Journal of gerontology
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Feelings of loneliness in relation to disease, handicaps, social network and social background were studied in a representative sample of 1,007 70-year-old people living in Göteborg, Sweden. The results showed that loneliness was a problem to 24% of the women and 12% of the men. ⋯ The lonely had a negative self-assessment of health and consumed more out-patient care, social welfare help and sedatives. The higher consumption of medical service and/or social care was, however, not associated with a higher prevalence of definable somatic disease or handicaps.
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To learn whether tactile sensitivity is decreased in elderly adults, we measured touch thresholds on the pad of the index finger in individuals aged 19 to 88 years. Semmes-Weinstein aesthesiometer filaments were used in a forced-choice procedure to eliminate response biases among subjects. ⋯ A large proportion of elderly individuals had thresholds that were higher than the average for young adults, although older people varied widely in touch sensitivity. Neither reported illness nor medication use was significantly related in tactile threshold.
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The effects of five major life events, and of three types of resources, on the physical and social-psychological adaptation of 375 participants in a longitudinal study were examined. As expected, medical events had the most impact on physical adaptation, but they had surprisingly little impact on social-psychological adaptation. ⋯ Better physical resources helped only physical adaptation, and better psychological and social resources mainly helped satisfaction. It appears that most of these potential stressors have less serious long-term outcomes than the crisis orientation would suggest.
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Severe anxiety, unlike severe depression, is not common among the aged. In view of the multitude of stresses accompanying later life and considering the fact that lack of success in mastering stress typically produces anxiety, one should expect a high frequency of anxiety among the aged. To explain the deficit, it is proposed that those who survive into old age have developed strategies to successfully deal with stress, that among these strategies is a passive stance, termed "freeze," and that "freeze" is a third emergency reaction, one which was omitted from the fight-flight paradigm of emergency reactions.
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Journal of gerontology · Jan 1977
Case ReportsThe effect of incidental hypothermia on elderly surgical patients.
Elderly surgical patients are especially susceptible to incidental hypothermia. Thermoregulatory mechanisms and cardiopulmonary systems are limited in recovery potential. To prevent postoperative shock secondary to decreased cardiac output an hypoxia, temperature should be carefully monitored with vital signs during and after surgery.