Patients with Diabetes More than Twice as likely to Have Hearing Impairment (VIDEO)

Patients with Diabetes More than Twice as likely to Have Hearing Impairment

Source: McKnight's LTC NewsPatients with diabetes are more than twice as likely to have hearing impairment than individuals without, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
The study's lead author said diabetic patients should be screened for hearing impairment at an earlier age than non-diabetics. An early diagnosis could lead to reduced incidences of dementia and depression, he added.

Several recent studies investigated diabetes and hearing impairment but the results were inconsistent.
"The association of hearing impairment with diabetes is controversial, but it is believed that over time, high blood glucose levels can damage vessels in the stria vascularis and nerves diminishing the ability to hear," said Chika Horikawa, RD, MSc, of Niigata University in Japan and lead author of the study. "In our study, we found that persons with diabetes had more than two times higher prevalence of hearing impairment than those without diabetes."

Those affected with hearing impairment more than doubled between 1995 and 2004 the study showed. The authors noted that the finding is likely to be independent of aging or a noisy environment. Diabetes and hearing impairment was not significantly influenced by age or gender, they added.

So diabetics and those caring for diabetic patients should consider the recommendations of earlier screening.

Meditation More Effective in Reducing Heart Attacks and Strokes (VIDEO)

Joint Replacement Increases Stroke Risk Fourfold (VIDEO)

Meditation More Effective in Reducing Heart Attacks and Strokes

Transcendental meditation is more effective than health education in reducing heart attacks and strokes among African-Americans with heart disease according to researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Almost half of the 201 study participants were women with an average age 59. Many members of the study took cholesterol-lowering drugs, smoked or were obese.

Half the study subjects went to a health education class focused around diet and exercise and lifestyle modification, while the others practiced meditation for twice a day for 20 minutes.

The latter group was more likely to see their blood pressure drop and reported reduced amounts of smoking. Those who meditated were less likely to die or experience a heart attack or stroke, the investigators found.  

Of course the benefits of meditation have been well documented. And this study logically makes sense. The more relaxed and at peace you are the more likely you will reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke and other stress-related disorders. Reading about it (health education) is not acting upon it. When you act, things happen. So meditate on that!

Hip Replacement Increase Stroke Risk Fourfold

Individuals who underwent a total hip replacement had at least four times the risk of suffering a stroke in the weeks immediately following, a Dutch study reported.

Researchers say more cautious monitoring after such a procedure is warranted.

Hip replacement patients showed nearly five times the rate of ischemic stroke than a control group. The rate of hemorrhagic stroke was a little more than four times as much.
 
The rates were highest in the two weeks following surgery but declined quickly thereafter, evening out after six to 12 weeks, said Frank de Vries, PharmD, PhD, of the Utrecht Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Holland, one of the researchers. His team's work is detailed online in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

“Risk assessment of stroke in individual patients undergoing total hip replacement (i.e. evaluate other risk factors for stroke) should be considered during the first 6 to 12 weeks,” the researchers wrote. 

They examined records of 200,000 individuals, including more than 66,000 who had total hip replacement from 1998 to 2007, to reach their findings.

Source: McKnights

Long-Term Costs Continue to Rise (VIDEO)

Long-Term Costs Continue to Rise

Courtesy MetLife

MetLife Mature Market Institute’s 2012 market survey shows that average national long-term care costs continue to rise. The national average annual charge for a private nursing home room rose to $90,520 this year, while semi-private rooms climbed to $81,030 and assisted living residency jumped to $42,600.

• Nursing home rates increased by 3.8% to $248 daily for a private room and 3.7% to $222 daily for a semi-private room.
  
  In 2011, 66% of nursing home residents were women;median age of residents was 82.6 years; 16% of all residents were under the age of 65.


• Assisted living base rates rose by 2.1% to $3,550 monthly.


• Rates for adult day services remained unchanged at $70 per day.
  
  There are over 5,000 adult day centers in the U.S. serving over 260,000 participants and family caregivers. Sixty-three percent of surveyed centers provide transportation. Half do not charge a fee for this service.


• Home health aide rates were unchanged at $21 per hour.
  
  The majority (68%) of home health care agencies surveyed provide Alzheimer’s training to their employees and almost all do not charge an additional fee for patients with Alzheimer’s.


• Homemaker/companion service rates increased by 5.3% to $20 per hour.

MetLife surveyed 2,078 nursing homes, 1,513 assisted living communities, 1,732 home care agencies, and 1,363 adult day services centers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The cities/areas surveyed were chosen on the basis of population and the ability to obtain a representative sampling of facilities and providers.
Paying for long-term care only gets harder and harder. With the CLASS Act demolished and few players left in the long-term care insurance market, consumer options are dwindling.

