West Newsmagazine 10-4-17

38 I MATURE FOCUS I
October 4, 2017
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NEWS & NOTES, from page 36
their ability to drive safely, a recently
published study found.
In creating their study, the researchers theorized
that falling could be related to reduced
driving performance in several ways:
• Falls can cause physical injury that
limits mobility and interferes with driving.
• Falling can lead to reduced physical
activity and strength, which could in turn
affect the ability to drive.
• Falls can make older adults more
fearful and cause more anxious driving
behaviors.
• Related factors such as vision problems
may contribute to both falls and difficulty
driving.
To test those theories,
the researchers
reviewed 15 studies
of driving behavior
among 47,000 older
adults. The data showed
that older adults who
had fallen were 40
percent more likely to
experience a car crash
after the fall than were
seniors who had not
fallen. Based on overall
estimates of car crashes
involving older drivers,
their findings could
mean that falls contribute to more than
177,000 additional car crashes each year.
Their study was published in the Journal
of the American Geriatrics Society.
Delaying hospice care
The decision to initiate hospice care
for an older person at the end of his or
her life is an extraordinarily difficult
one. However, new research published
in the current issue of the Journal of the
American Geriatrics Society concluded
that older people who access hospice
care often do so too late to fully benefit
Our special section featuring issues,
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of interest to seniors.
COMING November 1
from this holistic model of care, perhaps
resulting in unnecessary suffering for
both patients and caregivers.
A recent study led by researchers at
Yale University found that older adults
often are admitted to hospice for only a
short period of time, despite experiencing
a high number of distressing symptoms
several months prior to the end of
life. The researchers looked at information
from a study of 562 people, ages 70
and older, who were not disabled when
the study began but who died over the
following 16 years. Of these individuals,
about 43 percent were admitted to hospice
during the last year of life. In general,
they were slightly older and more
likely to have cognitive impairments than
those who were not admitted to hospice.
The study showed that cancer and
advanced dementia were the conditions
most frequently leading to hospice
admission. Frailty among seniors was
the condition least likely to result in
hospice referral; however, it was found
to be the most common condition leading
to death, followed by organ failure,
advanced dementia and cancer.
Sigificantly, the study also found that
the length of hospice care was less than
13 days for half of the study participants.
This short duration suggests that health-
See NEWS & NOTES, page 40
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