Elderly Women with Irregular Heartbeatat Higher Risk for Stroke Than Men

According to research, it’s possible that older women who have been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat are at higher risk of stroke than men.

A recent study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre shows that warfarin, the most common anticoagulant therapy used to prevent stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation, may not be as effective in women, 75 years or older, as in men.

 “Our results suggest that elderly women with atrial fibrillation may need to be targeted for more effective stroke prevention therapy,” said Dr. Louise Pilote, corresponding author of the study and researcher in epidemiology at McGill. “Knowing the stroke risk is higher in women is something that both physicians and patients should be focusing on,” said Pilote, whose study results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, a condition involving an irregular heart rhythm. Generally, the risk of developing atrial fibrillation increases with age and with other risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure and underlying heart disease. People with atrial fibrillation have a risk of stroke that is five times greater than those in the general population

For more about the study, visit http://muhc.ca/newsroom/news/elderly-women-irregular-heartbeat-higher-risk-stroke.

Combating the Rise of ‘Polypharmacy’ – Tips for Seniors on the Risk of Many Medications

In the past 10 years, research has shown that the percentage of people over 60 who take five or more medications has jumped from 22 percent to 37 percent. More than 30 million Americans take five or more prescribed drugs regularly, often called “polypharmacy.”

Each year, about one-third of seniors experience serious adverse effects as a result of drug interactions, so it’s necessary to be cognizant of the risks and dangers, according to a CVS pharmacy spokesperson. There are a number of measures a senior can take to avoid the health risks associated with polypharmacy. Papatya Tankut, vice president, professional pharmacy services, CVS/Pharmacy, notes:

·         Developing a relationship with a pharmacist can help better manage medications and prevent potential and harmful drug interactions. A patient’s relationship is more effective if all medications are at one “pharmacy home.”

·         Medication adherence is a growing concern as more Americans neglect to fill prescriptions and take medications as directed. These mistakes will decrease the effectiveness of the medication and may lead to the persistence of problems.

·         Pharmacists can offer advice on supplements as well as tips for maintaining overall health and well-being. Be sure to consult a pharmacist before adding any vitamins or supplements to avoid interactions.

·         If a senior is unsure about a medication or is experiencing a side effect, tell the pharmacist or a trained health expert. The fix may be as simple as shifting the dosage or even taking the medication with food instead of on an empty stomach.

For more about specific medications and supplements, including interactions with other drugs, check out http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/drug.html.

Researchers Excited About Aspirin’s Potential Ability to Prevent Cancer

Here’s encouraging news. A recent report by American Cancer Society scientists says new data shows aspirin’s potential role in reducing the risk of cancer deaths.

The report, published online in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, says even a 10 percent reduction in overall cancer incidence beginning during the first 10 years of aspirin treatment could tip the balance of benefits and risks favorably in average-risk populations.

Guidelines for the use of aspirin in disease prevention now consider only its cardiovascular benefits, weighed against the potential harm from aspirin-induced bleeding. While daily aspirin use also has been convincingly shown to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer and recurrence of adenomatous polyps, these benefits alone do not outweigh harms from aspirin-induced bleeding in average-risk populations.

But recently published secondary analyses of cardiovascular trials have provided the first randomized evidence that daily aspirin use also may reduce the incidence of all cancers combined, even at low doses of 75 to 100 milligrams daily.

“The accumulating data from randomized clinical trials provide an exciting opportunity to reconsider the potential role of aspirin in cancer prevention,” write the authors. They say several important questions remain unanswered, such as the exact magnitude of the overall cancer benefit and which individual cancer sites contribute to this benefit.

For now, proper exercise and a nutritious diet can go a long way toward helping to prevent cancer, experts note. Home Instead CAREGivers^SM could be a motivating source of help by providing meal preparation assistance and encouragement to live a healthier lifestyle.  Contact your local office today.

For more about aspirin and cancer prevention possibilities, visit http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/news/News/study-aspirin-can-lower-cancer-risk.

Should Coffee Receive Credit for Seniors’ Longevity?

According to research from the National Cancer Institute and AARP, seniors who drink coffee – caffeinated or decaffeinated – have a lower risk of death.

Coffee drinkers are less likely to die from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes and infections, the researchers said, although the association was not seen for cancer. Researchers admitted, however, that they can’t be sure whether these associations mean that drinking coffee actually makes people live longer.

The results from a large study of older adults were observed after adjustment for the effects of other risk factors on mortality, such as smoking and alcohol consumption. The results of the study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Neal Freedman, Ph.D., Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI, and his colleagues examined the association between coffee drinking and risk of death in 400,000 U.S. men and women ages 50 to 71 who participated in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.

 “Although we cannot infer a causal relationship between coffee drinking and lower risk of death, we believe these results do provide some reassurance that coffee drinking does not adversely affect health,” Dr. Freedman said.

For more about the study, visit http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/2012/CoffeeProtectiveDCEG/print.

Walking Helps Seniors Alleviate Fatigue After Cancer Operation

As strange as it sounds, you might be able to overcome the exhaustion and shorten your recovery time by walking a little bit each day and gradually increasing the length of your walks. Researchers, in studying a group of people who underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer, affirmed recently that cancer patients can literally take a step-by-step approach to combat fatigue. The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Furthermore, the National Cancer Institute reports that chronic fatigue affects up to 96 percent of people being treated for cancer. It’s so common that “sometimes it’s overlooked as normal, and people tend to write it off,” said the study’s lead author, Theresa P. Yeo, Ph.D., MPH, MSN, associate professor of nursing at the Thomas Jefferson University School of Nursing, Philadelphia.

“This is not the normal ‘I-stayed-up-too-late’ fatigue. It’s really being exhausted, and it doesn’t go away with sleep. This can lead to anxiety and depression.”

Dr. Yeo and her colleagues recruited 102 patients for their study, most of whom were 66 or 67 years old. The patients also had similar rates and types of chronic conditions, such as hypertension or diabetes, but no conditions that could severely limit mobility.

Referring to the study, Dr. Yeo said: “If people could walk for only three minutes, we said start with that and work your way up. If patients felt any discomfort or shortness of breath while walking, they were instructed to slow down or stop. The goal was to increase walking time 90 to 150 minutes each week by the end of the three-month program. The beauty of this program is that we’re not asking for high intensity aerobics or a target heart rate.”

Though the study authors acknowledge that more research is needed, patient discharge instructions have already been changed at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to encourage walking or some form of aerobic activity as patients recover.

For more about the research, check out http://www.facs.org/news/jacs/fatigue0412.html.

Lifestyle Changes Program Reduced Type 2 Diabetes Risk by 58 Percent

Programs to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in high-risk adults do result in fewer people developing diabetes. Researchers said a program involving lifestyle changes, which was particularly effective for those 60 and older, reduced the rate of diabetes in high-risk adults by 58 percent.

The Diabetes Prevention Program funded by the National Institutes of Health, which appeared in a recent issue of Diabetes Care, showed that lifestyle changes – reduced fat and calories in the diet and increased physical activity that lead to modest weight loss – reduced the rate of type 2 diabetes in high-risk adults by 58 percent, compared with placebo. A medication, metformin, reduced diabetes by 31 percent. At present, metformin is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for diabetes prevention, but it is used by diabetics.

For more about the research, check out http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/35/4/723 and www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2009/niddk-29.htm.