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

Benzodiazepines and dementia risk: another reason to caution against long-term use

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Benzodiazepines are an effective treatment for acute anxiety and transient insomnia, but guidelines advise that they should not be prescribed for longer than a few weeks as their long-term use can lead to dependency and falls in older people (amongst other things). The evidence appears compelling and yet benzodiazepines are still widely prescribed in the [read the full story…]

AMSTEL study finds that loneliness increases the risk of death in older men, but social isolation does not

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Some of the older elves in the woodland don’t join in with our social activities as much as they used to. The younger elves call them ‘cranky’ and laugh at them sitting alone in their tree houses. Personally I worry that they might be feeling lonely and I doubt that shutting themselves away from the [read the full story…]

Older family carers look to find support for offspring in their own homes

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A few years ago, the older family carers initiative, run by the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities published a series of reports and some excellent guidelines on providing support to help inform not only practitioners, but commissioners and of course older family carers themselves of their rights and the kind of support they could might [read the full story…]

Review identifies disappointing results from trials of alzheimer’s treatment in older adults with learning disabilities

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Yesterday, we posted about the increasing longevity of people with learning disabilities and the potential for problems with sleep disturbance in this group. Today, we look at a review of the current evidence relating to the age related needs of these older adults who may be at increased risk of age-related disorders like dementia and [read the full story…]

More research needed to help patients with multimorbidities

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Comorbidities are common in mental health and the relationship between physical and mental health conditions appears to be bidirectional. Having a chronic physical condition like diabetes can increase your risk of depression (by as much as 3 times). Having an enduring mental health problem such as psychosis can take 15-20 years off your life. In [read the full story…]

Estimated prevalence of sleep problems in adults with learning disabilities varies widely says systematic review

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Life expectancy in people with learning disabilities has increased over recent years, and sleep problems become more common in people who are advancing in years. Sleep problems are also generally more common in people with learning disabilities than those without. The authors of this systematic review were interested to look at the way in which [read the full story…]

Structured exercise reduces depression in older people, according to new systematic review

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Regular readers of the Mental Elf will recall the blogs (Here is the evidence for exercising if you are depressed and New Cochrane review shows that exercise helps with depression) I wrote back in June and July about the evidence for exercising if you have depression. A new systematic review was published in the British [read the full story…]

Specialist learning disability dementia service enhanced memory and verbal communication

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Dementia has been shown to be present at higher rates in adults with learning disabilities, with people with Down syndrome being at significantly increased risk of developing early onset dementia. The researchers in this Italian study were keen to look at whether approaches to dementia-derived environment, input from specialist personnel or patient-oriented intervention strategies had [read the full story…]

How should we personalise treatment for adults with depression?

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One of the criticisms that health professionals sometimes make of evidence-based research is that individual studies or reviews do not apply to the specific patient they are caring for. Of course, each patient is unique with their own values and preferences, as well as their own particular clinical characteristics, genetic make-up, biological markers and sociodemographic [read the full story…]

End of life care for people with dementia: new research briefing from SCIE

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End of life care is an emotive subject and perhaps none more so than in people with dementia where it can be particularly difficult to ensure that individuals get the care they want in the final months of their life. Both the Department of Health and NICE have published guidance in this area and this [read the full story…]