Health Matters

• Over two thirds (67 per cent) of people aged 85 and over in the UK have a disability or limiting long-standing illness. For those aged 65-74, the figure is 40 per cent and for people aged 75-84, it is 55 per cent..
• 38 per cent of people in Great Britain aged 65 to 74 and 50 per cent of those aged 75 plus have a limiting longstanding illness.
• Men in the UK can expect to live their last 6.8 years with a disability. For women, the average is 9.1 years

• In England , only 19 per cent of people aged 65 to 74 and six per cent of people aged 75 plus do recommended levels of exercise.

• Falls represent over half of hospital admissions for accidental injury.
• Half of those with hip fracture never regain their former level of function and one in five dies within three months.
• 50 to 70 per cent of women will have an osteoporotic fracture at some time.

• In the UK 42 per cent of people over 75 will develop cataracts, and almost 50 per cent will have age-related macular degeneration.
• 28 per cent of people aged 65 plus have difficulties with their eyesight.
• 55 per cent of people aged 60 plus are deaf or hard of hearing.

• One in three people over 65 will die with dementia.
• Nearly 700,000 people are estimated to be suffering from dementia in the UK in 2007 and, by 2025, the number is expected to rise to one million. By 2051, it is projected to exceed 1.7 million.
• Dementia affects one person in five over 80, one in four over the age of 85 and one in three for people over 90.
• Depression affects 13 to15 per cent of people over 65 living in the community, and 40 per cent of older people in care homes

• It is estimated that between 3 and 3.5 million people suffer from urinary incontinence in the UK . More than half are over 65. The majority are women.

• There are over 100,000 first strokes every year in the UK , and 90 per cent of these affect people over 65 years.
• Every year about 130,000 people in England and Wales suffer a stroke.
• Despite improvements in stroke services over the past decade, 26 per cent of stroke patients do not spend any time in a dedicated stroke unit.

• There are an estimated 9 million people in the UK suffering from arthritis.

• Only 8.5 per cent of those dying of cancer aged over 85 die in a hospice, compared to 20 per cent of all cancer deaths.
• In the winter of 2007/8, there were an estimated 24,995 excess winter deaths of people aged 65 and over in the UK - 21,000 of them in
• England . About 90 per cent of winter deaths are of people aged 65 and over.
• It has been estimated that for any degree colder than 20C, mortality rises by one to two per cent.
• Deaths from hypothermia are rare, but cold weather and poor heating can contribute to the deaths caused by circulatory diseases (responsible for 41 per cent of all recorded deaths by natural causes) and by respiratory diseases (13 per cent).

• Three quarters of NHS clients are aged 65 and over but they receive only two fifths of total expenditure. 9 per cent of people aged 75 and over in England find it very difficult to get to their doctor's surgery.
• Nearly one in five (19 per cent) find it very difficult to get to their local hospital.
• The number of emergency readmission for people aged 75 plus in English hospitals in 2006/ 7 was 148,922, a rise of 69 percent since 1998/99.
• 64 per cent of older people think health and care staff don't always treat older people with respect for their dignity.