Hospital to Home Preparation for Seniors FREE WEBINAR

Do you have a client or a loved one who could potentially go into the hospital one day? If so, this free webinar is for you!

Please register by clicking here: http://members.asaging.org/members_online/registration/register.asp?mt=WB0409S&af=ASA

 

May is National Stroke Month

Are you educated on what to do if someone you know has a stroke?

Please see the picture below or log onto http://www.stroke.org/

 to learn more about strokes!

Acting fast can help your loved one survive!

The Flu - it's here! Be Careful!

It is a pain - literally. If the flu attacks you, you feel HORRIBLE! 

If you are a caregiver, it is even more important for you to stay well!

The flu has spread rapidly in Alabama. As you can see in the map below we are in the HIGH range. 

The flu poses a potential risk for people 65 and up.  Our friend Dr. Andrew Duxbury explains why in a recent press release from UAB. 

People's immune systems weaken as they age, explained Dr. Andrew Duxbury, an associate professor in the gerontology, geriatrics and palliative care division at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.

"When older people get the flu and get knocked down further, they are more likely to get other infections, such as pneumonia," Duxbury said in a university news release. "Just being knocked into bed for as little as three or four days can, in a very frail older person, make it so they lose the ability to walk and do for themselves. It can cause a spiral in disabilities and increase chances of falls and injuries."

Prevention is the best defense. Seniors and their caregivers should get a flu shot, wash hands regularly and avoid crowds, Duxbury recommended.

He also offered advice about what seniors should do if they get the flu.

"Pay more attention to things like staying hydrated," Duxbury said. "Appetite and thirst mechanisms are different for older people; they can tip over to dehydration in less than a day if they don't keep fluids up."

Seniors with the flu also need to get out of bed at least a little bit, he said.

"It's better for lungs and helps avoid pneumonia," Duxbury explained.

He said seniors or their caregivers should call a doctor if they have shortness of breath, a cough that produces mucus or a fever higher than 101 degrees.

SOURCE: University of Alabama at Birmingham, news release, Jan. 11, 2013

Workshops Help Families Grappling with Alzheimer's Home Care

This article was published by NPR on January 8, 2013 here:  http://www.npr.org/2013/01/08/168890934/workshops-help-families-grappling-with-alzheimers-home-care

Workshops Help Families Grappling With Alzheimer's Home Care

There are more than 5 million people with Alzheimer's in the U.S., and most are cared for at home. Now, one company has begun offering training to family caregivers to help them deal with the special challenges of caring for an Alzheimer's patient.

The company, Home Instead Senior Care, is the nation's largest provider of nonmedical home care for seniors. The workshops are free and available to anyone, whether they're clients of the company or not.

A recent session in Los Angeles drew about half a dozen people on a weekday afternoon. The need that brought them there was as serious as it was undefined. Tina Stephenson put it this way: "I need help, bottom line."

She's been with her partner, Gino, for 34 years. They live in a one-room apartment, and she says that certain ordinary things, like standing in front of the sink, just freak him out. "I mean, it's so weird. He just all of a sudden resists me and pulls the other way. So I'm looking for some help with that," Stephenson says.

Leading the workshop is John Moser, the owner of the Home Instead franchise in Los Angeles. He got into the home care business after years working as an elder abuse attorney.

"I dealt with a lot of nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities," he says. "I always thought, is this really the only option for seniors?"

That led him to Home Instead. The company's employees help older adults with things like meals, grooming and transportation. "Family members would be so surprised that our caregivers were able to get mom or dad to do certain things" that family members couldn't, says Moser. "They would call the Home Instead offices and wanted to know more about this training."

The training was developed by Home Instead, but it's based on ideas accepted by many Alzheimer's experts — for example, making use of long-term memories and recognizing what triggers anxiety. The company has spent about $3 million over the past three years on developing and presenting workshops for family caregivers. Home Instead says it wants to be a community resource for families grappling with Alzheimer's. It's also a way to get more clients.

When it comes to caring for Alzheimer's patients, Moser tells the group that knowledge is power. "I always tell caregivers: Know 100 things about the person you're providing care to," says Moser. Those things are then recorded in a workbook called "Capturing Life's Journey."

"Even though short-term memory goes, a lot of people with dementia retain those long-term memories," he says.

