Click here to the latest news
for senior citizens on H1N1 and Seasonal Flu
Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens
NIH Looking for a Few Good Old Men with Low
Testosterone to Join Clinical Trial
National clinical trial will determine if low
testosterone causes serious problems in senior citizens
Nov. 4, 2009 – A new clinical trial is seeking men
age 65 and older to help determine if low testosterone contributes to
serious problems in older men, including a decrease in the ability to
walk, loss of muscle mass, less strength, decreased vitality, decreased
sexual function, impaired cognition, cardiovascular disease and anemia.
Many of these have become accepted results of "aging."
Read more...
Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens
Low Cholesterol Reduces Risk of High-Grade Prostate
Cancer; Does Not Promote Any Cancer
Lower total cholesterol may be caused by
undiagnosed cancer; higher levels of 'good cholesterol' (HDL) seem to be
protective from all cancers
Nov. 4, 2009 - A pair of studies in Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, lay to rest the decades-long
concern that lower total cholesterol may lead to cancer, and, in fact,
lower cholesterol may reduce the risk of high-grade prostate cancer.
Read more...
Flu News for Senior Citizens
California H1N1 Study Finds Those Over 50 Most
Likely to Die in Hospital, Elderly Least Likely
JAMA
report shows hospitalizations occurring at all ages; fewer hospitalizations and
fatalities occurring in elderly persons
Nov. 4, 2009 – A study out of California in today’s
Journal of the American Medical Association creates a warning for older
Americans about the H1N1 flu – hospitalization and death can occur at
all ages. The study found those age 50 or older had the highest death
rate among those hospitalized. Still, however, the elderly have fewer
deaths and hospitalizations.
Read more...Watch
video...
Senior Citizen Alerts
Senior Citizens Should Avoid Common Pain Relievers
When Getting Their Flu Shot
A variety of pain relievers seem to dilute the
production of necessary antibodies to protect against illness
Nov. 3, 2009 - With flu vaccination season in full
swing and senior citizens lining up for shots, research from the
University of Rochester Medical Center cautions that the use of many
common pain killers – Advil, Tylenol, aspirin – at the time of injection
may blunt the effect of the shot and have a negative effect on the
immune system.
Read more...
Medicare News
Experts Favor Medicare Reforms to Control Costs,
Foster Health Care Innovations
Opinion leaders voice support in survey for an
independent Medicare advisory council with broad authority; allowing HHS
to negotiate drug prices
Nov. 3, 2009 - A vast majority of leaders in health
care and health policy believe Medicare has been successful in providing
access to care and stable coverage to the elderly and disabled
individuals; however only a small percentage think the program has
realized its potential to achieve other important goals, like using its
leverage as the country's largest purchaser of services to control costs
and promote a high performance health system.
Read more...
Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens
Colonoscopy Becomes Less Effective at Finding Polyps
as the Day Progresses
Fewer polyps were found in colon cancer screening
hour by hour as the day progressed in a new UCLA study
Nov. 3, 2009 – Senior citizens who must endure the
stress of having a colonoscopy certainly want the procedure to be
successful. There is new evidence that the effectiveness of a screening
colonoscopy depends on the time of day it is performed.
Read more...
Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens
Seniors May Reduce Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
by Half
with More Exercise, Less Weight
Modest weight loss or taking anti-diabetic drug for
10 years lowers risk of type 2 diabetes in high risk people of all
ages
Nov. 2, 2009 – Seniors aged 60 or older –
among the most
likely to develop type 2 diabetes – can cut their risk of developing the
disease over the next ten years in half with intensive lifestyle changes
that include increased physical activity and sustained weight loss.
Read
more...
Medicare News
Medicare Makes Expected Announcement that
Physicians’ Pay Will Be Cut 21 Percent in 2010
Also issues other policy updates adjusting pay for
hospital outpatient care, home health care
Nov. 2, 2009 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services issued several policy updates for 2010 late Friday that
included a two percent pay hike for home health care agencies and an
inflation-based boost of 2.1 percent in their payment rates for
outpatient departments. The big one, however, is a 21.2 percent pay cut
for doctors that will once again start the cries that this action will
cause even more doctors to stop treating Medicare patients.
Read more...
Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens
Awareness Increasing of Danger from COPD for Older
Americans, But Still Too Low
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute says smokers
and others at high risk fail to talk to doctors
Nov.
2, 2009 - Awareness of COPD - chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease - continues to grow in the United States, according to national
survey results released today by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. COPD includes
emphysema and chronic obstructive bronchitis.
Read more...
Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens
Study Uncovers Key to How ‘Triggering Event’ in
Prostate Cancer Occurs
Researchers link hormone androgen to creation of gene
fusion in prostate cancer, a major killer of older men; may help learn
how other cancers begin
Oct. 29, 2009 – The switching mechanism that
triggers the start of prostate cancer is the fusion of two genes, a
phenomenon that has been shown to cause prostate cancer to develop,
according to Michigan researchers who have discovered what leads to this
fusion. Read
more...
Exercise & Fitness for Senior Citizens
Seniors Citizens with Osteoarthritis Find Tai Chi
Exercise Relieves Pan, Helps Movement
Over 4 million in U.S. over age 60 diagnosed with
knee OA; CDC says half of elderly may develop symptoms of OA in at least
one knee by age 85
Oct. 29, 2009 – Senior citizens (over age 65) with
knee osteoarthritis (OA) saw and improvement in their physical function
and experienced less pain after regular Tai Chi exercise, according to
researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine.
