Health Status Of Elderly People Research Articles

Happier Elderly Residents. The Positive Impact of Physical Activity on Objective and Subjective Health Condition of Elderly People in Nursing Homes. Evidence from a Multi-Site Randomized Controlled Trial

We explore the effects of adapted physical exercise programs in nursing homes, in which some residents suffer from dementia and/or physical limitations and others do not. We use data from 452 participants followed over 12 months in 32 retirement homes in four European countries. Using a difference-in-difference with individual random effects model, we show that the program had a significant impact on the number of falls and the self-declared health and health-related quality of life of residents (EQ-5D). The wide scope of this study, in terms of sites, countries, and measured outcomes, brings generality to previously existing evidence. A simple computation, in the case of France, suggests that such programs are highly cost-efficient.

The Influencing Factors of Participation in Online Timebank Nursing for Community Elderly in Beijing, China.

This study uses the logit model through questionnaire data of Beijing in 2019 to investigate the participation willingness of online timebank elderly care, especially to discover different influencing factors on the participation willingness between the youth group and the elderly group. We find that: First, the health status of elderly people and the number of elder families of young people have significant positive impacts on their willingness to participate in online timebank. Second, the experience of participating in voluntary activities has a significant positive effect and it has a far greater impact in the young group than that in the elderly group. Third, the more the free time, the higher the participation willingness in the young group, but it is the opposite in the elderly group. Fourth, the years of education and party member have significant promoting effects on the participation willingness in both groups. Such heterogeneous influencing factors can help develop online timebank nursing for dealing with the increasingly serious population aging problem in China and also other developing countries.

Effect of Gender on Mental Health status of Elderly People

The purpose of the present study is to examine the effect of a common demographic variable gender upon mental health of elderly people. 20 male and 20 female respondents of Ambagarh Chauki block of Rajnandgaon District have been taken as sample for the study. Mental health questionnaire made by Dr. (Mrs.) Kamlesh Sharma was used to obtain the mental health score. t test was used . Data were analyzed with the help of t-test to measure the deference between mental health score of both the group. The results indicated that there if significant difference between male and female. Female elderly people were found more mentally healthy than male.

Correlation of body mass index on waist circumference and blood pressure

The increasing number of elderly on these recent days demands an improved quality of health for the elderly. Independence of the elderly is important in order to be happy and not to be a burden on their families. Health monitoring continuously is an effort to prevent disruption on the health conditions of the elderly. The health status of elderly people is important to know to follow up on prevention programs for the emergence of certain diseases in the elderly. This study aims to look for potential health problems for elderly people in Gamping, Sleman, DIY, Indonesia. The method of this research was cross sectional analysis using secondary data. Sample collection is consecutive subjects. Subjects were 158 people with a mean age of men (67.8 ± 7.1) years while women were 67.5 ± 7.3 years. The data was analyzed using the bivariate correlation test with CI 99%. The results of the analysis showed that the average body mass index with an average waist circumference was positively correlated (r= 0.66; p: 0.000), but did not correlate with systole pressure (r= -0.009; p= 0.97) diastole (r= 0.093; p= 0.477), age (-0.05; p= 0.71), and gender (r= -0.146; p= 0. 27). The potential health problems among the elderly is the risk of high BMI due to the larger waist circumference

Health Status of Elderly People Living in Old Aged Homes in Pokhara

Background: Health is serious matter for the elderly people especially living in old aged homes. In this context, this study has tried to explore the health status of elderly people living in old aged homes.
 Methods: Information were collected from fifty seven elderly people living in purposively selected three major old aged homes of Pokhara by using structured questionnaire through interview techniques. The elderly people, who were unable to speak, hear, complete the interview process, have severe psychiatric disorder, did not have verbal consent to participate were excluded from the study. Descriptive analysis was carried out for this research.
 Results: Majority (87.7%) of the respondents had chronic physical health problem like back pain problem as major followed by other musculoskeletal problems, gastrointestinal disease, hypertension, respiratory problem, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, eyes and ears problem. The proportion of female was higher than male regarding their chronic physical health problem. Majority went to hospital when they were sick. Half of the respondents were worried about economic insecurity followed by lack of social relation, lack of treatment during illness, fear of future, lack of recreational activities, food management of old age homes, environment of elderly official, sitting and sleeping environment of elderly home and others respectively. All the respondents prayed god to cope with these stress followed by listening to religious hymns, go to religious places, solitary living, crying alone, and take cigarettes/alcohols.
 Conclusions: Health status of elderly people living in old aged home was not good since most of the elderly were suffered from chronic physical health problem. Females are more vulnerable.