And those long-term memories — and lifelong activities — can be rekindled and used to distract a person with Alzheimer's from behaviors that could cause them physical or emotional harm. Or the information can be used to give them a better quality of life.

For example, Moser talks about an artist who just stopped painting when the disease took hold of him.

"So we ended up getting some canvasses for the caregiver and she just started painting," he says. This went on for a few days. Then the Alzheimer's patient began to sit next to her as she painted. And a few days after that, says Moser, "he's grabbing the paint brush out of her hand, and now he's got a wall of paintings that he's painted since he got this disease."

Arguing, reasoning or just saying no generally doesn't work. One workshop participant was learning that the hard way. Anton Vogt has been caring for his friend, Erica.

"If I put some money somewhere, she moves it around," Vogt complained. "She can't find it, then she thinks somebody stole it."

Moser says it's OK for caregivers to use deception, especially if the person they're caring for has lost their short-term memory. It worked with another client of his who also liked to have money around.

"She had access to money, so she sometimes would have hundreds and hundreds of dollars on her," Moser says. She would lose it and accuse her caregivers of stealing. "So we ended up giving her a bunch of singles, then eventually Monopoly money when she really couldn't tell the difference."

But telling her she couldn't have money? That would've only upset her. You'll never be able to drag a person with Alzheimer's into the same world that you live in, Moser says, "because it's really all about them, and providing them the comfort and security of whatever they perceive as their current reality. You [should] be present in their reality."

That's a reality where many caregivers may find themselves in years to come. With the population aging, cases of Alzheimer's in the United States are expected to double by the year 2050.

Locally, our next workshop will be on Tuesday, February 12 from 9am - 11am & on Tuesday, February 19 from 9am-11am. Please let us know if you plan to attend calling by 822-1915 or by email kcochran@homeinstead.com. 

Healthy Living Events ~ November Webinar

Americans Rank Alzheimer’s as Most Feared Disease

Americans Rank Alzheimer’s as Most Feared Disease,

According to New Marist Poll for Home Instead Senior Care

Free Alzheimer’s Training Available for Families in Birmingham and surrounding areas including Jefferson and Shelby Counties to Support Family Caregivers

Home Instead Senior Care®, the world’s leading provider of home care services for seniors, today announced new survey results revealing that Americans fear developing Alzheimer’s disease more than any other major life-threatening disease, including cancer, stroke, heart disease and diabetes.

The Marist Institute for Public Opinion survey of more than 1,200 Americans was designed to gain perspective on the most pressing concerns associated with Alzheimer’s, including diagnosis and the difficulties of caring for a loved one with the disease.

“The survey confirmed what I frequently hear from family caregivers – people feel unprepared to care for a loved one diagnosed with Alzheimer’s,” said Dan Pahos, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office in Birmingham and surrounding areas including Jefferson and Shelby Counties. “The need for support and education for these families is critical.”

Additional survey highlights include:

·       Nearly two-thirds of Americans (63 percent of respondents) have had a personal experience with someone with Alzheimer’s and/or a serious memory loss problem.

·       61 percent of Americans feel unprepared to care for a loved one diagnosed with the disease.

·       If diagnosed with the disease, Americans most fear the inability to care for oneself, and burdening others (68 percent of respondents); followed by losing memory of life and loved ones (32 percent of respondents). 

·       A plurality of Americans – 44 percent – cite the illness as their most feared disease compared to 33 percent who cite cancer.

·       More than other generations, a majority of Americans over 65 years of age (the silent/greatest generation) – 56 percent – fear an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. 

·       When asked if it would be harder to receive an Alzheimer’s diagnosis or care for someone with the disease, Americans are equally split down the middle, 50/50.

Home Instead Senior Care Offers a Solution for Alzheimer’s Caregivers

In response to the realities and concerns associated with Alzheimer’s and in support of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, the local Home Instead Senior Care office is offering free, in-person Alzheimer’s CARE: Changing Aging Through Research and Education^SM training sessions to area family caregivers.  For a schedule of training programs, please visit www.helpforalzheimersfamilies.com. 

“The Home Instead Alzheimer’s CARE program will provide free counsel, support and instruction to area family caregivers,” added Pahos. “We hope that by offering these workshops, more caregivers will be equipped with the proper knowledge and tools to face the everyday challenges of the disease.”

