Issues for the Elderly, and Those Who Care for Them
08/29/2013
An Alzheimer's patient has her hair done in Mexico City in 2012
This is As It Is. Hello, I’m Caty Weaver. On the show today, we discuss issues affecting the elderly and those who care for them.
We start with a report from Karen Leggett about a British study. It examines the connection between social activity and death rates among older people.
Then we visit a different kind of day care in Virginia. It provides important services to people with dementia and their caregivers.
A new study has found that older people who are socially active might live longer than those who are alone more. But researchers say loneliness is not the main problem. Karen Leggett has more.
A number of studies have linked both loneliness and social isolation with an increased risk of death. What’s the difference? Andrew Steptoe is with University College London. He says social isolation means limited or no contacts with friends and family, or involvement in groups or sports.
“Whereas loneliness is a more subjective experience to do with a person’s feelings of companionship or feeling left out.”
However, there is a strong connection between loneliness and social isolation. Professor Steptoe and his research team wanted to find out which one was more important. The research team examined information from a large study of older men and women called the English Longitudinal Study of Aging. They found no meaningful difference between higher death rates and loneliness. But social isolation was a different issue.
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