Health - Other

You know the look- older people who look anorexic yet feel fine. Is there something about growing older that leads to such weight loss in basically healthy people?  Apparently so, at least according to researchers in the United Kingdom. Appearing in the journal Appetite, a new study suggests that production…

There is clear data to show that black men and women experience health disparities in comparison to their white counterparts across the age spectrum. Now there is also strong data to show that these disparities take a real toll in old age.  In particular, older black women experience many more…

Going to the doctor these days, it’s very likely that you arrive chock full of info about what you think is wrong with you. In fact, data from Google is now used to track public health concerns based on internet searches undertaken when people feel sick. For seniors, however, not…

In a remote Himalayan mountain village in Nepal, Manisara and Durga, a couple married 50 years, struggled to maintain their rustic life.  After decades in the harsh sun, their vision was ruined through cataracts, leaving them unable to navigate and dependent on their family. Yet through the extraordinary efforts of…

This happens more often than you may realize: an older hospitalized patient undergoes surgery, with no complications from the operation, but then is stricken with a dangerous bacteria that leaves her seriously ill with devastating gastrointestinal symptoms. The cause: Clostridium difficile, otherwise known as C. diff. Older hospital or nursing home…

Recently the Scottish press announced that a 107 year old woman had died and donated her corneas, making her Scotland’s oldest organ donor. While this story is remarkable, in fact, organ donation programs worldwide regularly welcome and include older organ donors. Every year in the United States 8,000 people die…