406 research outputs found
Utility of a frailty index in older adults with an intellectual disability: preliminary findings from intellectual disability supplement to the Irish longitudinal study on ageing (IDS-TILDA)
No full textHealth and Health-Care Utilization of the Older Population of Ireland: Comparing the Intellectual Disability Population and the General Population
No full textBackground/Objectives: Largely unresearched are the similarities and differences compared to the general population in the aging of people with an intellectual disability (ID). Data reported here compare the health and health-care utilization of the general aging population in Ireland with those who are aging with ID. Design: Data for comparisons were drawn from the 2010 The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) and the Intellectual Disability Supplement (IDS)-TILDA Wave 1 data sets. Setting: TILDA participants were community dwelling only while IDS-TILDA participants were drawn from community and institutional settings. Participants: TILDA consists of a sample of 8,178 individuals aged 50 years and older who were representative of the Irish population. The IDS-TILDA consists of a random sample of 753 persons aged 40 and older. Using age 50 as the initial criterion, 478 persons with ID were matched with TILDA participants on age, sex, and geographic location to create the sample for this comparison. Measurements: Both studies gathered self-reported data on physical and mental health, behavioral health, functional limitations, and health-care utilization. Results: Rates of chronic disease appeared higher overall for people with ID as compared to the general population. There were also age-related differences in the prevalence of diabetes and cancer and different rates of engagement between the two groups in relevant behavioral health activities such as smoking. There were higher utilization levels among IDS-TILDA participants for allied health and general practitioner visits. Conclusion: Different disease trajectories found among IDS-TILDA participants raise concerns. The longitudinal comparison of data for people with ID and for the general population offered a better opportunity for the unique experiences of people with ID to be included in data that inform health planning. </jats:sec
Dual sensory impairment among a cohort of older adults living in Ireland: A nested case-control study of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing cohort
No full textBackground: Little information is available on the implications of hearing loss, visual impairment and dual sensory impairment among older adults with an intellectual disability (ID) living in Ireland and this paper aims to address the health concerns associated with sensory impairment among this population. Methods: A representative sample of 753 persons aged 40 years and older at all levels of ID and full range of residential circumstances from the Intellectual Disability Supplement to the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA) participants were matched with general older population TILDA participants on age, sex and geographic location within Ireland. Demographic data on samples included age, sex, visual impairment (yes/no), hearing impairment (yes/no) and dual sensory impairment (yes/no). For those with intellectual disability (ID) data was also gathered on level of intellectual disability, residence, needing assistance with activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living, self-rated health, loneliness, doctor’s diagnosis of endocrine disease and of dementia and doctor’s report of two or more chronic health conditions. Bivariate analysis of associations between visual, hearing and dual sensory impairment with the measures of physical and mental health was completed and logistic regression analysis to generate adjusted odds ratios for associations between sensory impairment and physical and mental health conditions.Results: As compared to the matched general population participants, in participants with ID dual sensory impairment was more often associated with poor self-rated health, limitations with two or more ADLs, loneliness and multimorbidity. People with ID were 4.4 times more likely to be multimorbid if they were visually impaired compared with an odds ratio of 2.4 in TILDA participants.Conclusion: Previous studies found significant associations between hearing and visual impairment among older populations. Analysis here also suggests the burden of sensory impairment increases both with ID and then with level of I
Total tooth loss and complete denture use in older adults with intellectual disabilities in Ireland: Older adults with intellectual disabilities
No full textObjectives
The objectives of this study were to describe the reported dentate status and complete denture use of older people with intellectual disability (ID) and compare with those of older people in the general population in Ireland.
Methods
The first wave of the Intellectual Disability Supplement to The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA) study provides opportunity to measure edentulism and complete denture use in a nationally representative sample of older people with ID in Ireland. Data drawn from the first wave of IDS-TILDA were matched using propensity score matching with data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), a study among older adults in Ireland. All IDS-TILDA variables showing significant association (P < 0.05) with edentulism were entered into a regression model to identify predictors of edentulism.
