“This is the first generation of Americans who are living longer lives thanks to medical advances but few are entering older ages in good health and that’s a problem,” declares Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance, the industry trade group.  “Unhealthy lifestyles cut lifespans and are resulting in large numbers of people who need long term care during the final years of their lives.  They are not prepared, their families are not prepared and the cost to taxpayers in the years ahead is something our budgets are not prepared for.”

The Swedish researchers from Stockholm University sought to find if healthy living positively affected people who were age 75 and older.  They followed nearly 2,000 individuals for 18 years, keeping records on their life choices, leisure activities and health matters.

While some 92 percent of the study’s participants died during the study period, half lives to more than 90 years old.  The researchers found that women, study participants who were more highly educated and those who maintained healthy lifestyles even through their older ages were most likely to live longer.

“Smokers died on average a year before non smokers,” Slome notes.  Individuals who smoke are not able to obtain special preferred health discounts for long term care insurance according to the long term care insurance expert.  The study did find that men and women who quit smoking earlier in their lives lived about as long as those individuals who had never smoked.

Exercise plays an important factor in longevity the study researchers report.  People who exercised on a regular basis lived two years longer on average than those who did not.  Those with the healthiest lifestyle including diet and weight, lived 5.4 years longer on average.

“We applaud studies like this because quite frankly no one seems ready to address the elephant in the room, the fact that obesity and poor health will bankrupt families and ultimately cost this country hundreds of billions of dollars,” Slome adds.  “Only a very small proportion of Americans have any plan in place to deal with the real risk and consequences of living a long life, let alone one that is a long unhealthy life.”

Long term care insurance has been purchased by over eight million Americans.  “Not everyone can health qualify for this coverage and not everyone can afford a private solution,” Slome admits.  The organization maintains the nation’s most comprehensive website containing the latest data from Association conducted studies of buyers and claimants with long term care.  To learn more about long term care insurance costs or to connect with one of the Association’s staff, call the organization’s offices at (818) 597-3227 or visit the Association’s website.

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Expert guidelines advise women age 65 or older to get a bone scan to screen for osteoporosis, explains Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance, one of the nation’s leading long term care experts. Some women with risk factors for osteoporosis, such as smoking, are advised to start screening around age 50. 

However, a new study suggests that a proportion of women who get screened for osteoporosis, a bone-thinning disease which causes bones to become fragile and vulnerable to breaks, may not actually need such testing. 

According to scientists conducting the new study, the researchers found that of over 600 women who underwent osteoporosis screening, 41 percent did not meet those criteria.   The study did not explain why the women were tested.  The researchers surmised that in some cases, women might ask for screening or some physicians may not be aware of the guidelines and believe, for example, that it’s best to screen all postmenopausal women. 

Like most screening, testing for osteoporosis has downsides the medical experts note.  Screening is usually done with a special type of x-ray that measures bone density, known as dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA).   The doctors added that unwarranted DXA screening may lead to some women being treated unnecessarily. 

Following the test for osteoporosis, a woman is given a T-score, which is a comparison of her bone mass against the average bone mass of a healthy, young woman. In some cases, a woman may have relatively low bone mass, though not overt osteoporosis.  “As a result, doctors may feel compelled to treat for the disease,” acknowledged Slome.  Those therapies can carry side effects and increased risks like increased odds of stroke, breast cancer, and heart disease in women taking estrogen.  

To help prevent bone loss with age, experts recommend getting a well-balanced diet with enough calcium and vitamin D, in particular, as well as regular exercise. 

The Association urges women to learn more about long-term care planning and get long-term care insurance cost from a designated expert via the organization’s Consumer Information Center at http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/free-quote/.  “The best ages to start planning are between ages 52 and 62 when costs are lowest and you don’t risk being declined because of existing health conditions,” Slome explains.

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Cognitive decline and diseases like Alzheimer’s are increasing as Americans live longer lives.  Some 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease according to the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.  “By mid century someone in America will develop the disease every 33 seconds,” explains Jesse Slome, AALTCI director and one of the nation’s leading long term care insurance experts. 

Canadian researchers found that sodium intake not only impacts heart health, but brain health as well.  Health experts recommend that people 14 years of age and older consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day in their diet.

For the study the scientists assessed seniors who were categorized as low, medium or high level sodium consumers based on a food frequency questionnaire. Low sodium intake was defined as not exceeding 2,263 mg/day; mid sodium intake 3,090 mg/day; and high sodium intake 3,091 and greater.  The researchers noyted that the scale went as high as 8,098 mg/day.
The study revealed that a diet high in sodium, combined with little exercise, was especially detrimental to the cognitive performance of older adults.   They noted that sedentary older adults showed no cognitive decline over the three years that they were followed if they had low sodium intake.

