The ‘Active Ageing’ report by Anchor Hannover – England’s largest not-for-profit provider of care and homes for over 55’s – in association with Demos, highlights the costs of physical inactivity in older people to the NHS. By 2030 this could be as much as £1.3bn. The report also highlights the human cost of inactivity in later life, illustrating how inactivity not only contributes to poorer physical health, but also cognitive decline, reduced emotional wellbeing and loneliness.
Alcohol consumption constitutes a substantial burden of disease. Older people are being admitted to hospital for alcohol problems in increasing numbers. A recent systematic review reports cautious supportive evidence for primary prevention interventions in reducing excessive alcohol consumption in older drinkers, but does not focus on treatment of dependent drinkers. The evidence base for treatment interventions for dependent drinkers is comparatively limited, but it is growing.. To read the full article, log in using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
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The Government’s Loneliness Strategy will be its first step in tackling the long-term challenge of loneliness. Loneliness is a complex issue that affects many different groups of people, and its evidence base is still developing.
Our approach is to focus the Strategy where we have the clearest opportunity for government action and further learning. Alongside this we will also be working with partners to explore how we can improve the evidence base, to inform future government policy.
There are a number of recent studies that demonstrate dementia as being preventable in around 30% of all cases, through the control of modifiable risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, alcohol consumption, high blood pressure and smoking (e.g. Livingston et al, 2017). Frankish and Horton (2017) estimate that delaying the onset of dementia by just 1 year could reduce its prevalence by 11% by 2050. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Retirement is a major life transition which may influence health behaviours and time use. Little is known about how sedentary behaviour changes as a result of increased time availability after retirement. The aim of this study was to examine changes in non-occupational sedentary behaviours across the retirement transition. In addition, we examined which preretirement characteristics were associated with these changes. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Open access. The number of older adults with different ethnic and socioeconomic background is steadily increasing. There is a need for community-based health promotion interventions for older adults that are responsive to ethnic and socioeconomic diversity among target populations. The aim of this study is to explore encounters between older adults living in disadvantaged areas and health care professionals in the context of community-based health promotion.
Open access. Although currently available evidence suggests that physical exercise can be beneficial for depressed patients and might be comparable to antidepressant treatment, the best way of implementing this recommendation in clinical practice is not known. This study therefore aims to ascertain the non-inferiority of supervised physical exercise to antidepressant drug treatment, in terms of reducing depressive symptoms among patients presenting with clinical criteria of a depressive episode (ICD-10), across a follow-up period of 6 months.
The messages the public receive concerning research on alcohol and health are confusing. One-day research tells us that moderate drinking is acceptable and that abstaining from alcohol altogether can lead to health problems such as dementia [1]. The following week, the latest research says that there are no safe levels of alcohol consumption [2]. Syntheses of research evidence, usually meta-analyses, suggest that there are harmful effects of drinking in older age; the apparent protective effects of moderate consumption may be due to misclassification bias, with previously heavy drinkers stopping drinking and being classified as non-drinkers [3, 4]. Unsafe and risky patterns of alcohol consumption have tended to be associated with binge drinking teens and young adults. We have only recently begun to pay attention to the drinking patterns of those in the middle and older age groups. Reports state that it is now older adults who are most at risk of unhealthy patterns of drinking. Specific public health interventions are needed to address this group [5, 6].. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
The elderly have long been neglected as the addressee of health promotion activities. The need to promote health among older people was first highlighted in the 1990s [1]. Before that, it was commonly assumed that the older generations were not a good target for health promotion as it was thought it was too late to change their lifestyle. Requiring the elderly to radically change their diet and start exercising was perceived as disturbing to their peace and wellness. Therefore, it was only after 2001, when WHO experts unanimously stated the importance of a healthy lifestyle at every stage of life, health promotion measures targeted to the elderly started to grow in numbers. Evidence has shown that exercising, quitting smoking and limiting alcohol consumption, participating in learning activities and integrating in the community can help to inhibit the development of many diseases and prevent the loss of functional capacity, thus improving quality of life and lengthening life expectancy. Most of these health promotion activities among the elderly focus on the relatively younger seniors. Within the group of those aged 85+, the emphasis is more on appropriate medical attention from physicians and care givers rather than on their health behavior.
This paper sets out the case for why NHS England should make some bold commitments to healthy ageing in its long-term plan and suggests some ideas for actions it could take and some areas for action with others.
Older people who drink have been shown to have better health than those who do not. This might suggest that moderate drinking is beneficial for health, or, as considered here, that older people modify their drinking as their health deteriorates. The relationship between how often older adults drink and their health is considered for two heath states: self-rated health (SRH) and depressive symptoms. Open Access Article