This paper provides very old men's experiences of and reflections on purpose in life. The answers from an interview question about purpose in life from 23 men were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. The results revealed three content areas: talking of purpose of life in general, talking of own purpose in life and reflections on purpose in life. Our findings showed that very old men experienced purpose in life most strongly when remembering the past and describing their earlier work. The old men reflected on purpose in life not just from their own individual perspectives, but also from a more reflective and analytic perspective.
Changes of the pituitary-thyroid and pituitary-adrenal hormone axes with age and possible differences between the sexes in the elderly were studied in 60-year-old (n = 39) and 80-year-old (n = 34) non-hospitalized subjects. The 80-year-old age group had a significantly lower response of thyrotropin (TSH) to thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH; p < 0.05). Otherwise, there were no significant differences between the two age groups. Sex differences were found for plasma arginine vasopressin and cortisol excretion (higher values in men), and free thyroxine index, TSH and prolactin response to TRH (higher values in women). Cortisol levels after dexamethasone were negatively correlated to body mass index. There were no differences in hormone levels between smokers and non-smokers. In obtaining reference values for hormones in old age it is important to consider possible changes after the age of 60 years and to adjust for gender and body mass.
In the following paper: Characteristics associated with falls in patients with dementia in a psychogeriatric ward, S. Eriksson, Y. Gustafson, and L. Lundin-Olsson, published in Aging Clin Exp Res 2007; 19: 97-103, there was an error in the data base and after correction some of the results changed. Eighty-two out of 204 patients (40%) fell, in all, 244 times. The fall rate was 6.1 falls/person year (3.4 for women, 12.3 for men). Forty-five patients fell more than once, and they contributed with 207 falls altogether.
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