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Geriatric palliative care news

To curb overprescribing for seniors, researchers urge annual prescription checkups

To address the growing problem of overprescribing for seniors, a new Canadian guideline is calling for routine medication reviews. In Canada, roughly two in three adults age 65 or older take five or more medications. While ...

Researchers find older adults rarely discuss cannabis use with clinicians

Fewer than 1 in 5 adults older than 65 report discussing their cannabis use with clinicians, according to Rutgers Health researchers. Their study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, explored the prevalence ...

The potential problems of living longer: Q&A

Many scientists are trying to determine just how much medical intervention can lengthen the human lifespan. But Daniel Promislow, senior scientist and scientific advisor at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center ...

Three medical routines that older people may not need

Enough time had passed since the patient's previous colonoscopy that she met the criteria to undergo another, said Dr. Steven Itzkowitz, a gastroenterologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

UK heat risk leaves vulnerable people dangerously exposed

Older people, care home residents and those living in poor-quality housing are facing growing danger from extreme heat, as new research warns that the UK is failing to protect those most at risk. The work is published in ...

How advance directives may affect end-of-life care

Advance directives document patient preferences for future care, including end-of-life. An analysis in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has found that older patients with an advance directive that had been uploaded ...

Routine coastal flooding could become deadly for older adults

Routine high-tide flooding in coastal communities could lead to thousands of deaths among older adults by the end of the century, according to a new study co-authored by Florida State University researcher Mathew Hauer. Published ...

Heavy caring responsibilities may hasten cognitive decline

Onerous caring responsibilities reduce brain function for people aged 50 and over, whereas light caring duties can actually be beneficial to middle-aged and older people's mental abilities, finds a new study led by University ...

Simple home test predicts mobility decline in older adults

Predicting whether a healthy 45-year-old will struggle to climb stairs or walk a decade later has long been a challenge for geriatric medicine. Now, a study published in JMIR Aging, reveals that early mobility decline can ...

Caregiving without a net: Poll shows who needs help most

Nearly a third of Americans over age 50 provide regular care to an adult relative or friend with a health issue or disability, a new poll finds. But many of them don't know about, or use, local resources that could help them ...

New video series boosts safe psychotropic use in aged care

Researchers at Monash University and Flinders University have launched a series of microlearning education videos designed to support safer, more appropriate use of psychotropic medications for people living with dementia ...

Cancer patients want to participate in difficult decisions

"Patients do not want to be shielded from difficult treatment decisions," says Associate Professor Jannicke Rabben at Norway's University of Agder (UiA). "Even patients who say that the doctor knows best often want to be ...

Study finds 45% of adults 65 and older improved over 12 years

Aging in later life is often portrayed as a steady slide toward physical and cognitive decline. But a new study by scientists at Yale University suggests an alternate narrative—that older individuals can and do improve over ...

Research reveals medication information risks in aged care

A new report from Griffith University has found that fragmented medication systems in Australian aged care are driving high rates of medication discrepancies and avoidable hospital admissions—costing the health system an ...