Age and ageing
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Comparative Study
Identifying frailty in the Emergency Department-feasibility study.
identifying the most at risk older people in Emergency Departments (EDs) may help guide clinical practice, and service improvement in emergency care, but little is known about how to implement such tools in practice. ⋯ validated risk stratification tools are quick, simple, easy to use and 75% of staff would use the tools again in the future.
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the diagnosis of cerebral small vessel disease, a leading cause of vascular dementia (VaD), relies solely on neuroimaging studies. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been proposed as diagnostic biomarkers in various disorders. Our aim was to identify differentially expressed, circulating miRNAs in small vessel VaD which could serve as diagnostic biomarkers for this disease. ⋯ plasma miR-409-3p, miR-502-3p, miR-486-5p and miR-451a could be used to differentiate small vessel VaD patients from healthy controls. Large-scale studies of their biomarker potential are warranted.
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In this commentary article, we describe the impact that an ageing population is having on the nature of major trauma seen in emergency departments. The proportion of major trauma victims who are older people is rapidly increasing and a fall from standing is now the most common mechanism of injury in major trauma. ⋯ Furthermore, the use of frailty screening tools may facilitate more informed early decision-making in relation to treatment interventions in older trauma victims. We call for geriatric medicine and emergency medicine departments to collaborate-equipping urgent care staff with the basic competencies necessary to initiate CGA should be a priority, and geriatricians have a key role to play in delivery of such educational interventions.
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this paper aims to investigate the nature and extent of physical restraint deaths reported to Coroners in Australia over a 13-year period. ⋯ this national study confirms that the use of physical restraint does cause fatalities, although rare. Further research is still needed to identify which alternatives strategies to restraint are most effective, and to examine the reporting system for physical restraint-related deaths.
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to validate STOPPFrail, a list of explicit criteria for potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use in frail older adults with limited life expectancy. ⋯ STOPPFrail comprises 27 criteria relating to medications that are potentially inappropriate in frail older patients with limited life expectancy. STOPPFrail may assist physicians in deprescribing medications in these patients.