found that patients with Polst forms were more likely to have treatment preferences documented than patients who used traditional documents such as living wills and do-not-resuscitate orders.
Making end-of-life decisions when a loved one's wishes are not known can be difficult for families. After years of struggling with Parkinson's disease and congestive heart failure, Nancy Williamson's mother became seriously ill last August and slipped into a coma from which doctors said she would never recover. Although Ms. Williamson and her sisters wanted doctors to do more, they learned that their mother had signed a Polst form asking for only limited medical treatment.
Ms. Williamson, a California lawyer, says that after arguing with doctors because she wanted to hold on to her mother, "I realized having the Polst made it easier for us because my mom had made her own health-care decisions." The experience led her to help clients prepare end-of-life documents, Ms. Williamson says.
End-of-life directives are controversial. Anti-abortion group LifeTree Inc., for example, opposes the signing of living wills and says life sustaining treatment should always be administered. Elizabeth D. Wickham, the group's executive director, says Polst programs provide legal protection to medical personnel for hastening death, thus encouraging imposed death on patients.
Studies show that many elderly patients prefer to limit medical interventions. In one study of hospice patients, 79% wanted comfort measures only, and 20% wanted only limited additional interventions such as intravenous fluids and antibiotics. In another study only 12% of residents of a long-term skilled nursing facility wanted intensive-care unit treatment that would put them on a breathing machine.
Physicians often don't have the time or training to coach patients through end-of-life-care conversations, says Bernard Hammes, chairman of a national task force that helps develop Polst programs. In a program he designed at the Gunderson Lutheran Health System in LaCrosse, Wis., nurses, social workers, chaplains and others are trained as advance care planning facilitators to help patients and families discuss and document end of life wishes.
The program, Respecting Choices, has been used as a model by dozens of health systems in the U.S. and overseas. Dr. Hammes says studies at Gunderson Lutheran have shown patients with advanced illness who have documented their wishes are more likely to prefer that their care be focused on comfort and function. They are also less likely to want to have their final medical care in a hospital, or to have interventions like CPR attempted. Those patients also use about $2,000 less in physician and hospital services in the last six months of life, a time when the highest medical expenses often occur, he says.
Insurer Aetna began using nurse-care managers to help manage both Medicare and commercially insured patients with terminal illness in 2004, using telephone consultations with patients, doctors and families to, among other things, ensure advance directives are in place and complied with. As a result of the program, a higher proportion of members elected hospice care compared to prior years, which was associated with a decrease in the use of acute care, intensive care and emergency services, particularly for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. Precise cost reductions couldn't be determined for patients in Medicare because it paid the costs directly, Aetna said. But in the commercially insured population, the program led to a net medical cost decrease of 22% compared to a control group not using the care-management services.
Aetna has extended its terminal-illness-care management to all eligible members. "No one is suggesting that anyone be pushed in any specific direction about the choices they make for end-of-life care," says Randall Krakauer, Aetna's head of Medicare medical management. But because such choices often aren't known at a time when patients can no longer express their wishes, "by default we end up using very aggressive curative therapy which in most cases is not only inappropriate, but would not be the patient's choice."
Regardless of whether people fill out Polst forms or advance directives, or both, a coalition of health-care groups says it is important for people to make some decisions about end of life wishes and to choose a surrogate who understands their wishes to step in if necessary. The group is promoting April 16 as National HealthCare Decisions Day via its website, NHDD.org. "There is so much fear about having these discussions, when for most people the problems are going to happen when they haven't had these discussions," says Amy Berman, a senior program officer for the John A. Hartford Foundation, which focuses on improving health care for older Americans. Corrections & Amplifications
Nancy Williamson is a California attorney specializing in elder law and estate planning. She was incorrectly identified in an earlier version of this column as Nancy Sebren. Ms. Sebren is a retired Virginia educator. Write to Laura Landro at laura.landro@wsj.com
In a study published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, reported treating 112 participants with major depression, aged 60 years and older, with the antidepressant Lexapro for four weeks. The 73 who responded to the drug continued to receive it for 10 more weeks and were randomly assigned to two hours a week of health education or tai chi. All the respondents were evaluated for their anxiety, resilience, health-related quality of life, cognition, immune-system inflammation and levels of depression at the start of the study and four months later.
