Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
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Comparative Study
Do-not-hospitalize orders for individuals with advanced dementia: healthcare proxies' perspectives.
To determine how well healthcare proxies (HCPs) understand do-not-hospitalize (DNH) orders and why they may or may not initiate them. ⋯ The potential barriers to and facilitators of HCPs initiating DNH orders identified in this study suggest that HCPs may benefit from more in-depth discussions with healthcare providers when making this decision. Interventions to address these barriers may improve the capacity of HCPs to make informed decisions about DNH orders that reflect individuals' values and wishes.
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Letter Review Case Reports
Gabapentin withdrawal: case report in an older adult and review of the literature.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Variations in postoperative complications according to race, ethnicity, and sex in older adults.
To explore differences in the incidence of postoperative complications between three racial and ethnic groups (white, black, Hispanic) before and after taking into account potentially confounding patient and hospital characteristics. ⋯ Older black and Hispanic individuals have greater odds than white individuals of developing a vast majority of postoperative complications. Procedure type and health status largely explained differences in postoperative complication risk, which are frequently conditional on sex.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Operationalization of frailty using eight commonly used scales and comparison of their ability to predict all-cause mortality.
To operationalize frailty using eight scales and to compare their content validity, feasibility, prevalence estimates of frailty, and ability to predict all-cause mortality. ⋯ Substantive differences exist between scales in their content validity, feasibility, and ability to predict all-cause mortality. These frailty scales capture related but distinct groups. Weighting items in frailty scales can improve their predictive ability, but the trade-off between specificity, predictive power, and generalizability requires additional evaluation.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Advancing age and 30-day adverse outcomes after nonemergent general surgeries.
To determine whether 30-day postoperative mortality, complications, failure-to-rescue (FTR) rates, and postoperative length of stay increase with advancing age. ⋯ Thirty-day mortality and complication and FTR rates increase with age after nonemergent general surgeries. Individuals aged 80 and older have especially high mortality after renal, cardiovascular, and pulmonary complications. Surgeons need to be more selective with advancing age regarding who will benefit from the surgical intervention.