Older, more able

This is an interesting summary of trends in aging in the US. Part of the reason for less disabling aging is the involvement of people in their medical and health decisions [see also Preventive health care in elderly people needs rethinking], technology (from microwave ovens to walkers), smokers died before now and quitters started quitting awhile ago, availability of surgery from eyes to knees, older people exercise more than in the past, changes in attitude towards aging capabilities (changing expectataions of older people by older people and others. Off those rockers!), better availability of foods, etc.

Frank Greve of McClatchy Newspapers says, “The remarkable thing about National Public Radio senior news analyst Daniel Schorr, 91, who only recently gave up tennis, and Landrum Bolling, 94, the globe-trotting director at large for the relief agency Mercy Corps, is the same: They aren’t as remarkable as you’d think they are.

A surprising decline in disability rates among older Americans since the 1980s is enabling millions more to lead longer, richer, spryer lives. … older Americans typically are disability-free for the roughly 10 months of life expectancy that were added from 1992 to 2003.

…According to Dr. Eileen Crimmins, a professor of gerontology and sociology at the University of Southern California, 25 percent of Hispanic and black Americans older than 65 need help with basic tasks. For whites, the rate is 17 percent. Differences in disability rates linked to income and education also persist, Crimmins and others have found, and while women live longer than men, they endure more disabilities. […]

Growing Older May Be Getting Easier, Tuesday 11 December 2007

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/121107HB.shtml

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Preventive health care in elderly people needs rethinking

This sounds like it could be an interesting think-piece. Unfortunately, BMJ no longer gives free access to articles the first year. [this article was subsequently made available to the public for discussion.]

I don’t know what they mean by elderly, the oldest olds? The age group was 70-82. See comments.

BMJ 2007;335:285-287 (11 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.39241.630741.BE1
Analysis by
Dee Mangin, senior lecturer in general practice1, Kieran Sweeney, honorary clinical senior lecturer in general practice2, Iona Heath, general practitioner3

1 Christchurch School of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch New Zealand, 2 Peninsula Medical School, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter EX2 5DW, 3 Caversham Group Practice, London NW5 2UP

Dee Mangin, Kieran Sweeney, and Iona Heath argue that, rather than prolonging life, preventive treatments in elderly people simply change the cause of death—the manner of our dying

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Summary points

* Single disease models should not be applied to preventive treatments in elderly people
* Preventive treatments in elderly people may select cause of death without the patient’s informed consent
* Preventive use of statins shows no overall benefit in elderly people as cardiovascular mortality and morbidity are replaced by cancer
* A more sophisticated model is needed to assess the benefits and harms of preventive treatment in elderly people

Preventive health care aims to delay the onset of illness and disease and to prevent untimely and premature deaths. But the theory and rhetoric of prevention do not deal with the problem of how such health care applies to people who have already exceeded an average lifespan. In recent years, concerns about equity of access to treatments have focused on ageism. As a result, preventive interventions are encouraged regardless of age, and this can be harmful to the patient and expensive for the health . . .

[Full text of this article via paid subscription only] The full text is now available.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/335/7614/285?etoc

O’Folks off their rocker Add this to Bookmarks:

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Intergenerational Approaches to HIV/AIDS Prevention

2007 Intergenerational Approaches to HIV/AIDS Prevention Education with Women Across the Lifespan Pilot Program Grant
deadline: Jul 02, 2007

http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=13759
The purpose of the Intergenerational Approaches to HIV/AIDS Prevention Education with Women Across the Lifespan Pilot Program is to develop cross-generational HIV/AIDS prevention education approaches specific to women at risk for or living with HIV/AIDS and other female members of the family 12+ years old , particularly African American, Native American/American Indian, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander women from the Diaspora who are grandmothers, mothers, daughters, granddaughters, and aunts. [Grants.gov Opportunities Posting Update]

It probably would support condom amulets, too.
From the always useful, BHIC blog focuses on health information issues related to the community, especially underserved communities.

http://library.med.utah.edu/blogs/BHIC/archives/cat_scholarships_and_grants.html#002287

new life-course for an aging society

There needs to be an adjustment of living to fit the lifespan, but this seems an incomplete assessment. For example, if older workers weren’t discriminated against in hiring and in employment quality, I doubt there would be so few participating in work. The other bizarre aspect of changing demography, at least in the USA, is the voiced-in-public wondering Where is the educated workforce (and the post-bachelors educated)? I’d believe more in this “brains deficit” if I didn’t know so many bright people who are under- and un-employed against their will.

Of particular significance to western Alaska or any other small island developing state or rural province is the need as well to adjust social living to fit space. That is, many people, traditionally or as a “modern” adaptation, have seasonal residences. People work in one location, sleep in another or visit relatives and friends throughout an annual or multi-annual round. Remittances are sent around; children are sent around; knowledge is sent around. (Global kula ring)