The Alzheimer’s CARE program is a first-of-its-kind Alzheimer’s training addressing the current and future health needs by offering family members a fresh approach to Alzheimer’s care. The approach encourages mental engagement to help relatives remain safely at home and in familiar surroundings as long as possible, and family members learn to immerse themselves in the mindsets of their loved ones to help manage various behavioral symptoms.  Courses are available in person and online.

“The estimated 15 million Americans caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s are desperate for support and concerned about the care they are providing,” said Dr. Amy D’Aprix, aging care expert and a developer of the Home Instead Senior Care Alzheimer’s CARE training. “This training will help them cope with daily challenges and prepare them to manage difficult behaviors.”

For more information about the Alzheimer’s CARE program or Home Instead Senior Care, call 205-822-1915.

##

ABOUT THE HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE/MARIST POLL
The Home Instead Senior Care/Marist Alzheimer’s Poll surveyed 1,247 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. Live interviewers conducted the survey with landline households and cell phone users from Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2012.  MOE is +/- 2.8 percentage points.  Note, the survey sample size was lower for questions pertaining to direct experience with Alzheimer’s disease personally and/or through a family member or friend.  *Reduced survey sample size of 280 U.S. adults ages 18 and older who know someone with Alzheimer’s Disease and are involved with their care with MOE of +/-5.9 percentage points. 

ABOUT HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE

Founded in 1994 in Omaha by Lori and Paul Hogan, the Home Instead Senior Care® network is the world's leading provider of non-medical in-home care services for seniors, with more than 950 independently owned and operated franchises providing in excess of 45 million hours of care throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea, Finland, Austria, Italy, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands. Local Home Instead Senior Care franchise offices employ more than 65,000 CAREGivers^SM worldwide who provide basic support services – assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs), personal care, medication reminders, meal preparation, light housekeeping, errands, incidental transportation and shopping – which enable seniors to live safely and comfortably in their own homes for as long as possible.  In addition, CAREGivers are trained in the network’s groundbreaking Alzheimer’s Disease or Other Dementias CARE: Changing Aging Through Research and Education^SM Program to work with seniors who suffer from these conditions. This world class curriculum also is available free to family caregivers online or through local Home Instead Senior Care offices. At Home Instead Senior Care, it’s relationship before task, while continuing to provide superior quality service that enhances the lives of seniors everywhere. 

Elderly Patients Who Get on Feet Leave Hospital Sooner

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Elderly hospital patients who get back on their feet as quickly as possible spend less time in the hospital than those who remain in bed, finds a new study.

The research team studied 162 hospitalized patients over age 65 who each had a step activity monitor attached to one of their ankles. The small electronic device counted every step the patients took, explained the researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston.

The monitors showed that even short walks around the hospital unit were beneficial.
"Using these monitors, we were able to see a correlation between even relatively small amounts of increased mobility and shorter lengths of stay in the hospital. We still found this effect after we used a statistical model to adjust for the differing severities of the patients' illnesses," lead author and assistant professor Steve Fisher said in a UTMB news release.

The study was published in a recent issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Patients with orthopedic or neurological conditions are encouraged to get back on their feet as soon as possible, but no such "standard of care" currently exists for elderly hospital patients with acute conditions, the researchers noted.

The authors pointed out that their study could be a first step toward that goal and may also lead to other improvements in the care of elderly hospital patients.

"Mobility is a key measure in older people's independence and quality of life generally, and this study suggests that's also true in the hospital setting," Fisher said.

"When we hospitalize elderly people, we set up a paradoxical situation," he explained. "You can have a positive outcome of the acute problem that brought them there, but still have negative consequences as a result of extended immobility."

More information
The AGS Foundation for Health in Aging has more about older adults and hospitalization.

