Age and ageing
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Which factors are associated with fear of falling in community-dwelling older people?
fear of falling (FOF) is common in older people and associated with serious physical and psychosocial consequences. Identifying those at risk of FOF can help target interventions to both prevent falls and reduce FOF. ⋯ a range of factors identify those with FOF. A simpler model performs as well as a more complex model containing functional assessments and could be used in primary care to identify those at risk of FOF, who could benefit from falls prevention interventions.
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place of death is an important component of the quality of a person's death. The aim of this study was to undertake a systematic review and narrative synthesis of the literature concerning place of death of people with dementia and the preferences for location of death of people with dementia as well as family carers and healthcare providers preferred location of death for patients with dementia. ⋯ this study on place of death raises exploratory questions on end-of-life care for patients with dementia which has implications on health and social care policies related to dementia.
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Multicenter Study
Specialty experience in geriatric medicine is associated with a small increase in knowledge of delirium.
delirium is underdiagnosed and undertreated. Understanding of delirium among doctors in medical and ICU settings has previously been shown to be low. We hypothesised that junior doctors who had gained experience in geriatrics, neurology or psychiatry may have an increased knowledge of delirium. ⋯ experience in geriatric medicine leads to a small improvement in understanding of delirium among junior doctors.
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prognostication for frail older adults is complex, especially when they become seriously ill. ⋯ frailty, measured by the FI-CGA, was independently associated with a higher risk of death and other adverse outcomes in older people admitted to an acute care hospital.
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hip fracture is expensive in terms of mortality, hospital length of stay (LOS) and consequences for independence. Poor outcome reflects the vulnerability of patients who typically sustain this injury, but the impact of different comorbidities and impairments is complex to understand. We consider this in a prospective cohort study designed to examine how a patients' frailty index (FI) predicts outcome. ⋯ individual CGA findings proved disappointing as outcome predictors, while FI turned out to be a better predictor of mortality, 30-day residence and length of inpatient stay.