In the News

Survey: Family Caregiving Reported as Rewarding

A recent article in the medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine focused on family caregiving. According to the article, friends or family served as informal caregivers to nearly three-quarters of disabled adults living in the community in their final year of life, and more than two-thirds of these caregivers reported that their role was "rewarding."

These findings are based on a national survey done as part of a study by Jennifer L. Wolff, Ph.D. and colleagues at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore. Of the 1,149 caregivers who participated in the survey, 42 percent were spouses, 39 percent were children, and 19 percent were other family or friends. Three-quarters of them were female, and they provided an average of 43 hours of care per week; about 70 percent agreed that being a caregiver "makes me feel good about myself," and "enables me to appreciate life more." Read More

Technology Firm to Serve Up Virtual Family Dinners

This past holiday season, millions of Americans united and broke bread with friends and family. But by now, the kids and grandkids have returned to work and school, and Grandma or Grandpa is once again eating alone. A technology consulting company known as Accenture aims to change that. They are developing a revolutionary teleconferencing system designed to bring older adults who live alone back into the family dinner, however geographically separated they may be.

Such a system could have important applications in caregiving, especially when the caregiver does not live with the care receiver. Experts say that the digital interaction could address a growing problem: Elderly people who live alone often do not eat right, or even eat enough at all. Such a system, which will likely cost $500 to $1000 per household, could help ease this problem and possibly delay hospitalization or nursing home placement. Read More

That Delicious Curry May Have a Fringe Benefit

Turmeric, that yellowish root integral to Indian curry dishes and notorious for staining your clothes, now appears to offer benefits beyond its taste and characteristic color: Researchers have pinpointed the spice and its active ingredient, curcumin, as a balm for diseases ranging from arthritis to Alzheimer's.

Preliminary studies with animals indicate that curcumin might be useful in treating breast and pancreatic cancer. And researchers at the University of Kansas recently achieved promising results by injecting arthritis-prone rats with turmeric; the animals failed to develop the disease. But one of the most provocative areas of research is turmeric and Alzheimer's. Anecdotally, the evidence is already in: Adults in India have an Alzheimer's rate one-fourth of the U.S. rate. Scientific studies are now being done to confirm and understand the link between turmeric intake and dementia, with preliminary results that look good for curry connoisseurs: A study at UCLA determined that curcumin could help clear the human brain of the toxic protein deposits characteristic of dementia; and a study of 1,000 older men done in Singapore last year showed that those who ate lots of curry performed better on memory tests than those who did not. Read More

Children Caring for Parents with Disabilities

The Wall Street Journal reports that the number of young people caring for disabled parents is "large and expected to grow" as medical advances continue to extend lifespan and quality of life for the disabled. More than 1.3 million children aged eight through eighteen care for a family member with a chronic illness or disability, according to one 2005 study funded by the U.S. Administration on Aging. The same study found that 60 percent of the children came from households earning less than $50,000 per year, and that 25 percent had no help with assisting their disabled family members with basic tasks such as bathing, dressing, and eating.

According to the Journal, these children often have little or no choice in providing care; few of these families can afford in-home private care, which is usually not covered by insurance, and the other parent is often absent or working, leaving no one to do the difficult but essential tasks of caregiving but the child. Read More

Identifying Safe Drivers with Dementia Proves Difficult

Researchers at the University of Ottawa have concluded that there is no reliable doctor's office test to determine the safety of drivers with dementia. Dr. Frank J. Molnar, a professor at the University, first encountered the problem in his medical practice. He and his colleagues recently performed a comprehensive search of published studies, hoping to find a way to bridge the gap between the doctor's office and social science researcher statistics. For families caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's, knowing when to take the keys away poses a major dilemma.

Unfortunately, after examining the 16 studies that met their criteria, the researchers determined that none of the tools and methods examined was acceptable. The biggest problem was that none of the studies reported cutoff scores—that is, scores below which a patient should be prohibited from driving. In his practice, Dr. Molnar uses a comprehensive approach that includes screening tests recommended by the American Medical Association; a subjective assessment that examines how well the patient is able to handle other physical activities such as shopping, cooking, and hobbies; talking to family members about their experience of the patient's cognitive changes; and ultimately, if it is still unclear whether the patient is a safe driver, a referral to a specialist. Until more reliable clinical tools can be developed, the combined vigilance of the family and doctors like Molnar may be the only way of keeping loved ones safe while maintaining their independence for as long as possible. Read More

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