The Association urges consumers to learn more about long-term care planning and get long-term care insurance cost from a designated expert via the organization’s Consumer Information Center at http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/free-quote/.  “The best ages to start planning are between ages 52 and 62 when costs are lowest and you don’t risk being declined because of existing health conditions,” Slome explains.

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The robot uses high-precision tactile sensors and flexible motor control technology to lift patients weighing up to 80kg (180 pounds) off floor-level bedding and into a wheelchair.  The developers note this is intended to free care facility personnel of one of their most difficult and energy-consuming tasks.

Japan’s elderly population in need of nursing care is projected to reach a staggering 5.69 million by 2015 experts explain.  “Japan faces an urgent need for new approaches to assist care-giving personnel,” states Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance http://www.aaltci.org.  “The United States will soon be facing the very same issues.” 

Care experts noted that one of the most strenuous tasks for such personnel, carried out an average of 40 times every day, is that of lifting a patient from a futon at floor level into a wheelchair. Robots are well-suited to this task, yet none have yet been deployed in care-giving facilities.

In 2009, the RIKEN-TRI Collaboration Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research (RTC), a joint project established in 2007 and located at the Nagoya Science Park in central Japan, unveiled a robot called RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance) designed to assist in this task. The first robot capable of lifting a patient from a bed to a wheelchair and back, RIBA charted a new course in the development of care-giving robots, yet functional limitations prevented its direct commercialization.

In the future, Japanese researchers plan to work together with partner nursing care facilities to test RIBA-II and further tailor it to the needs of care-givers and their patients.  They explain their intent to also develop new applications in areas such as rehabilitation. 

Robots will one day enable individuals to remain in their own home rather than being forced into skilled nursing facilities, Slome predicts.  “This should be a most welcome development for millions of Americans though they can expected to be costly,” he notes  “People will either need to have the savings or insurance to cover the cost.”  Current forms of long-term care insurance that provide cash payments would cover the rental or purchase of robots. 

The Association urges consumers to learn more about long-term care planning and get long-term care insurance cost from a designated expert via the organization’s Consumer Information Center at http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/free-quote/.  “The best ages to start planning are between ages 52 and 62 when costs are lowest and you don’t risk being declined because of existing health conditions,” Slome explains.

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The current generally accepted recommendations call for adults to do at least 150 minutes, or a total of 2.5 hours, of physical activity weekly.

Researchers releasing the findings of their new study found that doing even less than that, only a quarter-hour of daily exercise or about 105 minutes a week still provides benefits.

The study included more than 390,000 residents of  Taiwan.  Researchers followed these individuals for an average of eight years and, based on self-reported amounts of weekly exercise, placed them into five categories.

People in the low-activity group, the scientists explained, exercised for an average of 92 minutes per week, or just under 15 minutes a day.   Compared to those categorized as being in the inactive group, individuals who did almost no physical activity, those in the low-activity group were 14 percent less likely to die from any cause, 10 percent less likely to die of cancer, and had a three-year longer life expectancy, on average.

Every additional 15 minutes of daily exercise beyond the minimum 15 minutes further reduced the risk of all-cause death by 4 percent and the risk of cancer death by 1 percent.

“The research is welcome news for millions of Americans who would benefit from even a minimum amount of exercise,” suggests Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance http://www.aaltci.org.  “Death from heart disease, diabetes and cancer could be reduced and lifespans can be lengthened, though this means people will need to plan for living a long life.”

The Association urges consumers to learn more about long-term care planning and get long-term care insurance cost from a designated expert via the organization’s Consumer Information Center at http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/free-quote/.  “The best ages to start planning are between ages 52 and 62 when costs are lowest and you don’t risk being declined because of existing health conditions,” Slome explains.

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According to research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine watching television equates with other risky behaviors such as smoking and lack of exercise. 

The medical experts explained that sedentary behavior is associated with a higher risk of death, particularly from heart attack or stroke.   They used previously published data on the relationship between viewing time and death from analyses of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study to arrive at the lifetime risk of TV watching. 

Using a national survey that involved more than 11,000 adults aged 25 or older, the researchers quizzed the participants about the total amount of time they had spent in the previous week watching TV or videos. 

In 2008 the authors estimated that adults aged 25 and older watched 9.8 billion hours of TV, which led them to calculate that every single hour of TV watched after the age of 25 shortened the viewer’s life expectancy by just under 22 minutes. 

