Aging and Gerontology
Don’t Blame Breast Density; $$$ Toxicity; ‘Nurse Ratched’ Returns
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Age and body weight, not breast-tissue density, drive a woman’s risk of breast cancer, according to a study from Johns Hopkins.
An 8-year-old Utah girl has developed only the 35th known case of secretory breast carcinoma, a rare form of breast cancer that occurs in young girls.
The “financial toxicity” of cancer is not unique to the U.S., as an American oncologist learned over dinner with two colleagues practicing in the nation of Georgia.
Two pediatric oncologists share their insights into to dealing with the “unsung heartache” of caring for children with cancer.
How negative stereotyping affects older people
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The most comprehensive analysis to date of research on the effect of negative stereotypes on older people’s abilities has concluded that these stereotypes create a significant problem for that demographic.
A research team at the University of Kent’s School of Psychology carried out a review and meta-analysis of Aged-Based Stereotype Threat (ABST).
They statistically analysed international evidence from 37 research studies, both published and unpublished. They concluded that older adults’ memory and cognitive performance is negatively affected in situations that signal or remind them of negative age stereotypes. These effects affect both men and women.
The research, funded by the Economic and Social Research council (ESRC), was carried out by Ruth Lamont, working with Dr Hannah Swift and Professor Dominic Abrams. It further found that older people’s cognitive performance suffers more when the threat is induced by stereotypes rather than by facts.
Study suggests increase in falls among the elderly
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Over a 12-year period, the prevalence of self-reported falls among older adults appeared to be on the rise, according to a new nationally representative study.
Falling is the most frequent cause of injury among older adults and about a third of older adults fall each year. Researchers analyzed data from 1998-2010 among adults age 65 and over and found an 8 percent increase in falls - which translates to a relative increase of nearly 30 percent.
The findings appear in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“We expected an increase because older adults are getting older and there are more 80 and 90 year old adults than before, but we were very surprised to find that the increase in falls was not due to the changing demography,” says lead author Christine Cigolle, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor in the departments of Family Medicine and Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan and a research scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC).
