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- Enhancing Specialty Nursing Practice With Competence in Aging
- Sleep Deprivation Drives Drug Use and Cost
- Public Health and Aging E-Mail Forum
- New Prevention Guide to Foot Care
- Health Care Charges Associated with Physical Inactivity, Overweight, and Obesity
Enhancing Specialty Nursing Practice With Competence in Aging
Nurse Competence in Aging (NCA) is a 5-year initiative that started in September 2002 to enhance the geriatric competence of nurses who are members of specialty nursing associations. NCA has 3 components:
The NCA initiative applauds the following specialty nursing associations’ commitment to care of older adults. If you belong to 1 of these organizations or work in 1 of the specialty areas, don’t miss resources available for your practice on www.GeroNurseOnline.org. The following associations have received grants from the NCA initiative to enhance nursing care to older adults:
Nurse Competence in Aging Resource Organizations
Nurse Competence in Aging is a 5-year initiative funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies (USA) Inc., awarded to the American Nurses Association (ANA) through the American Nurses Foundation, It represents a strategic alliance among ANA, the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing, New York University College of Nursing.
Sleep Deprivation Drives Drug Use and Cost
Taking prescription data from 2.4 million of its customers, Medco Health Solutions found that from 2000 to 2004 the use of sleeping medicines among adults doubled. Although the increase in sleeping aids was considerably higher among younger adults, the elderly are still the most frequent users. Approximately 2.2 million people aged 65 and older use sleeping aids.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), more than 70 million people in the U.S. may be affected by a sleep problem and, for 60% of them, it is a chronic disorder. There are significant sex-related differences when it comes to sleeping problems, with women being twice as likely as men to have trouble sleeping, which is reflected in the prescription data.
Sleep deprivation and disorders cost the nation $15 billion in health care expenses, including spending $2.1 billion on prescription medications. That number will rise significantly as the newer longer-term use hypnotics come to market in the next few years.
Older Americans’ Cholesterol Levels Fall
Between 1960 and 2002, among Americans aged 60 to 74, average levels of total cholesterol levels fell from 232 to 204 mg/dL of blood in men (down 12%) and from 263 to 223 mg/dL in women (down 15%) a government study found.
The study also reported that the percentage of adults with high cholesterol—a reading of at least 240—fell from 20% to 17%, about 8 years sooner than the government’s goal of reaching the 17% mark by 2010. The introduction of statin drugs in the late 1980s was speculated to be the main reason for the reduced levels.
Public Health and Aging E-Mail Forum
The Public Health and Aging E-mail forum is for professionals who are interested in issues relating to healthy aging. Topic areas may include health promotion and disease prevention for older adults, arthritis, epilepsy, osteoporosis, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive issues, and health-related quality of life. Subscribers will have a mechanism for sharing ideas among colleagues, improving communication between the public health and aging services networks, increasing collaboration and partnering, and disseminating information.
Information distributed through the HEALTHYAGING-LIST may include announcements of funding opportunities; national, state, and local meetings and conferences; information and technological resources such as quality Web sites; training; discussion of priority areas for research and programs; best practices; publications, articles, and research findings in older adult health; and discussion of current issues, barriers, and successes in public health programs for older Americans. Sign up at the CDC Web site: www.cdc.gov/aging/forum.htm.
New Prevention Guide to Foot Care
A new Footcare Web site has been produced to give professionals and consumers information on how to stay active supported by pain-free feet. Ongoing preventative information will be distributed through the Web site, conference sessions, PowerPoint presentations, and educational materials through a partnership among International Council on Active Aging, the Institute for Preventive Foot Health and THOR·LO, Inc. For more information, contact the International Council on Active Aging (Footcare) on the Web at www.icaa.cc/footcare.htm.
Health Care Charges Associated with Physical Inactivity, Overweight, and Obesity
Charges associated with physical inactivity, overweight, and obesity constitute a significant portion of total medical expenditures. The results underscore the importance of addressing these risk factors in all segments of the population.
The objective of this study published in Preventing Chronic Disease Journal was to estimate the proportion of total health care charges associated with physical inactivity, overweight, and obesity among U.S. populations aged 40 years and older.
Physical inactivity, overweight, and obesity were associated with 23% (95% confidence interval [CI] 10%–34%) of health plan health care charges and 27% (95% CI 10%–37%) of national health care charges. Although charges associated with these risk factors were highest for the oldest group (65 years and older) and for individuals with chronic conditions, nearly half of aggregate charges were generated from the group aged 40 to 64 years without chronic disease. The article is free and available on the Web at www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2005/.
PII: S0197-4572(06)00071-1
doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2006.02.011
