Special Population: Older Adults

2018 ◽  
pp. 305-317
Author(s):  
Gregg A. Warshaw
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Special Population

Diabetes and obesity in older adults: a call to action

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily J. Edson ◽  
Justo Sierra-Johnson ◽  
Bradley Curtis
Keyword(s):  
Type 2 Diabetes ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Special Population ◽  
Older Population ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
The Metabolic Syndrome ◽  
Weight Loss Interventions ◽  
Diabetes And Obesity

SummaryThe world's older population is projected to rise to some two billion people in the next 50 years. The health of older adults deteriorates with increasing age and creates greater demand for healthcare resources. Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in older adults is causing concern due to its interplay between type 2 diabetes, obesity and associated morbidity and mortality. This call to action discusses comorbidities associated with type 2 diabetes and obesity in the older population and its impact on patients. We cover several topics to consider when designing prevention and treatment strategies for older adults and areas for improvement in our care of this special population are discussed. We know that dietary, exercise and weight-loss interventions are effective. However, these strategies require effort by both patient and physician. If all parties responsible in patient care take action, a change in lifestyle can lead to longer, healthier lives in older adults.

scholarly journals Caring for Older Adults in Disasters: A Special Collection of Papers for a Special Population

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Gulley ◽  
Kandra Strauss-Riggs ◽  
Craig Goolsby
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Special Population ◽  
Special Collection

Cognitive control constrains memory attributions

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen M. Kelley ◽  
Larry L. Jacoby
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Cognitive Control

Abstract Cognitive control constrains retrieval processing and so restricts what comes to mind as input to the attribution system. We review evidence that older adults, patients with Alzheimer's disease, and people with traumatic brain injury exert less cognitive control during retrieval, and so are susceptible to memory misattributions in the form of dramatic levels of false remembering.

Cognitive Load Affects Speech Motor Performance Differently in Older and Younger Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1258-1277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan K. MacPherson
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Motor Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Incongruent Condition ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Movement Duration ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Speech Motor

PurposeThe aim of this study was to determine the impact of cognitive load imposed by a speech production task on the speech motor performance of healthy older and younger adults. Response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory were the primary cognitive processes of interest.MethodTwelve healthy older and 12 healthy younger adults produced multiple repetitions of 4 sentences containing an embedded Stroop task in 2 cognitive load conditions: congruent and incongruent. The incongruent condition, which required participants to suppress orthographic information to say the font colors in which color words were written, represented an increase in cognitive load relative to the congruent condition in which word text and font color matched. Kinematic measures of articulatory coordination variability and movement duration as well as a behavioral measure of sentence production accuracy were compared between groups and conditions and across 3 sentence segments (pre-, during-, and post-Stroop).ResultsIncreased cognitive load in the incongruent condition was associated with increased articulatory coordination variability and movement duration, compared to the congruent Stroop condition, for both age groups. Overall, the effect of increased cognitive load was greater for older adults than younger adults and was greatest in the portion of the sentence in which cognitive load was manipulated (during-Stroop), followed by the pre-Stroop segment. Sentence production accuracy was reduced for older adults in the incongruent condition.ConclusionsIncreased cognitive load involving response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory processes within a speech production task disrupted both the stability and timing with which speech was produced by both age groups. Older adults' speech motor performance may have been more affected due to age-related changes in cognitive and motoric functions that result in altered motor cognition.

Effects of Aging on the Subcortical Encoding of Stop Consonants

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-403
Author(s):  
Dania Rishiq ◽  
Ashley Harkrider ◽  
Cary Springer ◽  
Mark Hedrick
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽  
Aging Effects ◽  
Formant Frequency ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Second Formant ◽  
Effects Of Aging

Purpose The main purpose of this study was to evaluate aging effects on the predominantly subcortical (brainstem) encoding of the second-formant frequency transition, an essential acoustic cue for perceiving place of articulation. Method Synthetic consonant–vowel syllables varying in second-formant onset frequency (i.e., /ba/, /da/, and /ga/ stimuli) were used to elicit speech-evoked auditory brainstem responses (speech-ABRs) in 16 young adults ( M age = 21 years) and 11 older adults ( M age = 59 years). Repeated-measures mixed-model analyses of variance were performed on the latencies and amplitudes of the speech-ABR peaks. Fixed factors were phoneme (repeated measures on three levels: /b/ vs. /d/ vs. /g/) and age (two levels: young vs. older). Results Speech-ABR differences were observed between the two groups (young vs. older adults). Specifically, older listeners showed generalized amplitude reductions for onset and major peaks. Significant Phoneme × Group interactions were not observed. Conclusions Results showed aging effects in speech-ABR amplitudes that may reflect diminished subcortical encoding of consonants in older listeners. These aging effects were not phoneme dependent as observed using the statistical methods of this study.

