Appropriate prescribing in older people

It is clearly established that older people suffer a high rate of disease related to medication. Probably the major reason for this is that older patients are prescribed more drugs than younger people and the rate of prescribing appears to be increasing all the time. In the UK, data are currently collected on all prescriptions dispensed and this shows that older patients (aged over 65 years) receive 35-40% of all drugs prescribed. Between 1977 and 1988, prescription items increased by 17% overall, but by 52% in people over 65 years. compared to only 1% in adults under 65. Prescription rates are rising for a number of reasons, including new advances in therapeutics, a rapidly enlarging older population, moves to treat older patients more effectively (i.e. a less agist policy), rising patient expectations and defensive medical practice.

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Elder Suicide: What Senior Care Pharmacists Need to Know

The Senior Care Pharmacist ◽

10.4140/tcp.n.2021.568 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 36 (11) ◽

pp. 568-572

Author(s):

Keith Burechson ◽

Tony Salvatore

Keyword(s):

Older People ◽

Suicide Prevention ◽

Older Patients ◽

Suicide Risk ◽

Age Groups ◽

The United States ◽

High Rate ◽

Suicide Mortality ◽

High Exposure ◽

Danger Signs

Older individual suicide is a growing community health problem in the United States. It is also preventable, and senior care pharmacists can increase awareness of the prevalence of suicide risk in older patients. Despite high exposure to many serious suicide risk factors and a high rate of suicide mortality, older people tend to be overlooked in suicide prevention efforts that lean mostly toward younger age groups. Senior care pharmacists can help remedy this situation by monitoring reports on older patients for possible signs of suicidality, alerting the care team if signs of potential suicide risk are present, and adding suicide prevention information to their education and counseling roles. An understanding of the nature of older individual suicide, the warning and danger signs of suicidality in older people and how and when to respond is needed. Providing this background would assure that senior care pharmacists have the skills and confidence necessary to embed suicide prevention in their practice.

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Too old to sedate: How old is too old?

Dental Update ◽

10.12968/denu.2021.48.2.106 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 106-113

Author(s):

Natalie Bradley

Keyword(s):

Older People ◽

General Anaesthesia ◽

Old Age ◽

Dental Care ◽

Clinical Relevance ◽

Older Patients ◽

Dental Treatment ◽

Anxiety Control ◽

The Uk ◽

Dental Work

The UK population is ageing with over a quarter of people predicted to be over 65 by 2040. People are retaining their teeth into old age, often having experienced complex restorative dental work over the years. The increasing complexity of dental treatment that older people require will create challenges for those who provide care for this population, including dental treatment under sedation or general anaesthesia. This article discusses the medical, dental and social considerations that need to be taken into account when planning dental care for older patients under sedation or general anaesthesia. CPD/Clinical Relevance: Dentists who provide sedation must be able to appropriately assess and manage their older patients safely if considering this method of pain and anxiety control for dental treatment.

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The Oral Health Needs of Older People in General Medical Practice: An Overview

InnovAiT Education and inspiration for general practice ◽

10.1093/innovait/inr216 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 5 (10) ◽

pp. 614-619

Author(s):

Arijit Ray-Chaudhuri ◽

Ryan C. Olley ◽

Rupert S. Austin ◽

Jennifer E. Gallagher

Keyword(s):

Oral Health ◽

Older People ◽

Dental Care ◽

Older Patients ◽

Health Management ◽

Health Needs ◽

Oral Disease ◽

Natural Teeth ◽

The Uk ◽

Insight Into

As the UK population ages and older people retain their natural teeth for longer, the complexity of the oral health needs in older people is becoming more challenging. Older patients are often registered with a GP and will increasingly be likely to require dental care. Older people in particular may benefit from dental care but may not have a dentist or perceive any risk of oral disease. This article therefore provides practical insight into the oral health management of older people to assist in addressing their oral health needs.

