later life

People aged 55 and over. The elderly men and women in the population. Old people who may be retired and suffering from chronic disease

Our later life Blogs

Intensive cognitive training may help to prevent cognitive decline

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Elly O'Brien
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Cognitive decline describes increasing problems with memory, comprehension, language and mental agility. Mild cognitive impairment means that a person has cognitive decline beyond that which might be expected for their age, but generally do not experience problems with everyday living (Alzheimer’s Society, 2012). Dementia has similar symptoms, but these are more severe and people with [read the full story…]

CBT is better than nothing for older adults with depression, but so is any form of active support

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Fabio Zucchelli
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Old man stretching

Depression is such a widely known issue now that it barely needs introduction. It’s something we Elves have covered with interest, looking at the effectiveness of various treatments, like psychotherapy, medication and exercise. For older adults though, there remains a somewhat hazy picture of what treatments work best. Most of the evidence base for the [read the full story…]

A fine VINTAGE? The benefits and consequences of alcohol consumption in older adults

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Matt Field
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Senior couple drinking wine

We know a lot about the health consequences of drinking too much alcohol, but most of this research comes from studies of adults in their twenties, thirties and forties. But what about older adults? The European project VINTAGE reviewed and synthesised the available evidence relating to alcohol consumption in older people across many European countries. [read the full story…]

Healthcare commissioning for people with long-term conditions: new report from the Nuffield Trust

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Profile photo of Andre Tomlin
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What do healthcare commissioners actually do? Ask a hundred people who work in the NHS and you’ll probably get a hundred different answers. The landscape is moving quickly as we approach the April changeover, and with management budgets getting cut, it’s an increasingly challenging area to work in. This new report from the Nuffield Trust [read the full story…]

Service providers’ perceptions show support for approaches to active ageing amongst older people with learning disabilities

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People with learning disabilities are living longer. The Royal College of Nursing website  suggests that over the course of the last century, life expectancy for this group has increased significantly, with mean life expectancy estimated to be 74, 67 and 58 for those with mild, moderate and severe learning disabilities respectively. The researchers in this [read the full story…]

The links between passive smoking and dementia: findings from a new cross-sectional study

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Over 1 billion people on Earth smoke tobacco. WHO figures tell us that 80% of the smoking population live in low-middle income countries, most of which are not protected by any kind of smoke-free public health legislation. China is a particular black-spot in this regard. It has the largest tobacco smoking population in the world [read the full story…]

Making hospitals dementia-friendly: new report from the King’s Fund

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Profile photo of Andre Tomlin
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It’s estimated that around one quarter of patients in general hospitals in England have cognitive problems or dementia. Visiting hospital can be a frightening experience and levels of anxiety are only heightened by the visuospatial problems that often affect people with dementia. As part of the National Dementia Strategy, the Department of Health has supported [read the full story…]

Cost-effectiveness of self-management for chronic pain in an aging population

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Chronic pain is a major health concern, which increases in prevalence and impact with age. This is important as chronic pain can result in a significant decrease in function and quality of life along with an increase in use of health and social care. Self-management is a potentially inexpensive form of pain management and it [read the full story…]

Sarcopenia found in adults with learning disabilities at a lower age than in the general population

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Sarcopenia is the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass associated with ageing. It is also a component of frailty syndrome. The researchers in this Dutch study identified that this issue had been little studied in people with learning disabilities. They worked with 884 older people described as having borderline to profound learning disabilities, all aged [read the full story…]

More potassium, calcium and magnesium in the diet, reduces the risk of vascular dementia

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Dementia is a huge issue. As our population ages, the incidence of the disease is on the increase and attempts to prevent and treat the condition with drugs have not been as successful as we hoped. A lot of effort has gone into investigating ways in which lifestyle factors such as diet can impact on [read the full story…]