later life

People aged 55 and over. The elderly men and women in the population. Old people who may be retired and suffering from chronic disease

Our later life Blogs

Sarcopenia found in adults with learning disabilities at a lower age than in the general population

No Responses »
Profile photo of John Northfield
Posted by
Group-13

Sarcopenia is the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass associated with ageing. It is also a component of frailty syndrome. The researchers in this Dutch study identified that this issue had been little studied in people with learning disabilities. They worked with 884 older people described as having borderline to profound learning disabilities, all aged [read the full story…]

More potassium, calcium and magnesium in the diet, reduces the risk of vascular dementia

1 Response »
Profile photo of Andre Tomlin
Posted by
shutterstock_18505159

Dementia is a huge issue. As our population ages, the incidence of the disease is on the increase and attempts to prevent and treat the condition with drugs have not been as successful as we hoped. A lot of effort has gone into investigating ways in which lifestyle factors such as diet can impact on [read the full story…]

Teaching GPs about depression and suicide can help reduce the risk of suicide in depressed older adults, says new RCT

1 Response »
Profile photo of Andre Tomlin
Posted by
shutterstock_38631157

A great deal of time and money has been spent on improving the diagnosis and management of depression and self-harm in primary care. The evidence tells us that collaborative care and case management can be effective approaches, which is all well and good, but these complex interventions are not always feasible. This new cluster randomised [read the full story…]

Benzodiazepines and dementia risk: another reason to caution against long-term use

2 Responses »
Profile photo of Andre Tomlin
Posted by
shutterstock_100533640

Benzodiazepines are an effective treatment for acute anxiety and transient insomnia, but guidelines advise that they should not be prescribed for longer than a few weeks as their long-term use can lead to dependency and falls in older people (amongst other things). The evidence appears compelling and yet benzodiazepines are still widely prescribed in the [read the full story…]

AMSTEL study finds that loneliness increases the risk of death in older men, but social isolation does not

4 Responses »
Profile photo of Andre Tomlin
Posted by
shutterstock_73137517

Some of the older elves in the woodland don’t join in with our social activities as much as they used to. The younger elves call them ‘cranky’ and laugh at them sitting alone in their tree houses. Personally I worry that they might be feeling lonely and I doubt that shutting themselves away from the [read the full story…]

Older family carers look to find support for offspring in their own homes

1 Response »
Profile photo of John Northfield
Posted by
Charles-7

A few years ago, the older family carers initiative, run by the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities published a series of reports and some excellent guidelines on providing support to help inform not only practitioners, but commissioners and of course older family carers themselves of their rights and the kind of support they could might [read the full story…]

Review identifies disappointing results from trials of alzheimer’s treatment in older adults with learning disabilities

No Responses »
Profile photo of John Northfield
Posted by
dementia

Yesterday, we posted about the increasing longevity of people with learning disabilities and the potential for problems with sleep disturbance in this group. Today, we look at a review of the current evidence relating to the age related needs of these older adults who may be at increased risk of age-related disorders like dementia and [read the full story…]

More research needed to help patients with multimorbidities

No Responses »
Profile photo of Andre Tomlin
Posted by
shutterstock_83001337

Comorbidities are common in mental health and the relationship between physical and mental health conditions appears to be bidirectional. Having a chronic physical condition like diabetes can increase your risk of depression (by as much as 3 times). Having an enduring mental health problem such as psychosis can take 15-20 years off your life. In [read the full story…]

Estimated prevalence of sleep problems in adults with learning disabilities varies widely says systematic review

No Responses »
Profile photo of John Northfield
Posted by
Sleep

Life expectancy in people with learning disabilities has increased over recent years, and sleep problems become more common in people who are advancing in years. Sleep problems are also generally more common in people with learning disabilities than those without. The authors of this systematic review were interested to look at the way in which [read the full story…]

Structured exercise reduces depression in older people, according to new systematic review

3 Responses »
Profile photo of Andre Tomlin
Posted by
shutterstock_88371109

Regular readers of the Mental Elf will recall the blogs (Here is the evidence for exercising if you are depressed and New Cochrane review shows that exercise helps with depression) I wrote back in June and July about the evidence for exercising if you have depression. A new systematic review was published in the British [read the full story…]