Chapter 4 - Longevity Flashcards
Define average longevity and maximum longevity. What are the environmental and genetic factors that influence longevity?
The age at which half the individuals that were born in a specific year will have died is referred to as average longevity.
The oldest age that any individual of a species lives is called maximum longevity.
One genetic factor that influences longevity is to come from a family with a history of individuals that have lived long lives.
Environmentally, there are multiple factors that can affect the length of a lifespan. For example, lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking alcohol, exercising, and toxic work environments among others can make notable differences in how long one lives. Toxins in everyday life that we don’t even notice such as chemicals in drinking water or pollutants in the air make a major difference as well in shortening a lifespan.
Living in poverty has also shown to make a difference in the length of lifespan. For example, those with less money may not be able to afford a healthy diet, may not have access to medical care, and may live in areas with more toxins and poor drinking water, thus shortening longevity.
Describe the ethnic and gender differences in longevity and the reasons for these differences. How does longevity differ across the world?
At birth, people in different ethnic groups do not possess the same average longevity at birth. For example, the average life expectancy at birth for African Americans is about 5 years less than it is for European Americans.
Fairly characteristic of many industrialized countries is the fact that women live longer than men. The average longevity for women is approximately 5 years more than men’s at birth.
The top 15 causes of death have extremely higher rates for men than women. Men are also more vulnerable to catching infectious diseases.
Across the world, average longevity differs drastically. For example, Australia’s average longevity at birth is 81.5 whereas South Africa’s average longevity at birth is only 48.9. The difference between these two countries shows a distinction between the two in terms of genetics, disease, access to health care, and economic conditions.
How are health and illness defined? How is health typically measured? How is quality of life defined and measured?
Health is “a state of complete, physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity,” defines the World Health Organization.
The World Health Organization defines illness as “the presence of a physical or mental disease or impairment.
Self-rated measures are typically used to evaluate health and seem to be predicative of actual health outcomes.
As is true with the term “health,” “quality of life” seems to be a complex idea to define. The textbook gives one perspective on quality of life that can be thought of as how people see themselves in their position in life in relation to their culture and the goals they have set for themselves, and the concerns, values, and expectations they have.
Researchers measure quality of life in terms of health-related aspects and non-health-related aspects. Health-related aspects of quality of life include areas of life that are altered by change in one’s health. Non-health-related aspects of quality of life include one’s surroundings such as environment and entertainment than can affect one’s life satisfaction.
Describe immune system function and how it changes with age. Define acute and chronic diseases and how they relate to age.
Our immune system is responsible for keeping the human body safe from foreign invaders, it is one’s body’s main internal defense system. This defense system involves three types of lymphocyte cells that work together to protect the body internally.
As we age, our immune system functioning decreases. Older adults tend to be more vulnerable to some infection and cancer. Their immune systems take longer to build up defenses in the same way their body’s temperature takes longer to warm up due to changes in T-lymphocytes. The result of decreased T-cell and B-cell function is a decrease in defense against viruses, and a decreased number of antibodies. Older adults also show more serious consequences to illness than younger counterparts, benefit less from immunization injections, and may be more vulnerable to HIV infection.
Symptoms that develop quickly and produce rapid changes in our health are those of acute diseases. Acute diseases entail common illnesses that many of us have experienced such as colds. Surprisingly, older adults experience colds less frequently than younger adults, though when experienced, acute diseases are felt more intensely.
Chronic diseases, on the other hand, can be much more impairing and are long lasting. An example of a chronic disease would be multiple sclerosis. Chronic disease rates increase as we age.
Describe the stress and coping paradigm model of stress. Define primary appraisal, secondary appraisal, and reappraisal. Define coping and the two subtypes.
Stress is viewed as the interaction between an event and a person’s thoughts in the stress and coping paradigm. Our interpretations of our experiences is how this paradigm identifies stress. Stress results if the environmental demands are too high or the situation is deemed as threatening or harmful.
The three types of appraisals are: primary appraisal, secondary appraisal, and reappraisal.
