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" Pensioners who are regularly visited by health workers offering them advice on their wellbeing may live longer than older people who do not receive such calls, a study says. Researchers from Sweden claim that people over the age of 75 who receive at least two visits from health professionals every year during a two year period are half as likely to die during the ensuing two years. The report, published today in the BMC Public Health journal, studied the impact of home visits on a group of 196 pensioners and a collection of 346 that were not visited. Older people received at most four visits during 2001 and 2002, with each call lasting no longer than three hours, as health professionals gave advice on keeping fit and how to avoid the symptoms of common diseases. When the mortality rates were analysed in 2004, researchers found that proportionately almost twice as many older people had died in the group that had not been visited compared to the pensions who had received regular visits. &amp;quot;Preventive home visits can postpone mortality in a healthy older population but the mortality effect can only be shown during the intervention period. This trial demonstrates the advantages of a structured home visit programme, when carried out with well educated and motivated staff,&amp;quot; the authors write. \u00A9 Adfero Ltd "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a14100/older-lives-extended-by-regular-visits/>