BMC geriatrics
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Older people living with dementia prefer to stay at home to receive support. But they are at high risk of death and/or hospital admissions. This study primarily aimed to determine risk factors for time to death or hospital admission (combined) in a sample of community-dwelling older people living with dementia in Australia. As a secondary study purpose, risk factors for time to death were also examined. ⋯ Previous hospital admissions and previously worse cognitive status are target intervention areas for reducing dementia clients' risk of time to death or hospital admission, and/or death. Having previous use of community care as a short-term protective factor for dementia clients' time to death or hospital admission is noteworthy.
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Fall-related injuries in older people are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Self-reported fall events in the last year is often used to estimate fall risk in older people. However, it remains to be investigated if the fall frequency and the consequences of the falls have an impact on the risk for subsequent injurious falls in the long term. The objective of this study was to investigate if a history of one single non-injurious fall, at least two non-injurious falls, or at least one injurious fall within 12 months increases the risk of sustaining future injurious falls. ⋯ In community-dwelling people over 75 years of age, a history of at least one self-reported injurious fall severe enough to cause a visit to the emergency department within a period of 12 months implies an increased risk of sustaining future injurious falls. Our results support the recommendations to offer a multifactorial fall-risk assessment coupled with adequate interventions to community-dwelling people over 75 years who present to the ED due to an injurious fall.
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Frailty increases the risk of adverse outcomes in older people. The impact of psychosocial factors on frailty and adverse clinical outcomes associated with frailty has not yet been examined in the hospital setting. The aims of this study were to: i) investigate the association between psychosocial factors and frailty, and ii) to establish whether psychosocial factors impact on the association between frailty and adverse outcomes. ⋯ Our results indicate that frail older adults with low psychosocial resources had an elevated risk of mortality, discharge to higher level care, long LOS and rehospitalisation. Consideration of psychosocial factors in comprehensive geriatric assessments will assist in patient care planning.
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We considered of interest to evaluate how aging affects mitochondrial function in skeletal muscle. ⋯ The decrease in oxidative capacity and proton leak in intermyofibrillar and subsarcolemmal mitochondria could induce a decline in energy expenditure and thus contribute to the reduced resting metabolic rate found in old rats, while oxidative damage is present only in subsarcolemmal mitochondria.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
The descriptive epidemiology of delirium symptoms in a large population-based cohort study: results from the Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (MRC CFAS).
In the general population, the epidemiological relationships between delirium and adverse outcomes are not well defined. The aims of this study were to: (1) construct an algorithm for the diagnosis of delirium using the Geriatric Mental State (GMS) examination; (2) test the criterion validity of this algorithm against mortality and dementia risk; (3) report the age-specific prevalence of delirium as determined by this algorithm. ⋯ These results demonstrate the possibility of constructing an algorithmic diagnosis for study-defined delirium using data from the GMS schedule, with predictive criterion validity for mortality and dementia risk. These are the first population-based analyses able to account prospectively for both illness severity and an earlier study diagnosis of dementia.