BMC geriatrics
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
A randomized controlled trial protocol to test the efficacy of a dual-task multicomponent exercise program in the attenuation of frailty in long-term nursing home residents: Aging-ONDUAL-TASK study.
The purpose of the Aging-ONDUAL-TASK study is to determine if a supervised dual-task program carried out in long-term nursing homes is able to attenuate frailty in a greater extent than the same multicomponent exercise program alone. ⋯ The present research will add valuable information to the knowledge around the effects of the dual-task program in long-term nursing home residents, taking altogether physical, cognitive and emotional variables linked to frailty.
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Procalcitonin (PCT) is a useful marker for pneumonia. However, its clinical usefulness in elderly patients has not been studied extensively. This study aimed to assess the relationship between PCT and prognosis and pneumonia severity in elderly patients with pneumonia acquired outside the hospital. ⋯ PCT was not an independent predictor of 30-day mortality in both of elderly and younger patients. PCT levels, but not CRP levels, significantly increased with increasing pneumonia severity in younger and elderly patients, although the degree of increase tended to be lower in elderly patients compared to younger patients for the same severity. PCT levels also significantly increased with increasing pneumonia severity in elderly patients with Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumonia.
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Accurate population-based data regarding hospital-based care utilisation by older persons during their last year of life are important in health services planning. We investigated patterns of acute hospital-based service use at the end of life, amongst older decedents in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. ⋯ This population-based study reveals high use of hospital care among older persons during their last year of life, although this decreased with increasing older age, providing important data to inform health services planning for this population, and highlighting aspects requiring further study.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Feasibility of trial procedures for a randomised controlled trial of a community based group exercise intervention for falls prevention for visually impaired older people: the VIOLET study.
Visually impaired older people (VIOP) have a higher risk of falling than their sighted peers, and are likely to avoid physical activity. The aim was to adapt the existing Falls Management Exercise (FaME) programme for VIOP, delivered in the community, and to investigate the feasibility of conducting a definitive randomised controlled trial (RCT) of this adapted intervention. ⋯ The intervention, FaME, was implemented successfully for VIOP and all progression criteria for a main trial were met. The lack of difference between groups on fear of falling was unsurprising given it was a pilot study but there may have been other contributory factors including suboptimal exercise dose and apparent low risk of falls in participants. These issues need addressing for a future trial.
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The burden of disability and chronic morbidity among the elderly has been increasing substantially in India in recent years. Yet, the use of nationally representative data to investigate the relationship between chronic morbidity and reported disability in the country has been minimal. The objective of this study is twofold: i) to quantify the association between chronic morbidities and overall disabilities in the activities of daily living (ADLs) among elderly people in India, and ii) to understand how various chronic morbidities influence individual ADLs, specifically, walking, toileting and dressing. ⋯ Chronic morbidity is a decisive factor in old age disability. It is crucial to reduce chronic morbidity in a timely way to minimise the enormous associated burden of disability.