Aims: Life expectancy for both sexes in Australia exceeds 80 years, with individuals with intellectual disability also increasingly living into older age. This research aimed to comparatively examine perceptions of staff supporting either older adults or age peers with lifelong intellectual disability. Methods: This project asked 420 medical,…

Purpose: This study compared the official poverty rate for adults aged 65 years and older with alternative measures that portray the true resources and needs of older adults. Design and Methods: The analysis used data from the 2004 Health and Retirement Study on income, assets, in-kind transfers, and out-of-pocket medical expenses. It also…

One of the goals of "Healthy People 2010" is to decrease the incidence of limitation in physical activity due to arthritis. Physical education, recreation, and dance professionals can play an important role in meeting this objective by addressing barriers to physical activity and exercise in older adults with arthritis, and by successfully…

Purpose: When government funding for long-term care is reduced, participant outcomes may be adversely affected. We investigated the effect of program resources on individuals enrolled in the Michigan Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver program for elderly and disabled adults. Design and Methods: Using dates of major policy and budget…

Promoting physical activity among middle age and older adults to decrease the incidence of disease and premature death and to combat the health care costs associated with a sedentary lifestyle is more important now than ever. There is now a better understanding of what "successful aging" means and of what aspects of life have the greatest…

Purpose: On average, adults aged 60 years or older have 2.2 chronic diseases, contributing to the over 60 million Americans with multiple morbidities. We aimed to understand the financial implications of the most frequent multiple morbidities among older adults. Design and Methods: We analyzed Health and Retirement Study data, determining…

Purpose: We determined the prognostic value of self-reported and performance-based measurement of function, including functional transitions and combining different measurement approaches, on utilization. Design and Methods: Our cohort study used the 6th, 7th, and 10th waves of three sites of the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies…

In the late 1990s, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation made grants to study people's attitudes toward retirement and to determine what factors influenced their decisions to retire. Although faculty were not talking to college administrators or human-resources departments about health care, the researchers found to their surprise that when they…

This document is the first of three documents which present the Senate hearings on catastrophic health insurance called to determine how the private sector and the government can work together to lend support to the elderly and their families when they are threatened by catastrophic illness and to examine the issue of coverage of catastrophic…

This document, the second in a series of three which present the text of Senate hearings on catastrophic health insurance, focuses on the impact of catastrophic health insurance on consumers and health care providers. Testimony is included by these witnesses: (1) Senator Pete V. Domenici; (2) Wilbur Cohen, professor of Public Affairs, University…

Estimated impoverishment risk for two samples of community-living elderly (N=900+). Found that for elders over age 75, 46 percent of those living alone and 2 percent of couples would spend lifetime assets and current income, becoming impoverished in 13 weeks if institutionalized in skilled nursing facility. Rates were comparable for elders over…

Using data from 1981-82 Channeling Demonstration project, examined types of health care costs (hospital, physician and ancillary care, nursing home, and prescription medicine) that contributed to overall expenses to determine sources of financially catastrophic health care expenses among disabled elderly persons. Found expenses for prescription…

Calculated financial ratios for 109 Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). Noted problems with regard to asset productivity, profitability, and equity levels. Found that a risk-spreading charge structure for financing health care needs appeared to exist among CCRCs providing a full-care contract. (Author/ABL)

Used data from 1982 and 1984 National Long-Term Care Surveys to track cohort of disabled elderly persons residing in community in 1982 over the two years that followed. In contrast to persons who did not use nursing homes, persons who entered nursing homes had a four- to five-fold risk of spending down to Medicaid eligibility. (Author/NB)

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease characterized by loss of bone mass and density, which results in an increased risk of fractures. The disease is referred to as the "silent thief," because it is often not until a person falls and breaks a bone that patients and their physicians become aware of weakening bones. An estimated 1.5 million…