(Dis)organization of Palliative Care as a Potential Quality-of-Life Issue in the Senior Population – Croatian Experiences

This paper analyses the current situation in the Croatian health-care system, with special emphasis on the (dis)organization of palliative care within the public health, more precisely gerontology context. Namely, population world-wide is getting older, that is both a statistical and an everyday-medical fact. Today we consider citizens after the age of 65 as the elderly, with a tendency to move the age-limit to 75 years. Croatia on the matter swiftly follows global trends, while literature points to the fact that an increase in the elderly population dictates the need for an organized system of palliative care and hospice building. Although we can not ignore the fact that children can become palliative care patients, we can conclude that these are predominantly elderly patients. In fact, aproximately half of patients - users of palliative care - have some type of oncological diagnosis, a significant number of patients suffers from dementia, stroke or heart failure. As for the Primorsko-goranska county and the City of Rijeka, they show similar trend, as can be illustrated with data from the 2011 census, when the share of citizens over 65 years in the population of Primorsko-goranska county reached 18,91%, and in the population of the City of Rijeka 19,74%. Thus, one of the main quality-of-life issues in the Croatian senior population is the (dis)function of the palliative medicine/care system. Practice, namely, shows that there has still been no implementation. In particular, palliative medicine is not yet recognized as a speciality or sub-speciality, standards and norms for this activity are not set, palliative care is still not included in the system of obligatory health insurance, and as far as the national strategy of health policy for the area of palliative care, Croatian Government at its meeting held on 27th December 2013 finally adopted the "Strategic Plan for Palliative Care of the Republic of Croatia for the Period 2014-2016". Exactly because we are a decade behind European standards (Reccommendation Rec (2003) 24 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the organization of palliative care), it is more than legitimate to place this subject at the centre of the current Croatian gerontology interest

Implementation of Program of Prevention and Early Detection of Osteoporosis among Women of Primorsko-goranska County

The aim of this paper is to present preliminary data of Program of prevention and early detection of osteoporosis among women in Primorsko-goranska County. Osteoporosis is recognized as a public health problem for which clearly preventive measures are defined. Measurement of bone density was done by ultrasound densitometry of the calcaneus among women aged from 45 to 69 years old. 688 women were examined and they were classified in five five-year age groups. The women with the osteoporosis (T-score 2.5) were 141; osteopenia (T-score from –2.5 to –1) were found in 400 women, and those with normal range of T-score were 147. All of five groups of women had T-score in range of osteopenia (T-score 1). A statistically significant difference was between the first and fourth groups of women (p=0.002) and the second and fourth groups (p=0.001). After examination, depending on the value of T-score, women were recommended to visit family doctor and they also got educative booklet with advices for healthy nutrition and physical activity. Implementation of this program indicated the importance of proper lifestyle in the prevention of osteoporosis. Average T-scores of all five groups of women show that osteopenia occurs also in the youngest ones. This indicates the need for a systematic approach to preventing osteoporosis through education of women including younger ones and creating conditions for organized physical activities at the community level

Poster 11. - Prevencija i rano otkrivanje osteoporoze u žena Primorsko-goranske županije

Prikaz programa: “Prevencija i rano otkrivanje osteoporoze u žena Primorsko-goranske županije“. Osteoporoza je prepoznata kao javnozdravstveni problem zbog modernog načina života (neadekvatna prehrana, nekretanje). Ciljevi programa doprinose smanjenju razvoja osteoporoze te zdravijem i kvalitetnijem životu

Muscle loss in aging population

Sarcopenia is a generic term for the loss of skeletal muscle mass, quality and performance associated with normal aging that can lead to frailty in the elderly. It cannot be considered a disease or a condition that has a clear diagnostic marker. However, the clearly is a decline in the average muscle mass and performance associated with senescence. Because of the great increase in the proportion of the population living long enough that frailty becomes a significant problem, there is much interest in achieving a better scientific understanding of sarcopenia. The ageing of the European population is a major public health problem for most of the industrialized western countries, and represents both a social and an economic burden for the European population

Muscle loss in aging population

Sarcopenia is a generic term for the loss of skeletal muscle mass, quality and performance associated with normal aging that can lead to frailty in the elderly. It cannot be considered a disease or a condition that has a clear diagnostic marker. However, the clearly is a decline in the average muscle mass and performance associated with senescence. Because of the great increase in the proportion of the population living long enough that frailty becomes a significant problem, there is much interest in achieving a better scientific understanding of sarcopenia. The ageing of the European population is a major public health problem for most of the industrialized western countries, and represents both a social and an economic burden for the European population