Perceived Health Status of and Moderating Factors in Elderly People Caring for Their Grandchildren.

Objective Situations in which elderly people are the primary caregivers for their grandchildren are becoming more common. This study aimed to investigate moderating factors of and the association between grandchild care and the grandparents’ perceived health. Financial support in return for grandchild care was also investigated as a moderating factor. Methods Participants included 357 elderly people over the age of 60 years. The assessment to evaluate the perceived health status and social support was performed via a questionnaire. It included questions regarding the care of grandchildren and demographic variables, as well as the Medical Outcome Survey (MOS) 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36), and the MOS Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS). Results The subscale scores of SF-36 and MOS-SSS did not differ significantly for grandchild-care status. However, the subscale scores of SF-36 were significantly higher in groups that received regular financial support from adult children in return for grandchild care than in groups that did not. Conclusion Our data suggest that regular financial support in return for grandchild care may be a moderating factor in the association between grandchild care and the perceived health status of elderly people. These findings have important social implications and warrant future study to reveal the psychological mechanism of these associations and enhance the health of elderly individuals.

Cognitive function and mental health of elderly people in China: findings from 2018 CLHLS survey

This paper uses the latest data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) of 2018 to report that the cognitive function and mental health status of elderly people in China. Elderly women and the oldest-old (age over 80 years) tended to have higher risks of cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms than elderly men and younger elderly people. Respondents who continued to live at home in their communities (i.e. were not institutionalized in elderly care facilities, and were educated, married, without ADL disability and engaged in physical activities regularly appeared to have better cognitive function and mental health. Therefore, healthy lifestyles should be advocated and healthy interventions should focus more on the vulnerable elderly such as the oldest-old and women.

Temporal changes in years of life lost associated with heat waves in the Czech Republic.

Seniors constitute the population group generally most at risk of mortality due to heat stress. As life expectancy increases and health conditions of elderly people improve over time, vulnerability of the population to heat changes as well. We employed the years-of-life-lost (YLL) approach, considering life expectancy at the time of each death, to investigate how population ageing affects temporal changes in heat-related mortality in the Czech Republic. Using an updated gridded meteorological database, we identified heat waves during 1994-2017, and analysed temporal changes in their impacts on YLL and mortality. The mean impact of a heat-wave day on relative excess mortality and YLL had declined by approximately 2-3% per decade. That decline abated in the current decade, however, and the decreasing trend in mean excess mortality as well as YLL vanished when the short-term mortality displacement effect was considered. Moreover, the cumulative number of excess deaths and YLL during heat waves rose due to increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves during the examined period. The results show that in studies of temporal changes it is important to differentiate between mean effects of heat waves on mortality and the overall death burden associated with heat waves. Analysis of the average ratio of excess YLL/death per heat-wave day indicated that the major heat-vulnerable population group shifted towards older age (70+ years among males and 75+ years among females). Our findings highlight the importance of focusing heat-protection measures especially upon the elderly population, which is most heat-vulnerable and whose numbers are rising.

Body composition and physical ability of trained and non-trained elderly women

Body composition and physical ability affect the life quality and health condition of elderly people. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare body composition and physical ability of regularly trained and non-trained elderly women. 22 elderly women in the average age 74 years were divided into two groups based on their physical activity: twice a week training and non-training groups. Body weight, body height, blood pressure and waist-hip ratio were measured, and the body composition was evaluated with a SECA 525 analyser. A handgrip strength test, a “Timed Up and Go” test, “Five Times Sit to Stand” test were also performed by the participants. Based on the results of the study, the following conclusions were made: regularly training women had lower body mass index and systolic blood pressure than non-trained women in the same age; regularly training women had lower body fat mass and higher total body water, fat-free mass and muscle mass than non-training women in the same age; regularly training women had greater hand grip strength than nontraining women in the same age; regularly training women performed “Five Times Sit to Stand” test and “Timed Up and Go” test faster than non-training women in the same age.

