TY - JOUR T1 - Elder Orphans Hiding in Plain Sight: A Growing Vulnerable Population. JF - Curr Gerontol Geriatr Res Y1 - 2016 A1 - Maria T. Carney A1 - Fujiwara, Janice A1 - Brian E. Emmert A1 - Tara A Liberman A1 - Paris, Barbara AB -

Adults are increasingly aging alone with multiple chronic diseases and are geographically distant from family or friends. It is challenging for clinicians to identify these individuals, often struggling with managing the growing difficulties and the complexities involved in delivering care to this population. Clinicians often may not recognize or know how to address the needs that these patients have in managing their own health. While many such patients function well at baseline, the slightest insult can initiate a cascade of avoidable negative events. We have resurrected the term to describe individuals living alone with little to no support system. Using public data sets, including the US Census and University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study, we estimated the prevalence of adults 65 years and older to be around 22%. Thus, in this paper, we strive to describe and quantify this growing vulnerable population and offer practical approaches to identify and develop care plans that are consistent with each person's goals of care. The complex medical and psychosocial issues for elder orphans significantly impact the individual person, communities, and health-care expenditures. We hope to encourage professionals across disciplines to work cooperatively to screen elders and implement policies to prevent from hiding in plain sight.

VL - 2016 UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5097795/ U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27843450?dopt=Abstract JO - Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research ER -