Effectiveness of a Geriatric Emergency Medicine Unit for the Management of Neurocognitive Disorders in Older Patients: Results of the MUPACog Study

Author(s):  
Anaïs Bosetti ◽  
Caroline Gayot ◽  
Pierre-Marie Preux ◽  
Achille Tchalla

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> The prevalence of neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) increases with age and is associated with cognitive impairment. Older patients with NCD admitted to the emergency department (ED) are readmitted after discharge to home more often than those without NCD. Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is effective for improving clinical outcomes in older patients; however, the usefulness of CGA for older patients with NCD admitted to the ED has not been investigated. The main objective of our study is to assess the effectiveness of a geriatric emergency medicine unit (GEMU) for elderly patients with NCD admitted to the ED. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This historical cohort study included patients aged 75 years and older with NCD admitted to the ED of Limoges University Hospital in France over a 4-year period. We compared patients treated in our hospital’s GEMU, the MUPA unit (exposed group), and patients who received standard care by emergency physicians (control group). The primary end point was the incidence of 30-day readmissions. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The study included 801 patients admitted to the ED between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2018 (400 in the exposed group). Of those, 72.5% were female, and the mean age was 87 ± 5 years. After adjusting for confounding factors, the 30-day readmission rate was significantly associated with the MUPA unit intervention. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> CGA in a GEMU improved health outcomes in elderly patients with NCD in the ED. We recommend that all EDs include a geriatric team, such as the MUPA unit, to treat all patients with NCD admitted to the ED.

Author(s):  
Sakine MOAIEDMOHSENI ◽  
Tooba GHAZANFARI ◽  
Ensie Sadat MIRSHARIF ◽  
Nayere ASKARI ◽  
Zuhair MOHAMMAD HASSAN ◽  
...  

Background: Despite several reports on the clinical manifestations of sulfur mustard (SM) intoxication, there is no study on serum concentrations of thyroid hormones long-term after SM exposure. In this study, the changes in thyroid functioning parameters 20 yr after SM exposure were evaluated. Methods: This study is a part of a larger historical cohort study conducted in 2007 following 20 years of the exposure to SM, called Sardasht–Iran cohort study (SICS). We (SICS) comprised an SM–exposed group from Sardasht City, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran (n=169 as hospitalized group and n=203 as non-hospitalized exposed group); and control participants were selected from Rabat, a town near Sardasht (n=126). Peripheral blood samples were taken in fasting state and then the sera were separated. T4, T3, TSH, antithyroglobulin (anti–Tg), and antithyroid peroxidase (anti–TPO) concentrations in the sera were measured by the ELISA method. Results: The mean of T3 concentration was significantly higher in the exposed than control group (0.88 ± 0.26 nmol/L vs 0.8 ± 0.25 nmol/L, P<0.001). The levels of TSH, T4, and T3up were not significantly different between the exposed and control groups. Thyroglobulin level was significantly higher in the exposed non-hospitalized group (56.07 ± 140.22 µg/L vs 17.66 ± 41.49 µg/L, P=0.004), but the level of anti–Tg and anti–TPO showed no significant differences between the two groups. Conclusion: More studies are needed on the alterations in thyroid hormones, their gene expressions, and mechanisms involved in SM exposure to clarify the causes of these alterations.


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandan Ma ◽  
Shifei Wei ◽  
Shi-Ming Li ◽  
Xiaohui Yang ◽  
Kai Cao ◽  
...  