Oral health condition of elderly people with Parkinson disease

The oral hygiene of individuals with Parkinson disease (PD) is markedly impaired by difficulties in toothbrushing due to motor impairment and tremors. Additionally, it appears that other features associated with PD have an impact on the quality of oral health. Objective: this cross-sectional observational study characterized the oral health condition of individuals with PD. Methods: fifty individuals with PD, aged 53 to 94 years, users of medication for such condition were examined. The research participants had their oral cavities examined to assess prosthetic use and need; index of Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth (DMFT); Community Periodontal Index (CPI); Periodontal Attachment Loss (PAL); and oral mucosa. In addition, a questionnaire was applied to obtain personal data, general health, and oral health. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: a high prosthetic use was observed in the upper arch (92%), while the lower arch revealed high prosthetic need (66%). The DMFT index showed a high number of missing teeth, CPI showed a prevalence of 43% of dental calculus, and PAL revealed 28% of attachment loss of 4-5 mm. The most frequent findings in the assessment of oral mucosa were denture stomatitis and inflammatory fibrous hyperplasia. Conclusion: PD patients refer xerostomia and present high number of missing teeth, a minority of healthy teeth, and oral lesions, representing a target population for specialized oral health care.

Prevalence of Malnutrition Among Elderly People in Iran: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BackgroundMalnutrition occurs following a decrease or an imbalance in the absorption of energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals because of numerous factors. Thus, it has serious and life-threatening consequences. To plan for this issue, we need information on the burden of this problem.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of malnutrition among elderly people in Iran.MethodsFor the purpose of this study, papers, including original articles, theses, and conference proceedings on the prevalence of malnutrition among people aged 60 years and above, and have been published in national and international journals until September 2018 will be included without any language limitation. The following keywords along with their synonyms in Persian will be used in the literature search: malnutrition, elderly, and Iran. At first, the screening process will be conducted based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Then, the full text of the remaining articles will be read carefully, and eligible articles will be selected according to the objectives of the study. Next, the methodological quality of the selected papers will be reviewed, and the required information will be extracted from those with acceptable quality. Finally, a meta-analysis will be performed using the Stata software (version 14) when optimum criteria are met. It should be noted that all stages of screening, selection, quality assessment of primary studies, and data extraction will be performed by two reviewers independently.ResultsThis review is ongoing and will be completed at the end of 2019.ConclusionsThis review aims to provide comprehensive evidence about the prevalence of malnutrition among elderly people in Iran. This can help Iranian health managers and policy makers make informed decisions for preventing malnutrition and promoting the health status of elderly people.Trial RegistrationPROSPERO CRD42018115358; https://tinyurl.com/y28su47mInternational Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/15334

The relationship between the level of health literacy and the physical health status of the elderly in Bojnurd city

Nowadays, the health literacy topic has become an important issue in the world, and because of its important role in people’s decision-making in the health-related areas has been taken into consideration by policy-makers as one of the basic tools for improving the health ofthe community and increasing the quality of providing health services. Considering the importance of health literacy and the level of functional independence in daily activities, which are important indicators of physical health evaluation, and the importance of examining the relationship between them, this research was performed to investigate the relationship between health literacy level and physical health status of elderly people in Bojnurd. In this cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study, which was performed in 1396, 190 elderly residents of Bojnurd were selected by multistage sampling method (stratified and cluster sampling method). A threepart questionnaire was used for data collection. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 20 software and using statistical tests of one-way analysis of variance and t-test. The mean age of the elderly who were studied were 66.3 ± 5.67 years. Most of the elderly who were studied had an inadequate level of health literacy (40.5%). 23.3% of the elderly had a borderline health literacy level. Only 36.3% of the elderly had adequate health literacy. Men's literacy level was significantly higher than that of women. There was a statistically significant difference between the health literacy levels of elderly people with different educational levels. 1% of the elderly studied were dependent, 3.7% needed help and 95.2% were independent in terms of the daily activity of life. No significant relationship was seen between the levels of autonomy of performance in daily activities of life, occupation, marriage, age. The results of this study showed that the elderly who were studied are lacking adequate health literacy, which is a serious challenge for health care providers and all providers of health services,regarding the growing number of the elderly population in the country.

