Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 20, Issue 19, 2014

In this report we will provide additional insight on the individual features of age-related causes of mobility limitation, explaining why insulin resistance, related to lower muscle functioning, sub-inflammation and hormonal changes, may contribute to its onset and sustain it. According to the recent literature, the same factors playing a role in the onset and maintenance of insulin resistance are related to mobility limitation Read More

The ability to remain mobile is an essential aspect of quality of life and is critical for the preservation of independence in old age. One of the cornerstones of comprehensive geriatric assessment is the evaluation of functional and mobility status, because it provides clinicians pivotal information on overall health status, quality of life, needs for formal and informal care, and short and long term prognosis. As a consequ Read More

The impact of depression on physical disability is undisputed. There is convincing evidence that depression increases the subsequent risk for physical disability and, in turn, physical disability results in increased depressive symptoms. Moreover, depression affects also the earlier stages of the disablement process (including functional limitation in mobility) and may accelerate the transitioning along the pathway to disability. Read More

Mobility-disability is a common condition in older individuals. Many factors, including the age-related hormonal dysregulation, may concur to the development of disability in the elderly. In fact, during the aging process it is observed an imbalance between anabolic hormones that decrease (testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), estradiol, insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and Vitamin D) and catabolic hor Read More

The rapidly increasing elderly population poses a major challenge for future health-care systems. Neurological diseases in older persons are particularly common and coexist with other clinical conditions. This is not surprising given that, for example, even patients with Alzheimer Disease (AD) could have relevant extrapyramidal signs at the moment of the diagnosis with motor signs having more negative prognostic value. Read More

Gait is a complex motor task, initiated and governed by different areas of the brain. Studies have shown a clear association between gait and cognition. Impairments in both gait and cognition are prevalent in older adults. Older adults with gait impairment have an increased risk of developing cognitive impairments. Those with cognitive impairment often have gait impairments and more falls than cognitively healthy Read More

Movement disability has a high prevalence in elderly population, either healthy or with chronic disease. Impaired nutritional status is a very common condition in geriatric patients too, especially if we consider elderly subjects admitted to hospital. There are growing evidences that nutrition and disability are strictly interconnected. On the one side, nutritional status is one of the multiple elements that influence the o Read More

Aging is associated with a progressive loss of bone-muscle mass and strength. When the decline in mass and strength reaches critical thresholds associated with adverse health outcomes, they are operationally considered geriatric conditions and named, respectively, osteoporosis and sarcopenia. Osteoporosis and sarcopenia share many of the same risk factors and both directly or indirectly cause higher risk of mobilit Read More

The increase of life expectancy together with the decline of birth rates implies a global aging of populations living in industrialized countries. Since advanced age is associated with an exponential consumption of health care resources, this phenomenon is likely to pose a substantial threat to the stability of public health systems. Prevention of physical disability represents a major public health priority. Since disability is considered Read More

Introduction: Inflammation is related to muscle wasting in elderly persons. Since surgery is accompanied by an important inflammatory response, the degree of muscle wasting and related symptoms such as weakness and tiredness might exacerbate very rapidly in elderly surgery patients. Methods: PubMed and Web of Science were systematically screened for articles reporting the influence of surgery-induced inflammation Read More

Due to the progressive ageing of the worldwide population, prevention and treatment of late-life dysfunctions, including functional decline and mobility limitations, represent leading targets of scientists and clinicians, but are also receiving growing attention from governments and healthcare systems. The early identification of elderly patients more prone to physical decline represents a crucial step for establishing preventive Read More

With body composition it is possible to divide human body in compartments on the basis of different physical properties. The two level body composition model subdividing the whole body in fat mass and fat free mass is the most used in epidemiological and clinical studies in the elderly. Body composition techniques may be used to study ageing process. Changes in body composition occur as part of the normal ageing pr Read More

Current evidence suggests that functional status is an important outcome of pharmacologic treatments in older people. At the moment, studies have shown diverse effects of medications on functional status. For example, some have shown potentially detrimental effects, while others have found improvements on physical function in elders. Overall, suboptimal prescribing and the occurrence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs Read More