Marilyn assists her mother, Mary Herrin, 96, at the C.C. Young Memorial Home in Dallas as her brother, Bob, accompanies them. Marilyn retired from her job in Virginia four years ago to tend to her family members. DALLAS — It’s a duty that many of us …
A cap on the amount people have to pay for social care in old age is likely to be a central recommendation of the independent review of social care funding. The government’s independent commission on the issue is due to report in July, with legislation …
Faced with the task of caring for her 79-year-old mother-in-law, raising her son and working full time, Julie Parker needed a little help. “I really did underestimate the amount of time it takes (in caring for an elderly person). You have to get her …
Elderly patients of the NHS regularly find themselves victims of medical negligence, a new report has revealed. According to a number of investigations carried out by the Health Service Ombudsman, ten patients suffered unnecessary pain, humiliation and …
Diabet Med. 2011 Mar; 28(3): 301-305
Nathanson D, Zethelius B, Berne C, Lind L, Andrén B, Ingelsson E, Holst JJ, Nyström T
Diabet. Med. 28, 301-305 (2011) ABSTRACT: Aims? Congestive heart failure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetes. Besides the glycaemic effects of glucagon-like peptide?1 (GLP-1) mimetics, their effects on the heart are of interest. Methods? We aimed to investigate longitudinal relationships between plasma levels of fasting GLP-1 (fGLP-1), 60-min oral glucose tolerance test-stimulated GLP-1 levels (60GLP-1), and the dynamic GLP-1 response after oral glucose tolerance test (?GLP-1?=?60GLP-1?-?fGLP-1) and incidence of hospitalized congestive heart failure, during a follow-up time of a maximum of 9.8?years in 71-year-old men. We also investigated, cross-sectionally, the association between GLP-1 and left ventricular function as estimated by echocardiography. Results? During the follow-up period, 16 of 290 participants with normal glucose tolerance experienced a congestive heart failure event (rate 0.7/100?person-years at risk), as did eight of 136 participants (rate 0.8/100?person-years at risk) with impaired glucose tolerance and nine of 72 participants (rate 1.7/100?person-years at risk) with Type?2 diabetes mellitus. Although GLP-1 concentrations did not predict congestive heart failure (fGLP-1: HR?0.98, 95%?CI?0.4-2.4; 60GLP-1: HR?1.1, 95%?CI?0.4-2.6; ?GLP-1: HR?0.9, 95%?CI?0.3-2.3), there was an association between left ventricular diastolic function (E/A ratio) and fGLP-1 (r?=?0.19, P?=?0.001), 60GLP-1 (r?=?0.20, P?<?0.001) and ?GLP-1 (r?=?0.18, P?=?0.004). There was a lack of differences in plasma levels of GLP-1 between the groups with Type?2 diabetes and normal glucose tolerance. Conclusions? There were no longitudinal associations between GLP-1 levels and incidence of hospitalization for congestive heart failure. However, without any causality proven, GLP-1 levels did correlate, cross-sectionally, with left ventricular diastolic function in this cohort, suggesting that pathways including GLP-1 might be involved in the regulation of cardiac diastolic function.
February 21, 2011 –
THE report by Ann Abraham, NHS Ombudsman, into care of the elderly, is a shocking indictment of NHS hospitals and shows, I believe, a Jekyll…
This week’s report on the treatment of the elderly is a timely reminder that we must radically rethink the way we view the older generation, says Joan Bakewell.
