Senior Safety During Hot Weather

July 20, 2009 at 10:00 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | 1 Comment
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Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management brings this information to you from:

The National Institute on Aging

The risk of heat-related problems increases with age.

Hyperthermia is the name given to a variety of heat-related illnesses that can include heat stroke, heat fatigue, heat syncope (sudden dizziness after exercising in the heat), heat cramps and heat exhaustion.

Older adults are particularly at risk for developing heat-related illness because the body’s ability to adequately respond to summer heat can become less efficient with age.  The Nation Institute on Aging (NIA) part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has some advice for helping older people avoid heat problems during the summer months.

A person’s risk for hyperthermia is not based only on the outside temperature – it includes the general health and lifestyle of the individual.

Health Factors that may increase risk include:

  • Age-related changes to the skin, such as poor blood circulation and inefficeint sweat glands,
  • Heart, lung and kidney diseases, as well as any illness that causes general weakness or fever.
  • High blood pressure or other conditions that require changes in diet (for example, a salt restricted diet),
  • The inability to perspire caused by medications including diuretics, sedatives, tranquilizers and certain heart and blood pressure drugs,
  • Taking several drugs for various conditions (note: it is important to continue to take prescribed medications and discuss possible problems with a physician),
  • Being substantially overweight or underweight,
  • Drinking alcoholic beverages, and,
  • Being dehydrated.

Lifestyle factors can also increase risk, including extremely hot living quarters, lack of transportation, overdressing, visiting over-crowded places and not understanding weather conditions.  Older people, particularly those at special risk should stay indoors on particularly hot and humid days, especially when there is an air pollution alert in effect.  People without fans or air conditioners should go to places such as shopping malls, movie houses, and libraries.  Friends or relatives might be asked to supply transportation on particularly hot days.  Many communities, social service agencies, religious groups and senior citizen centers also provide services such as cooling centers.

Heat stroke is an advanced form of hyperthermia that occurs when the body is overwhelmed by heat and unable to control its temperature.  As a person’s body temperature rises rapidly, the body loses its ability to sweat and cool itself down.  Heat stroke is particularly dangerous for older people and requires emergency medical attention.  A person with a body temperature above 104 is likely suffering from heat stroke and may have symptoms of confusion, combativeness, strong rapid pulse, lack of sweating, dry flushed skin, faintness, staggering, possible delirium or coma.  A person with any of these symptoms, especially and older adult, should seek immediate medical attention.

Here are five tips on what to do if you suspect someone is suffering from a heat-related illness:

  1. Get the person out of the sun and into an air-conditioned or other cool place.
  2. Offer fluids such as waterm fruit and vegetable juice.  Avoid alcohol and caffeine.
  3. Encourage the individual to shower, bathe or sponge off with cool water.
  4. Apply a cold, wet cloth to the wrists and/or neck, places where arterial blood passes close to the surface and the cold cloths can help cool the blood.
  5. Urge the person to lie down and rest, preferably in a cool place.

Inner Ear Problems and Risk for Falls

July 10, 2009 at 10:00 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a Comment
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69 million adults over the age of forty are up to 12 times more likely to suffer a serious fall because of inner ear dysfunction that affects their balance and makes them dizzy.  A Johns Hopkins study of this subject found that approximately 22 million of these adults had no idea of their vulnerability as they have had no previous incidents of vestibular disorders, dizziness or sudden falls to suggest they had any problem.

The study revealed that those people who were asymptomatic were six times more likely to suffer a fatal fall than those who had a healthy sense of balance and those who were symptomatic increased their risk 12 times.

Each year more than 1.5 million visits to the emergency room in the United States occur related to falls.  Falls are among the leading cause of death in the elderly with an estimated 13,000 senior deaths occuring per year.

“Vestibular imbalances need to be taken seriously because falls can be fatal and injuries can be painful, leading to long hospital stays and resulting in significant loss in quality of life ” says Lloyd B. Minor, MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the study published in the May 2009 Archives of Internal Medicine.  He says that recent government reports estimate that fatal falls cost the US Medicare program nearly 1 billion dollars in hospital charges and those with broken bones cost an additional 19 billion dollars.

This study found that 85% of men and women over the age of 80 had an imbalance problem and people with diabetes are 70% more likely to suffer from vestibular damage.  The study revealed that balance testing should be part of basic primary care and that all physicians should be screening and monitoring their patients for vestibular dysfunction so that preventative measures can be taken to prevent falls.

Dr Minor added that physical rehabilitation exercise programs can help people with vestibular dysfunction.  Balance and walking exercising can be used to train the brain to compensate for inner-ear deficits and dizziness.

Preventative steps can be taken in the home to reduce the risk of falls such as installing guard rails along stairs and hallways where a fall might occur, ensuring that lighting is adequate and removing throw rugs.