The study found that:
Compared with taking the health education class, performing the ancient Chinese mind-body exercise of tai chi helped more adults reduce their depressive symptoms and achieve remission.
It also improved quality of life, memory, cognition and overall energy levels.
Depression in older adults carries significant risk for decline in health. More than 60% of elderly patients treated for depression fail to achieve remission and functional recovery with medications alone.
Older patients with depression are reported to have more physical illness and chronic pain than younger depressed adults.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been making changes to the Nursing Home Compare website http://www.medicare.gov/ and is seeking comments from stakeholders and visitors to the site.
On April 23rd, CMS added information to allow consumers to more directly file complaints about nursing homes with State Survey Agencies. These changes include adding links from Nursing Home Compare to State complaint websites and making State phone numbers and fax numbers more prominent. They also added a standardized complaint form that consumers can use in cases where they prefer to submit a complaint by fax.
A more visible consumer rights section has been added that clearly spells out resident and consumer rights and provides more information about courses of action that consumers can take if they feel that their rights are being violated. This section also includes information on how to choose a nursing home and the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program.
In July, the number of substantiated complaints received and the number of enforcement actions (specifically Civil Money Penalties and Denials of Payment for New Admissions) that have been levied will be added.
CMS also in April "froze" quality measure data and the five star quality measure ratings currently on the website for a period of six months. Historically, CMS has updated quality measure data each quarter. However, new quality measure data are not yet available for display, so CMS will retain the current QM scores and star ratings until October 2011.
This is of course all good news for consumers as the mover for more transparency in health care and long term care continues.
Fast Forward Consulting is launching a national survey to better understand the needs of caregivers as it develops a smart phone application designed to coordinate care, bring caregiver communities together, and most importantly help ease caregiver stress and improve their health. Caregivers can complete the short survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BTQPSM3.
May and June are joyous occasions for most people. Sadly, Mother's Day and Father's Day can be also be sad and stressful to many. Especially caregivers. According to the National Alliance on Caregiving, more than 65 million people, 29% of the U.S. population, provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year and spend an average of 20 hours per week providing care for their loved one.
There are many resources available to caregivers but the system of support is fragmented. That is why Fast Forward Consulting is launching a national survey to better understand the needs of caregivers as it develops a smart phone application designed to coordinate care, bring caregiver communities together, and most importantly help ease caregiver stress and improve their health.
The popular diabetes drug Avandia has been linked to an increased risk of heart attack and death, say researchers affiliated with insurer WellPoint.
They analyzed the results of 16 studies involving 810,000 Avandia users and found a “modest but statistically significant” increase in the risk of heart attack and other certain heart conditions among those who took the diabetes management drug.
Risk of mortality rose by 14% among those who took the drug, while risk of heart attack and risk of congestive heart failure rose by 16% and 23% respectively, according to the report.
Avandia is prescribed to roughly 3.8 million Americans to help manage type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes is the No. 1 cause of adult blindness, kidney failure and limb amputations in America, and can exacerbate both leg ulcers and some forms of dementia. The number of adults with type 2 diabetes is expected to nearly triple by 2050, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Older adults who spend time gardening are more likely to eat healthier foods, and report better quality of life and higher energy levels than other seniors who don't garden.
Texas A&M and Texas State University conducted a survey of nearly 300 adults age 50 and over.
Respondents who spent time gardening were more likely to be energetic, healthy and optimistic about the future.
84% said they had made plans for things they will be doing in one month or one year, while only 68% of non-gardeners had made similar plans.
When asked whether they agree or disagree with the statement "I feel old and tired," 70.9% of gardeners disagreed, while only 54.3% of non-gardeners disagreed.
Older adults also reported significantly better eating habits, consuming more fruits and vegetables than those who did not. Their study appears in the journal HortTechnology.
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