Smart healthcare framework for ambient assisted living using IoMT and big data analytics techniques

Abstract In the era of pervasive computing, human living has become smarter by the latest advancements in IoMT (Internet of Medical Things), wearable sensors and telecommunication technologies in order to deliver smart healthcare services. IoMT has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry. IoMT interconnects wearable sensors, patients, healthcare providers and caregivers via software and ICT (Information and Communication Technology). AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) enables integration of new technologies to be part of our daily life activities. In this paper, we have provided a novel smart healthcare framework for AAL to monitor the physical activities of elderly people using IoMT and intelligent machine learning algorithms for faster analysis, decision making and better treatment recommendations. Data is collected from multiple wearable sensors placed on subject’s left ankle, right arm, and chest, is transmitted through IoMT devices to the integrated cloud and data analytics layer. To process huge amounts of data in parallel, Hadoop MapReduce techniques are used. Multinomial Naive Bayes classifier, which fits into the MapReduce paradigm, is utilized to recognize the motion experienced by different body parts and provides higher scalability and better performance with parallel processing when compared to serial processor. Our proposed framework predicts 12 physical activities with an overall accuracy of 97.1%. This can be considered as an optimal solution for recognizing physical activities to remotely monitor health conditions of elderly people.

Oral health effects on the nutritional status of elderly people

Summary Introduction The aim of the study was to establish the association between oral health and malnutrition in people over the age of 65. Material and Methods Cross-sectional study included 146 respondents residing in gerontology center, and 300 respondents who lived in their own homes or with their families. Nutritional status was evaluated using the Mini Nutritive Scale and standardized questionnaire. Dental status was evaluated by clinical examination using inspection method. The presence and absence of teeth was evaluated in each dental arch (third molars were not taken into consideration). Also, the presence of prosthetic restorations (total and partial dentures) was noticed without analyzing their adequacy and functionality. Self-assessment of health with categorical components assessed the overall health status. The research was conducted in 2018. Results Most of respondents who had malnutrition or were at risk of malnutrition had worse dental status; they were completely or partially edentulous. There was high statistically significant difference in dental status of the upper (χ2=47,797; p < 0,001) and lower jaw (χ2 = 66,680; p < 0,001). The number of lost teeth had an impact on self-assessment of general health (χ2 = 47,270; p < 0,001). Conclusion Oral health status in elderly people had significant influence on nutritional status.

ROLE OF SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS FOR SCREENING OF THE ELDERLY MENTAL HEALTH IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC ZONE

The share of the elderly population in Russia has been growing in recent years, which necessitates the search for new ways to improve the efficiency of medical, psychological and social services to assess the mental health condition of elderly people and directions of its preservation, taking into account national, historical features and social conditions. The aim of the study was the methodological substantiation of the use of new socially-conditioned approaches to ensure the early detection of mental disorders in the elderly in the Arctic territories of Russia. Subjective and objective difficulties of detection of mental disorders and specific "stresses of old age" reducing the quality of life level are systematized. Four directions of activity on strengthening of elderly persons mental health taking into account social and demographic structure, cultural and gender traditions, special value of a family and the related relations and other specific features of accommodation in the conditions of the Arctic zone are proved: shift of emphasis in primary and secondary preventive and diagnostic activity from psychiatric services to doctors of primary link and specialists in the sphere of rendering social services; training in the use of specialists in screening tools; psychological preparation of the relatives of the possession of screening simplest methods for mental activity disorders in persons of advanced age; involvement in the care of older people with mental health problems members of the foster - adoptive families. The basic prognostic factors of preservation and strengthening of senior age group representatives of the mental health are defined. The great social importance of the introduction of early screening of changes in mental functions in the elderly to improve the integrative indicator of their quality of life as a level of comfort in interaction with the micro-social environment, in the framework of the implementation of the basic provisions of the concept of active and healthy longevity.