Based on these figures, and expected deaths from all causes, the authors calculated that an individual who spends a lifetime average of six hours a day watching TV can expect to live just under five fewer years than someone who does not watch TV. 

“The impact compares with the impact of other well known lifestyle factors on the risk of death from cardiovascular disease after the age of 50,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  “Long term care insurers may have to start asking about television watching habits to see who is most likely to need live a long life and need long-term care.” 

Other research has shown that lifelong smoking is associated with the shortening of life expectancy by more than 4 years after the age of 50, with the average loss of life from one cigarette calculated to be 11 minutes — equivalent to half an hour of TV watching, according to the researchers’ risk framework.

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Researchers found for all cancers combined, death rates (per 100,000) in men increased from 249.3 in 1970 to 279.8 in 1990, and then decreased to 221.1 in 2006, yielding a relative decline of 21% from 1990 (peak year) and a drop of 11% since 1970 (baseline year). 

Similarly, the death rate from all-cancers combined in women increased from 163.0 in 1970 to 175.3 in 1991, and then decreased to 153.7 in 2006, a relative decline of 12% and 6% from the 1991 (peak year) and 1970 rates, respectively. 

The biggest gains for men are the declines in these cancer specific sites: stomach (-43%), prostate (-38.9%), colorectum (-33.4%), oral cavity & pharynax (-32.6%) and lung & bronchus (-25.5%).

The biggest gains for women are the declines in these cancer specific sites: stomach (-34%), oral cavity & pharynx (31.6%), cervix uteri (30.7%), colorectum (28.4%) and breast (28.3%). 

The researchers also calculated years of potential life lost (YPLL) due to cancer before age 75 for 2006 as additional measure for the impact of declining cancer death rates on population health. They compared this to the YPLL that would have been expected had the 1970 age-specific cancer death rates continued to apply in 2006. 

“When you live a longer life, the chances are even greater you will need some long-term care,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.

For persons under age 75, the decrease in cancer death rates during the 36 years time interval (1970-2006) resulted in about 2.0 million years of potential life gained.

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Medical researchers at Freidrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany, studied a total of 246 older women. Half of the women exercised four days per week with special emphasis on intensity while the other half participated in a wellness program that focused on well-being.

Among the 227 women who completed the study, the 115 who exercised had higher bone density in their spine and hip, and also had a 66 percent reduced rate of falls.  Fall-related injuries including broken hips are a key cause of the need for long-term health care according to the non-profit trade organization, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. 

Fracturesdue to falls were twice as common in the controls vs. the exercise group (12 vs. six). However, the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease-assessed using the Framingham Risk Calculator, which incorporates factors such as cholesterol level, blood pressure and presence of diabetes-decreased in both groups and did not differ between the two.

Because this training regimen can be easily adopted by other institutions and health care providers, a broad implementation of this program is feasible.

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Previous studies have shown that aerobic exercise training, such as walking or swimming enhances brain and cognitive function. However, seniors with limited mobility are unable to benefit from this type of exercise.

The research team noted that until now, the benefits of resistance training, which is an attractive alternative type of exercise for seniors with limited mobility, on cognitive function has received little investigation.

Cognitive decline among seniors is a pressing health care issue and it is a key risk factor for falls. Approximately 30 per cent of British Columbia seniors experience a fall each year and fall-related hip fractures account for more than 4,000 injures each year at a cost of $75 Million to the health care system.

Results from this study are available for immediate adoption by senior women seeking to improve their health as the doses of resistance training used meet the recommended criteria provided by the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for seniors.

Support for this research was provided by a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Establishment Grant, the Vancouver Foundation, and the BC Medical Services Foundation.

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The researchers conducted tests by growing both healthy human-lung cells and precancerous human-lung cells in laboratory flasks. The flasks were provided either normal levels of glucose or significantly reduced amounts of the sugar compound, and the cells then were allowed to grow for a period of weeks.   Restricted glucose levels led the healthy cells to grow longer than is typical and caused the precancerous cells to die off in large numbers.

Every year some 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer.  It ranks as one of the leading factors for the need for costly long-term care according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance among aging seniors.

Two key genes were affected in the cellular response to decreased glucose consumption. The first gene, telomerase, encodes an important enzyme that allows cells to divide indefinitely. The second gene, p16, encodes a well known anti-cancer protein.

Healthy cells saw their telomerase rise and p16 decrease, which would explain the boost in healthy cell growth, the researchers explained.  The research into the links between calorie intake, aging and the onset of diseases related to aging is thought to be a first of its kind given that it used the unique approach of testing human cells versus laboratory animals.

The study has been published in the online edition of The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, or FASEB Journal.  The research was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

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