Result
The proportion of the 478 IDS-TILDA participants with no teeth was higher (34.1 percent) than the proportion of participants with no teeth in the 478 matched TILDA participants (14.9 percent). Only age was predictive of edentulism among older adults with ID. Edentulism was prevalent earlier for those with ID. Notably, 61.3 percent of edentulous older people with ID were without dentures.
Conclusion
Older people with ID are more likely to be edentulous than those without ID in Ireland and when they lose their teeth, they are unlikely to use dentures. This suggests a need for targeted measures to maintain the teeth of this group and, in the short term, the provision of replacement teeth in this population, where indicated
Social connections for older people with intellectual disability in Ireland: Results from wave one of IDS-TILDA
No full textBackground: The literature on influences of community versus congregated settings raises questions about how social inclusion can be optimised for people with intellectual disability. This study examines social contacts for older people with intellectual disability in Ireland, examining differences in social connection for adults with intellectual disability and other adults.
Materials & methods: Data were drawn from the IDS-TILDA study in Ireland. A nationally representative sample (n = 753) included adults aged 40 years and older, with additional comparison with general population participants. Predictors of social contacts were explored.
Results: Residence, level of intellectual disability and age were significant factors determining social contact. People in institutional residences, older respondents and those with severe/profound intellectual disability had the lowest levels of contact; older adults with intellectual disability had much lower rates than general population counterparts.
Conclusions: Community-dwelling people with intellectual disability have greater social contact than those living in institutions, but levels are below those for other adults in Ireland
Statement by Bishop Henry W. Cleary
No full textHolograph statement by Bishop Henry W. Cleary of Auckland, Rome, reviewing the Italian translation of Goblet's L'Irlande dans la crise universelle 1914-1920 'the best of the many books, dealing with that critical period, that have come under my notice'. The author possesses both the historic sense and a dramatic instinct
The social disorganization of eating: a neglected determinant of the Australian epidemic of overweight/obesity
No full textBACKGROUND: Over the last 150 years, advanced economies have seen the burden of disease shift to non-communicable diseases. The risk factors for these diseases are often co-morbidities associated with unhealthy weight. The prevalence of overweight/obesity among adults in the advanced countries of the English-speaking world is currently more than two-thirds of the adult population. However, while much attention has concentrated on changes in diet that might have provoked this rapid increase in unhealthy weight, changes in patterns of eating have received little attention. METHODS: This article examines a sequence of large-scale, time use surveys in urban Australia stretching from 1974 to 2006. The earliest survey in 1974 (conducted by the Cities Commission) was limited to respondents aged between 18 and 69 years, while the later surveys (by the Australian Bureau of Statistics) included all adult (15 years of age or over) living private dwellings. Since time use surveys capture every activity in a day, they contain much information about mealtimes and the patterns of eating. This includes duration of eating, number of eating occasions and the timing of eating. Inferential statistics were used to test the statistical significance of these changes and the size of the effects. RESULTS: The eating patterns of urban Australian adults have changed significantly over a 32-year period and the magnitude of this change is non-trivial. Total average eating time as main activity has diminished by about a third, as have eating occasions, affecting particularly luncheon and evening meals. However, there is evidence that eating as secondary activity that accompanies another activity is now almost as frequent as eating at mealtimes. Moreover, participants seem not to report it. CONCLUSIONS: Contemporary urban Australians are spending less time in organized shared meals. These changes have occurred the over same period during which there has been a public health concern about the prevalence of unhealthy weight. Preliminary indications are that societies that emphasize eating as a commensal, shared activity through maintaining definite, generous lunch breaks and prioritizing eating at mealtimes, achieve better public health outcomes. This has implications for a strategy of health promotion, but to be sure of this we need to study countries with these more socially organized eating patterns
Portrait of Beverly Cleary
