Research round-up
Protecting elderly during heatwaves; chronic pain more complex in women; investigating medicine use among older people; and calls for training prompted by depression research.
In this story:
- Preparation key to protecting elderly during heatwaves
- Women’s chronic pain is more complex
- Medicine use among older people
- Report prompts call for depression training
Preparation key to protecting elderly during heatwaves
With longer, hotter summers projected for the future, preparation is key in preventing harm to aged care residents as a result of heatwaves, according to a new study by Judith McInnes and Professor Joseph Ibrahim of Monash University’s Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine.
Published in the Australian Healthcare and Hospital Association’s academic journal, the Australian Health Review, McInnes and Ibrahim explain that heatwaves are estimated to have caused more than 4,000 deaths in Australia over the past 200 years, twice that due to either floods or cyclones. The impact can be sudden, with the majority of heat-related deaths occurring within the first few days of exposure.
If climate change scenarios are within the range of those considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, heatwaves in Australia are likely to become more frequent, intense and longer lasting, with particular impact on the older population.
The authors interviewed 14 representatives from health service campuses located in non-metropolitan areas of Victoria who discussed an extensive range of preparations undertaken including developing heatwave plans.
Through the implementation of heatwave plans and early preparation activities, aged care facilities would anticipate the rise in temperature and compensate accordingly, therefore reducing the impact on residents.
According to the study, having a documented heatwave plan, good air conditioning, a backup power generator and a regular maintenance program were reported to facilitate preparedness.
Read the paper: Preparation of residential aged care services for extreme hot weather in Victoria, Australia
Women’s chronic pain is more complex
New research from the University of Adelaide has found that chronic pain in women is more complex and harder to treat than chronic pain in men. The work, to be presented today at the Faculty of Pain Medicine spring meeting in Byron Bay, organised by the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), suggest that men and women should be prescribed medications and treated for pain differently according to their gender.
Study leader Dr Mark Hutchinson from the University’s School of Medical Sciences said laboratory studies have shown for the first time that the brain’s immune cells, known as glial cells, contribute to differences in pain between the sexes.
“Our research is discovering brain mechanisms at work that are proving chronic pain in women is more complex and difficult to treat than in men, despite the similarity of the initial cause of pain. Female and male structures in the brain are different but that doesn’t explain women’s higher rate of pain. There are multiple different pain systems in females and males,” he said.
Dr Hutchinson said it was already known that some drugs for inflammatory bowel disease only worked on women and not on men, indicating the need for more tailored treatments. “Better understanding female chronic pain is extremely important to treatment. We’re hoping our research will lead to the development of sex-targeted drugs that will provide more effective pain relief,” he said.
Medicine use among older people
A cross-disciplinary, multi-university team has won a five-year, $2.5 million government grant to study the use of medicines among ageing Australians. The funding will be provided under the National Health and Medical Research Council’s grants program for Centres of Research Excellence (CRE).
The Centres of Research Excellence (CRE) in Medicines and Ageing will tap into large pools of prescription and other data to investigate the “real-world” use of medicines among older Australians, looking at safety, cost-effectiveness and the appropriateness of prescription. The focus will be on medicines used widely for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, cancer, respiratory disease, pain management and mental health.
“We’re interested in how medicines are being used – by whom and with what impacts for quality of care and with what implications for cost,” said Dr Rosalie Viney, director of the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE) at UTS Business School and one of the 10 chief investigators on the project.
Ultimately, the“observational study will contribute to improved policy making and better public health, she said.
Report prompts call for depression training
Responding to recent research from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare that found over half of people living in aged care experience depression, beyondblue CEO Kate Carnell has urged aged care staff to ensure they understand mental illness in older people.
The AIHW report, released last week, which was the largest study of its kind ever completed in Australia, found 52 per cent of aged care residents had symptoms of depression.
Ms Carnell said beyondblue had responded to high levels of depression in older people by developing training programs for both staff and students studying aged care. If aged care staff can recognise the symptoms of depression and anxiety, they can take action to get professional help and treatment for those affected, she said.
Read AAA’s report on the AIHW research.
To access the training resources, visit beyond blue and click on the aged care tab.
