Participants aged 50 years and older have had radiographs taken of the thoracic and lumbar spine. Blood, urine and DNA samples have been collected from participants in some centers at baseline, year 5 and year 10 follow-up.
CaMos
The results of this study need not be a counsel of despair. There are several messages for policy-makers and health providers; they will have to be more aware than ever, for instance, that prescribing powerful psychotropics to the elderly can come with a mortality cost resulting from additional falls.
Those growing old, and those who have loved ones growing old, can take known steps to prevent such falls. Something as basic as non-slip footwear, for instance, can help. Exercise also is crucial: It presents a much more impressive statistical effect than any safety modification made to the home environment. Both individual and group exercise reduce the rate of falls, and tai chi, specifically, is excellent, cutting them by one-third. So let's have no more laughing at the oldies pretending to be cranes and tigers in the park. [rc]
© 2009 The National Post Company.
August 5, 2009
CANADA: Broken hips, shortened lives
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TORONTO, Ontario / National Post / Health and Fitness / August 5, 2009
A large, impressive study published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal has confirmed in a formal way what all too many of us have learned from watching loved ones grow old: namely, that hip and vertebra fractures in the elderly can often precipitate a rapid decline in overall health and lead to an early death.
The CMAJ paper, based upon data from the 9,423-participant Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study, suggests that when an elderly person breaks his (or her) hip or back, his risk of dying appears to be roughly trebled over the next 12 months. And that figure is based on a sample of older Canadians that probably enjoys unusually good health, was X-rayed for pre-existing fractures at the start of the study and had a mean age of just 71.
Participants aged 50 years and older have had radiographs taken of the thoracic and lumbar spine. Blood, urine and DNA samples have been collected from participants in some centers at baseline, year 5 and year 10 follow-up.
CaMos
The results of this study need not be a counsel of despair. There are several messages for policy-makers and health providers; they will have to be more aware than ever, for instance, that prescribing powerful psychotropics to the elderly can come with a mortality cost resulting from additional falls.
Those growing old, and those who have loved ones growing old, can take known steps to prevent such falls. Something as basic as non-slip footwear, for instance, can help. Exercise also is crucial: It presents a much more impressive statistical effect than any safety modification made to the home environment. Both individual and group exercise reduce the rate of falls, and tai chi, specifically, is excellent, cutting them by one-third. So let's have no more laughing at the oldies pretending to be cranes and tigers in the park. [rc]
© 2009 The National Post Company.
Participants aged 50 years and older have had radiographs taken of the thoracic and lumbar spine. Blood, urine and DNA samples have been collected from participants in some centers at baseline, year 5 and year 10 follow-up.
CaMos
The results of this study need not be a counsel of despair. There are several messages for policy-makers and health providers; they will have to be more aware than ever, for instance, that prescribing powerful psychotropics to the elderly can come with a mortality cost resulting from additional falls.
Those growing old, and those who have loved ones growing old, can take known steps to prevent such falls. Something as basic as non-slip footwear, for instance, can help. Exercise also is crucial: It presents a much more impressive statistical effect than any safety modification made to the home environment. Both individual and group exercise reduce the rate of falls, and tai chi, specifically, is excellent, cutting them by one-third. So let's have no more laughing at the oldies pretending to be cranes and tigers in the park. [rc]
© 2009 The National Post Company.
