Allgemein

Denmark: 235 recommendations are supporting the prevention of communities

The WIPP project is up to date with recommendations for older people!

As part of the Danish Health Law, recommendations have been updated taking into account current findings on successful prevention strategies. The prevention packages include 235 recommendations on 11 major prevention areas. The Health Law proposes which areas should be prioritized in this regard (1) and how elderly people should be dealt with (2). The Health Law points out that all prevention strategies are important. However, a priority order has been set for the main topics (3) for the elderly:

• tobacco
• physical activity
• mental health
• alcohol
• overweight
• food and meals

For the elderly, the Health Law recommends that the above topics are going to be addressed as well as any other issues identified through preventive home visits (2).

The WIPP project follows exactly this recommendation: The above-mentioned areas are contained in the WIPP project in an evidence-based interview guideline and a screening, which is carried out as part of preventive home visits. This ensures that all topics mentioned above are interrogated by the preventive employee using the interview guide. The employee can use the evidence-based tools to assess the functional status of the project participant and identify the risks associated with the current state of health. On the basis of which individual tailor-made strategies can be developed to reduce various health risks, e.g. loss of function, loss of quality of life and loneliness.

Read more and follow the WIPP project at http://www.wipp-online.eu or find us on Facebook and / or LinkedIn

1. https://www.sst.dk/da/nyheder/2018/235-anbefalinger-skal-stoette-kommunernes-forebyggelse
2. https://www.sst.dk/da/planlaegning/kommuner/forebyggelsespakker/forebyggelsespakker-omraader/forebyggelsespakker-aeldreomraadet
3. https://www.sst.dk/da/planlaegning/kommuner/forebyggelsespakker/~/~/media/F5D53916560B4B418D7F5E5B38ECD6AE.ashxr

Around 1/3 of every Danish home-living elderly falls at least ones a year! The risk of falling increases with age and nearly twice as many elderly in the age of 70-80 years old experience a fall compared with elderly below the age of 70. Therefore, the Danish National Board of Health has just published new guidelines in order to prevent falls among elderly citizens.

“There are several reasons why older people fall, but overall falls are often due to balance failure or loss of consciousness. In addition, low muscle mass, impaired balance and perception, as well as impaired vision and hearing, are some of the other major risk factors that lead to falls. Therefore, the guideline recommends a multi-disciplinary effort to prevent and thereby reduce the number of falls in the elderly, “says clerk Christina Debes Helm from Danish National Board of Health.
The new Guidelines recommend, among other things, that elderly with increased risk of falling receive supervised strength and balance training, and in addition, do exercises that train their balance (the vestibular event)! This recommendations is exactly what we are trying in the WIPP project, where elderly people, who through evidence-based screening tools has been identified as fragile, are randomized to one of two groups, where one group receives supervised strength training twice a week for three months. The purpose of WIPP is not only to prevent falls among fragile elderly, but overall to reduce the risk of disability, reduce loss of mobility, reduce healthcare costs and increasing the number of healthy (and independent) life years in elderly citizens within the INTERREG region.

For more informations click here:

https://www.sst.dk/da/nyheder/2018/retningslinje-skal-forebygge-fald-hos-aeldre