Hypernatremia in elderly patients is most often due to the patients mental incapacity or physical inability to obtain water despite intact thirst sensation. Hypodipsia leading to hypernatremia is not often considered in alert, elderly subjects since hypodipsia is not a recognized consequence of nonaphasia-producing cerebrovascular accidents. Described herein are six elderly patients who had such [...]
Alterations in urine concentrating ability with age were examined in 98 active community-dwelling volunteers (aged 20-79 years) who were free from evidence of diseases known to adversely affect renal function. There was a significant decrease in urine osmolality reached after 12 h dehydration with advancing age, which could not be correlated with the age-related decline [...]
Osmoreceptor sensitivity, as estimated by the plasma vasopressin (AVP) response to hypertonic saline infusion, increases with age. We studied volume-pressure sensitivity, as estimated by the plasma AVP response to orthostasis, in healthy young (19-31 yr old; n = 12) and old (62-80 yr old; n = 15) subjects. After remaining recumbent overnight (minimum of 8 [...]
A prospective study was undertaken to investigate the incidence and aetiology of acute confusional states in physically ill old people. The subjects were 71 patients aged 70 years or over who were admitted as emergencies to a general medical unit. Mental testing revealed that: (a) one in six patients had an acute confusional state on [...]
The causes, therapy for, and consequences of hypernatremia in elderly patients are not well understood. We found that in 15,187 consecutive hospital admissions, 162 (1.1%) patients who were at least 60 years of age had serum sodium levels that measured greater than 148 meq/L. Of that 162, 57% had become hypernatremic in the hospital; the [...]
No abstract available.
A trend toward more hot and humid summers in the United States raises concern for the health of our elderly population. Older adults are more vulnerable to heat illness than younger people because of dysfunctional thermoregulatory mechanisms, chronic dehydration, medications, and diseases involving the systems that regulate body temperature. Heat exhaustion, if untreated, will lead [...]
Beyond the age of 30, kidney size begins to decrease, and there are accompanying decreases in total renal blood flow, outer cortical flow, glomerular filtration rate and the ability both to conserve and to excrete sodium. There is also a decline in concentrating ability and possibly in diluting ability. These changes make the elderly patient [...]
OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of early hypernatremic dehydration among residents of a nursing home care unit (NHCU) presenting with significant febrile episodes (FE). DESIGN: Prospective cohort analytic study. FE were defined as temperature (T) > 100 degrees F oral (o) or 101 degrees F rectal (r) for > or = 24 hours. SETTING: NHCU [...]