Old age Flashcards
Life expectancy in the UK
Women- 82
Men- 77
These are roughly 30 years older than 100 years ago
Compression of morbidity
Due to an increased control of infectious diseases, there is less burden on disease in younger people.
Now concentration on illness and disease in older people- Illness has now been compressed into the final phase of life.
Occurs when the age for the onset of chronic diseases increases more rapidly than life expectancy.
Health promotion in the elderly
Physical decline in older people can be reduced by encouraging the maintenance/ initiation of a healthy lifestyle.
This involves changing their behaviour which can be tricky in older people since their patterns of behaviour is more habitual.
Examples of behaviour changes to be implemented:
Exercise in men is seen to improve immune function.
Quitting smoking decreases CVD and lung cancer risk
The types of intelligence
Crystalline:
Intelligence based on experience and long term memory.
Fluid:
Intelligence based on speed of processing and short term memory.
Changes in intelligence with aging
Fluid intelligence generally declines with age, mainly due to changes in the CNS when health declines
This makes older people disadvantaged mentally.
Loss in fluid intelligence can be battled with increasing physical fitness.
No declines really seen in:
Storing and manipulating learnt information
Moral reasoning
Stereotypes and negative views on aging
Contradictory stereotypes:
Senile vs wise
Negative views:
Decrease in physical, cognitive and social functioning.
‘Loss of youth’
Depression in old age
Prevalence of depression increases with age, more common in women.
Depression is associated with: Onset of functional disability Cognitive impairment Social deprivation Loss in social roles
Factors to help make consultations with elderly people the most efficient.
Checking the capacity of the patient, which allows adjustments of consultation skills to be made.
Allow more time for information to be absorbed if it seems that there is a decline in fluid memory.
Do not fill silence with questions as it overfills their active memory.
Consider expectations of the consultation by using patriarchal model.
Healthcare in the elderly
There is an increase in demand for health and social care for older people due to an increase in life expectancy.
Stereotypes made about the elderly leads to poor quality of healthcare given by health professionals. Due to assumptions in:
Physical frailty
Cognitive impairment
Social engagement
Sexual health in the elderly
Myth that desire in sex declines with age BUT this is false. There is only decline in sexual activity.
This is mainly due to physiology changes.
There is quite a high minority with STI and HIV risky behaviour because safe sex is not discussed with them.
Reasons why it’s not discussed:
Sex is seen as activity of the ‘young’
Seen as prying and offensive
GPs may feels uncomfortable talking about it.