You can go to the Johns Hopkins Center for Hearing and Balance site to view a short video about this study.

Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management completes a fall risk assessment and 130 point home safety evaluation as part of their initial assessment.  To learn more about the assessment process, call our Ridgewood, NJ office at (201) 857-5283.

Weight Loss and Dementia

May 21, 2009 at 11:37 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a Comment
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There are so many new studies related to Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia it’s sometimes difficult to know what to believe.  I read about a new study just yesterday which I found very interesting but I’m not sure that I trust the results. I do, however, think there is some merit to the findings published.

The study, which was conducted by the University of South Florida, suggests that rapid weight loss in older adults may be an early warning sign of dementia.  The study was conducted over the course of eight years and followed 1,836 Japanese Americans.

Those who participated in the study who started out with a lower body mass index (less than 18.5) were 79 percent more likely to develop dementia than those participants who were heavier.  The study also found that people who lost weight at a fast rate were almost 3 times more likely to develop dementia than those who lost weight slowly over time.  These results mirror a study published in 2006 that found women who developed dementia had a drop in their weight as early as a decade before the onset of memory loss.

So, does this mean it’s actually helpful to be overweight or obese as a means of protecting yourself against dementia?  Not so fast!!!  Previous research found that excess weight around the stomach in middle age may increase the risk of developing dementia later in life.

What to believe???  The best thing I would recommend to everyone is that anytime a loved one suffers a significant sudden weight loss it’s time to see their geriatrician or primary care physician.  And as a matter of preventative medicine and general good health I would suggest you maintain a nutritious, balanced diet, exercise regularly and engage in frequent social activities…and as we learned the other day, work for as long as you can to reduce your risk of developing dementia!

As a registered nurse and professional geriatric care manager it’s a challenge for me to keep track of all the studies and their recommendations, but I will continue to do my best to keep you informed of new developments as I become aware of them.

To find out more about this, or any other information I have posted feel free to email me at sophia@distinctivecare.net or to call our offices at (201) 857-5283.

Vitamin D – and Dementia?

March 2, 2009 at 10:54 am | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | Leave a Comment
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In a recent British study, a link between low blood levels of Vitamin D and increased risk for Dementia has been discovered.

1,766 individuals over the age of 65 were sampled for the study. 12% were cognitively impaired, and the lower the individual’s Vitamin D level, the more likely they were to be in that grouping. By comparison to those in the highest 25% of Vitamin D intake, those in the lowest were 2.3 times more likely to be impaired.

The doctor’s who ran the study were quick to note that Vitamin D deficiency is not the cause for Dementia – instead, “while further research is needed, vitamin D supplementation is cheap, safe and convenient, and may therefore play an important role in prevention.”

So, be sure to take your Vitamin D!

Original Article

RFID Networks to Fight Alzheimer’s

February 6, 2009 at 8:15 pm | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | 2 Comments
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Interestingly enough, the blog article I wrote regarding the Elder Gadgets at CES has garnered a fair amount of interest, and led to increased blog traffic – clearly, there are some elder-oriented individuals out there who are interested in technology, like myself! So, for today, another article about technological advances being used in the geriatric field.

The University of South Florida is testing a system of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips on bracelets in conjunction with strategically placed receivers to track elderly resident in facilities. By monitoring their patterns, the researchers hope to be able to diagnose the onset Alzheimer’s in their patients. Sudden veers, long pauses, and a tendency to wander are all indicators of dementia. By spotting these early on, the researchers hope to be able to implement preventative measures for their patients and residents, stopping the disease before it has time to take hold.

Original Article

In other news, for those who have been following our blog and perhaps have actually met me, I just wanted to say I was accepted to Seton Hall Law School today, and should be starting there in the fall of this year. Yay!

For the Coffee Drinkers Out There

January 29, 2009 at 2:34 pm | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | Leave a Comment
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A 21 year study was just recently completed. During the course of the study, 1,409 middle aged men and women, along with the number of coffees they drank each day, were carefully tracked. At the end, it was discovered that those individuals who drank between 3 and 5 cups each day were 65% less likely to develop dementia when compared to those who drank 2 cups or less.It was also noted that drinking more than 5 cups each day was not significantly different enough from the 2 to 5 cup range, so it’s not simply an issue of more is better.

A few reasons for the results have been posited. In the past, coffee consumption has been linked to decreased risk for Type 2 diabetes, a disease which has been associated with increased risk for dementia. Coffee may also have an antioxidant effect in the bloodstream – this would reduce the risk for vascular forms of dementia. It’s also been discovered that caffeine has been shown to reduce the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain during animal studies. Amyloid plaques are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.

So for all those coffee drinkers out there, don’t forget to keep drinking your brew each day!

Original Article

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