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NEW WAYS OF TREATMENT IN GERIATRICS AND PERCEPTION OF THOSE METHODS BY PATIENTS

Journal of Education Culture and Society ◽

10.15503/jecs20161.75.91 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 75-91

Author(s):

AGNIESZKA KUJAWSKA ◽

SŁAWOMIR KUJAWSKI ◽

MAŁGORZATA GAJOS ◽

RADOSŁAW PERKOWSKI ◽

JOANNA ANDROSIUK ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older People ◽

Older Patients ◽

New Technologies ◽

Developed Countries ◽

High Rate ◽

Clinical Neuroscience ◽

Health States ◽

The One ◽

Extreme Care ◽

Very High

Developing Western societies are characterized by growing numbers of older people. This trend will increase in coming decades. Medicine and health care of developed countries has to stand against new needs of societies rich in people over sixty years old. This paper will briefly review new technologies and ways of treating disorders of older people on the one hand, and reception of these methods by older patients on the other hand. We briefly describe therapeutic methods used in clinical neuroscience dividing them into 3 categories: therapies based on implantation of external devices into the organism, therapies using video games, and therapies using virtual reality. These therapies will be discussed according to three rules, that have been proposed considering the approach for effective therapeutic methods targeting older people. It can be assumed that older people tend to be afraid of using unknown solutions, even to improve their own health states. Contrary to this claim, most of researches report very high rate of acceptance of aforementioned techniques by older people. However, laboratory teams should treat older people with extreme care so as to not provoke aversion to technologies used in intervention

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Service innovations

Psychiatric Bulletin ◽

10.1017/s0955603600003007 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 27 (09) ◽

pp. 346-348

Author(s):

Chris Simpson ◽

Prasanna De Silva

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Services ◽

Health Services ◽

Older People ◽

High Quality ◽

The Uk ◽

Multi Disciplinary Team

The increase in older people in the UK will increase the need for mental health services to run efficient, high-quality services. Multi-disciplinary team assessments, although not new, provide a method of increasing the capacity to see referrals. Two similar systems of multi-disciplinary team assessments from North Yorkshire are reported with evidence of improvement in quality.

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Active Aging in ASEAN Countries: Influences from Age-Friendly Environments, Lifestyles, and Socio-Demographic Factors

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18168290 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (16) ◽

pp. 8290

Author(s):

Sariyamon Tiraphat ◽

Vijj Kasemsup ◽

Doungjai Buntup ◽

Murallitharan Munisamy ◽

Thang Huu Nguyen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older People ◽

Quantitative Research ◽

World Health ◽

Cluster Sampling ◽

Active Aging ◽

Older Population ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Middle Income ◽

Multi Stage ◽

Health Organization

Active aging is a challenging issue to promote older population health; still, there is little clarity on research investigating the determinants of active aging in developing countries. Therefore, this research aimed to examine the factors associated with the active aging of the older populations in ASEAN’s low and middle-income countries by focusing on Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand. The study is a cross-sectional quantitative research study using multi-stage cluster sampling to randomize the sample. The sample consists of 2031 older people aged 55 years and over, including 510 Thai, 537 Malaysian, 487 Myanmar, and 497 Vietnamese. We collected a quantitative questionnaire of age-friendly environmental scale and active aging scale based on the World Health Organization (WHO) concept. The predictors of active aging include age-friendly environments, lifestyles, and socioeconomic factors; the data are analyzed by using multiple logistic regression. After adjusting for other factors, we found that older people living in a community with higher levels of age-friendly environments are 5.52 times more active than those in lower levels of age-friendly environments. Moreover, the older population with healthy lifestyles such as good dietary intake and high physical activity will be 4.93 times more active than those with unhealthy lifestyles. Additionally, older adults with partners, higher education, and aged between 55 and 64 years will be 1.70, 2.61, and 1.63 times more active than those with separate/divorce/widow, primary education, and age at 75 years or higher, respectively. Our results contribute considerable evidence for ASEAN policy-making to promote active aging in this region.

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