No full textPortrait of well-known children's author Beverly Cleary. She grew up near Yamhill, Oregon, but spent some of her childhood visiting relatives in the Banks area.[caption] Beverly Cleary Children's Librar
Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Sporadic Shiga Toxin–Producing Escherichia coli Enteritis, Ireland, 2013–2017
No full textThe Republic of Ireland regularly reports the highest annual crude incidence rates of Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) enteritis in the European Union, ≈10 times the average. We investigated spatiotemporal patterns of STEC enteritis in Ireland using multiple statistical tools. Overall, we georeferenced 2,755 cases of infection during January 2013–December 2017; we found >1 case notified in 2,340 (12.6%) of 18,641 Census Small Areas. We encountered the highest case numbers in children 0–5 years of age (n = 1,101, 39.6%) and associated with serogroups O26 (n = 800, 29%) and O157 (n = 638, 23.2%). Overall, we identified 17 space-time clusters, ranging from 2 (2014) to 5 (2017) clusters of sporadic infection per year; we detected recurrent clustering in 3 distinct geographic regions in the west and mid-west, all of which are primarily rural. Our findings can be used to enable targeted epidemiologic intervention and surveillance
Climate Change, Flood Risk Prediction and Acute Gastrointestinal Infection in the Republic of Ireland, 2008-2017
No full textEnvironmentally associated infectious diseases, including those driven by extreme weather events, represent a critical challenge for public health as their source and transmission are frequently sporadic and associated mechanisms often not well understood. Over the past decade, the Republic of Ireland (ROI) has persistently reported the highest incidence of confirmed verotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) and cryptosporidiosis infection in the European Union. Moreover, recent climate projections indicate that the incidence, severity and timing of extreme rainfall events and flooding will increase dramatically over the next century, with Ireland forecast to be the second most affected European country with respect to the mean proportion of the population residing in flood-prone areas by 2100. This study aimed to assess the association(s) between potential flood risk exposure and the spatial occurrence of confirmed VTEC and cryptosporidiosis infection in Ireland over a 10-year period (2008-2017).In 2012, the Irish Office of Public Works (OPW) initiated the National Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme within the framework of the Flood Directive (2007/60/CE), with high-resolution flood maps produced for coastal and fluvial risks and three risk scenarios based on calculated return periods (low, medium and high probability). Small area identifiers (national census area centroids) were used to attach anonymised spatially referenced case data to CFRAM polygons using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to produce an anonymised dataframe of confirmed infection events linked to geographically explicit flood risk attributes. Generalised linear modelling with binary link functions (infection presence/absence) were used to calculate probabilistic odds ratios (OR) between flood risk (presence/absence and scenarios) and confirmed human infection.Preliminary results indicate a clear relationship between both infections and hydrological risk. Over one third of all infection cases were reported within areas exposed to flood risk (VTEC 948/2755 cases; cryptosporidiosis 1548/4509 cases). Census areas categorised by a high (10-year Return Period) fluvial flood risk probability exhibited significantly higher incidence rates for both VTEC (OR: 1.83, P = 0.0003) and cryptosporidiosis (OR: 1.80, P = 0.0015). Similarly, areas characterised by low (1000-year Return Period) coastal flood risk probability were over twice as likely to report ≥1 confirmed case of cryptosporidiosis during the study period (OR: 2.2, P= 0.003). Space-time scan statistics (temporally-specific spatial autocorrelation) indicate an unseasonal peak of cryptosporidiosis cases occurring during April 2016, a majority of which took place within or adjacent to high flood risk areas (56% of total cases), revealing a potential relationship with the exceptional flooding events experienced during winter 2015-2016 (November-January). Further work will seek to identify the individual/combined flood risk (CFRAM) elements most significantly associated with the incidence of infections.Flood risk assessment mapping may represent an innovative approach to assessing the human health impacts of flood risk exposure and climate change. The outcomes of this study will contribute to predictive modelling of VTEC and cryptosporidiosis in Ireland, thus aiding surveillance and control of these diseases in the future, and the causative nature of regional hydrology and climate
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