UAMS Receives Grant to Study Effects of Bed Rest on Elderly; Research will be First of its Kind Conducted in the Nation

By todd

| LITTLE ROCK – Bed rest may not be the best prescription for elderly people with illness or injury, which is why researchers at the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have received a $5.7 million grant to study its effects.

The National Institutes of Health grant will allow UAMS researchers to study the functional and metabolic effects of 10 days of bed rest in elderly men and women, and examine ways to prevent or slow the progression of harmful changes. This will be the first study in the nation to examine the consequences of prolonged bed rest in elderly people.

The study will be led by William J. Evans, Ph.D., professor of geriatrics, physiology and nutrition in the UAMS College of Medicine and director of the Nutrition, Metabolism, and Exercise Laboratory at UAMS and at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System.

“Without a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the effects of bed rest, the health and vitality of our elderly patients may be severely compromised, even though the medical condition that resulted in bed rest has been resolved,” Evans said.

National statistics show that increasing age is associated with longer stays in a hospital and patients older than 65 account for more than 35 percent of all hospital discharges. Almost half of the elderly people discharged from hospitals are sent to a rehabilitation center, where they continue bed rest.

Previous studies have shown that bed rest causes loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, increased loss of nitrogen and calcium, increased insulin resistance and loss of balance in young healthy volunteers.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,170 students and 650 residents and is the state’s largest public employer with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of about $3.8 billion a year.

UAMS centers of excellence are the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging, Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy and Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute.