BMC geriatrics
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Delirium increases the risk of mortality during an acute hospital admission. Full syndromal delirium (FSD) is associated with greatest risk and subsyndromal delirium (SSD) is associated with intermediate risk, compared to patients with no delirium - suggesting a dose-response relationship. It is not clear how individual diagnostic symptoms of delirium influence the association with mortality. Our objectives were to measure the prevalence of FSD and SSD, and assess the effect that FSD, SSD and individual symptoms of delirium (from the Confusion Assessment Method-short version (s-CAM)) have on mortality rates. ⋯ We observed a dose-response relationship between mortality and delirium, FSD had the greatest risk and SSD having intermediate risk. The CAM items "acute-onset" and "disorganised thinking" drove the associations observed. Clinically, this highlights the necessity of identifying individual symptoms of delirium.
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Nurse-led models of comprehensive geriatric assessment and care coordination can improve health management as well as reduce hospitalisations for high risk community dwelling older people. This study investigated the effect on healthcare utilisation of systematic case finding to identify high risk older people in the community with a subsequent comprehensive assessment and care coordination intervention by a Gerontology Nurse Specialist based in primary care. ⋯ This specialist nurse-led intervention involving comprehensive assessment and care coordination care did not appear superior to usual care, however, there is benefit to exploring a more robust randomised controlled trial design.
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Several previous studies reported social participation may reduce the incident of dementia; therefore, the type of positions held in the organization may relate to dementia onset. However, this hypothesis remains largely unknown. The purpose of the present study was to examine the additive effect of a leadership position in the organization on dementia onset and social participation among elderly people in a local community, according to data from a Japanese older adults cohort study. ⋯ In young-old elderly people, social participation might have a positive effect on dementia onset, and holding leadership positions in organization could lead to a decrease in risk of dementia onset by almost 20% than regular members.
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Medications are frequently reported as both predisposing factors and inducers of delirium. This review evaluated the available evidence and determined the magnitude of risk of postoperative delirium associated with preoperative medication use. ⋯ There was a limited number of high quality studies in the literature quantifying the direct association between preoperative medication use and postsurgical delirium. More studies are required to evaluate the association of specific preoperative medications on the risk of postoperative delirium so that comprehensive guidelines for medicine use prior to surgery can be developed to aid delirium prevention.
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Falls are common among elderly people, and the risk increase with age. Falls are associated with both health and social consequences for the patient, and major societal costs. Identification of risk factors should be investigated to prevent falls. Previous studies have shown anemia to be associated with increased risk of falling, but the results are inconsistent. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between anemia and self-reported falls among community-living elderly people. The study is a replication of the study by Thaler-Kall and colleagues from 2014, who studied the association between anemia and self-reported falls among 967 women and men 65 years and older in the KORA-Age study from 2009. ⋯ In this replication analysis, in accordance with the results from the original study, no statistically significant association between anemia or hemoglobin and falls was found among community-living women and men aged 65 years or older.