Golden Years Older Motorcyclists More Likely to Be Seriously Hurt in Crashes Number of bikers over age 65 is climbing as well
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lder motorcyclists are up to three times more likely than younger riders to be seriously injured in a crash, a new study shows. The findings are especially important in light of the growing number of older riders, the researchers added. They analyzed U.S. government data collected between 2001 and 2008, during which time there were 1.5 million motorcycle crashes involving adults aged 20 and older who required emergency department treatment. Men accounted for 85 percent of these cases. When divided by age groups, more than 921,000 of the incidents involved riders aged 20 to 39, more than 466,000 involved those aged 40 to 59 and more than 65,000 involved those 60 and
older, according to the study, which was published online Feb. 6 in the journal Injury Prevention. Injury rates for all three age groups increased during the study period, but the greatest increase — nearly 250 percent — occurred among riders aged 60 and older. Riders in this age group were nearly three times as likely to be admitted to the hospital after a crash than those in their 20s and 30s. Riders aged 40 to 59 were nearly twice as likely to be admitted to the hospital after a crash than younger riders, according to researcher Tracy Jackson and her colleagues in the department of epidemiology at Brown University, in Providence, R.I. Compared to younger riders, the
risk of serious injury in a crash was 66 percent higher for middle-aged riders and two and a half times higher for those aged 60 and older. The greater severity of injuries among older riders may be due to age-related physical changes, such as reduced bone strength, decreased elasticity in the chest wall and shifts in body-fat distribution, the researchers said. Underlying illnesses may also
increase the risk. In the United States, the percentage of motorcyclists over the age of 50 more than doubled from about 10 percent in 1990 to 25 percent in 2003. The average age of people involved in a motorcycle crash has steadily increased, with rates of injuries among riders over 65 increasing by 145 percent between 2000 and 2006, according to the study.
Study: Home-delivered Meal Program Helps Seniors Stay in Their Homes
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or some of Rochester’s seniors, a hot meal and a daily check-in are all they need to remain at home independently. But without that help, many would enter an expensive nursing facility. A Brown University study recently confirmed a connection between homedelivered meals and seniors remaining at home. Healthcare researchers found that states that spent more money on home-delivered meal programs had lower rates of “low-care” nursing home residents. “Low-care” describes resi-
dents who need assistance, but not the full comprehensive care that inpatient skilled nursing provides. “Every day we serve seniors who are able to stay in their own homes because of the nutritional assistance we provide,” said Phil Shippers, director of Meals On Wheels in Monroe County. “They rely on us, and our services enable them to stay right where they are—in their homes filled with memories and familiarity. Although we’ve known the benefits of our services, we’re thrilled about this new research
that further validates these efforts.” Meals On Wheels cited a 2012 survey completed by Monroe County recipients in which 92 percent of respondents reported that the meals have helped them stay in their present home. Since receiving home delivered meals, 66 percent of respondents reported feeling more independent and 69 percent reported depending on family members and friends less. In Rochester, Meals On Wheels provides approximately 300,000 meals to 2,000 seniors each year. Dietitians
ensure each meal meets one-third of a senior’s recommended daily nutritional requirements, and these professionals also assess individual needs for each recipient on a regular basis. Anyone who would like to donate to Meals On Wheels and help a senior stay in his or her home should contact the local Meals On Wheels program at 585-787-8397 or visit www.VNSnet. com/meals-on-wheels. More information about the study is available at news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2012/12/meals.
Biennial Mammograms Best After 50, Even For Women with Dense Breasts
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creening for breast cancer every two years appears just as beneficial as yearly mammograms for women aged 50 to 74, with significantly fewer “false positives” — even for women whose breasts are dense or who use hormone therapy for menopause. That is the finding of a new national study involving more than 900,000 women. The same team of researchers from UC San Francisco and Seattlebased Group Health Research Institute recently reported similar results for older women ages 66 to 89 years old. By contrast, women in their 40s with extremely dense breasts who undergo biennial mammography are more likely to have advanced-stage Page 16
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and large tumors than women who undergo annual mammography — but annual mammograms also resulted in more false positives, according to the new study from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC), the largest available screening mammography dataset in the United States. Having dense breasts means it is difficult for Xrays to pass through the breast tissue. “Increasing age and high breast density are among the strongest risk factors for the disease,” said senior author Karla Kerlikowske, a professor of medicine at UCSF and a physician at the UCSF-affiliated San Francisco VA Medical Center. Kerlikowske and other BCSC researchers reported in 2012 that risk
factors may inform individual decisions that women make with their doctors about when to start breast cancer screening and how often to repeat it. For instance, a family history of breast cancer raises the likelihood of developing the disease but it does not increase the chances of advanced-stage tumors or large tumors. “These individual decisions involve evaluating the balance between the benefits of screening — detecting cancer early — and the potential harms, such as false positives among healthy women,” Kerlikowske said. “Some people who are at higher risk of disease may be more willing than those at lower risk to accept such potential harms of screening.”
IN GOOD HEALTH – Rochester / Genesee Valley Healthcare Newspaper • May 2013
False positives mean that women without cancer are called back for more testing, including biopsies, ultrasounds and more mammograms. “For women 50 to 74 years old with dense breasts who are cancer-free, we estimated that more than half will be recalled for additional mammography at least once over the course of 10 years of annual screening,” said study co-author Rebecca A. Hubbard, an assistant investigator at Group Health Research Institute who is also at the University of Washington School of Public Health. “Screening every other year decreases this risk by about a third. The risk of false-positive results is even higher for women who begin annual screening at age 40.”