Salmand: Iranian Journal of Ageing
Year:2014 | Volume:9 | Issue:3|Papers Count:11

Objectives: Simultaneous with the increasing elder population, their socioeconomic status has changed. We aimed to compare the socio-economic status of elder people who living in two areas in Gorgan city, north Iran, during 2004- 2009.Methods & Materials: A cross-sectional study was done n 884 elder people who were resident in 4th and 5th health station covered by Gorgan health center in 2009. Data collection was done by a standardized questionnaire. The elder people who were chosen by random sampling are asked about socioeconomic issues and their life satisfaction. Data were analyzed using Chi-square, independent t and logistic regression tests. The results were compared with the outcomes of a pervious unpublished study in 2004 which was done on 315 elder people in the same study area.Results: The education level had increased among the elderly in 2009 and illiteracy rates reduced compared with 2004 (P=0.0002). Compared with 2004, the proportion of married elders decreased in 2009 (P=0.0021). Bad economic level increased in 2009 while middle and well economic status decreased compared with their status in 2004 (P<0.0001), going to visit friends (P<0.001) and going to a park (P=0.0173) increased in 2009, while going to movie (P=0.0001), visiting family members more than once per week (P=0.0435) and going to trip more than once per year (P=0.0001) decreased. Moreover, being highly energetic decreased among elders (P<0.01) in 2009, when we considered life satisfaction. Conclusion: Given the deteriorating economic status among the elderly, the elderly need a better planning to increase their life satisfaction.

Objectives: We aimed to describe the older adults’ leisure time in Tehran with an emphasis on their physical activity and their satisfaction with outdoor sport facilities provided in the parks by the Tehran municipality.Methods & Materials: In this descriptive study, Tehran was divided into 5 geographical districts. Through cluster sampling method, 366 individuals were randomly selected out of 701300 people as Tehran’s elderly population. Data were collected by a researcher made questionnaire. Its validity and reliability had been previously evaluated (Cronbach’s alpha=0.80). Pearson’s r correlations were conducted in order to determine whether significant correlations exist between the variables. All statistical analyses were done using SPSS software, version 13.Results: About 74% of the elderly exercised, mostly in the form of walking. Moreover, 59.7% were moderatly satisfied with the quality of their leisure time. 48.2% of the participants did not use sports equipments in the parks and 41.7% thought that body-building equipments in the parks were highly or absolutely appropriate for the elderly. There was a significant correlation between age and duration of leisure time (P<0.01). Whereas, the correlation between age and satisfaction with facilities was not significant (P≤0.05). There was also a significant correlation between gender and the degree of satisfaction.Conclusion: Most elderly were moderately satisfied with their liesure time, and doing physical activity had a significant role in this regard. The existance of appropriate sports equipments in the parks encourages them to practice physical activities. As a result, the extension and development of these facilities are recommended.

Objectives: Caring for the elderly is an important part of professional nursing. We aimed to assess the impact of a caring program for the elderly on nursing students’ attitudes toward the elderly in Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.Methods & Materials: This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 59 fourth year nursing students. 32 students were in the control group and 27 ones in the intervention group. Both groups were initially pre-tested, and then the intervention group participated in a 10-day program for caring for the elderly. One day after the 10th day, post-test was done in both groups. Kogan’s attitude towards old people (KAOP) questionnaire was used to assess students’ attitudes. Data were analyzed using independent sample t test, paired-t test, ANOVA, Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests using SPSS 11.5 software.Results: 40.7% of the samples were male students and 59.3% were female. The mean scores of attitude towards elderly were not significantly different at baseline (P=0.62). The mean scores of attitude in the intervention group were 118.18 and 119.62 at baseline and at the end respectively (P=0.62). Also, the mean of attitude scores in the control group were 119.4 and 125.37 at baseline and at the end respectively (P=0.01). Conclusion: Elderly care program had a negative effect on the attitudes of nursing students toward the elderly. The living arrangement and the condition of the hospice might have affected the changes in the attitudes.

Objectives: The effect of variation in contraction force is one of the most important factors in the organization and execution of reaction time (RT) tasks that most elderly are involved in when they became obese. We aimed to test the effect of limb weight varying on pre-motor and motor components of simple and discriminative reaction time in elderly men.Methods & Materials: 16 men with a mean age of 59.18 years were asked to perform forearm flexion towards the target point in 60 cm distance in response to auditory stimulus. The weight of involved limb increased (1.2 kg) at 50% of trials and all trials were measured by electromyogram apparatus.Results: The results of two way repeated measure test showed that the main effects of weight and stimulus on PMT was significant, but the effect of stimulus increasing on MT was not significant (P=0.189). We found no significant interaction effects between limb weight and stimulus increasing on PMT (P=0.888) and MT (P=0.091).Conclusions: These results suggested that the variables that cause variation in limb inertia can affect RT movement of elderly people.

