Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Drug Dosing: Geriatric Patients

Drug Dosing: Geriatric Patients

Elderly individuals encompass a diverse population with varying degrees of age-related physiological changes. Defining the elderly presents challenges, as the geriatric population is often arbitrarily categorized as individuals older than 65. However, many individuals in this group lead active and healthy lives, with an increasing number surpassing 85 years and falling into the older elderly category. Physiological changes associated with aging impact performance capacity and homeostatic...

Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age

Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age

Age-related pharmacokinetic changes are extensively documented, but understanding age-related pharmacodynamic alterations is relatively limited. This knowledge gap can be partly attributed to the complexity of developing appropriate measures of drug responses compared to bioanalytical methods for determining drug concentrations.Most information regarding age-related differences in human pharmacodynamics originates from cross-sectional studies. However, these studies assume that observed mean...

Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Excretion

Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Excretion

In geriatric patients, renal physiology undergoes significant changes, including diminished renal blood flow and a lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR), leading to alterations in medication clearance. Drugs such as aminoglycoside antibiotics, lithium, and digoxin, which rely on glomerular filtration for removal from the body, particularly impact pharmacokinetics. These drugs tend to have slower clearance rates in older adults, necessitating careful dosage considerations.Evaluation of renal...

Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Distribution

Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Distribution

Drug distribution in the human body is influenced by several factors, including plasma protein concentration, body composition, blood flow, tissue-protein concentration, and tissue fluid pH. Among these, changes in plasma protein concentration and body composition due to aging significantly affect how drugs are distributed within the body. Specifically, aging is associated with a decrease in albumin levels by about 10% and an increase in α1-acid glycoprotein levels. These alterations are not...

Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Absorption

Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Absorption

As individuals age, their body's physiology evolves, affecting drug pharmacokinetics. The most apparent changes occur in the gastrointestinal tract, where an increase in gastric pH, a delay in gastric emptying, and a reduction in gastrointestinal motility are observed. Remarkably, these changes do not substantially modify the absorption of orally administered drugs, particularly those absorbed via passive diffusion.Transdermal drug delivery emerges as a highly viable method for older adults due...

Chronopharmacokinetics: Circadian Rhythms and Influence on Drug Response

Chronopharmacokinetics: Circadian Rhythms and Influence on Drug Response

Circadian rhythms are cyclic changes that are crucial in plasma drug concentrations. Various standard circadian parameters, including core body temperature, heart rate, and other cardiovascular factors, directly impact disease states and the therapeutic response to drug therapy.
The time of drug administration is an important factor to consider, as it can influence the toxic dose of a drug. For example, a study conducted by Prins et al. in 1997 examined the effects of the timing of...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Exploring older care recipients' sleep status as a predictor for informal carer distress: evidence from New Zealand's interRAI home care assessment data.

BMJ open·2023

Same author

"It's Just [Complicated] Sleep": Discourses of Sleep and Aging in the Media.

The Gerontologist·2023

Same author

"I think I could have coped if I was sleeping better": Sleep across the trajectory of caring for a family member with dementia.

Dementia (London, England)·2023

Same author

Sleep-in to stay well: addressing school start times for the health and wellbeing of teens in Aotearoa.

The New Zealand medical journal·2023

Same author

Social Jetlag and Cardiometabolic Risk in Preadolescent Children.

Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine·2021

Same author

Daytime fatigue as a predictor for subsequent retirement among older New Zealand workers.

Sleep health·2021

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Collecting Sleep, Circadian, Fatigue, and Performance Data in Complex Operational Environments

Collecting Sleep, Circadian, Fatigue, and Performance Data in Complex Operational Environments

Published on: August 8, 2019

Who is too old for shift work? Developing better criteria.

Philippa Gander¹, Leigh Signal

¹Sleep/Wake Research Centre, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. p.h.gander@massey.ac.nz

Chronobiology International

|May 20, 2008

Summary

Older shift workers, including pilots, experience increased sleep fragmentation and loss, impacting performance and safety. Integrating fatigue and sleep assessments into medical evaluations is crucial for managing occupational health risks in aging workforces.

More Related Videos

High-Throughput Small Molecule Drug Screening For Age-Related Sleep Disorders Using Drosophila melanogaster

High-Throughput Small Molecule Drug Screening For Age-Related Sleep Disorders Using Drosophila melanogaster

Published on: October 20, 2023

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Collecting Sleep, Circadian, Fatigue, and Performance Data in Complex Operational Environments

Collecting Sleep, Circadian, Fatigue, and Performance Data in Complex Operational Environments

Published on: August 8, 2019

High-Throughput Small Molecule Drug Screening For Age-Related Sleep Disorders Using Drosophila melanogaster

High-Throughput Small Molecule Drug Screening For Age-Related Sleep Disorders Using Drosophila melanogaster

Published on: October 20, 2023

Area of Science:

Occupational Health and Safety
Aerospace Medicine
Gerontology

Background:

Industrialized nations face a growing population of older shift workers, posing potential health and safety concerns.
Current age-related risk management strategies for workers, such as mandatory retirement or standard medical assessments, have limitations.
Pilot fatigue is a known factor in aviation accidents, yet sleep-related issues are not routinely assessed in fitness-to-fly evaluations.

Purpose of the Study:

To highlight the increased prevalence of sleep fragmentation and loss in older shift workers, particularly long-haul pilots.
To advocate for the inclusion of fatigue and sleep assessments in occupational medical evaluations for older workers.
To propose a multi-layered approach for managing sleep-related risks in the aging workforce.

Main Methods:

Review of existing demographic and social trends concerning older shift workers.
Analysis of current regulatory measures for managing aging risks in commercial aviation.
Discussion of research findings on sleep fragmentation, sleep restriction, and their impact on performance and mood in older adults.

Main Results:

Older long-haul pilots exhibit more fragmented sleep compared to younger pilots and the general population.
Sleep fragmentation and loss in older workers can lead to cumulative degradation of performance and mood.
Individual sleep duration is a significant predictor of crew performance in two-person cockpit operations.

Conclusions:

Fatigue and sleep issues should be a standard component of fitness-for-work medical assessments, especially for older shift workers.
A tiered approach involving sleep history and specialist referral is recommended for managing sleep-related risks.
Further research is needed to establish validated sleep-related criteria for assessing fitness for work and to consider the impact of unemployment/early retirement.