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The average older adult in the United States takes five prescription drugs per day. Half of these drugs contain a sedative. Alcohol should therefore be avoided by most senior citizens because of the dangerous interactions between alcohol and sedatives.
As many as 28% of hospitalized patients requiring mechanical ventilators to help them breathe (for more than 48 hours) will develop ventilator-associated pneumonia. Current therapy involves intravenous antibiotics, but new antibiotics that can be inhaled (and more directly treat the infection) are being developed.
The average adult has about 21 square feet of skin.
The average human gut is home to perhaps 500 to 1,000 different species of bacteria.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all women age 65 years of age or older should be screened with bone densitometry.