Mediterranean diet and depressive symptoms among older adults over time.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether adherence to a Mediterranean-based dietary pattern is predictive of depressive symptoms among older adults. DESIGN: Generalized estimating equation models were used to test the association between a Mediterranean-based dietary pattern and depressive symptoms over time. Models were adjusted for age, sex, race, education, income, widowhood, antidepressant use, total calorie intake, body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, number of self-reported medical conditions, cognitive function, and physical disability. SETTING: Chicago, Illinois. PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling participants (n=3502) of the Chicago Health and Aging Project aged 65+ years (59% African American) who had no evidence of depression at the baseline. MEASUREMENTS: Adherence to a Mediterranean-based dietary pattern was assessed by the MedDietScore. Dietary evaluation was performed with a food frequency questionnaire at baseline and related to incident depression as measured by the presence of four or more depressive symptoms from the 10-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale. RESULTS: Over an average follow-up of 7.2 years, greater adherence to a Mediterranean-based diet was associated with a reduced number of newly occurring depressive symptoms (parameter estimate = -0.002, standard error = 0.001; p = 0.04). The annual rate of developing depressive symptoms was 98.6% lower among persons in the highest tertile of a Mediterranean-based dietary pattern compared with persons in the lowest tertile group. CONCLUSION: Our results support the hypothesis that adherence to a diet comprised of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish, and legumes may protect against the development of depressive symptoms in older age.

Accelerated dysfunction among the very oldest-old in nursing homes.

BACKGROUND: The population aged 65 and older is often analyzed in three categories: young-old (65-74), middle-old (75-84), and oldest-old (> or = 85). This may blind heterogeneity within the oldest category. New, large data sets allow examination of the very oldest-old (e.g., aged > or = 95) and contrasts with those who are younger. METHODS: We determined the annual change of prevalence of physical and cognitive function, and of disease problems in the old to very oldest-old, using data from existing Resident Assessment Instrument records from nursing homes in seven states during 1992-1994. We used data from 193,467 unique residents aged 80 or older, including 6,556 residents aged 100 or older. We computed the prevalence, by age, of selected conditions: physical and cognitive function, diseases, problem behavior, mood disturbance, restraint use, falls, weight loss, eating less, body mass index, chewing and swallowing problems, incontinence (bowel and bladder), catheter use, and selected diagnoses. RESULTS: Prevalence of all measures of physical and cognitive dysfunction increased most rapidly with each year of age among the very oldest-old. Most of the slope changes occurred from 95 to 100 years of age. Such changes are less pronounced or not seen in measures of disease prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: Accelerated change in prevalence of dysfunction seen in the nursing home population may suggest a change in the mechanisms of aging that occur after the mid-nineties. Examination of the very oldest-old may provide new insight into the nature of the aging process.

Patients' desires and expectations for medical care: a challenge to improving patient satisfaction.

Patients' desires and expectations for medical care warrant scrutiny because of their potential influence on health care use and patient satisfaction and their effects on patients' perceptions of quality of care. To determine if desires and expectations for selected elements of medical care and specialty referral differ between VA outpatients and non-VA outpatients, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of patients at a VA medical center site and 2 primary care sites of its university affiliate. Of 390 eligible patients at the VA medical center site, 270 (69%) consented to participate and returned completed self-administered questionnaires. At its university affiliate sites, 119 (73%) of the 162 eligible patients completed questionnaires. Overall, patient desire and expectation for elements of medical care and specialty referral were similar and high at all study sites. Desire ranged from 33% for a blood test to check for anemia to 80% for heart auscultation. Desire for specialty referral for hypothetical scenarios averaged 71% and 61% among VA Medical Center patients and university affiliate patients, respectively. Patient demographics and socioeconomic status were poor predictors of desire for care. These results suggest (a) that VA medical center outpatients' desires and expectations for preventive medical care are not significantly different from those of non-VA outpatients, (b) that desire is often high for both highly recommended care and care that is not generally recommended or is controversial, and (c) that high levels of desire are not limited to patients of higher levels of socioeconomic status. In an effort to improve satisfaction, it is important to examine ways in which to address patients' desires and expectations for medical care, even while faced with competing health care spending priorities.

Patients' desires and expectations for medical care in primary care clinics.

To explore whether patients' desires for and expectations of medical care differ between the United States and Canada, we surveyed 652 patients and 105 physicians at primary care sites in Michigan and Ontario. Patient desires were similar at both sites, but expectations were higher in Michigan. Michigan physicians gave higher estimates of patient desire than physicians in Ontario. Physicians at both sites, however, similarly underestimated patients' desires. These between-site differences in expectation may reflect differences both in general cultural factors and in patient exposure to different clinical policies within the medical systems.