Latest Senior Health News

6Dec
2022

Eating Lots of 'Ultra-Processed' Foods Could Harm Your Brain

Eating Lots of `Ultra-Processed` Foods Could Harm Your BrainTUESDAY, Dec. 6, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Chips, pizza, cookies: Delicious, but a diet full of ultra-processed foods like these may contribute to brain deterioration, researchers report.Ultra-processed foods have lots of added and unhealthy ingredients, such as sugar, salt, fat, artificial colors and preservatives. Examples include frozen meals, soft drinks, hot dogs and cold cuts, fast food, packaged cookies, cakes and salty snacks.These foods have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, metabolic syndrome and obesity. Now, scientists in Brazil have tied them to a greater risk of declining brainpower.The study couldn't prove cause-and-effect. However, "the cognitive decline could be the result of microvascular lesions in the brain, reduced brain volume or even systemic...

Seniors Urged to Get Flu Shots as U.S. Cases Rise

6 December 2022
Seniors Urged to Get Flu Shots as U.S. Cases RiseTUESDAY, Dec. 6, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Experts are asking seniors to get their flu shots ASAP as an exceptionally nasty flu season unfolds across the United States.Already, 8.7 million flu cases have been reported, with 78,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the last week alone, the number of flu hospitalizations doubled.Folks who are 65 and older are more at risk of complications from the flu, and they should have high-dose vaccines, recommended geriatric specialists at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas."It is important to take action now to prevent the possibility of severe infections, especially for populations at higher risk for complications, which includes older adults," said...

Seizures Seem Tied to Faster Decline in People With Dementia

2 December 2022
Seizures Seem Tied to Faster Decline in People With DementiaFRIDAY, Dec. 2, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Dementia patients who suffer from seizures tend to decline faster and die younger, according to a new study that urges caregivers to watch for these sudden brain changes."Our hope is that controlling seizures by prescribing antiseizure medications to these patients will slow down the progression of cognitive impairment," said Dr. Ifrah Zawar, lead study author and an assistant professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. "Unfortunately, seizures are often underdiagnosed because they can be subtle and the person just seems confused, so family members often mistake them for typical signs of dementia," Zawar added in a news release from the American Epilepsy Society.In some people, a staring spell is evidence of a seizure, while...

The 'Great Resignation' Is Taking a Toll on U.S. Health Care

1 December 2022
The `Great Resignation` Is Taking a Toll on U.S. Health CareTHURSDAY, Dec. 1, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The nationwide shortage of health care professionals -- a so-called "Great Resignation" of providers -- is impacting patient care in ways large and small, a new HealthDay/Harris Poll shows.One in four Americans (25%) have noticed or personally experienced the impact of staffing shortages in health care, second only to staff shortages in the retail sector (35%), the poll found.Further, more than two in three (68%) of people who needed health care during the past six months experienced delays or challenges in getting the care they need.More than half (57%) blamed staffing shortages for the lack of care, and experts told HealthDay Now that these folks aren't wrong.Nurses, doctors and other health care workers are burned out after three years of...

Fatal Drug Overdoses Among U.S. Seniors Have Tripled Since 2000

30 November 2022
Fatal Drug Overdoses Among U.S. Seniors Have Tripled Since 2000WEDNESDAY, Nov. 30, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Growing numbers of older Americans are dying from drug overdoses and alcohol abuse.That's the tragic takeaway from two new reports by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.More than 5,000 people aged 65 and older in the United States died of a drug overdose in 2020, and this number has tripled since 2000, according to one of the reports.The other report revealed that more than 11,600 U.S. seniors died from alcohol-induced causes in 2020. Alcohol-induced death rates in this age group have been on the rise since 2011 and jumped more than 18% from 2019 to 2020.The new research wasn’t designed to look at why more older Americans are dying from drug overdoses or alcohol abuse, but the findings mirror what has been seen in younger...
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