Substance use and addiction is an increasing problem amongst older people. The identification of this problem is often more difficult in older patients and is frequently missed, particularly in the primary care context and in emergency departments, but also in a range of medical and psychiatric specialties.Substance Use and Older People shows how to recognise and treat substance problems in older patients. However, it goes well beyond assessment and diagnosis by incorporat...

In this moving and controversial Quarterly Essay, doctor and writer Karen Hitchcock investigates the treatment of the elderly and dying through some unforgettable cases. With honesty and deep experience, she looks at end-of-life decisions, frailty and dementia, over-treatment and escalating costs.Ours is a society in which ageism, often disguised, threatens to turn the elderly into a “burden” – difficult, hopeless, expensive and homogenous. While we rightly seek to curb treatment w...

Battle the growing arthritis epidemic by taking steps now.Arthritis is truly an epidemic: more than 40 million Americans currently have arthritis, it is the leading cause of disability among people age 65 and older, and the overall annual costs to society are figured to be more than 65 billion. While it is present in nearly everyone by age 70, the problem is growing as arthritis more commonly appears in people as young as their 30s.But there is good news -- w...

This volume of the Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics helps readers see the local problem and concern of aging as a global epidemic affecting all areas of the health care workplace. It is written for expert administrative leaders and policymakers who can help make a difference at both local and regional levels.

This book promotes an understanding of ageism, discrimination and mistreatment of older adult workers, incorporating an international human rights perspective. The impact of ageism on the mistreatment of older adult workers has not to date been examined in depth through the lens of international human rights instruments, nor has discrimination against older adults in the workplace been framed as a form of elder abuse for research and policy making purposes.This book presents a mult...

Educational advancement in the field of psoriatic arthritis which this book will provide is consistent with GRAPPA’s aims and objectives leading to a productive synergy. GRAPPA (Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis), is recognized world wide as the leading international society for the study and promotion of awareness of psoriatic arthritis. GRAPPA is an association of leading rheumatologists, dermatologists, representatives of patient service leagues and ...

Resilience is a key component in maintaining health and happiness in old age.When aging adults struggle with social isolation, financial instability, or the difficult work of caring for a spouse with a chronic illness, their levels of stress can be enormous. But many older adults are living longer and are trying to make the best of their later years despite being more vulnerable to stress. In Resilience and Aging, renowned geriatric psychiatrist Dr. Helen ...

This is a comprehensive, practical, densely illustrated diagnostic and therapeutic guide for all geriatric dermatology providers. The book comprises 50 chapters and over 600 color photographs on topics ranging from common conditions such as basal cell carcinoma, rosacea, and seborrheic dermatitis to unusual conditions such as angiosarcoma, dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, and porphyria cutanea tarda.Sections include:- Inflammatory conditions (including contact dermatitis, a...

Medical practitioners receive little, if any, formal training in the prevention, assessment and management of pressure ulcers and other chronic wounds. Pressure Ulcers in the Aging Population: A Guide for Clinicians is a resource primarily aimed at physicians interested in the fundamentals of wound care. This book is written for geriatricians, internists, general practitioners, residents and fellows who treat older patients and unlike other texts on the market addresses the specific issues...

How osteoporosis went from a normal aging process to a disease.In the middle of the twentieth century, few physicians could have predicted that the modern diagnostic category of osteoporosis would emerge to include millions of Americans, predominantly older women. Before World War II, popular attitudes held that the declining physical and mental health of older persons was neither preventable nor reversible and that older people had little to contribute. Moreover, ...

Some of the most serious consequences of aging are its effects on skeletal muscle. ‘Sarcopenia’, the progressive age-related loss of muscle mass and associated muscle weakness, renders frail elders susceptible to serious injury from sudden falls and fractures and at risk for losing their functional independence. Not surprisingly, sarcopenia is a significant public health problem throughout the developed world. There is an urgent need to better understand the neuromuscular mechanisms underl...

Population growth slowed across the world in the last decades of the 20th century, changing substantially our view of the future. The 21st century is likely to see the end to world population growth and become the century of population aging, marked by low fertility and ever-increasing life expectancy. These trends have prompted many to predict a gloomy future caused by an unprecedented economic burden of population aging. In response, industrialized nations will need to implement effectiv...