Clinical and self-perceived oral health assessment of elderly residents in urban, rural, and institutionalized communities

OBJECTIVES:This study aims to evaluate the self-perception of oral health according to the physical, psychosocial and pain/discomfort dimensions related to clinical conditions and orofacial pain of elderly people living in three different environments.METHODS:This was an observational, cross-sectional, quantitative study with a population-based approach and nonprobabilistic convenience sampling that included 81 elderly people: 27 resided in institutional homes for elderly individuals, 27 resided in an urban area and 27 resided in a rural area in the interior of Paraíba (PB) in northeastern Brazil.RESULTS:The Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) was used to assess self-perception of oral health, while the Questionnaire for Screening of Patients with Temporomandibular Disorders (QST/TMD) was used to assess the influences of orofacial pain and the biofilm indexes of teeth and prostheses. There was a statistically significant difference in the GOHAI scores among the places of residence, with the worst values associated with the rural area. According to the QST/TMD, the majority of individuals were affected by TMDs, with statistical differences for both sex and income.CONCLUSION:The biofilm analysis showed a higher incidence of clinical conditions in the rural population. The place of residence also influenced self-perception and the clinical oral health condition of elderly people; the rural population presented the worst results.

Transition-Aware Housekeeping Task Monitoring Using Single Wrist-Worn Sensor

Population aging is one of the general issues of public health over the world. Such demographic shifts pose challenges to healthcare system. Several wearable-based activity monitoring systems have been developed to improve the quality of healthcare and provide monitoring information for health professionals, such as the information of kitchen task, dressing task, food and fluid intake, and medication intake. However, few works pay attention to the housekeeping task, as the housekeeping performance correlates to the cognitive and functional health status in elderly people. Since typical clinical approaches of measuring and assessing housekeeping task performance suffer issues in long-term observation and manual error, a transition-aware household task monitoring system is proposed to support clinical professionals to gather fine-grained housekeeping task information for clinical assessment in this paper. Novel algorithms and models are proposed and designed based on knowledge and hierarchical approaches, including preliminary target activity recognition, transition detection, transition point identification, activity model, and activity inference. In addition, the typical activity classification and transition detection approach are implemented to compare with the proposed system. In the experiment, five healthy elderly participants are invited to take part in performing a set of four housekeeping activities, and there are 948 collected instances. The monitoring system is validated by using leave-one-subject-out cross-validation approach. The experimental results show that the best overall accuracy, recall, and precision of the proposed system can achieve 81.63%, 78.40%, and 78.58% when the window size is 2.0 s.

Health Seeking Behaviour Among Elderly People of Bharatpur Municipality of Chitwan, Nepal

ABSTRACTBackground: Individuals have different opinion regarding willingness to seek help from health care services. Some go readily for treatment, others only when in great pain and in advance state of ill health. This is especially true for people with advance age who have to face many physiological changes which act as a barrier to seek immediate help in health care setting. Thus, a study was conducted to analyse the health seeking behaviour among elderly. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among 104 elderly aged 60 years and above. Non- probability convenience sampling technique was used to collect the data. Data was collected by interviewing the elderly at their residence. The data gathered was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS software. Results: Assessment of the health status of elderly people revealed that, majority of the participant’s 86.5% were suffering from chronic health problem, among them 37.8% suffered from hypertension 11.1% suffered from diabetic mellitus. Whereas, assessment of the practice of health seeking behaviour among elderly stated that all the participant’s 100% were seeking help for health problem in which 83.7% seek help from modern medication and still 16.3% seek help from alternative medication. Also, the health seeking behavior was found to be statistically significant with health problem (p=0.002), ethnicity (0.007) and religion (p=0.007) respectively. Conclusions: Elderly are aware of seeking help from the health care center, but still elderly believe in alternative medication rather than modern medication which may be an alarming truth in the health care setting.Keywords: alternative medication; elderly; health seeking behaviour; modern medication.