The Assurance Benefit might be an interim savior for some people, allowing them to hold on to assets and not spend down as quickly.

There are larger issues at play here though. On the consumer side, people need to financially plan for their long-term care needs and that is hard to do when you are young and healthy and are not thinking about this. There is also a responsibility for people to take care of themselves physically. People with multiple chronic conditions account for 80 percent of the healthcare costs in this country. I see people in nursing homes who got there not because age caught up with them but because they did not keep up with themselves.
For providers, the future is clear. Just as hospitals are being asked to become more efficient while increasing quality so too are long-term providers. These costs cannot continue to rise with an expectation that consumers will be able to pay or that the government will either, whether it is through the Medicare or Medicaid system. And people will migrate to the lowest cost setting so aging in place will become more and more prevalent. That in turn means changing your business model to compete. There is a prediction that in the next two decades we will not need half of the hospitals in this country. Would venture to guess the same for four-walled providers of long-term care services.

(Reprinted from my about.com blog on the same topic.)

The 10 Biggest Changes That Our Bodies Go Through During Aging

Source: www.luxurymedical.co.uk

More Retiring in Other Countries (VIDEO)

More Worried About Retirement (VIDEO)

More Retiring in Other Countries

More people are retiring overseas according to Wharton School of Business. Older people place a higher value on the present moment. Retiring abroad allows one to enjoy the present moment with more ease than retiring in the U.S. and can lead to greater happiness.
Beckoned by foreign countries with mild climates and a lower cost of living, many retirees view living abroad as the fulfillment of a life-long dream. Some are former snowbirds who opt for a Caribbean island or Latin American country; some seek out charming villages in Portugal or Spain, and others have landed in more exotic locales, such as Malaysia.

About 350,000 American retirees receive Social Security benefits in countries other than the U.S., according to the Social Security Administration's annual statistical supplement. The majority of those people live in Europe, Canada and Mexico. As many as 3.3 million American baby boomers are planning to retire abroad, according to figures from Travel Market Report, the industry publication. Three years ago, the paid subscription base of International Living, a magazine for retirees who live overseas or plan to, was 39,000; today, it's 80,000.

What's driving them abroad? Money -- or lack of it. The cost of living in most international retirement destinations is much less than the U.S. Rent in San Jose, Costa Rica, for instance, is 57% lower than in Philadelphia. Consumer prices in Chiang Mai, Thailand, are 59% lower than in Boston. Groceries in Seville, Spain, are 36% lower than in San Francisco.

One of the most pressing financial concerns facing prospective retirees is whether they will have enough money to pay for medical and long-term care expenses. Health care costs have risen rapidly over the last decade and show no signs of abating. A 65-year-old couple retiring in 2012 is estimated to need $240,000 to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses -- the costs not covered by Medicare -- throughout retirement, according to the latest retiree health care costs estimate calculated by Fidelity Investments. This represents a 50% increase from 2002, when the estimate was $160,000.

Many countries offer subsidized national health care. Depending on citizenship and age requirements, foreigners are often eligible for the programs, and the level of medical care is generally quite high. 

A lower cost of living and access to health care aside, many boomers are drawn to overseas retirement for emotional reasons. After years of staying in a place because of their jobs or their children, they seize on living in a foreign country as their last shot at excitement. 

Personally, I have vacationed in St. Kitts in the West Indies and they have a path to citizenship if you buy property there. Healthcare providers in this country are not developed so that is a big consideration. One thing you should look for when considering the healthcare portion of this equation is whether the hospital you might use is accredited by Joint Commission International (JCI).

 (Source: Knowledge at Wharton)

More Worried About Retirement

Americans today are more worried about their retirement finances than they were at the end of the Great Recession in 2009, according to a nationally representative survey of 2,508 adults conducted by the Pew Research Center. 

About four-in-ten adults (38%) say they are “not too” or “not at all” confident that they will have enough income and assets for their retirement, up from 25% in a Pew Research survey conducted in late February and March of 2009. 

Concerns about retirement financing are now more heavily concentrated among younger and middle-aged adults than among those closer to retirement age—a major shift. Retirement worries peak among adults in their late 30s.
 
The new Pew Research survey finds that among adults between the ages of 36 and 40, 53% say they are either “not too” or “not at all” confident that their income and assets will last through retirement. Only about a third (34%) of those ages 60 to 64 express similar concerns. In 2009, it was Baby Boomers between the ages of 51 and 55 who were the most concerned that their money would not last through their retirement years. Only 18% of those 36 to 40 years old were similarly worried.

