Aging Concepts and Sensory Changes Flashcards
Age-related macular degeneration
Eye disease that blurs central vision
Cataracts
Cloudy area in lens
Leads to blurriness
Diabetic Retinopathy
Eye condition that can cause vision loss and blindness
Leads to patches of vision
Glaucoma
Group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness by damaging optic nerve
Leads to loss of peripheral vision
Major source of income for older adults
Social Security
Primary source of health insurance for older adults
Medicare
What group is most likely to be the poorest older adults
Hispanic women living alone
What percent of adults over 65 are still working
18%
What percentage of older adults live alone?
27%
Traditionalists
Born from 1922-1945
Values respect for authority, conformity, discipline, sacrifice, and hard work
Baby boomers
Born from 1946-1964
Values optimism, involvement, personal gratification and growth, drive, personal fulfillment, communication, and questioning authority
Have more years of formal education
Politically active group
Generation X
Born from 1965-1980
Values fun, balance, informality, risk taking, skepticism, and self-reliance
Generation Y/Millenials
Born from 1981-2000
Values confidence, realism, socialization, multitasking, collectivism, and entrepreneurship
Effect of decreased subcutaneous fat around eye
Leads to decreased near vision
Effect of decreased eye tone and elasticity
Leads to poor eye coordination
Effect of decreased strength of eye muscles
Leads to distortion of images
Effect of weakening of levator palpebrae superioris
Leads to problems with upward gaze, convergence, poor eye coordination, and difficulty focusing
Effect of decreased cornea transparency
Leads to blurred vision, decreased cornea sensitivity, and decreased visual field
Effect of cornea thickening, flattening, become more rigid, and less smooth
Leads to astigmatism and blurred vision
Effect of degeneration of sclera, pupil, and iris
Leads to compromised night vision
Effect of increased density and rigidity of lens
Leads to loss of color sensitivity to green, blue, and violet
Effect of pupil size decreases and senile miosis (more fixed pupil)
Leads to impaired depth perception (appears further than they are) and driving ability
Effect of increases in connective tissue, sclerosis of blood supply, and muscle weakness of eye
Leads to decreases in iris dilation, gradual loss of visual acuity, difficulty seeing in low lighting
Effect of decreases in rod density and retinal nerve fiber thinning
Leads to narrower field of vision, difficulty seeing in low light, problems with light/dark adaptation, and increased sensitivity to glare
Effect of decreased lens elasticity
Leads to decreased ability to change shape for objects of different distances which results in difficulty seeing near objects, and difficulty reading print
Interventions for low vision
Use voice or touch to get attention and face adult when speaking
Adequate lighting with light source directed behind adult or on side of better seeing eye for reading or writing
Avoid fluorescent lighting
Remove clutter
Enlarge educational/reading material
Instructions on non-glossy paper
High contrast print and paper
At least 14 point font
Enhance contrast
Effect of lost/damaged sensory hair cells
Lead to difficulty hearing higher frequencies or tinnitus
Effect of nerve cell diminution of cochlear ganglia
Leads to diminished ability for pitch discrimination
Effect of degeneration of central auditory pathways
Leads to reduced speech recognition and reception
Effect of lost neurotransmitters related to hearing
Leads to loss of speech discrimination
Presbycusis
Age-related hearing loss from cumulative loud sounds
Conductive hearing loss
Blockage of acoustic energy that prevents conduction of sound to the inner ear due to problems with external or middle ear, ear infections, or ear wax
Sensorineural hearing loss
Hearing loss that results from loss or damage to sensory hair cells or nerves with better air conduction than bone conduction
Not correctable
Central auditory processing disorder
Ears and brain do not work well together
Ears can hear but brain has trouble processing the sounds
Tinnitus
Leads to perception of buzzing, whistling, or ringing in ears
May be managed with CBT/counseling, decreased salt, nicotine, and caffeine intake, auditory habituation, and masking (use of a device that produces a sound to cover up buzzing)
Intervention for strategies for hearing loss
Face when talking and get attention
Speak clearly
Do not shout
Rephrase if not understood
Closed captioning, assisted listening devices
Decrease background noise
Alerting devices with lower pitched rings
Amplified doorbells or phones
Changes in taste and smell
Decline in ability to identify and discriminate sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami
Decline in thickness and dryness of oral mucosa
Anosmia (lack of smell), hyposmia (decrease in smell), dysosmia (distortion of smell), ageusia (absence of taste), hypogeusia (decreased sensitivity to tastes), dysgeusia (distortion of taste), phantosmia (smell hallucination), phantogeusia (taste hallucination)
Loss of neurons in olfactory tract/bulb
Degeneration of nasal mucosa sensory cells
Importance of taste and smell
Eating may become less pleasurable
Smell is important for safety
Intervention for chemosensory deficits
Flavor amplifications and variety
Good oral care before meals
Counseling due to assess overal wellbeing
Skin changes with aging
Atrophic changes affect sensation of touch and pressure, pain and temperature
Epidermis becomes dryer, thinner, and stiffer
Degeneration of Pacinian and Meissner’s corpuscles
Decreased volume of sweat glands
Weak, decreased blood vessels
Hypodermis stores less fat
Speed and intensity in which touch/pressure are perceived affected by decreased response time
Deep pain perception decreases
Intervention for touch and pressure deficits
Educate on care of skin
Use vision to prevent skin breakdown
Compensate with vision
Change position every 30-45 minutes
Temperature changes
Reduction in number of thermoreceptors, decreased number of sweat glands, less effective cutaneous vasoconstrictor response leads to decreased ability to regulate temperature
Intervention for temperature deficits
Educate on layering and moving to cooler or warmer environment
Decrease or increase activity level
Moving to cooler or warmer environments
