{"id":12536,"date":"2016-05-17T13:21:49","date_gmt":"2012-05-17T20:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.accessrx.com\/blog\/?p=5423"},"modified":"2012-05-17T13:21:49","modified_gmt":"2012-05-17T20:21:49","slug":"hospital-stays-mentally-hurt-elderly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edrugstore.com\/blog\/current-health-news\/hospital-stays-mentally-hurt-elderly\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: Hospital stays mentally hurt elderly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A new study shows a hospital stay can have a negative impact on an elderly patient. Researchers from Chicago say cognitive problems increase after an elderly person is hospitalized.<\/p>\n

The effects of hospital stays<\/strong><\/p>\n

Data collected for 15 years in Chicago as part of an aging project shows memory and thinking skills<\/a> dropped after older patients dealt with a hospital stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, it\u2019s as if people became 10 years older, from a cognitive standpoint, than they actually were before a hospitalization,\u201d Dr. Wilson lead author of the report and a professor of neurological and behavioral sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago said. \u201cEspecially vulnerable to this effect were patients with more serious illnesses who stayed in the hospital for longer periods of time, and patients who started experiencing worsening memory and thinking problems before they were admitted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cause<\/strong><\/p>\n

Researchers aren\u2019t sure what\u2019s causing the mental decline. \u201cIs this cognitive insult caused by the illness that brought the patient to the hospital, or by what we do in the hospital?\u201d \"\"Dr. Boustani, associate professor of medicine at Indiana University asked. \u201cIt appears to be both.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this new research does is add another layer and show that there\u2019s also this cognitive loss that\u2019s occurring,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile we suspected this before, there wasn\u2019t strong enough data to firmly establish it before this study.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advice for children of elderly parents<\/strong><\/p>\n

In many cases, children are providing care for elderly<\/a> parents. Doctors involved with this study advise children to be aware of these potential problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnow that when your elderly parent is coming out of the hospital, this has the potential to be a very vulnerable period,\u201d Dr. Covinsky said. \u201cWhatever need your parent had prior to the hospitalization, there\u2019s a good chance they may change and that more support will be required.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new study shows a hospital stay can have a negative impact on an elderly patient. Researchers from Chicago say cognitive problems increase after an elderly person is hospitalized. The effects of hospital stays Data collected for 15 years in Chicago as part of an aging project shows memory and thinking skills dropped after older […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_autoblog_aioseo_focus_keyphrase":"","_autoblog_aioseo_title":"","_autoblog_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-health-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t