Question 1

Beginning around the time of her 70^th birthday, Margaret began to experience increasing problems in learning new things, with her memory, and with her motor coordination. She now is frequently confused, sometimes doesn't recognize people she has known for a long time, and her speech has become less fluent. The condition that would most likely be diagnosed in Margaret's case would be:

Accepted Answer

Dementia is a disorder associated with older age that includes a broad array of cognitive deficiencies, such as impaired learning and memory ability, a deterioration of language and motor functions, a progressive inability to recognize familiar people and objects, frequent confusion, and personality changes.

Question 2

According to the text, which of the following is NOT one of the three most common chronic conditions associated with age?

Accepted Answer

The text lists hypertension, arthritis, and heart disease as the three most common chronic conditions associated with age, but does not include cancer as one of the three.

Question 3

If you examined the brain functioning of a teenager and that of an older adult, you would probably notice which of the following differences, with respect to brain lateralization?

Accepted Answer

According to the text, the lateralization of functions into the left or right hemispheres that is characteristic of the brain during adolescence and young adulthood becomes at least somewhat reversed in old age.

Question 4

Which of the following is the best example of a chronic health problem faced by a relatively large proportion of older adults?

Accepted Answer

According to the text, type 2 diabetes is a chronic, age-related health condition. Not only does this disease become more prevalent as adults grow older, but also the damage it causes to the body accumulates over time.

Question 5

According to the text, hearing problems associated with aging include all of the following EXCEPT:

Accepted Answer

Aging typically affects the ability to hear high-frequency sounds and separating speech from background noise, but not mid-frequency sounds.

Question 6

If you were to do one thing that would give you the best chance of avoiding or limiting normal, age-related declines in brain functioning, that would be:

Accepted Answer

Those who experience the least brain atrophy are more likely to engage regularly in complex cognitive tasks. Apparently, keeping our brains active and engaged in old age may help ward off some of the neurological decline that typically accompanies aging.

Question 7

Robert is diagnosed as having glaucoma. He should anticipate that the recommended treatment for this condition will most likely be:

Accepted Answer

The text notes that glaucoma often can be treated with medication.

Question 8

According to the text, which of the following factors accounts for the largest share of problems older adults have with driving a car?

Accepted Answer

The book notes that visual acuity problems generally are not the source of problems with driving. Rather, it is the more general slowing down of certain cognitive abilities that can lead older adults into difficulties with driving.

Question 9

To say that a condition is chronic means that it:

Accepted Answer

The text defines chronic conditions as those illnesses that never go away.

Question 10

If a normal person's brain weighed 3 pounds at age 30, about how much would you expect it to weigh at age 90?

Accepted Answer

At age 90, the brain of a normal person weighs about 90% of what it weighed at age 30.

Question 11

Miranda suffers from type 2 diabetes. If she is typical, you would guess that she is also:

Accepted Answer

Type 2 diabetes is linked most closely to obesity, which is becoming more prevalent among older adults.

Question 12

If you were a dietician at a restaurant in an extended care facility where active healthy people in older adulthood ate, you should know that, in comparison to younger adults, older adults need about _______ calories and about _______ nutrients.

Accepted Answer

By the time they reach age 65, older adults require at least 20% fewer calories than younger adults do; however, they still need nearly as many basic nutrients.

Question 13

Luther, like millions of other Americans, suffers from arthritis, which is considered to be a chronic condition because it:

Accepted Answer

The text defines chronic conditions as those illnesses that never go away.

Question 14

Brenda has been a watercolor artist all of her adult life. Now in her 60s, she has lost the ability to distinguish fine detail. Her visual problem would best be described as a decline in:

Accepted Answer

Visual acuity, the ability to distinguish fine detail, is frequently lost to some extent by older individuals.

Question 15

According to the text, what percent of people over age 75 are probably affected by at least one chronic condition?

Accepted Answer

About 75% of people over age 75 are likely affected by at least one chronic condition, reflecting the increased prevalence of chronic diseases with advancing age.

Question 16

If you were to interview 1,000 adults age 85 and over and ask them to rate their own health status, about how many people in this group would you expect to report that their health is "good" to "excellent"?

Accepted Answer

The text reports that more than half of adults age 85 and over report having good to excellent health.

Question 17

Older adults typically have some difficulty in driving a car. The particular visual problem that is most responsible for driving problems and car accidents is:

Accepted Answer

The book notes that visual acuity problems generally are not the source of problems with driving. Rather, it is the more general slowing down of certain cognitive abilities that can lead older adults into difficulties with driving. As people age, they increasingly have trouble ignoring irrelevant stimuli. Their ability to perform visual search tasks, locating the correct "place to look" in a complex display of visual information, tends to become slower and less accurate with age.

Question 18

The normal, age-related changes that occur in the brain as we enter older adulthood are most likely the result of having ______ of brain cells and having _______ connections among brain cells.

Accepted Answer

As we age, the number of brain cells tends to remain relatively stable, but the connections among those cells, known as synapses, decrease. This reduction in synaptic connections can affect cognitive functions, but it doesn't necessarily mean a significant loss of brain cells themselves.

Question 19

Compared to obesity rates in the 1980s, the percentage of older adults who are obese today has:

Accepted Answer

According to several studies, including the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the percentage of older adults who are obese today has increased for both men and women compared to the obesity rates in the 1980s. It is concerning because obesity is linked to various illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.

Question 20

Helen used to love to sew, but when she turned 90 she gave this up, because she could no longer see well enough to thread a needle. Helen's problem is best described as one involving:

Accepted Answer