Age and ageing
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we aimed to evaluate the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) criteria for weakness and low muscle mass and the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF) frailty index for prediction of long-term, all-cause mortality. ⋯ our findings confirm the predictive value for mortality of the non-distribution-based FNIH criteria and SOF index in older community-dwelling Belgian men.
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delirium and dementia are common in the general hospital, being present in nearly 50% of older unselected admissions to hospital. Cognitive impairment is a risk factor for delirium, but the prevalence of previously undiagnosed cognitive impairment (dementia or mild cognitive impairment) in patients with delirium is unknown. ⋯ given that over 1/3 of older patients with delirium were found to have a previously undiagnosed cognitive impairment, the development and evaluation of services to follow-up and manage patients with delirium are warranted.
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Multicenter Study
Even a small change can make a big difference: the case of in-hospital cognitive decline and new IADL dependency.
post-hospitalisation functional decline is a widely described phenomenon, yet factors related to new disability in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in previously independently functioning older adults are rarely studied. ⋯ decline in SPMSQ score during acute hospitalisation has a detrimental effect on functional decline after acute hospitalisation, defined by incidence IADL dependency. This finding emphasises the need to identify cognitive decline during hospitalisation to allow timely intervention to prevent post-discharge functional decline in this population.