Study: Elderly wandering stressful, risky
|
| Posted
:
Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:47:01 GMT |
| By
:
Health News Editor |
| Category
:
Health |
| News Alerts by
Email ( click
here ) |
|
|
|
|
|
TAMPA, Fla., March 26 One in five cognitively impaired VA nursing home patients were prone to aimless wandering through facilities, says a recent U.S. study.The study in the The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, which involved more than 15,000 cognitively impaired patients, found the wandering patients put themselves at increased health risks, as well as created strain on nursing staff.Study co-author Dr. Lawrence Schonfeld of the International Research Consortium on Wandering and the University of South Florida said adverse outcomes associated with wandering include: an increased incidence of weight loss, fatigue, sleep disturbance, getting lost, injuries as a result of falling and untimely death.However, under controlled conditions some facilities provide, wandering can have a positive effect because it is physical exercise and may provide opportunities for social interactions with other residents isolated in their rooms -- if the visits were welcome.Overall, wandering increased caregiver stress. Especially since wandering is not exclusively related to a patient's mobility, 25 percent of wanderers studied required wheelchair assistance, according to Schonfeld.Copyright 2007 by UPI
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related News
Four in five flu cases in Lebanon are swine flu: minister
Beirut - Lebanon's Health Minister Mohammed Jawad Khalifeh warned Wednesday that test results showed that 80% of flu-victims are carrying the H1N1 virus in Lebanon. Khalifeh told the daily As Safir newspaper that tests carried out by several laborato...
Untreated hospital waste overflowing in Vietnam
Hanoi - Health experts Wednesday were troubled by news that Ho Chi Minh City hospitals are discharging 20,000 cubic metres per day of untreated wastewater into public sewers and rivers. Municipal environmental authorities announced last week that jus...
Hong Kong authorities issue health warning as smog blankets city
Hong Kong - The Hong Kong government Wednesday warned people with respiratory illnesses to limit their time outdoors as air pollution in the city soared to potentially dangerous levels. Pollution readings at roadside monitors recorded very high level...
Zimbabwe children, women's health declining sharply: UNICEF
Harare - The health of Zimbabwe's children and women, particularly in the poorer parts of the country has worsened sharply, with 100 children under five dying of mostly preventable diseases each day, the United Nations said Tuesday. A survey carried ...
Belgian 'coma' patient was conscious for 23 years: reports
Brussels - A 46-year-old Belgian who doctors thought had fallen into a deep coma after a car crash in 1983 had in fact been conscious for 23 years, Belgian media reported Tuesday. Rom Houben was paralysed and declared to be in a vegetative state. But...
HIV stable in Asia but rising among women, gay men
Beijing - The rate of HIV infection has risen among women and gay men in some Asian nations but stabilized across the region in recent years, a United Nations report said on Tuesday. The proportion of women among the estimated 4.7 million people livi...
HIV infections fall 17 per cent in seven years, UN says
Beijing - New HIV infections fell by 17 per cent globally from 2001 to last year, reflecting progress towards controlling spread of the virus, the United Nations umbrella group for HIV/AIDS reported on Tuesday. The good news is that we have evidence...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