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: University of Texas Medical Branch, news release, Dec. 10, 2010

Celiac disease cases on the rise

Researchers working to solve the puzzle of when people develop celiac disease have uncovered some surprising findings – the number of celiac cases is on the rise, particularly in the elderly. According to University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers, the incidence of the disease has doubled every 15 years in the U.S. since 1974. Using blood samples from more than 3,500 adults, they found the number of people with blood markers for celiac disease increased steadily from one in 501 in 1974 to one in 219 in 1989. In 2003, a study by the university’s Center for Celiac Research put the number of people with celiac disease at one in 133. As people in the study aged, the incidence of celiac disease rose, echoing the findings of a 2008 Finnish study that found the prevalence of celiac disease in the elderly to be nearly two-and-a-half times higher than in the general population. “You’re never too old to develop celiac disease,” says Alessio Fasano, M.D., director of the university’s Center for Celiac Research.  Celiac disease is triggered by consuming gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Classic symptoms include diarrhea, intestinal bloating and stomach cramps. Left untreated, it can lead to the malabsorption of nutrients, damage to the small intestine and other medical complications. “You’re not necessarily born with celiac disease,” says Carlos Catassi, M.D., of the Universita Politecnica delle Marche in Italy, lead author of the paper and co-director of the Center for Celiac Research. “Our findings show that some people develop celiac disease quite late in life.” He urges physicians to consider screening their elderly patients. If individuals can tolerate gluten for many decades before developing celiac disease, some environmental factor or factors other than gluten must be in play, Fasano says. Identifying and manipulating those factors could lead to novel treatment and possible prevention of celiac disease and other autoimmune disorders, he said. Our CAREGivers can help seniors with special nutritional needs and accompany them to doctor appointments.We also have Cooking Under Pressure public education campaign, which focuses on providing education and support to seniors and their family members who sometimes are stressed by the demands of caregiving.

When Sleep Apnea Masquerades as Dementia - A New York Times article

link to article
October 6, 2010, 3:44 pm

By PAULA SPAN

The woman who came to see Dr. Ronald Petersen, an Alzheimer’s specialist at the Mayo Clinic, was only in her 60s but complained that she was having trouble concentrating. “Her attention was waning,” Dr. Petersen recalled. “She couldn’t follow a television program or stay focused during a conversation.”

Ryan Collerd for The New York Times A C.P.A.P. machine at the home of a sleep apnea patient in Pottstown, Pa.

She was probably developing dementia, Dr. Petersen thought as he took her history. But along the way he asked, as he usually does, how she was sleeping. The woman, who lived alone, hadn’t noticed any problems.
Her son, however, had stayed with her the previous night to drive her to the appointment. “She was snoring like a freight train,” he reported.
Aha. Overnight sleep testing determined that the woman had obstructive sleep apnea — nightlong interruptions in breathing that reduce oxygen flow to the brain and prevent deep sleep. The interruptions can happen 10 or more times an hour and are quite common in older adults, exacerbating — or sometimes mimicking — dementia symptoms.
Treated with a C.P.A.P. machine — the acronym stands for continuous positive airway pressure, a therapy that involves wearing a mask over the nose and/or mouth during sleep — the woman rapidly improved. Her scores on neuropsychological tests eventually climbed back into the normal range. A year later, Dr. Petersen said, “I can’t find any abnormalities.”
Most of the time, cognitive problems won’t evaporate when seniors are treated for sleep apnea. But researchers find that with C.P.A.P., many older patients see marked improvement. “They’re not dozing off during the day, they’re not dragging,” said Dr. Bradley Boeve, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic. “Quality of life improves.”
Life gets easier for their caregivers, too, a key concern in trying to keep people out of nursing homes.
But apnea frequently goes undetected, especially in the elderly, although they are more likely to have it. Estimates of the percentage of older adults with sleep apnea are all over the map, in part because of varying definitions of the condition — but they’re always startlingly high. Sonia Ancoli-Israel, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, has studied the disorder for 30 years and reports that almost half of older adults experience apnea to some degree, with even higher rates among those with dementia.
“It’s under-recognized in all age groups,” she told me in an interview. “But in older people, physicians are even less likely to recognize it.”
Why? Apnea in younger people frequently coincides with obesity; in elderly patients, that’s less often true. Loud snoring, often a tip-off, may go unnoticed when seniors live alone. And, as Dr. Ancoli-Israel pointed out, “there’s a belief that old people are supposed to be sleepy during the day.”
They’re not, and one reason she wants them and their caregivers to recognize the problem is the now-established connection between apnea and cognitive decline. “If you’re waking up hundreds of times a night and you’re not getting enough oxygen to the brain, of course you’ll see the effect,” Dr. Ancoli-Israel said.
She and her team, in a study published in 2008 in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, randomly assigned patients with Alzheimer’s disease to use real C.P.A.P. machines or fake ones for several weeks. The treatment produced “modest but statistically significant improvements,” particularly in vigilance (the ability to pay attention) and executive function (judgment and decision-making).
“We didn’t cure the dementia,” Dr. Ancoli-Israel cautioned. “But it wasn’t as severe as before.” As the researchers followed up months later, they also found that while all the patients continued to decline cognitively, in those using C.P.A.P. the decline was more gradual.
For years, physicians doubted that dementia patients could or would use these machines. Even younger people with apnea frequently find the C.P.A.P. mask uncomfortable, pulling it off during sleep or just not bothering to use it. But in recent studies, seniors diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease did use the devices — not for as many hours each night as their doctors might wish, but long enough.
Now Dr. Ancoli-Israel is investigating whether C.P.A.P. therapy might help reduce the cognitive damage from Parkinson’s disease. “This isn’t just Alzheimer’s,” she said. “Any time there are symptoms of dementia, you should think about sleep apnea and discuss it with your doctor.”
Be forewarned: diagnosing sleep apnea can be complicated, requiring an overnight stay in a sleep center. If apnea proves to be the problem, technicians have to calibrate each C.P.A.P. machine’s settings and individually fit the mask. All those processes become harder with someone who’s cognitively impaired. (To find treatment centers, consult the American Academy of Sleep Medicine or the National Sleep Foundation.)
But when someone with apnea does stick with the treatment, “you’ll see the effects within a month or so,” Dr. Boeve said. “Sometimes even within a week.”