The share of adults saying they are “not too” or “not at all” confident that they will have enough income and assets to last through their retirement years has grown from 25% in 2009 to 38% in the latest Pew Research poll. Surveys conducted by the Gallup Organization over a longer time period suggest that these concerns have grown steadily in the past decade. According to Gallup, the percentage of adults who fear they will not have enough money to live “comfortably” in retirement has grown from 32% in 2002 to 66% last year. 

There are no easy answers here. While the survey speaks about living in retirement, underlying all of this is the fear that if something catastrophic happens, your finances will be wiped out. And sadly, that could be the scenario.

While most of the emphasis in reform has been in hospital and physician healthcare, the fact is that most of the activity will take place outside these settings. Aging in place and home health will grow. Assisted living will as well. 

But to really prepare for aging, do yourself a favor and maintain the best physical health you can. You will increase the probability of aging with quality tremendously. Yes we all need to save but that is easier said than done. And the financing options for long term care are simply not there. And keep in mind that all this worry in turn causes stress and in turn affects your health. So while it is important to be concerned and start taking the best action you can, don't dwell on it.

Aspirin May Preserve Brain Function in Elderly Women (VIDEO)

How Big Data Can Save Healthcare Infographic

Please include attribution to InsuranceQuotes.org with this graphic.






Original source: InsuranceQuotes.org

Aspirin May Preserve Brain Function in Elderly Women

inSA new study from researchers in Sweden has shown that aspirin may help women maintain brain function.

Researchers studied approximately 700 women, at least 70 years old. About 600 of the women were considered to be at high risk for a heart attack. About 20% of them were taking aspirin during the course of the study.

The study found that women who were taking aspirin had better brain function. The benefits were more pronounced with women who were taking aspirin for five years or longer. 

Dr. Silke Kern was the lead author of the study. He said that their research does not explain the exact relationship between brain function and aspirin. However, aspirin increases blood flow to the brain, which could help ensure the brain receives adequate nutrients and oxygen.

The researchers concluded that taking aspirin in low doses may be an effective way to promote brain functioning for women who are at risk of heart disease. 

Critics say the study would need to be replicated before medical professionals can conclude that aspirin has the capability to promote brain functioning in women. And patients who take aspirin need to know the long term risks - stomach ulcers or internal bleeding.

Check with your doctor!

The Best Exercises and Nutrition for Healthy Bones and Joints (VIDEO) (VIDEO)

The Best Exercises and Nutrition for Healthy Bones and Joints

 
Hip health is important, since hip problems are a frequent cause of mobility issues and disability in adults. Taking measures to keep bones and joints healthy and strong can help prevent hip osteoarthritis, which affects one of every four adults, as well as reducing risk of developing osteoporosis, which affects about 40 million people, causing bones to become brittle and making hip fractures a serious hazard. Maintaining hip health also reduces your risk of less serious injuries, like strains, sprains, tendinitis and bursitis, which can cause a great deal of pain and discomfort. Good nutrition and daily exercise are the most effective means of ensuring that bones and joints remain in great shape.
 

Maintaining Hip Health

• Daily exercise is very necessary for joint and bone health.
  
  The hip joint needs support from strong hip muscles to operate smoothly. The hip muscles keep the joint aligned properly and stable as it bends and flexes, factors that help protect against excess joint wear. Inactivity causes weakening in those muscles, which can lead to reduced joint function and joint pain. Bones need exercise too, since placing them under a little stress triggers production of new bone cells, maintaining strength and density. At least thirty minutes of low-impact weight-bearing exercise per day is what your bones and joints need, such as walking, swimming or low-impact aerobics. Yoga, Pilates stair-climbing or bicycling are also great choices.

• Nutrition is another essential element in maintaining hip health.Your body needs a vast selection of vitamins, minerals and other vital nutrients to keep bones, muscles and joints in good repair. Topping the list of essential nutrients for bone health are calcium and vitamin D. B-complex vitamins, potassium, magnesium and vitamin C are necessary for muscle strength and function, and joints need vitamin E and omega-3 essential fatty acids. A diet that includes lean proteins, whole grains, low-fat dairy products and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables can provide those nutrients, and a good multivitamin with minerals can provide insurance against occasional deficits.

Potential Consequences of Poor Hip Health 

Approximately 250,000 hip fractures happen in the United States every year, and weak bones are a factor in many of them. Hip fractures require surgery to repair the damage, and often, hip replacement must be done. Joint degeneration due to osteoarthritis often makes hip replacement necessary, contributing to the staggering number of hip replacement procedures done each year in the United States, which totaled 458,000 in 2010.

