Age and Ageing articles from July 1996

Age and Ageing archives from July 1996

Obstructive airways disease: a hidden disability in the aged. (Commentary) (Great Britain)
July 1, 1996... Elderly people living in Britain have a high prevalence of chronic obstructive airways disease, reflecting the number who began smoking in their younger days. Smoking uptake reached its peak in the cohort of men born between 1910 and 1920 [1]....

No way out: the delayed discharge of elderly mentally ill acute and assessment patients in North and South Thames Regions. (Great Britain)
July 1, 1996... Introduction The phenomenon of 'demographic ageing' which refers to the increasing share of the population that is elderly presents a growing challenge to health and social services in Great Britain [1, 2]. The very elderly (aged 85+)...

New evidence on benzodiazepine use and falls: the time factor.
July 1, 1996... Introduction Injuries due to falls represent an important public health concern for all ages, but particularly for elderly people. Falls are the second most important cause of injury-related mortality for all age groups, but the leading...

Vitamins and analgesics in the prevention of collagen ageing.
July 1, 1996... Key words: Ageing, Collagen, Cornea, Sclera, Aspirin, Glycation. Introduction Glycation is initiated by the reaction of a free amino group, typically on a long-lived protein such as collagen, with the carbonyl group of a reducing...

Sexual desire, erection, orgasm and ejaculatory functions and their importance to elderly Swedish men: a population-based study.
July 1, 1996... Key words: Sexual function, Distress, Elderly men. Background Since the establishment of the Swedish Association for Sex Education in 1933 and the introduction of more liberal laws regarding sexuality and compulsory sex education in...

Sensori-motor function, gait patterns and falls in community-dwelling women.
July 1, 1996... Key words: Gait, Ageing, Women, Sensori-motor function, Physiology. Introduction A number of cross-sectional studies have now shown that clinical measures of gait and mobility as well as specific gait parameters, such as velocity and...

Weight, height and body mass index distributions in geographically and ethnically diverse samples of older persons.
July 1, 1996... Keywords: Anthropometry, Elderly people, Screening, Epidemiology. Introduction Height and weight are two of the most easily obtained anthropometric measurements. In combination, they have been used to demonstrate the health risks...

Atrial fibrillation and stroke prevention in the community.
July 1, 1996... Introduction The importance of atrial fibrillation (AF) as a major independent risk factor for stroke in the elderly population is clearly established [1]. There is now evidence from large randomized clinical trials for the efficacy of...

Unexplained macrocytosis in elderly patients.
July 1, 1996... Introduction The advent of automatic cell counters has made the red cell indices including mean cell volume (MCV) widely available. An elevated MCV (i.e. macrocytosis) can be caused by several medical conditions and a variety of drugs....

Gait disturbance in Alzheimer's disease: a clinical study.
July 1, 1996... Introduction Gait disturbance is a characteristic feature of patients with vascular dementia [1]. In contrast, the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) state that: `gait disturbance at the onset or very early in the course...

Predicting delirium in elderly patients: development and validation of a risk-stratification model.
July 1, 1996... Introduction Delirium, or acute confusional state, is a common and serious complication of hospitalization in elderly patients. Studies using formal diagnostic criteria for delirium have shown that between 10 and 22% of elderly medical...

Environmental hazards and hip fractures.
July 1, 1996... Introduction Fractured neck of femur is a common problem in the elderly population with an estimated incidence of 56 613 in England for the period 1991-92. This number is expected to rise to 69000 by the year 2011 [1]. It is estimated...

Prioritizing performance measures for geriatric medical services: what do the purchasers and providers think?
July 1, 1996... Introduction In the current climate of accountability and with the advent of hospital league tables, it is important that the measures used to assess performance are valid and relevant, and not merely the simplest to complete. We have...

Autonomy for elderly people in long-term care.
July 1, 1996... In the past ten years there have been two major developments in long-term care for elderly people. First, the move from the National Health Service hospitals to independent nursing homes (which now have the larger share) and second, an...