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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine

More than Half of Adults with Diabetes Hindered from Needed Exercise by Painful Arthritis

CDC study says 29.8% of adults with arthritis and diabetes were totally inactive

 

Both arthritis and diabetes are common chronic diseases among senior citizens - see chart in news story.

 

May 6, 2008 - Physical activity is important for adults suffering with diabetes but a new study says more than half of these patients also have arthritis, which is often a painful barrier to exercise. Read more...


   


Medicare Drug Program News

CMS Says New Regulations Will Better Protect Seniors in Advantage and Drug Plans

Proposal tightens marketing rules, protects from inappropriate cost sharing

May 8, 2008 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) says in a news release today that it will propose new regulations and new requirements for Medicare Advantage (MA) health plans and Medicare prescription drug plans. The CMS statement says the actions will provide "enhanced protections" for senior citizens enrolled in these plans. Read more...


Senior Citizen Politics

New Senate Bill Aims to Help Senior Citizens, Aging Baby Boomers Stay in Workforce

Retirement trends could create a U.S. labor shortage of 4.8 million workers in 10 years

May 7, 2008 - Although many of today's senior citizens find it is tough to find employment it may get a little easier is a new Senate bill passes. The bi-partisan bill has been introduced in the Senate to prevent projected dramatic declines in the workforce following the retirement of the baby boomers. It will provide incentives and eliminate barriers for older Americans wishing to stay in the workforce longer, and encourage employers to recruit and retain older workers. Read more...


Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health

Obesity Clearly Linked to Dementia But Risk Also Found to Increase if Underweight

Obesity increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 80 percent

May 7, 2008 - Obesity may increase adults’ risk for having dementia, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Their analysis of published obesity and dementia prospective follow-up studies over the past two decades shows a consistent relationship between the two diseases. Read more...


 
 

Senior Citizen Health & Medicine

Senior Citizens Offered Help in Dealing with a Diabetes Diagnosis

Almost 10.5 million adults aged 60 and older in the U.S. have diabetes

By the National Diabetes Education Program

May 6, 2008 - Senior citizens who have been told by a health care professional that they have type 2 diabetes usually feel anxious or uncertain. But if there is comfort in numbers that should know they are not alone – almost 10.5 million adults aged 60 and older in the U.S. have diabetes. Diabetes is serious, but it can be managed. The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) offers tips to help older adults learn to manage diabetes, avoid or delay serious complications, and live longer, healthier lives. Read more...


Senior Citizen Health & Medicine

Women Who Stop Smoking Will See Their Risk of Death Begin to Drop Rapidly

Communicating risks to smokers, helping them quit should be integral part of public health

May 6, 2008 - An extensive review of the health histories of thousands of women shows that when they stop smoking their risk of death from any disease begins to decline. Within five years they will significantly reduce their risk of dying from coronary heart disease and will reduce their risk of death from smoking-related cancers by 20 percent. The study reported in May 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association is good encouragement for older women who may hesitate to stop, because they think it is too late. Read more...


Senior Citizen Health & Medicine

Calm the Heart to Stop a Stroke from Irregular Heartbeat that Causes 20 Percent of Cases

Treatments for atrial fibrillation aim to reduce the chance of a stroke, ease symptoms, for millions

May 6, 2008 – There’s an electrical storm brewing inside the hearts of more than 2.2 million Americans. And just like lightning, this kind of storm can have devastating consequences. Read more...See video


Guarding Your Wealth for Senior Citizens

Why Investors Lose Money on Wall Street: Fear and Greed Cycle

Every time one person is making a dollar on the stock market, someone else is losing one

By Jeffrey D. Voudrie, CFP

May 5, 2008 - Investors fear losing money, but they are almost as afraid of losing out - of not making money when they could have. This is referred to as the fear and greed cycle and is one reason the Wall Street pros make money while the individual investor often loses it. Read more...


Nutrition, Vitamins & Supplements for Seniors

Low Blood Levels of Vitamin D May Be Associated With Depression in Older Adults

May 5, 2008 - Older adults with low blood levels of vitamin D and high blood levels of a hormone secreted by the parathyroid glands may have a higher risk of depression, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Read more...


Senior Citizen Politics

Restoring Medicare Pay Cut to Docs May Get Delayed by Iraq War Spending

AARP says effort to derail new Medicaid regulations also a factor

 

Daily Reports

KaiserNetwork.org

 

May 5, 2008 - Senate action on legislation to delay a 10.6% Medicare physician fee cut might take a back seat to a supplemental spending bill for the Iraq war and a measure to delay new Medicaid regulations, AARP's lead lobbyist said on Friday, CQ HealthBeat reports. Read more...


Senior Citizen Longevity & Statistics

Study of Centenarian Suggests Genes May Not Hold the Secret to Longevity

Researchers credit Mediterranean diet, physical activity, mild climate

May 5, 2008 - A study of the bones of a 113-year-old man, who has recently died at 114, reveals his longevity was due to a healthy lifestyle, a Mediterranean diet, a temperate climate and regular physical activity, rather than any genetic modifications. Read more...


   

Medicaid News

Nursing Home Compare Website Now Shows if Homes Are on the Bad List

CMS releases multi-year plan for improved nursing home quality

May 2, 2008 - The worst performing nursing homes were first listed on the "Nursing Home Compare" Website last November by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS). Last week the agency announced the information has been expanded to help Medicaid (Medicare does not pay for typical long-term care) beneficiaries and families find top quality long-term care services. The site will now list whether a home is or has been on CMS’ special focus facility (SFF) list. Read more...


