Revista española de geriatría y gerontología
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Rev Esp Geriatr Gerontol · Jan 2012
[Hospital costs associated with delirium in older medical patients].
Delirium is a common and serious complication in older patients, associated with increased, potentially preventable, morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associated costs of delirium during hospitalization in a university affiliated hospital in Chile. ⋯ This study confirms that delirium is associated with significantly greater costs. Considering that effective delirium prevention is possible, the knowledge of associated costs can help health care providers to justify prevention strategies and finally give better care for older patients.
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Rev Esp Geriatr Gerontol · Sep 2011
[The Frailty Instrument for primary care of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-FI): results of the Spanish sample].
Frailty is a syndrome with important epidemiological and clinical implications in older adults. One of the most accepted definitions of frailty is that of Fried and Walston, who operationalised it according to five well defined criteria. However, their criteria are not readily applicable in primary care, where practitioners need tools to identify patients who require priority access to more specialised resources. With that objective in mind, our research group published the Frailty Instrument of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-FI). The present paper reports the results of the Spanish sample. ⋯ SHARE-FI is a valid and freely accessible instrument, which is intended to facilitate the adoption of the frailty paradigm in primary care.
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Rev Esp Geriatr Gerontol · Jul 2011
Randomized Controlled Trial[The acute orthogeriatric unit. Assessment of its effect on the clinical course of patients with hip fractures and an estimate of its financial impact].
To study the effects of the management of hip fracture patients in an acute orthogeriatric unit shared between the departments of Orthopedic Surgery and Geriatrics compared with the usual hospital care, and to analyse financial differences in both systems of care. ⋯ The OGU is a hospital setting that provides an improvement in the patients functional outcome and a reduction in the hospital length of stay. Therefore it saves health care resources. These findings show the OGU as an advisable setting for the acute care of hip fracture patients.
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Seasonal flu is a very serious public health problem in the elderly due to its morbidity and mortality and financial and social costs arising from this. The aim of this review is to describe the magnitude and importance of seasonal flu in this population group, and its prevention by means of vaccination. ⋯ There is variation between different countries and official organisations on the age at which flu vaccination must be established in the elderly. New flu vaccination strategies need to be introduced, to further improve flu vaccination cover in Spain.