Geriatrics & gerontology international
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Geriatr Gerontol Int · Apr 2014
Prevalence of and factors related to pain among elderly Japanese residents in long-term healthcare facilities.
We aimed to examine the pain prevalence among residents who stayed at healthcare facilities for the elderly requiring long-term care in Japan, and explore factors related to self-reported pain. ⋯ Nearly half of the residents suffered from pain on movement. The pain of these elderly residents should be managed in order to improve their health status.
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Geriatr Gerontol Int · Feb 2014
Multicenter StudySarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity among men aged 80 years and older in Beijing: prevalence and its association with functional performance.
Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity are significant associative factors for functional impairment related to aging. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity, and their associations with functional status among men aged 80 years and older in Beijing. ⋯ The prevalence of sarcopenia is high either based on RASM or SMI among Chinese men aged 80 years and older. Functional limitations were significantly associated with older age, skeletal muscle mass and total body fat.
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Geriatr Gerontol Int · Jan 2014
Rationale for physicians to propose do-not-resuscitate orders in elderly community-acquired pneumonia cases.
In many countries, do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders were not legislated, partly because rationale for proposal of DNR orders have not been studied in elderly pneumonia patients with cognitive and physical disorders. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the factors influencing physicians' proposal for DNR orders and their validity as prognostic predictor, by comparing elderly pneumonia cases with and without DNR orders. ⋯ The present study showed factors involved in the physicians proposal of DNR orders, demonstrating that DNR was empirically chosen based on comprehensive judgment of several prognostic predictors and it, in itself, was a good prognostic predictor.
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Geriatr Gerontol Int · Jan 2014
Potentially inappropriate medicines in a cohort of community-dwelling older people in New Zealand.
To examine independent factors associated with potentially inappropriate medicines (PIM) among 316 community-dwelling people aged ≥75 years living in Dunedin. ⋯ The prevalence of PIM is relatively high in community-dwelling older people aged ≥75 years living in New Zealand. PIM defined by the Beers criteria might be a useful initial screening tool, before efforts to stop unsafe medication use or replace with safer alternatives are initiated.
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Geriatr Gerontol Int · Oct 2013
Observational StudyShort-term clinical outcomes in delirious older patients: a study at general medical wards in a university hospital in Thailand.
Delirium, a common disorder in hospitalized older patients, frequently results in unfavorable consequences. Previous studies in different settings have provided conflicting results regarding clinical outcomes and mortality. We aimed to study three clinical outcomes--length of stay (LOS), in-hospital mortality and 3-month mortality--among delirious Thai older patients. ⋯ LOS was significantly longer in the delirium group (10 and 8 days, P = 0.001). Furthermore, the delirium group had higher in-hospital and 3-month mortality (P < 0.001). Factors significantly associated with in-hospital mortality in multivariate analysis were age more than 80 years (AOR 2.74, 95% CI 1.05-7.15), malignancy (AOR 3.11, 95% CI 1.16-8.33), severe illness (AOR 3.75, 95% CI 1.38-10.20) and delirium (AOR 7.34, 95% CI 1.51-35.69). Delirium remained a strong predictor for 3-month mortality in multivariate analysis with AOR of 3.33 (95% CI 1.45-7.62) CONCLUSIONS: Delirium was associated with prolonged hospital-stay and was the strongest predictor for mortality among older hospitalized patients. It requires serious attention from physicians, healthcare administrators and policy makers to implement an appropriate management plan for this high-burden issue.