Bowel care in older people

Bowel care in older people.

Bowel dysfunction not only causes considerable hardship for many older people and their carers, it is also financially costly to the health service and to the individuals affected. Despite the prevalence of constipation and faecal incontinence amongst, for example, older people in institutionalised settings, both conditions are often iatrogenic and entirely preventable. One reason why these con...

Eye care for older people

the global trend Worldwide, people are now living longer and birth rates are declining; older people are therefore making up an ever greater proportion of the world’s population. This means that the number of older people is increasing very rapidly compared to the overall growth of the global population. By 2025, there will be twice as many older people worldwide as there were in 2000 (an incre...

Health care for older people.

Management of bowel problems in older people: an update.

Seventeen per cent of people over the age of 65 and 80% of people in care homes are constipated. Approximately 3-10% of older people in the community have faecal incontinence. Careful attention to assessment, based on an understanding of pathophysiology, will provide an explanation for bowel dysfunction. The causes are often multiple and may relate to local bowel pathology, systemic disease, co...

Acute hospital care for frail older people.