---

Paula Span is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families With Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions.”

Increase your cognitive functions by....drinking wine?

Yes please! 

Over a seven year study seniors that consumed wine at a moderate level (what a moderate level is was not provided in the article, hmmm) at least four times a week performed better than non-drinkers on cognitive function tests. An article from Senior Journal reports why & how here.

Tools for Cholesterol Screening

The American Heart Association has some great information about cholesterol and taking care of your heart.

Please click here to view their website.

Taking Action and Where to Seek Help (Aging Parent Care – Part 4 of 4)

In this video “Taking Action and Where to Seek Help” Mary Alexander from Home Instead Senior Care offers specific ideas and suggestions for getting your elderly parent to accept the assistance that can help them remain as independent as possible for years to come.

Loss of Attention Signals and Environmental Clues (Aging Parent Care – Part 3 of 4)

In this video “Loss of Attention Signals and Environmental Clues” Mary Alexander of Home Instead Senior Care continues to describe signs of aging, this time focusing on the behaviors that signal a lack or loss of attention — from poor hygiene to unpaid bills. Physical and environmental clues can point to the fact that something needs to be done to help your loved one remain independent.

Aging Parent Care – Part 1 of 4

In this video series “Aging Parent Care” Mary Alexander from Home Instead Senior Care explains that, while there are lots of good reasons seniors want to stay home, one of the fears that drives this desire is the potential loss of independence. They so much want to avoid being a burden on their families and to maintain their lifestyle that they often deny their true need for care and make bad decisions about what they really need to do to remain at home. But there are signs, and this video series tells you what to look for.

Tips for You and the Healthcare Provider to Follow (Patient-Doctor Communication – Part 4 of 4)

In this video “Tips for You and the Healthcare Provider to Follow,” Mary Alexander from Home Instead Senior Care discusses how to prepare for a medical appointment with your senior loved one and strategies to use during a visit with a medical provider. With the tips in this video, you can help your parent feel more confident he or she is understanding the doctor and is being heard and respected by the practitioner.

Why it’s Important to Have Good Communication (Patient-Doctor Communication – Part 2 of 4)

In this video “Why it’s Important to Have Good Communication,” Mary Alexander from Home Instead Senior Care discusses why good communication with your parent’s health care practitioners is so important, and how to make it happen. She urges you to look at your parent’s medical team as one that includes anyone related to their healthcare such as physical therapists, eye doctors, mental health counselors, pharmacists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and so on. She also offers some solid reasons your support might help with communications.



