In the current policy debate, pharmaceutical use in the elderly has been characterized largely by its economic impact, with little discussion of what drugs the elderly are taking. Based on data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), this study defines subgroups of the community-dwelling elderly using health and functional status, and provides a comprehensive description of the com...

Chronic pain is commonly encountered in elderly patients. About 20-50% of community-dwelling elderly experience it, and 45-80% of nursing home residents may be affected. Selection of pharmacologic therapy for the management of chronic pain must take into consideration the increased potential for adverse effects in this population. Major classes of drugs used to treat chronic pain (nonsteroidal ...

UNLABELLED Eating alone is an emerging social concern these days along with the background of serious aging population growth and increasing number of single-dwellers in Japan. However, little study is focused eating alone and its relation to the health status of community-dwelling elderly. OBJECTIVES To clarify the relations between eating alone and geriatric functions such as depression, qu...

Dehydration is common among elderly people. The aim of this study was to perform validation analysis of a geriatric dehydration-screening tool (DST) in the assessment of hydration status in elderly people. This tool was based on the DST proposed by Vivanti et al., which is composed by 11 items (four physical signs of dehydration and seven questions about thirst sensation, pain and mobility), wi...

BACKGROUND If brief and easy to use self report screening tools are available to identify frail elderly, this may avoid costs and unnecessary assessment of healthy people. This study investigates the predictive validity of three self-report instruments for identifying community-dwelling frail elderly. METHODS This is a prospective study with 1-year follow-up among community-dwelling elderly a...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the prevalence of undernutrition among community-dwelling elderly people in Spain using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and to analyse its distribution according to age, gender and residence region. DESIGN Cross-sectional study assessing the nutritional status of elderly persons through both the short form and the full version of the MNA test. SETTING Pharmacy o...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to explore how home-dwelling elderly who use fall-risk-increasing drugs (FRIDs) perceive their fall risk and how they relate this to their drug use. DESIGN, SETTING AND SUBJECTS A qualitative study with 14 home-dwelling elderly FRID users between 65 and 97 years in Central Norway participating in semi-structured individual interviews. The data were analyzed ...

Telomeres, repetitive DNA sequences that promote chromosomal stability, have been related to different measures of mental well-being and self-rated health, but mainly in women during adulthood. We aimed to investigate whether accelerated telomere shortening is associated with poor mental well-being and poor self-rated health in community-dwelling elderly men. Leukocyte telomere length was measu...

Background: Falls amongst elderly people are often associated with fractures. Training of balance and physical performance can reduce fall risk; however, it remains a challenge to identify individuals at increased risk of falling to whom this training should be offered. It is believed that fall risk can be assessed by testing balance performance. In this study a test battery of physiological pa...

Falls are among the most serious accidents among the elderly leading to increased injuries, reduced functioning and mortality. In 2009, about 2.2 million nonfatal fall injuries were reported among the elderly population (CDC, 2010). In this study, eleven community dwelling elderly (aged 65-84 years) participated in fall risk assessment camp at sterling senior center organized by Northern Virgin...