According to a research abstract presented at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies participants who reported a habitual daily sleep duration of eight hours or more including naps were 15 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome. 

This relationship remained unchanged after full adjustment for potential confounders such as demographics, lifestyle and sleep habits, and metabolic markers. Removing participants with potential ill health from the analysis slightly attenuated the observed association. Although participants who reported a short sleep duration of less than six hours were 14 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome in the initial analysis, this association disappeared after controlling for potential confounders.

Researchers noted that the most surprising aspect of the study was that long sleep – and not short sleep – was related to the presence of the metabolic syndrom.

The study involved over 29,000 adults, making it the largest study to assess the relationship between sleep duration and the presence of metabolic syndrome. Participants were 50 years of age or older. Total sleep duration was reported by questionnaire.

We can recommend that long sleepers reduce the amount of overall sleep they achieve, which may in turn have beneficial effects on their health one medical expert noted. Programs can be developed to modify sleep in an attempt to reduce the health burden on elderly populations, who are already at higher risk of disease.

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People with osteoporosis are at increased risk of fracture, even after a minor fall from standing height. A study presented at the World Congress on Osteoporosis 2010 reveals that among elderly men the risk of falling, and thereby breaking a bone, is influenced by age. Most significantly, it also suggests that ethnicity and environment play a role in the risk of falling.

The survey study analyzed the epidemiology of falls among more than 11,000 elderly men in Sweden, the US and Hong Kong. 

The results showed that although the frequency of falls increased significantly with age in each country, the risk of frequent falls (men who fell two or more times over the course of one year) did not vary significantly across the different age groups. 

The proportion of fallers in most age groups was highest in the US, intermediate in Sweden and lowest in Hong Kong. The proportion of frequent fallers showed a different pattern, being highest in Sweden, intermediate in the US and lowest in Hong Kong. The fall epidemiology did not differ when comparing Asian men living in Hong Kong or the US.

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The results showed that the quality-adjusted life years lost to obesity are equal to, or greater than, those lost because of smoking.

From 1993 to 2008, the number of adult smokers decreased 18.5 percent and smoking-related quality-adjusted life years lost remained relatively stable at 0.0438 quality-adjusted life years lost per population. Over that same time, the proportion of obese Americans increased 85 percent, resulting in 0.0464 quality-adjusted life years lost. Obesity had a larger effect on disease, while smoking had a greater impact on deaths, the researchers found.

Although life expectancy and quality-adjusted life expectancy have increased over time, the increase in the contribution of mortality to quality-adjusted life years lost from obesity may result in a decline in future life expectancy.

The study is published in the February issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Another recent study concluded that if both smoking and obesity rates in the United States remain unchanged, life expectancy in the nation will be reduced by almost nine months. That study was published in the Dec. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. 

Posted by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  Visit our website to obtain a free quote for this important protection.

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