This series of videos contains valuable information for anyone who is caring for an elderly person be it a parent, other relative or friend. For each topic you’ll learn helpful tips to overcome challenges and be provided with resources to make your family caregiving responsibilities a rewarding and loving experience.

New York Times Article About the Need for More Senior Medical Services

An article in the New York Times indicated that the population of U.S. seniors is expanding at such a rate that, “Before long, 90 percent of American nurses will have to provide care for older adults” — in part, because the country’s number of medical personnel trained to work with seniors is not keeping up with this growing need (In 2009, only 11 percent of research funding at the NIH went to support aging-related studies.)  This story is worth reading because it provides an interesting overview of important aging-related trends within the U.S. medical community, to include addressing preventable hospital readmissions of Medicare enrollees; the potential viability of the new “medical home” care-coordination concept; and the doubling by the National Health Service Corps of funding to repay student loans for “caregivers who work [with seniors] in rural and underserved urban neighborhoods.” 

See full article here.

It's HOT Outside...Check on Your Elderly Neighbors!

If you know someone who is home bound, elderly, and low income, please check on them today. 

Elderly suffer most in this type of heat from unconditioned homes and respiratory problems.
Need a resource try United Way 211 for general public or Positive Maturity if you have a senior in need. 

Elderly Women Susceptible to Heat Wave Deaths, Mostly From Respiratory Causes
Emma Hitt, PhD

 

July 16, 2010 — Researchers have defined heat wave intensity and have compared the effect of heat waves on European cities, showing a significant increase in total daily mortality with heat waves, especially in elderly women, mostly from respiratory causes.
Daniela D'Ippoliti, PhD, from the Regional Health Authority, Rome, Italy, and colleagues reported their findings online July 15 in Environmental Health.
"This study is the first in Europe to compare the impact of heat waves on mortality in different cities using a common heat wave definition and a standardized methodological approach," the researchers note.
The researchers investigated 9 European cities (Athens, Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Budapest, Hungary; London, United Kingdom; Milan, Italy; Munich, Germany; Paris, France; Rome, Italy; and Valencia, Spain) as part of the EuroHEAT project, which is evaluating the specific contribution of heat wave events to mortality, allowing for a comparison among cities. Both temperature and humidity levels during the day, as well as high nighttime temperatures, were considered when defining heat waves.
The researchers' definition of a heat wave was a period of at least 2 days when Tappmax, an interaction between maximum air temperature and humidity, was among the highest monthly 10%, or when the minimum temperature was among the highest 10%, with Tappmax above the average.
Heat waves of long duration had the greatest effect on mortality, resulting in a 1.5- to 3-fold higher daily mortality than for shorter heat waves. Duration of heat waves was defined in relation to the median length of time — heat waves lasting longer than the median were considered long duration, whereas those lasting fewer days than the median were classified as short duration. The elderly, especially women, appeared to be most at risk during heat waves, and the excess mortality was mostly from respiratory — not cardiovascular — causes.
In 2003, there was a heat wave across Europe, which was considered in a separate analysis. In the study period from 1990 to 2002 and 2004, a significant increase in total daily mortality was observed in all cities, with the greatest increase in Milan (+33.6%; 95% confidence interval, 28.5% - 39.0%) and the lowest in Munich (+7.6%; 90% confidence interval, 3.8% - 11.5%).
During the 2003 heat wave, all cities except Athens and Budapest showed an increased mortality, with the rate of mortality increasing by about more than 30% to roughly 100% compared with other years. "The greatest impact on mortality was observed in cities where heat wave episodes are rare events or were characterized by temperatures largely outside the usual meteorological conditions," the authors note.
According to the researchers, a greater effect of heat waves of longer duration and high intensity was observed in most cities, and the findings suggest that heat wave duration has a greater effect on mortality than intensity. The researchers also report that when stratified by sex and age, the greatest increase in mortality was "observed for respiratory diseases and among women aged 75-84 years."
One limitation of the trial, among others, was lack of investigation of lag time effect.
"Considering our results," Dr. D'Ippoliti and colleagues conclude, "prevention programs should specifically target the elderly, especially women, and those suffering from chronic respiratory disorders, in order to reduce in the future the burden of heat-related mortality."
The EuroHEAT Project was coordinated by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe and was cofunded by a grant from the European Commission. The study authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Environ Health. Published online July 15, 2010.