Objectives: To translate the Community Health Activities Model Program for Seniors (CHAMPS) into Persian and to evaluate the validity and reliability of Persian version of CHAMPS to be used for the elderly with difference levels of physical activity.Methods: 200 elderly completed the Persian version of CHAMPS to determine its item concurrent and convergent validity, and internal consistency .The International Quality Of Life Assessment (IQOLA) approach was used to translate CHAMPS from English to Persian. To examine test-retest reliability, a sample of 30 caregivers completed CHAMPS again 2 weeks after the first completion. Face, content, and concurrent validity of the questionnaire were assessed.Results: Over 85% of the items had good translation quality. Translators’ comments were used to modify items with quality score less than 90. More than 96% of the items correlate strongly with its own subscale than other subscales. The intraclass correlation coefficients were >0.61. Cronbach’s α coefficient was calculated 0.85 for the overall scale. Convergent validities were 0.25 and 0.19 and coefficient test-retest reliability range was 0.68-0.84. The correlation coefficient for concurrent validity tagged from 0.43 to 0.52.Conclusion: The quality of translation in the present study was satisfactory. The Persian version of the CHAMPS has acceptable levels of face validity, concurrent and convergent validity, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency to be used for the elderly. It is asuitable measure for physical activity levels.

Objectives: This study investigated the effect of acute resistance exercise on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and its receptor (IGFBP-3) in the elderly.Methods & Materials: 22 healthy older men participated in this study (age range: 60-75 years). 72 hours after determining muscular maximal strength (by 1-RM test), the elderly participated in acute resistance exercises via 75% 1-RM. Three blood samples were collected at baseline, immediately and 4 hours after the exercise from the Antecubital vein. Serum BDNF, IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 were measured by ELISA methods. Also, for statistical analyses Pearson correlation test and Repeated Measures (1×3) were used. The significance level was set at P≤0.05.Results: The results showed significant increase in serum BDNF levels, immediately after a session of resistance exercise. But 30 minutes after completion of the protocol, there were no significant changes compared with baseline values (P≤0.05). There was also a significant increase in the amount of IGF-1, after a session of resistance exercise. But 30 minutes after completion of the protocol, there was no significant change compared with baseline (P≤0.05). In the end, there was no significant change in the levels of IGFBP-3 in immediately and 30 minutes after resistance exercise protocol, compared with baseline. Conclusion: In response to resistance exercise, the amount of BDNF and IGF-1 significantly increased, immediately after the exercise, but there was no significant change in the levels of IGFBP-3. It seems that resistance exercise causes positive changes in the amount of neurotrophic factors involved in learning and memory. Subsequently, it may causes reduction in the prevalence of neurological disorders associated with learning and memory impairments such as Alzheimer’s, depression, and dementia in the elderly.

Objectives: Elderly people with knee osteoarthritis are more likely to become disabled than others. We aimed to explore the association between two treatments and pain severity in women aged 50-75 years who suffered from knee osteoarthritis.Methods & Materials: 40 women with knee osteoarthritis were randomized into two groups: to either received common treatment or common treatment accompanied by knee traction. The binary response variable was pain severity. Participants were followed up for 10 times. Because of missing data, the multiple-imputation-based generalized estimating equations (MI-GEE) method was used to estimate the odds of a pain as a function of the treatment groups adjusted for age and body mass index. Data were analyzed by R software. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated.Results: In multivariate model, we found an association between pain severity and treatment (P=0.004). The pain odds ratios was 0.28 (95% CI: 0.12-0.65) for common treatment accompanied by knee traction group.Conclusion: The pain was found to be lower among patients treated with common treatment accompanied by knee traction than patients treated with only common treatment.

Aging is the outcome of the progressive accumulation of different alterations in the body accompanied with gradual decrease of the efficiencies of normal physiological functions and the capacity to maintain homeostasis leading to the increased probability of disease and mortality. Researchers have done different experiments especially on animal models for understanding the aging process, longevity, and the improvement of life quality. They have proposed more than 300 aging theories which overlap to some extent. In this article, we try to explain some of the most important theories with an emphasis on the epigenetic theory. The two most prominent biochemical theories of aging are free radical and mitochondrial theories. Normal aging is the result of the balance between damage and repair and these theories explain the oxidative stress associated with the damages which result from reactive oxygen species (ROS), stress response signaling pathway, and the antioxidant enzymes. According to the genetic theories, aging is the result of a controlled genetic program of maturity and development. Moreover, aging mitotic clock guided by telomeres is also important. The lengths of telomeres which shorten after each cell division, can be regulated by many foods and telomeric epigenetic conditions. Furthermore, Aging is influenced not only by genes and mutations, but also by the environmental and epigenetic effects especially in the second half of life. The epigenetic changes include the alterations in gene expression without any changes in DNA sequences. Their biological and functional importance is accompanied with the loss of DNA global methylation, histone modification and gene promoter hypermethylation during aging process.To achieve the dream of living healthier and longer, dietary manipulation through supplements and antioxidants, understanding the key role of the caloric restriction on longevity through the activity of Sirtuin proteins, the exercise and the perception of the environmental factors which affect epigenetic changes during aging process, are the most essential research issues in the 21th century.