Health News & Info - Health of the Elderly

Medications commonly used by elderly individuals may actually lead to mental impairment, according to a study published online in British Medical Journal.
Anticholinergic drugs are used to fight conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, urinary incontinence and Parkinson’s disease.

One in Five adults in the United States has been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, but relief could be given to these victims by drinking alcohol.
Drinking alcohol on a fairly regular basis has been shown to reduce the intensity of rheumatoid arthritis and the chance of developing the

A study performed by the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam Netherlands, found that consuming more vitamin E could help you lower the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
According to experimental data, oxidative stress; damage to the cells from oxygen exposure, is thought to

Scientists have isolated the first clear link between vitamin D deficiency and the development of cognitive problems that are the salient feature of dementia. The majority of older adults in Europe and the U.S. have insufficient Vitamin D levels.
Vitamin D is mainly produced when skin is

Using Acidophilus (probiotics) on a daily basis cuts the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in critically ill patients by almost half, according to new research out of Omaha, Nebraska.
“We chose to study probiotics in this context because VAP is increasingly caused by

SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), May 12, 2010

Researchers call it a “global health concern” that thousands of postmenopausal women simply don’t know about — fracture risk caused by brittle bones.
Columbia University medical teams studied more 60,000 women across the United States and found many women at elevated

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia among the elderly, affecting an estimated an estimated 2% of humans. Unless some type of cure or prevention is found, that number may increase to over 150 million by 2050, experts say.
A recent study shows modifying your diet may

While research shows diabetes increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease, having both conditions might actually slow the memory loss process.
In a study that followed over 600 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease for four years, researchers found patients without diabetes

In a new study, Petteri Hovi and colleagues from the National Institute for Health and Welfare Helsinki, Finland evaluated skeletal health in 144 adults, ages ranging from 18 to 27 years, who were born preterm with very low birth weight. They show that as adults these individuals have