While hip replacement has become almost routine these days, it is still major surgery and complications can happen. Lately, problems have been more likely due to faulty implants, several of which have been recalled. The most recent recall occurred in July 2012, affecting thousands of patients, as the popular Stryker Rejuvenate hip implant system was pulled from the market. Prone to corrosion, this implant had high failure rates and caused metallosis in some people, which is an inflammatory condition caused by metallic implant debris. In the injured patients, that debris collected in the soft tissues of the hip, leading to pain and swelling, and in some cases, tissue death and bone loss. Some of these injured patients have sought legal help by filing a hip lawsuit.

Elizabeth Carrollton writes about defective medical devices and dangerous drugs for Drugwatch.com.

Flushing Drugs a Bad Idea

I am making this short because I want to link you to an informative blog from my fellow about.com guide Trisha Torrey. After her father's recent passing, she was cleaning out her father's apartment and came across boxes of drugs he had taken, then stopped taking, over the years.  Boxes full of pill bottles, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, supplements, vitamins, and eye drops. 

So what to do with them all?

Read the blog and see the answer she was given.

In the meantime, I have my experts on about.com looking at this issue to see what if any regulations exist on an national and/or state level.

Impact of Family Caregiving on Work (VIDEO)

Impact of Family Caregiving on Work

The AARP's updated report on family caregivers and work shows increasing numbers of caregivers in the workplace.

The “average” U.S. caregiver is a 49-year-old woman who works outside the home and spends nearly 20 hours per week—the equivalent of another parttime job—providing unpaid care to her mother for nearly five years.

Family caregivers are as likely to be employed as noncaregivers. The majority (74 percent) of adults with
eldercare responsibilities have worked at a paying job at some point during their caregiving experience.

An estimated 61 percent of family caregivers of adults age 50 and older are currently employed either full-time (50 percent) or part-time (11 percent).

Forty-two percent of U.S. workers have provided care for an aging relative or friend in the past five years. About half (49 percent) of the workforce expects to be providing eldercare in the coming five years.
In 2011, 17 percent of workers in the United States provided eldercare.

Some 20 percent of all female and16 percent of all male workers in the United States are family caregivers.

Nearly one in four (22 percent) middle-aged and older workers (ages 45 to 64)—typically caring for a parent—report being family caregivers: the largest of any age group in the labor force.

Workers with eldercare responsibilities cut across all racial and ethnic group.

Of course this has implications on the workforce. 

• In a recent national survey, one in five (19 percent) retirees left the workforce earlier than planned because of having to care for an ill spouse or other family member.
   
• Nearly seven in ten (68 percent) caregivers report making work accommodations because of caregiving. These adjustments include arriving late/leaving early or taking time off, cutting back on work hours, changing jobs, or stopping work entirely.
   
• The experience of working caregivers with eldercare responsibilities differs from that of workers with childcare or no dependent care responsibilities. Research has found that working caregivers of aging relatives report having less access to flexible work options to carry out their work and caregiving responsibilities, and perceive significantly lower job security than workers with childcare needs.
• Family caregivers (age 50 and older) who leave the workforce to care for a parent lose, on average, nearly $304,000 in wages and benefits over their lifetime. These estimates range from $283,716 for men to $324,044 for women.

 This has a cost on businesses as well.

• U.S. businesses lose up to an estimated $33.6 billion per year in lost productivity from full-time working caregivers. Costs associated with replacing employees, absenteeism, workday distractions, supervisory time, and reductions in hours from full-time to part-time all take a toll. The average annual cost to employers per full-time working caregiver is $2,110.
•  We have reported in many blog how the health of caregivers deteriorates as their caregiving duties accelerate. In one study, employers paid about 8 percent more for the health care of caregiver employees compared to noncaregivers, potentially costing U.S. businesses $13.4 billion per year.

Studies have documented that implementation of eldercare programs can benefit both employers and employees. Eldercare programs improve worker retention, productivity, stress levels, and health among workers.

According to the AARP, flexible workplace policies enhance employee productivity, lower absenteeism, reduce costs, and appear to positively affect profits. They also aid recruitment and retention efforts, allowing employers to retain a talented and knowledgeable workforce and save the money and time that would otherwise have been spent recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and training new employees.

In addition to specific eldercare benefits, flexible work options, family leave, and paid sick days are vital policies for working caregivers. These workplace benefits can help working adults balance their work, personal lives, and family caregiving responsibilities. 

The implications for readers are wide-ranging. Know and understand the resources available in your community before you need them. Reach out for help when you become a caregiver. Advocate for workplace benefits that aid caregivers and most importantly take care of your own health during the process. You will not be a caregiver forever so make sure that when you move out of that role that you still have built a life for yourself.

