Exam 1 Flashcards
(155 cards)
Instrumental activities of daily living – summarize an individual’s ability to perform more complex multidimensional activities and interact effectively with environment
Managing money, meal preparation, grocery shopping (most common), phone calls
Disability
Impairments in ability to complete multiple tasks
Health status
Presence/absence of disease and degree of disability in an individual’s level of functioning
Activities of daily living – measure functional health, summarize an individual’s ability to perform basic personal care tasks
Eating, bathing, dressing, walking (most common)
Frailty
Unintended weight loss, slow walking speed, low physical activity levels, chronic exhaustion, weak grip strength
Leading cause of injuries and injury related deaths for 65+ group
Falls (Account for 95% of all hip fractures)
Over 1/3 of those 65+ fall every year
9th leading cause of death among seniors
Most effective fall intervention is comprehensive clinical assessment combined with individualized fall risk reduction and patients follow up
Most common chronic condition affecting older people
Hypertension, Arthritis, Heart disease
Advanced activities of daily living
Patient specific functional activities like recreational, occupational, community service
Geriatrics vs gerontology
Geriatrics is the clinicals study of treatment of older people and the diseases that affect them (medical specialty)
Gerontology focuses on understanding the biological psychological social and political factors that influence people’s lives (interdisciplinary study)
Good health
More than absence of disease or disability – complete mental, physical, and social state of well-being
Risk factors for falls include all of the following except: a) Being overweight B) multiple diseases C) unfamiliar environments D) fear of falling
A) being overweight
Risk factors for falls
Lack of balance control, impaired gait, arthritis, cognitive impairment, increased age, use of 4+ medications that cause blood pressure to drop/affect balance, use of multiple drugs that affect CNS, visual impairment, sarcopenia
Sensory threshold
Minimum intensity of a stimulus that is required to detect the stimulus
Recognition threshold
Intensity of a stimulus needed for an individual to identify it
Sensory discrimination
Difference between two or more stimuli necessary in order for a person to distinguish between them
Sensation
Taking in information through the sense organs
Perception
Higher function in which information received through senses is processed in the brain
Changes in cornea
Cornea protects from dust and infection
Usually first affected is the cornea – surface of cornea thickens and smooth/rounded surface becomes flatter and less smooth
Changes in pupil
Pupil is the opening where light comes in then travels to the back of the eye
Pupil becomes two thirds smaller and more fixed in size thus less able to dilate/contract as necessary and slow response to light changes
Changes in rods and cones
Cones-color (more detailed)
Rods-general shapes
Part of retina
Slower shift from rods to cones in low light situations and affects ability to read small text
Changes in lens
Helps focus light which is connected to the optic nerve to be perceived in brain
Lens is a simple structure biochemically - all cells are of same type and composed of proteins (collagen). Collagen thickens and hardens with age making it less elastic + muscles that help stretch lens deteriorate–> less able to alter its shape when accomodating.
When collagen hardens there’s differential hardening (some surfaces let in more light than others) and this leads to uneven refraction of light onto the retina
When combined with poor refraction of light through uneven, flattened cornea surface, glare sensitivity results
Lens becomes more yellow and leads to reduced color sensitivity
Accommodation
Focusing from near to far
Deteriorates w age
Glaucoma
Aqueous humour fills front portion of eye and vitreous humour is in posterior chamber. Aqueous humour drains through Schlemm canal
Drainage is less efficient in glaucoma leading to pressure on optic nerve and resulting in tunnel vision
Treatment: medication to eliminate fluid backup
Leading cause of IRREVERSIBLE blindness in elders in US, 2nd leading cause of blindness in US, primary cause of blindness among blacks
Age related cataract
Lens becomes more opaque and less light passes through with age
Age-related cataract is severe opacification to the point that the lens prevent like from entering
associated with lack of antioxidants and alcohol consumption
Treatment: cataract surgery - extract lens and implant new lens, most frequent outpatient surgical procedure on 65+ group
Like looking through a waterfall, leading cause of REVERSIBLE blindness in US and primary cause of blindness worldwide (more than half of people 60+ have cataracts)