Controlling the costs of health care for the elderly - fair means and foul

Article Abstract:

It is possible that some form of health care rationing based on age may occur in the US in the near future. Medicare may be bankrupt in a few years and there are very few effective ways of reducing health care costs for the elderly. Advance directives should not be used to reduce costs and denying elderly patients treatment because their case is considered futile would raise many ethical problems. Legalizing physician-assisted suicide is unlikely to reduce costs significantly. Americans need to seriously debate the health care needs of the elderly and who is going to pay for them.

Care and treatment, Aged, Elderly, Ethical aspects, Medical care, Cost of, Health care costs, Refusal to treat (Medicine), Advance directives (Medicine), Health care rationing

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Estrogen and the risk of fracture - new data, new questions

Article Abstract:

Very low doses of estrogen replacement therapy may prevent bone loss in postmenopausal women without increasing their risk of breast or endometrial cancer. A 1998 study found that postmenopausal women with undetectable blood estrogen levels were more likely to develop hip or spinal fractures. However, women with detectable estrogen levels had about one-third to half the risk no matter how high their estrogen levels were. Women with low vitamin D levels were more likely to develop hip fractures.

Physiological aspects, Estrogen, Estrogens, Hip joint, Hip fractures, Vertebrae, Spinal fractures

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Can estrogen or selective estrogen-receptor modulators preserve cognitive function in elderly women?

Article Abstract:

More research may be needed to determine whether drugs that mimic estrogen can preserve intellectual function in elderly women. Postmenopausal estrogen use has been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease, but a 2001 study of the drug raloxifene showed no effect on intellectual ability.

Psychological aspects, Health aspects, Cognition, Aged women, Elderly women, Raloxifene

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