Follow-up Important to Senior Surgery Patients, Study Reveals

A study revealed that patients aged 80 and above are significantly less likely to be carefully examined or aggressively treated after surgery than their younger counterparts, according to national audit of hospital deaths in Australia, published in the online journal BMJ Open.

This is despite the fact that the oldest seniors have higher rates of trauma and multiple underlying conditions on admission, say the Australian researchers.

Care for the oldest of seniors may be less aggressive, or scaled down because the outcome is expected to be poor or treatment considered futile, they say. Perceived future quality of life issues may also be a factor.

The researchers assessed data from a national audit of deaths after surgical procedures in every specialty carried out between 2009 and 2012 in 111 public and 61 private hospitals across Australia. This included one in five private hospitals and virtually all public teaching hospitals (99%).

To learn more about the research, visit http://blogs.bmj.com/bmjopen/2015/05/25/oldest-old-less-likely-to-be-investigated-or-aggressively-treated-after-surgery/. 

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Tablet Helps Seniors Go Digital, Research Says

We get it. Computers could be intimidating and tiny phones might be . . . well, just too tiny. Why not consider a tablet? Those smaller, lighter, easy-to-use computers that sometimes replace laptops appear to be a way to help seniors make the transition to digital communication.

In fact, new Michigan State University research has found that the use of tablets does make it easier, breaking down some of the barriers that keep seniors from getting connected.

In addition, tablets allow people to maneuver online without having to move and click a mouse. “The dexterity required to control a mouse is really hard for some older adults,” said Shelia Cotten, an MSU professor of media and information who led the research. “A certain level of muscle control is needed. And some older adults have shaking issues, in addition to muscle-control issues in their hands and arms.”

Cotten also said that in most cases, tablets are just easier to use, especially for people who don't have a lot of computer experience. “You don't have to click on 12 different things to do what you want to do. It helps to ease their tech anxiety.”

To learn more about this study, visit http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2015/tablets-can-help-elderly-cross-the-digital-divide/. 

 

Each Home Instead Senior Care^® franchise office is independently owned and operated.

Trouble Distinguishing Odors Tied to Shorter Life Span

A study of 1,169 Medicare beneficiaries found that older people who have trouble distinguishing between odors appear to have a short life span.Results of the four-year study found that the mortality rate was 45 percent in participants with the lowest scores on a 40-item smell test compared with 18 percent of participants with the highest scores.

 

“The increased risk of death increased progressively with worse performance in the smell identification test and was highest in those with the worst smelling ability, even after adjusting for medical burden and dementia,” said Dr. Davangere Devanand, lead author of the Annals of Neurology study.

For more information about the study, visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.24447/abstract?campaign=wolacceptedarticle.  
 

Each Home Instead Senior Care^® franchise office is independently owned and operated.