Alzheimer's generates burdens mainly in speech, ambulation, dexterity, and cognition

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In an aging society, an understanding of the physical and psychological burdens associated with aging is crucial for the efficient delivery of health and social services, particularly for those who are at risk for burdens prevalent among the elderly. Assessing the health-related quality of life (HRQL) in the population with age-related health conditions enables decision makers to recognize the true physical and psychological burdens this population faces. Therefore, it is important that the validity of outcome measures be evaluated in target chronic conditions before they are used in clinical, population health, and economic decision-making processes.

Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3) is a generic, multiattribute, utility-based measure that assesses health status and HRQL. The HUI3 consists of a multiattribute health status classification system and utility-based scoring functions. The multiattribute health status classification system consists of eight attributes: vision, hearing, speech, ambulation, dexterity, emotion, cognition, and pain, with five or six levels in each attribute. Single-attribute scoring function generates scores that range between 0.00 (most impaired) and 1.00 (no impairment) for each attribute. The multiattribute scoring function generates overall HUI3 scores ranging from −0.36 (most impaired, the all-worst HUI3 health state), to 0.00 (being dead) to 1.00 (perfect health) [1]. HUI3 has been used in population health surveys to assess health status and HRQL for a number of chronic conditions [2], [3], [4] and [5]. However, some of previous studies are based on samples, which may not be representative of the entire population. HRQL for patients/people with cataracts (CA) has been assessed previously [4], [5] and [6], although the construct validity of HUI3 in people with CA has not been established.

The paper assessed the cross-sectional construct validity of the HUI3 system by testing hypotheses about the ability of HUI3 to capture the burdens associated with disparate, but important conditions in older adults: Alzheimer Disease (AD), arthritis (AR), and CA. We explored two research questions: (1) are overall HUI3 utility scores of individuals with AD and/or CA and/or AR lower than scores for those without any of the three conditions, and (2) are HUI3 single-attribute utility scores able to detect burdens specific to different chronic conditions? We hypothesized that AD generates burdens mainly in speech, ambulation, dexterity, and cognition; AR mainly affects ambulation, dexterity, emotion, and pain; and CA mainly affect vision and emotion. http://www.sciencedirect.com

Fruit and veg linked to kids' school performance, study
Fruit and vegetable consumption and dietary fat intake were found to play an important role in children's academic performance, highlighting yet again the need for balanced diets at an early age. http://www.nutraingredients.com

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