Read more...
Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens
One of World's Deadliest Cancers Eliminated from Lungs
of Mice by New Drug, Radiation
UT Southwestern Medical Center finds success with
an investigative drug called BEZ235 in combination with low-dose
radiation
Oct. 29, 2009 – One of the most dangerous of
cancers – non-small cell lung (NSCL) cancer – has been totally
eliminated from laboratory mice at UT Southwestern Medical Center by the
use of an investigative drug called BEZ235 in combination with low-dose
radiation. NSCL cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths
worldwide.
Read more...
Nutrition, Vitamins & Supplements for Seniors
Scientists Discover Possible Achilles Heel of
Influenza: Our Old Friends Antioxidants
Opens the door for new drugs that could
prevent severe flu-related lung damage... and another reason to drink red
wine
Oct. 29, 2009 - As the nation copes with a shortage of vaccines for
H1N1 influenza, a team of Alabama researchers have raised hopes that
they have found an Achilles' heel for all strains of the flu -
antioxidants. Their research indicates that antioxidants—the same
substances found in plant-based foods—might hold the key in preventing
the flu virus from wreaking havoc on our lungs.
Read more...
Senior Citizen Politics
House Finally Unveils Health Care Reform Bill;
Expands Coverage to 36 Million Americans
Has 'public option' preferred by moderates, raises
Medicaid eligibility levels to 150% of the federal poverty level,
guarantees that 96% of Americans have coverage
Oct. 29, 2009 - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday
morning unveiled a House health care reform plan that is expected to
cost about $894 billion and "provide insurance to up to 36 million
people by broadly expanding Medicaid, the state-federal insurance
program for the poor, and by offering subsidies to moderate-income
Americans to buy insurance either from private carriers or a new
government-run plan," the
The New York Times reports.
Read more...
Money, Insurance & Investments for Seniors
Money, Insurance & Investments for Seniors
Nursing Home Costs Now Pressing $80,000 a Year Finds
MetLife Market Survey
Survey finds ‘notable increases’ for nursing homes,
assisted living, day services and home care
Oct. 28, 2009 - Price rollbacks throughout the U.S.
economy during the past year did not apply to long-term care service
providers, according to the 2009 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing
Home, Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, and Home Care Costs.
Private room nursing home rates rose 3.3% to $219 per day or $79,935 per
year, while assisted living also rose 3.3% on average to $3,131 per
month. Home health care aides now cost an average of $21 per hour, a 5%
increase; adult day services run $67 per day, a 4.7% increase.
Read more...
Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
Senior Citizens with Dementia at Much Higher Risk of
Dying with Flu, Not So Likely to Get It
Limited access to health care, inadequate testing
may contribute to higher rates of mortality and lower rates of
diagnosis of flu in elderly with dementia
Oct. 27, 2009 – Senior citizens (age 65 and over)
with dementia are diagnosed with flu less frequently, have shorter
hospital stays, but have a fifty percent higher rate of death than those
without dementia, according to an epidemiological study on pneumonia and
influenza (P&I).
Read
more...
Caregivers & Elder Care News
Communications with Doctors Hindered for Elderly by
Awe of Physician’s Position
Medical staffs need better training in
communication with elderly, their families, says scholar's thesis
Oct. 27, 2009 - Elderly patients are often
apprehensive about a meeting with the doctor. Hierarchical structures,
time pressure and traditions in the health care sector make these
patients and their relatives passive when facing the doctor and his or
her position of power, according to a thesis from the Sahlgrenska
Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Read more...
Senior Citizen Opinions & Analysis
Aging In Place Is Not So Easy
The
reasons may have more to do with social issues than medical concerns
By
Howard Gleckman, Senior Research Associate
Urban Institute
Oct 26, 2009 - 'Aging in Place' is the popular
rallying cry in the senior community. But living at home is not so easy,
either for the frail elderly or younger people with disabilities.
Read more...
Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens
Bad News: Heart Attacks More Common in Women; Good
News: Fewer are Fatal
Reduced risk of death was largest in women younger
than 55 (a52.9% reduction) and lowest in men of the same age (33.3%)
Oct. 26, 2009 - Heart attacks appear to have become
more common in middle-aged women over the past two decades, but all
women and especially those younger than 55 have recently experienced a
greater increase than men in their chances of survival following such a
heart event, according to two reports in the October 26 issue of
Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Read more...
Exercise & Fitness for Senior Citizens
New Study
Finds Fitness Levels Clearly Decline with Age, a Lot Faster After
Passing 45
Exercising,
maintaining healthy weight, not smoking associated with better
cardiovascular health throughout life
Oct. 26, 2009 - New research confirms that men and
women gradually become less fit as they age, with declines accelerating
after age 45. But, the report in the October 26 issue of Archives of
Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, says
maintaining a healthy body mass index (BMI), not smoking and being
physically active can lead to higher fitness levels throughout adult
life. Read
more...
Features for Senior Citizens
Adopt-A-Senior-Pet Month Good Time for Seniors to
Find a Healthful Companion
Pets Are Paws-i-tive says Petfinder.com; help improve
seniors health, mood
By Joan
Banks, Petfinder.com
Oct. 26, 2009 - Guess what? Pets are good for senior citizens.
Stroking a cat or dog can lower your blood pressure and having someone
to care for - and yes, talk to - can lighten your mood. Walking a dog is
a sure-fire way to get more exercise and to help with weight control.
Read more...
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