The effects of China's three basic health insurance schemes on the equity of health-related quality of life: a cross-sectional survey using coarsened exact matching

BackgroundFragmentation in health insurance schemes adversely affects health equity. To achieve universal health coverage by 2020, China has implemented comprehensive reforms to improve health insurance. China has three basic health insurance schemes: Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI), Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI), and the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS). However, little research has compared the effects of different health insurance schemes on the equity of health-related quality of life. This study aimed to compare the equity of health-related quality of life of residents under any two of the schemes. MethodsOur analysis used cross-sectional survey data from the 5th National Health Services Survey of Shaanxi Province, China, with a coarsened exact matching method to control for confounding factors. We included a matched sample of 6802 respondents between UEBMI and URBMI, 34 169 respondents between UEBMI and NRCMS, and 36 928 respondents between URBMI and NRCMS. Health-related quality of life was measured by three-level EuroQol five-dimensions (EQ-5D-3L) based on the Chinese-specific value set. We adopted a concentration index to assess health equity and its contributing factors. In this study, the horizontal inequity index of health-related quality of life was obtained by removing the contributions of unavoidable variables (such as gender and age) from the overall concentration index of health-related quality of life. A positive (or negative) horizontal inequity index of health-related quality of life indicated pro-rich (or pro-poor) inequity. FindingsAfter matching, the mean EQ-5D utility scores were 0·9589 (SD 0·0036) and 0·9449 (0·0062) in UEBMI and URBMI, 0·9579 (0·0036) and 0·9473 (0·0016) in UEBMI and NRCMS, and 0·9505 (0·0055) and 0·9605 (0·0013) in URBMI and NRCMS, respectively. Horizontal inequity indexes were 0·0036 and 0·0045 in UEBMI and URBMI, 0·0035 and 0·0058 in UEBMI and NRCMS, and 0·0053 and 0·0052 in URBMI and NRCMS, respectively, which were mainly explained by age, educational and economic statuses. For example, between UEBMI and NRCMS, we found that age (52·15%), educational status (19·88%), and economic status (19·78%) made the largest contributions to explain the inequality of health-related quality of life for the insured residents of UEBMI. InterpretationOur findings highlight the need to consolidate all three schemes with uniform administration, merged funding pools, and matched benefit packages. Strategies to reduce the factors that contribute to health inequity (eg, to facilitate health conditions of elderly people, narrow the economic gap, and reduce educational inequity) are essential. This study will provide evidence-based strategies on consolidating the fragmented health schemes towards reducing health inequity in both China and other developing countries. FundingResearch Program of Shaanxi Soft Science (2015KRM117), National High-Level Talents Special Support Plan (“Thousands of People Plan”), Shaanxi Provincial Youth Star of Science and Technology in 2016, and the Basic Scientific Research Funding of Xi'an Jiaotong University (SK2015007).

Dental status in nursing home residents with domiciliary dental care in Sweden.

To describe the dental health status of elderly people in nursing homes receiving domiciliary dental care. Case note review. Nursing homes in 8 Swedish counties. Care dependent elderly people (≥65 years). Clinical data, including the number of remaining natural teeth, missing and decayed teeth (manifest dental caries) and root remnants, recorded by dentists according to standard practices. Medical and dental risk assessments were performed. Data were available for 20,664 patients. Most were women (69.1%), with a mean age of 87.1 years (SD 7.42, range 65-109). The mean age for men was 83.5 years (SD 8.12, range 65-105). Two or more medical conditions were present in most of the population. A total of 16,210 individuals had existing teeth of whom 10,974 (67.7%) had manifest caries. The mean number of teeth with caries was 5.0 (SD 5.93) corresponding to 22.8% of existing teeth. One in four individuals were considered to have a very high risk in at least one professional dental risk assessment category. Care dependent elderly in nursing homes have very poor oral health. There is a need to focus on the oral health-related quality of life for this group of frail elderly during their final period of life.