Aging clinical and experimental research
-
Multicenter Study Observational Study
Diabetes mellitus, frailty and prognosis in very elderly patients with acute coronary syndromes.
The magnitude of the association between diabetes (DM) and outcomes in elderly patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) is controversial. No study assessed the prognostic impact of DM according to frailty status in these patients. ⋯ About 40% of elderly patients with ACS had previous known DM diagnosis. The association between DM and outcomes was different according to frailty status.
-
Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Controlled-release oxycodone tablets after transdermal-based opioid therapy in patients with cancer and non-cancer pain.
Several publications and guidelines stress the efficacy and safety of opioid-based therapy for cancer and non-cancer pain management. The first point of the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines recommends that, if possible, analgesics should be given by mouth. This advice fully matches the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines, which advise that opioids should be titrated to take effect as rapidly as possible. The European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) guidelines specify that transdermal fentanyl should be administered only in patients with stable analgesic requirements. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and influence on the quality of life of controlled- release (CR) oxycodone in patients who had obtained no or only partial pain relief after transdermal (TTD)-based opioid therapy. ⋯ Switching from transdermal opioid to oxycodone CR treatment is effective and leads to patients' improved satisfaction and quality of life.
-
Multicenter Study
Admission profile is predictive of outcome in acute hospital care.
The purpose of this study is to describe predictors for discharge and one-year outcomes of acute-care hospital patients, 75 years of age or over, based on admission status information. We carried out a prospective study of a randomly selected patient population, from one urban acute-care hospital in each of the Nordic countries. 763 persons aged 75+ were randomly selected from acute admissions to the participating hospitals. 749 observations at discharge and 655 observations at one year were used in analyses. ⋯ Evidence predictive of discharge and one-year outcomes in older acute hospital medical care patients seems to be visible from the beginning of the hospital stay. In order to increase the efficient use of health care services and quality of care, systematic standardized and streamlined assessment should be performed during the admission process.