In primary appraisal, events are sorted into three groups: irrelevant, benign, or positive, based on how they affect our well-being.
In secondary appraisal, we ask ourselves how well we can deal with specific stressful events.
Reappraisal occurs after a situation has changed, and the event can be re-categorized and assessed for our ability to cope with it. This reappraisal effort can increase our stress or reduce it.
Coping is how we try to deal with events we have decided are stressful.
Problem-focused coping are attempts aimed straight at fixing the problem situation.
Emotion-focused coping focuses on feelings that the stressful event evokes.
Describe the age differences in coping strategies and sources of stressors. What are the effects of stress on the health of older adults?
Older adults, compared to younger adults, are more likely to use religion, past experience, and emotion-focused coping strategies rather than active-coping strategies. Additionally, older adults with higher education and income reported lower stress levels than younger adults with less money and education. Thus, sources of stress change with age.
Chronic stress can inhibit the immune system’s ability to defend against viral infections, increasing the possibility of illness. As well, risks of hypertension and atherosclerosis increase, and impaired cognition and memory are notable.
Describe the pattern of medication use in older adults. How does age affect medication efficacy? What is polypharmacy, and why is it important?
Medication use in older adults is questionable because most of the medication on the market right now has only been trialed on younger people. Thus, effective dosages may be incorrect for an older individual due to age-related metabolic changes. This can be serious in terms of possible overdose. As well, costs of medication can be high for older adults, even with the help of insurance. This could quite possibly result in older adults not receiving the medication they need, which can be potentially fatal.
Age can affect medication efficacy due to changes that occur in the human body as we grow older.
First of all, maximum absorption in the small intestine may be difficult to achieve if the transfer of medication from the stomach takes too long, as is common in older adults.
Secondly, toxin build up in the body can occur more often in older adults as more of the drug remains free in the body or as a result of slower metabolism.
Polypharmacy is the use of more than one medication. Polypharmacy is important to pay attention to as it can be potentially dangerous. Some drug interactions can be negative and result in worse conditions than were being treated in the first place. Various other side effects may also occur as a result of taking numerous medications.
Define disability and compression of morbidity. Describe the model of disablement.
Disability is the interruption of people’s capacity to participate in activities that are essential, expected, and desired in their society due to the effects of chronic conditions.
Compression of morbidity is a term used to describe the event in which a person becomes disabled later than the average age, causing a shorter time period between disability and death.
The model of disablement has four main parts, highlighting the relationships between disability, pathology, organ system impairment, and functional limitations in ability. The model also notes risk factors and two intervention approaches. The risk factors include aspects such as poor health choices and low economic standing.
The first intervention type is focused on extraindividual factors like environment and includes medication approaches and physical supports such as wheelchair ramps. This approach aims to make those with disabilities independent.
The second intervention type is focused on intraindividual factors such as personality and approaches include exercise and the benefits of positivity.
An important emphasis in this model is the relationship between an individual and their environment: when the environment is supportive to the person’s needs, quality of life is optimal.
How do you determine functional health status? Be sure your answer includes a definition of ADL and IADL. What causes functional limitations and disability in old age?
Determining functional health status involves assessment of tasks an individual claims to be able to do, tasks an individual can perform in a lab that resembles tasks done at home, and tasks that are actually done at home. When examining frail older adults, self-report and observational measures are used to determine this groups ability to complete daily tasks.
Activities of daily living (ADLs) include simple daily self-care tasks such as getting dressed alone, bathing by oneself, and eating without help. An individual is considered to be frail if help is needed with one of these tasks.
Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLS) are activities requiring some planning and intellectual proficiency. IADL activities can include paying a bill, keeping appointments, and grocery shopping.
Functional limitations and disability in old age can be caused by poor health choices such as smoking, drinking, and not exercising, to name a few. There is also a strong relationship indicated by research between health-related quality of life and economic standing. Higher health-related quality of life was reported in higher socioeconomic groups than those in lower-socioeconomic groups.