Medicare News

Medicare to Cover Artificial Hearts When Used in FDA Approved Clinical Research

Decision revises a long-standing non-coverage policy

May 2, 2008 - Medicare should soon start paying for artificial hearts, at least when they are implanted as part of a study that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and that meets CMS’ Coverage with Evidence Development (CED) clinical research criteria. Read more...


Elder Care News

Heart Failure Patients Need Palliative Care as Much as Cancer Patients

'Palliative care has been markedly under-used in heart failure patients'

May 2, 2008 - People suffering from heart failure endure symptoms, depression and need for spiritual support even more severe than many of those suffering from advanced lung and pancreatic cancer. Researchers say, however, these heart outpatients do not receive equal concern and palliative care, and suggest it is time for a change. Read more...


Senior Citizen Health & Medicine

Little Doubt Left that Severe Obesity Can Lead to Heart Failure

Study in 7,000 men and women ties obesity, inflammatory proteins to heart failure

May 1, 2008 - Any remaining doubt that being severely overweight leads to heart failure was probably erased today by the release of what is described as the first wide-scale evidence of prolonged inflammation and resulting damage to heart tissue causing failure of the body's blood-pumping organ among the obese. Read more...


  Gen Dems  
 

Use the interactive tool at Pew Research Center to track generational differences in political party affiliation over time. Click here...

 

 

Elder Care News

Researchers Find It Tough Getting Senior Citizens and Others to Take Their Medicine

The most effective strategies did not lead to major improvements in adherence or health

May 1, 2008 - Much has been written about the problem of senior citizens failing to take their prescribed medicines. A new study, however, shows it is not just a problem among older people and it appears almost hopeless. Patients of all ages often do not take the medicines their doctors prescribe, and this new review of existing research suggests that there is no proven way to get them to follow directions for long periods. Read more...


Elder Care News

Long-Term Care Costs Jump 25% Over 2004; Workforce Shortage Fuels Continued Climb

Genworth Survey finds average annual cost for a week in adult day health care facility is $15,236

April 30, 2008 - Not only has the cost of long-term care in U.S. nursing homes, assisted living facilities and in the home increased for the fifth consecutive year, but the nation faces an impending shortage of direct-care workers, further driving up long term care costs. Those are two of the key conclusions drawn from cost of care research by Genworth Financial (NYSE:GNW). Read more...


Medicare News

HHS Secretary Leavitt Urges Lawmakers, Public to 'Start Now' To Make Changes to Medicare

Congress has only three methods -- raising taxes, reducing benefits or lowering payments to providers

 

Daily Reports

KaiserNetwork.org

 

April 30, 2008 - Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Tuesday that it is "simply unreasonable" to think Medicare can maintain its solvency without changes to the program and that if "we start now, the change can be made over time and with genuine fairness," CQ HealthBeat reports. Read more...


Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health

How Diabetes Links to Alzheimer's Found in Salk Institute Study

Recent studies show diabetics have a 30 to 65% higher risk of Alzheimer’s

April 30, 2008 – Recent studies have consistently associated diabetes with a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease but the actual molecular connection between the two has been a mystery. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies report they have identified the probable molecular basis for the diabetes – Alzheimer’s interaction. Read more...


Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health

Senior Dementia Patients in Nursing Homes See Faster Decline if Given Incontinence Drugs

Significant problem because about 33% with dementia also take a drug for incontinence

April 30, 2008 – Older nursing home residents who took medications for dementia and incontinence at the same time had a 50 percent faster decline in function than those who were being treated only for dementia, according to a study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues. Read more...


Senior Citizen Health & Medicine

Device to Detect Fat Content of Plaque Inside of Coronary Arteries Cleared by FDA

InfraReDx LipiScan NIR Catheter Imaging System uses infrared imaging to detect plaques

InfraReDx website with video at www.infraredx.com

April 29, 2008 - Nearly a million Americans - mostly senior citizens - will suffer a heart attack this year and about half will die. The odds may swing in a more positive direction, however, with the Food and Drug Administration's approval today of the marketing of a device that a doctor can use to see inside a blood vessel to assess the fat content of the plaque which builds up on the wall of the coronary arteries. Read more...


Senior Citizen Health & Medicine

Avandia, Actos Double the Risk of Fractures Among Diabetes Patients

These two drugs account for 21% of oral diabetes medications in U.S.

April 29, 2008 - Diabetics taking rosiglitazone (Avandia) or pioglitazone (Actos) approximately double or triple their odds of hip and other non-spine fractures, according to a report in the April 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Diabetes is a leading chronic disease among senior citizens that are often fighting the dangers of bone fractures from osteoporosis. And, it was a no win day for these elderly, as the journal also reported a drug for this ailment may cause atrial fibrillation (see sidebar). Read more...


Senior Citizen Health & Medicine

Osteoporosis Drug Fosamax Linked to Atrial Fibrillation in Older Women

Merck's Fosamax is most widely used drug for bone-thinning osteoporosis

April 29, 2008 - Older women who use Fosamax (alendronate) to prevent fractures from osteoporosis are nearly twice as likely to develop the most common kind of chronically irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation), according to research from Group Health and the University of Washington published in the April 28 Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Read more...



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