Ageing Well or Not So Well Flashcards
What is homeostatic reverse?
The ability of an organism to stabilise its normal internal environment
How does homeostatic reverse change with age?
Gets worse
Do diseases always present the same in the elderly as they would in younger people?
They can present differently
Are normal ranges, such as peak flow rate, affected by age?
Yes they are
Is drug handling affected by age?
Yes it is altered
What are treatable diseases in the elderly often ascribed to?
‘Normal ageing’
What is ageism?
Process of systemic stereotyping and discrimination against people just because they are old
Is the number of elderly people in the world expected to rise or decline?
Rise massively
What are the biggest killers in the worlds poorest countries?
Heart disease
Stroke
Chronic lung disease
Compare and contrast the population distribution of developed and developing regions?
In more developed regions:
- Proportions of older persons (60 and older) increasing and proportions of young people (younger than 15) if falling
- Lower levels of fertility
- Mortality increasing in older population
In less developed regions:
- Smaller proportion of population is elderly compared to more developed regions
- But pace of population ageing is much faster in developing countries than developed countries so they will have less time to adjust to the consequences of population ageing
- Population ageing also taking place at much lower levels of socio-economic development than it would in developed countries
In more developed regions, are the proportions of older people and younger people increasing or decreasing?
Older people - increasing
Younger people - decreasing
Are more developed regions getting higher or lower leveils of fertility?
Lower
By 2050, how is the population expected to change in more developed regions?
By 2050 number of older people in the world expected to exceed younger people, this is due to:
- Decreasing fertility
- Decreasing premature morality
- Due to migration, health education programmes such as those relating to AIDs, malaria prevention, improvements in public health in relation to house, clean water, nutrition
Why is the number of older people in the world expected to exceed younger people by 2050?
- Decreasing fertility
- Decreasing premature morality
- Due to migration, health education programmes such as those relating to AIDs, malaria prevention, improvements in public health in relation to house, clean water, nutrition
What is causing decreasing premature mortaility?
- Due to migration, health education programmes such as those relating to AIDs, malaria prevention, improvements in public health in relation to house, clean water, nutrition
How does the proportion of the population being elderly in less developed countries compared to more developed ones?
- Smaller proportion of population is elderly compared to more developed regions
Is the pace of the population ageing faster in developed or less developed countries?
Less developed countries so have less time to adjust to the consequences of population ageing
How is the population changing in Scotland?
- People are living longer
- More over 50s are living alone, woman being more likely too but the number of men living alone is increasing faster as mens life expectancy increases
What is the large projected rise in older people in Scotland due to?
- ‘Baby boomers’ after WW2 entering their 80s by 2031
- Overall mortality rates are expected to continue to improve
- Older people are increasingly healthy
What impacts will the ageing population have?
- Health
- Increased numbers of geriaticians and health professionals invovled in care of the eldery required
- Increased facilities for elderly health care required
- Care of many long term conditions (such as diabetes, CVD, neurological conditions, renal disease) is moving from secondary care to primary/community care. End stage of these diseases requires as much palliative care as cancer, and prevalence of such diseases will increase as the population ages
- Specific health promotion campaigns aimed at the eldery
- Social
- As population ages they will be increasingly dependent on families and/or carers who are also ageing
- Demand for home carers and nursing home places is likely to increase
- Within local communities will be increasing emphasis on providing social activites for the eldery
- Role of elderly as grandparents and carers of grandchildren is likely to change
- Housing demands are likely to change as more elderly people live alone
- Economic
- Retirement/pension age is already increasing
- Finding employment may become harder for younh people as older people being required to work for longer
- Proportionately less people will be paying into tax and pension funds, making it increasingly difficult to obtain an adequate return from pension funds
- Those elderly who have not contributed to a private pension fund may find that state pension is inadequate, resulting in poverty
- Increasing cost of ‘free personal care for the elderly’ policy in Scotland
- Political
- Current decision making and workforce planning must take into account of the ageing population
Increasing elderly population will potentially have the power to influence political decision making in relation to their specific concerns
What are the different categories of things an ageing population will impact?
Health
Social
Economic
Political
What are impacts of an ageing population on health?
- Increased numbers of geriaticians and health professionals invovled in care of the eldery required
- Increased facilities for elderly health care required
- Care of many long term conditions (such as diabetes, CVD, neurological conditions, renal disease) is moving from secondary care to primary/community care. End stage of these diseases requires as much palliative care as cancer, and prevalence of such diseases will increase as the population ages
- Specific health promotion campaigns aimed at the eldery
What are social impacts of an ageing population?
- As population ages they will be increasingly dependent on families and/or carers who are also ageing
- Demand for home carers and nursing home places is likely to increase
- Within local communities will be increasing emphasis on providing social activites for the eldery
- Role of elderly as grandparents and carers of grandchildren is likely to change
- Housing demands are likely to change as more elderly people live alone
What are economic impacts of an ageing population?
- Retirement/pension age is already increasing
- Finding employment may become harder for younh people as older people being required to work for longer
- Proportionately less people will be paying into tax and pension funds, making it increasingly difficult to obtain an adequate return from pension funds
- Those elderly who have not contributed to a private pension fund may find that state pension is inadequate, resulting in poverty
- Increasing cost of ‘free personal care for the elderly’ policy in Scotland
Are births and deaths increasing or decreasing in Scotland?
Births - decreasing
Deaths - increasing
How does sicoeconomic class impact both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy?
Both increase with an increased socioeconomic class
What is multimorbidity?
Co-occurence of two or or more chronic conditions
How does multimorbidity change with age?
Number of conditions increases with age
Why does multimorbidity add complexity to management?
The preferred treatment for one condition might worsen another
