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Editors Selection IGR 17-4
Quality of Life: Health of the elderly
Comment by George Spaeth on:
17516 Health risk appraisal in older people 1: Are older people living alone an 'at-risk' group?, Kharicha K; Iliffe S; Harari D et al., British Journal of General Practice, 2007; 57: 271-276
The report by Kharicha et al. (398)on the health of the elderly is not the type of report one is likely to read in the most popular ophthalmic literature. Nevertheless, it raises many critically-important issues. In the briefest terms, the authors have shown convincingly that old folks who live alone are for more likely to have unhealthy lives than those who do not live alone. Health problems include the full range of social, emotional and bodily illnesses, and are particularly severe in women. Among the most prominent are visual loss, frequently caused by glaucoma, and falls.
The observation of the increased health risks of living a solitary life is important in itself. However, it evokes questions that are probably even more important. For example, how could living alone be a risk factor for developing glaucoma? Are some types of glaucoma related to lifestyle?
How can living alone be a risk factor for developing glaucoma? Are some types of glaucoma related to lifestyle?A variety of reports over the years have found that certain constitutional characteristics can be linked to certain types of glaucoma, such as low blood pressure, hormonal characteristics of post-menopausal women, a variety of thyroid abnormalities, and irregularities of thyroid metabolism. Certainly some of these health issues are related to lifestyle. Many years ago, when there was considerable interest in steroid provocative testing, Theodore Schwartz showed that husbands and wives were just as likely to have similar elevations of intraocular pressure in response to topical steroids as were first-degree relatives and far more likely to have such responses than those who were unrelated but did not live together.
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