Glaucoma Drugs May take part in Role in Longer Life

Glaucoma Drugs May acquire part in Role in Longer Life..
People who take medication to treat glaucoma appear to outlive those who don't treat the eye disease, new research has found.
whether the reduced risk for premature death stems from the glaucoma drugs themselves or from the individuals' overall health or even their access to health care remains unclear.

Use of glaucoma drugs poses important questions for the more than 2 million Americans with the eyesight-threatening condition, which causes steady deterioration of the optic nerve, said Dr. Joshua D. Stein, an assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Michigan and lead author of a report on the research, published in the February issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.

"There are four or five classes of drugs for ophthalmology, and they have side effects," Stein said. "Among other things, they can affect kidney function and blood pressure, so it's important to know whether drug therapy is beneficial or detrimental to overall health."

The study, which involved 21,506 people with glaucoma or suspected glaucoma, came down strongly in favor of drug therapy. It found that the drugs do not harm overall health. And, it discovered that those who regularly took glaucoma medications had a 74 percent reduced risk for early death, compared with those who didn't take the drugs.

But Stein stressed that those numbers say nothing about whether or why regular use of glaucoma drugs lowered the chances of dying. "The type of data we are working with can't answer that question," he said.

It's possible that the medications are beneficial, acting to boost kidney function, lower blood pressure or otherwise improve general health, he said. "But the fact that all the different classes of medications have the same benefit suggests to me that it might not be the medications themselves," Stein said. "It could be the types of patients who are receiving the medications. Patients who have more life-threatening conditions are less likely to get glaucoma treatment, so perhaps they are healthier people in general. Or perhaps it is access to care. Some people who don't have access to glaucoma care have less access to medical care in general."

The new study is the latest contribution to a long-running debate about whether glaucoma itself can increase the risk for death, said Dr. Louis Pasquale, director of the glaucoma service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital. A number of studies have come to differing conclusions on the issue, said Pasquale, who has published a meta-analysis of such studies.

Swiss technology tackles greying society

One WEF session heard Switzerland could no longer cling to a retirement age that was set generations ago

Technological advances could meet some of the challenges..
Swiss scientists in Davos outlined the latest medical, robotics, biomechanics and architectural research aimed at improving the lives of the elderly. But delegates also heard that tough political decisions would be necessary.

All demographic projections point to a marked increase in the number of pensioners in the next 50 years, coupled with a significant downturn in birth rates.

In Switzerland, the over-65s age group is tipped to make up a third of the population by 2050 compared to around 17 per cent at present. The phenomenon, which would be mirrored throughout the world, threatens to place an unbearable burden on social security and health systems while impeding economic output.

Some problems could be solved with technological advances aimed specifically at meeting the challenges. A team of professors from the Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) and Lausanne (EPFL) highlighted how such breakthroughs could relieve the burden on the public purse as well as on pensioners.



Science keeps you working
Breakthroughs in the field of biomechanics, for example, have made it possible to estimate the likelihood of bone fractures caused by normal domestic tasks such as lifting shopping bags. Such data could form the basis of preventative medical treatments, saving not only suffering but also more lengthy post-accident repair work.

Designing homes with the elderly in mind would both enhance the independence of occupants and reduce the need for household help. The use of robots and artificial intelligence could also serve similar functions, according to Dario Floreano, director of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL.

Floreano’s research includes sensors that monitor fatigue levels to indicate how much physical activity can be safely undertaken. He is also developing robotic exoskeletons that would give walkers or lifters an extra boost and an array of robotic domestic help.

Vitamin D hortage is the main responsible for bones fraction..

Vitamin D seems to play a key role in many systems in the body... Vitamin D can reduce fractures in elderly....
Without sufficient vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle, or misshapen. Deficiency can arise from inadequate intake coupled with inadequate sunlight exposure; disorders that limit its absorption; conditions that impair conversion of vitamin D into active metabolites, such as liver or kidney disorders; or, rarely, by a number of hereditary disorders. Vitamin D deficiency results in impaired bone mineralization and leads to bone softening diseases, rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, and possibly contributes to osteoporosis.
Vitamin D plays a number of other roles in human health including inhibition of calcitonin release from the thyroid gland. Calcitonin acts directly on osteoclasts, resulting in inhibition of bone resorption and cartilage degradation. Vitamin D can also inhibit parathyroid hormone secretion from the parathyroid gland, modulate neuromuscular and immune function and reduce inflammation.[

“Vitamin D seems to play a key role in many systems in the body, not just bones, but diseases like diabetes and certain cancers,” he said. “A serious shortage of vitamin D leads to a condition called osteomalacia, where your bone fails to mineralise.”

Vitamin D deficiency, he added, was linked to poor bone density and osteoporosis, and could occur in younger patients. Dr Gallacher said that among the hip fracture patients aged between 50 and 70 referred to him, most tended already to have very low bone density.

As people get older, their bodies become less adept at converting vitamin D from sunshine through their skin. To add to the problem, the diet in Scotland is traditionally low in vitamin D.

Dr Gallacher said: “In the United States, milk which is fortified with vitamin D can be purchased alongside ordinary milk and I think there’s an argument that it would be quite useful to do the same here. It makes logical sense to give people the choice.”

He welcomed the Scottish government’s recent move to raise awareness among pregnant women and young mothers about the importance of vitamin D.
Scotland now leads the world in following up cases of broken bones to trace their underlying cause and try to prevent further breaks. A fracture liaison service was pioneered in Glasgow in 1999. Now accessible to three quarters of the population of Scotland, the service means that anyone over 50 who suffers a fracture is automatically referred to have their bone density measured and, if low, their vitamin D level taken.
Those who have poor density, and are at risk of osteoporosis and further fractures, are treated with calcium and vitamin D supplements and other anti-osteoporosis therapies.
“We would like to have Scotland as the first country in the world with a comprehensive fracture liaison service,” said Dr Gallacher. “We’re 75 per cent of the way there and just need the financial investment to complete the loop. It would make Scotland a beacon for the rest of the world.”