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Dementia is one of the greatest health challenges of our time. People with dementia experience changes to their ability to understand, evaluate and retain information, and may have problems expressing and remembering their decisions. These changes all affect whether or not someone has the mental capacity to make their own decisions, but we should not automatically assume that dementia equals a loss of capacity. Many people with mild or moderate dementia will still have the ability to make informed choices, particularly when information is given in an appropriate format. This could mean simplifying the language used, repeating information, and using clearly written, short documents.
“Interface medicine” has a number of definitions in different contexts—it seemed an appropriate title to describe primary care-trained doctors working in community or hospital settings whose aim is to maximise quality of life for older frail patients using skills and knowledge from both general practice and geriatric medicine.
I am now coming toward the end of my 5 year tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Age and Ageing, having taken over this role from Roger Francis in February 2014.
“You have twenty-one children?!” I asked incredulously. The Fanta that was halfway to my mouth almost left my hand to land on my khaki coloured trousers.
This report adds to the growing body of evidence linking CVD risk factors with an increased risk of frailty.
Pain is a very common condition in older people, ranging from 40% in community-dwelling older adults to 80% in institutionalised individuals. It is known that pain, especially persistent pain (defined as a painful experience that continues for a prolonged period of time that may or may not be associated with a recognisable disease process), is associated with depression, social isolation, anxiety, insomnia, falls, higher health costs, weight loss, greater vulnerability to stressors and functional loss in older people. 
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10 days in a hospital bed leads to 10 years’ worth of lost muscle mass in people over age 80’