Partner-Specific Communication Deficits in Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Eun Jin Paek ◽  
Si On Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Audience Design ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
Referential Expressions

Purpose Speakers adjust referential expressions to the listeners' knowledge while communicating, a phenomenon called “audience design.” While individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show difficulties in discourse production, it is unclear whether they exhibit preserved partner-specific audience design. The current study examined if individuals with AD demonstrate partner-specific audience design skills. Method Ten adults with mild-to-moderate AD and 12 healthy older adults performed a referential communication task with two experimenters (E1 and E2). At first, E1 and participants completed an image-sorting task, allowing them to establish shared labels. Then, during testing, both experimenters were present in the room, and participants described images to either E1 or E2 (randomly alternating). Analyses focused on the number of words participants used to describe each image and whether they reused shared labels. Results During testing, participants in both groups produced shorter descriptions when describing familiar images versus new images, demonstrating their ability to learn novel knowledge. When they described familiar images, healthy older adults modified their expressions depending on the current partner's knowledge, producing shorter expressions and more established labels for the knowledgeable partner (E1) versus the naïve partner (E2), but individuals with AD were less likely to do so. Conclusions The current study revealed that both individuals with AD and the control participants were able to acquire novel knowledge, but individuals with AD tended not to flexibly adjust expressions depending on the partner's knowledge state. Conversational inefficiency and difficulties observed in AD may, in part, stem from disrupted audience design skills.

The Impact of Subjective and Objective Hearing Loss on Cognition and Memory in Older Adults

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Rogalski ◽  
Amy Rominger
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Cognitive Testing ◽  
Professional Collaboration ◽  
Cognitive Screening ◽  
Speech Language Pathologist ◽  
Text Passage ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Audiologic Evaluation

For this exploratory cross-disciplinary study, a speech-language pathologist and an audiologist collaborated to investigate the effects of objective and subjective hearing loss on cognition and memory in 11 older adults without hearing loss (OAs), 6 older adults with unaided hearing loss (HLOAs), and 16 young adults (YAs). All participants received cognitive testing and a complete audiologic evaluation including a subjective questionnaire about perceived hearing difficulty. Memory testing involved listening to or reading aloud a text passage then verbally recalling the information. Key findings revealed that objective hearing loss and subjective hearing loss were correlated and both were associated with a cognitive screening test. Potential clinical implications are discussed and include a need for more cross-professional collaboration in assessing older adults with hearing loss.

Servicing the Senior Swallow: A Family-Centered Private Practice Model of Service Delivery

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvette M. McCoy
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Swallowing Disorders ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Skilled Nursing ◽  
Person Centered Care ◽  
Centered Care ◽  
Traditional Medical Model

Purpose Person-centered care shifts the focus of treatment away from the traditional medical model and moves toward personal choice and autonomy for people receiving health services. Older adults remain a priority for person-centered care because they are more likely to have complex care needs than younger individuals. Even more specifically, the assessment and treatment of swallowing disorders are often thought of in terms of setting-specific (i.e., acute care, skilled nursing, home health, etc.), but the management of dysphagia in older adults should be considered as a continuum of care from the intensive care unit to the outpatient multidisciplinary clinic. In order to establish a framework for the management of swallowing in older adults, clinicians must work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team using current evidence to guide clinical practice. Private practitioners must think critically not only about the interplay between the components of the evidence-based practice treatment triad but also about the broader impact of dysphagia on caregivers and families. The physical health and quality of life of both the caregiver and the person receiving care are interdependent. Conclusion Effective treatment includes consideration of not only the patient but also others, as caregivers play an important role in the recovery process of the patient with swallowing disorders.

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