Geriatrics

Use it or Lose it- Do cognitive leisure activities protect against the development of Alzheimer’s?

March 30, 2012
Use it or Lose it- Do cognitive leisure activities protect against the development of Alzheimer’s?

By Courtney Cunningham, MD

Faculty Peer Reviewed

As the world population ages, enormous resources will be required to adequately care for persons suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The disease is the fifth leading cause of death for adults aged 65 years and older, and is estimated to affect 1 in 8 persons in this age group. Despite recent advances, the cause of Alzheimer’s disease is not well understood. The FDA-approved medications in common use—donepezil (Aricept), galantamine (Razadyne), rivastigmine (Exelon), and memantine (Namenda)–help to manage symptoms; however…

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How Should You Approach a Geriatric Insomniac?

September 2, 2009
How Should You Approach a Geriatric Insomniac?

Gilda Boroumand, MS4

Faculty Peer Reviewed

Chronic insomnia, defined as difficulty with the initiation, maintenance, duration, and quality of sleep for at least one month, is a common complaint with significant impact on an individual’s daytime functioning and quality of life. It is particularly prevalent in the elderly, affecting between 23% to 34% of individuals over the age of 64. This same group is also more likely to experience adverse effects from various treatment regimens, thus leaving physicians with…

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Frailty- an emerging syndrome

August 21, 2008

Commentary by David Sutin MD, NYU Section 0f Geriatric Medicine

The Annual American Geriatric Society meeting, held May 2008, in Washington DC, was as usual fascinating. The meeting highlights included a lively discussion of the treatment of hypertension in the very elderly, and a talk on the emerging syndrome of frailty. Frailty was the selected subject for the Henderson State-of-the Art lecture, delivered by Dr Linda Fried, which I will summarize below.

The Syndrome of Frailty is characterized by at least 3 of…

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Old age and frailty: Biology and Socio-cultural Constructs

August 21, 2008
Old age and frailty: Biology and Socio-cultural Constructs

Commentary by Antonella Surbone MD PhD FACP, Department of Medicine, New York University Medical School, Clinical Correlations Ethics Section Editor

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report of April 14th, 2008, the elderly comprise 12% of the U.S. population, and their number is projected to almost double between 2005 and 2030, from 37 million to 70 million. The elderly currently account for more than one third of all hospital stays and of prescriptions, and more than a fourth of all office visits…

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