The leading cause of vision impairment and blindness in the United States is age-related eye disease, including age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. There are many medication safety issues associated with vision loss. Access to prescription information, including medication labels and usage instructions, is essential for the correct taking of medication. However, many people with vision loss are unable to access important instructions for use and safety information; determine the color, shape, and markings distinguishing a medication; or see markings

Point: Treating Hypertension in the Elderly

An 83-year-old woman with a prior myocardial infarction (MI) had a blood pressure in the sitting position of 172/90 mm Hg in the right brachial artery and 174/90 mm Hg in the left brachial artery. Her standing blood pressures were similar. Her physician was uncertain whether he should treat her blood pressure because of differing published opinions,1,2 and because of a debate he had heard at a national meeting moderated by the author in which conflicting opinions were expressed.

Should this woman be treated with antihypertensive drug t

“The stars are aligned” for healthcare reform this year, President Obama declared in early May, as this issue of Annals of Long-Term Care went to press. “We’ve got to get it done this year, both in the House and Senate. We don’t have any excuses.”

Aiming to meet that deadline, committees in both chambers of Congress have been holding hearings and drafting healthcare reform proposals over the past few months. They plan to “mark up” proposed legislation this month with a goal of introducing a comprehensive bill in each chamber before the August recess. Once that’s accomplish

The American Thoracic Society’s (ATS) Annual International Conference featured a special update session on the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. Ironically, several thousand of the anticipated 15,000-16,000 attendees cancelled travel plans to attend the conference because of their governments’ recommendations against travel to the United States. The conference is one of the largest gatherings of researchers, clinicians, and healthcare workers in the field of respiratory medicine and has been a preferred venue for the presentation of breakthrough scientific developments in that area. The e

Identification of Older Patients with Heart Failure Who May Be Candidates for Hospice Care: Development of a Simple Four-Item Risk Score

Bao C. Huynh, MD, PharmD, Aleksandr Rovner, MD, and Michael W. Rich, MD

OBJECTIVES: To identify predictors of 6-month mortality in older patients with heart failure (HF) and to develop a risk score for identifying potential candidates for hospice care.

DESIGN: Secondary data analysis of a previously conducted randomized, clinical trial.

SETTING: Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri.

PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred eighty-