Source:AARP

Hip Fractures and Sleeping Pills - Deadly Combo (VIDEO)

Infographic on How We Spend

Please include attribution to AccountingDegree.com with this graphic.

CarePlanners New Model for Helping Mom and Dad (VIDEO)

Hip Fractures and Sleeping Pills - Deadly Combo

Following a Medicare Part D change in 2006, physicians started prescribing sleeping pills such as Ambien, Lunesta and Sonata for nursing home residents with insomnia. The newer sleeping pills were thought to be safer for residents than benzodiazepine hypnotics, researchers noted.

But in a study by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of 26,618 nursing home residents who had lived in their facilities for at least six months before having a hip fracture, those taking non-benzodiazepine hypnotics had a 70% increased risk for a fracture, MedPage reported. 

Additionally, the risk was even higher in residents with little or no cognitive impairment compared to those with significant cognitive impairment.

Obviously this was a study of nursing home residents. Nonetheless check with your physician if you are having trouble sleeping and thinking about medications. I am sure any pill that puts you into a sound sleep could have consequences if you awake prematurely, still half-asleep and unsure of your surroundings. That puts you at risk for falls and therefore hip fractures and more.

CarePlanners New Model for Helping Mom and Dad

As you made your way back home from an elder relative's home during the holidays, you may have noticed some things that suggested that he/she could need some extra care. I had the pleasure of meeting the founder of CarePlanners, Alan Blaustein, in the fall of last year and learn more about his company. I was impressed.

You may be familiar with geriatric care managers as a profession and I have blogged about the vital role they play in senior care. I think CarePlanners ups the ante in the quality of professional available to you to help direct care for a loved one and even direct care for yourself.

Their team of Careplanners represents the full-spectrum of healthcare expertise – registered nurses, social workers, Medicare experts, insurance and billing specialists and other healthcare advocates. A person can only get to be part of CarePlanners if they are deeply caring and committed people – sharing their passion to eliminate the obstacles and frustrations of the healthcare system. All go through extensive interviews and training And that level of quality is what impressed me with this company.

I was also impressed with their five-step common sense approach:

• Get a snapshot of your situation. Put all the information in one place.
• Talk you through next steps and set goals.
• Create a simple road map of decision options.
• Make sure you are matched to services that you can afford or have resources for which to pay for them.
• Organize and execute.

For a flat fee, a care consultant will help you with:

• Dealing with a Serious Illness
   
• Preparing for a Hospital Stay
   
• Arranging Senior Care Services
   
• Resolving Billing and Insurance Issues
   
• Coordinating Care for Complex Existing Conditions
   
• Planning for End of Life Needs 

To get started, you can request a call, chat online, or call them at 1.800.989.3588.

You can sign up and take advantage of online tools as well. 

The co-founder of the company is Dr. Nancy Snyderman. You may be familiar with her from her work on NBC.

Friends for years, Alan Blaustein and Dr. Nancy Snyderman grew even closer after Alan was diagnosed with  cancer in 2005. As Alan dealt with his treatment, he and his family spent most of their time and energy dealing with the healthcare system’s many obstacles: managing and coordinating physicians, insurance companies, medical billing agencies, and various hospitals.

The more they discussed these inefficiencies, Alan and Dr. Nancy were amazed by the limited resources available to caregivers and patients to make it simpler for them to manage their healthcare crises and evolving needs.

 Check out CarePlanners today.

Drink Wine Fall Less (VIDEO)

Fifth of Nursing Aides Charged with Abuse Had Priors (VIDEO)

Drink Wine Fall Less

Sounds too good to be true huh! 

Because the inclination is to believe the more you drink the more unstable you become and the more likely to fall.

For eight weeks, scientists at Duquesne University, led by Assistant Professor of Pharmacology Jane E. Cavanaugh, Ph.D., fed old and young mice a diet rich in resveratrol, the antioxidant compound found in red wine, dark-skinned fruit, nuts and blueberries. Over that time, they observed how many missteps the mice made when traversing a balance beam made of steel mesh.

At the start of the study, the elderly mice struggled with missteps and frequently fell off the beam, while the younger mice did not. As the study went on, though, the old mice grew steadier on their feet.

“[Resveratrol] could actually decrease some of the motor deficiencies that are seen in our aging population,” Cavanaugh said, which in turn could increase a senior's quality of life and decrease the risk of hospitalization from a fall.

 Sounds like you need a great deal of wine to make this work. I suggest you get started now. Oh but consult with your doctor first.

Happy New Year everyone.