Clinical interventions in aging
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The number of clinical trials including older patients, and particularly patients with cognitive impairment, is increasing. While statutory provisions exist to make sure that the capacity to consent is assessed systematically for each patient, many gray areas remain with regard to how this assessment is made or should be made in the routine practice of clinical research. ⋯ The MacCAT-CR is currently the most used and the best validated questionnaire. However, it appears difficult to use and time-consuming. A more recent tool, the University of California Brief Assessment of Capacity to Consent (UBACC), seems interesting for routine practice because of its simplicity, relevance, and applicability in older patients.
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Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) is a surgical procedure that has been widely used to treat patients suffering from osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs). The procedure involves injection of bone cement into a fractured vertebra. In this study, we investigated whether the distribution of the cement in the vertebral body is related to the occurrence of recompression after surgery. ⋯ We herein suggest that the control of bone cement distribution during surgery provides beneficial effects on reducing the risks of recompression after PVP treatment in patients with OVCF.
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Studies evaluating and comparing the power of frailty, comorbidity, and disability instruments, together and in parallel, for predicting mortality are limited. ⋯ All the different instruments emerged as suitable tools for risk stratification in geriatric inpatients. Among them, CFS-7, and in those patients aged ≥83 years, also the FI, might most accurately predict 1-year mortality in the aforementioned group of individuals.
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Comparative Study
Assessment of effects of differences in trunk posture during Fowler's position on hemodynamics and cardiovascular regulation in older and younger subjects.
Downward shifts in blood volume with changing position generally cause tachycardic responses. Age-related decreases in vagal nerve activity could contribute to orthostatic hypotension in older individuals. Fowler's position is a reclined position with the back between 30° and 60°, used to facilitate breathing, eating, and other routine daily activities in frail and elderly patients. ⋯ Our findings indicate that an upright upper trunk during Fowler's position allowed maintenance of SV and inhibited tachycardic response compared to an upright whole trunk regardless of age, although the autonomic mechanisms underlying tachycardic responses differed between younger and older adults. An upright upper trunk in Fowler's position might help to reduce orthostatic stress and facilitate routine activities and conversation in frail patients.
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The aim of this study was to explore the prognostic impact of clinical factors on the short-term outcomes of renal function (RF) in very elderly patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). ⋯ Risk factors for the poor outcomes of RF in very elderly patients with AKI were BMI, baseline eGFR, low MAP, low prealbumin level, hypoalbuminemia, oliguria, BUN level, and more severe AKI stage. Identifying risk factors may help to improve patient outcomes.