Title:
Exploring Pathways from Multimorbidity to Functional Decline and Frailty
Speaker:
Dr Heather WHITSON, MD, MHS
Associate Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics) & Ophthalmology
Duke University Medical Center – Durham, NC
Host:
Associate Professor Angelique Chan
Executive Director
Centre for Ageing Research and Education (CARE)
ABOUT THE LECTURE
Approximately two-thirds of persons over age 65 have multimorbidity, defined as the co-occurrence of two or more chronic conditions, and almost one quarter of seniors live with five or more conditions. Owing to medical advances and demographic trends, multimorbidity has become the rule rather than the exception in most clinical settings. Patients with multimorbidity experience higher risk of many adverse outcomes including death, increased healthcare cost and utilization, complications, functional decline, and frailty. But multimorbidity is an issue that is, by definition, complex and heterogeneous. Efforts to improve care and outcomes for people with multimorbidity require a deeper understanding of how and why the traditional, disease-focused model of care may be inappropriate in this face of multiple, co-existing conditions. In this talk, Dr. Whitson focuses especially on the relationship between multimorbidity and functional decline or frailty. She discusses several pathways that lead from multimorbidity to loss of independence and suggests strategies for modifying them.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Whitson is a geriatrician and clinical investigator in the Duke Aging Center in Durham, North Carolina. Her research focuses on improving outcomes for older adults with multiple chronic conditions and she has particular interest and expertise related to the interface between cognitive decline and vision impairment. Her team includes collaborators from the Duke Eye Center, the Duke Aging Center, and the Duke/UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center. She is currently the PI of two studies that probe the potential link between degenerative diseases of the brain and eye. One study investigates retinal biomarkers as a potential means of detecting early Alzheimer’s Disease, while the other study investigates brain and cognitive changes that develop in the context of age-related macular degeneration. She has also developed a new low vision rehabilitation model (MORE-LVR) for persons with co-existing cognitive and visual impairments. These and other projects relate to an over-arching objective: to raise awareness, improve understanding, and create better treatment options in order to reduce the ‘whole-person’ consequences of disease accumulation.
This talk is jointly sponsored by the Centre for Ageing Research and Education (CARE) and the Signature
Program in Health Services and Systems Research (HSSR), Duke-NUS
All are welcome!
For more information, please contact: Tan See Mieng, 66011131, seemieng.tan@duke-nus.edu.sg
Date and Time
19 Mar 2015 @ 10:30 - 19 Mar 2015 @ 11:30