Background: To assess the impact of study-at-home during the COVID-19 pandemic on myopia development in Chinese schoolchildren.Methods: This historical cohort involved two groups with a total of 154 children. The exposed group was formed from 77 children aged 8 to 10 years who studied at home in the 7-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic (follow-up period: January – August 2020) and did not study at home in the 7-month period before the COVID-19 outbreak (baseline period: July 2019 – January 2020). Seventy-seven children who did not undergo study-at-home (baseline period: 7 months in 2015, follow-up period: 7 months in 2016) were included in the control group. Cycloplegic refraction, axial length and uncorrected visual acuity were measured 3 times. The questionnaire mainly focused on collecting visual habits.Results: Myopia progression was similar between the two groups in the baseline period. However, in the follow-up period the exposed group had a greater change in refraction toward myopia (−0.83 ± 0.56 D) than the control group (−0.28 ± 0.54 D; p &lt; 0.001). In addition, the exposed group exhibited a significantly greater change in refraction toward myopia in the follow-up period (−0.83 ± 0.56 D) than in the baseline period (−0.33 ± 0.46 D; p &lt; 0.001). Difference-in-difference analysis indicated that study-at-home accelerated the change in refraction toward myopia (t = −0.567; p &lt; 0.001).Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic study-at-home accelerated the change of refraction toward myopia in children.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 907
Author(s):  
Anello Marcello Poma ◽  
Elisabetta Macerola ◽  
Alessio Basolo ◽  
Valerio Batini ◽  
Teresa Rago ◽  
...  

Background. The prevalence of thyroid nodules increases with age. Their management takes into account the presence of co-morbidities, which are frequent among the elderly. We sought to highlight the differences between the elderly and the general population in cytological and histological diagnoses. Methods. In this retrospective cohort study, we gathered 13,747 nodule data and compared cytological and histological diagnoses between patients aged over 65 years and a control group. Results. Elderly patients had a higher prevalence of cytologically benign nodules and, consequently, they were less frequently subject to surgery. However, there were no differences in terms of malignancy-risk after surgery. At histology, elderly patients often presented aggressive histology such as medullary thyroid carcinoma, poorly-differentiated and anaplastic cancer, tall cell variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma and Hürthle cell carcinoma. Even in presence of well-differentiated cancer, older patients had higher rates of local invasiveness, lateral lymph node involvement and vascular invasion. Conclusion. Thyroid nodules in elderly patients represent a challenging entity since they are very often benign, but, in case of malignancy, aggressive histotypes and high-risk features are more frequent. Therefore, presurgical characterization of nodules in older patients is crucial and might require strict monitoring.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (11) ◽  
pp. 1757-1766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura López-López ◽  
Irene Torres-Sánchez ◽  
Janet Rodríguez-Torres ◽  
Irene Cabrera-Martos ◽  
Araceli Ortiz-Rubio ◽  
...  

Objective: To compare the effects of an integrated programme of physical and electrical therapy to standard rehabilitation to improve physical and functional performance in elderly patients with pneumonia. Design: Randomized clinical trial. The study was registered in the ClinicalTrial.gov website (identifier: NCT02515565). Setting: University Hospital. Subjects: In total, 185 elderly patients with pneumonia were eligible for the study, of which 95 were finally randomized. Interventions: Patients were randomized to a control group which received the standard treatment or to an intervention group which received additionally an integrated programme of physical and electrical therapy. Main measures: Demographic and clinical information was acquired. Pulmonary function, length of hospital stay, handgrip strength, independence levels and comorbidities were assessed as descriptive outcomes. The main outcome measure was functional and physical performance, evaluated with the short physical performance battery. Secondary outcome measures were respiratory symptoms including dyspnoea, fatigue and cough. Results: Mean age of patients was 74.92 (11.03) years in the intervention group and 72.53 (9.24) years in the control group. Significant between groups differences ( P < 0.05) were found in short physical performance battery chair stand test (2.17 (0.97) vs. 0.58 (0.61)) and total score (5.91 (3.61) vs. 4.15 (3.15)). The intervention group showed better performance than the control group in both cases. Fatigue (32.04 (18.58) vs. 46.22 (8.90)) and cough (18.84 (2.47) vs. 17.40 (3.67)) showed higher improvement in the intervention group, and significant differences were observed between the groups. Conclusion: An integrated programme of physical and electrical therapy during hospitalization improves physical and functional performance in patients with pneumonia.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0255852
Author(s):  
Louis Morisson ◽  
Pascal Laferrière-Langlois ◽  
François Martin Carrier ◽  
Gabrielle Pagé ◽  
Cédric Godbout ◽  
...  

Introduction The number of elderly patients undergoing major surgery is rapidly increasing. They are particularly at risk of developing postoperative neurocognitive disorders (NCD). Earlier studies suggested that processed electroencephalographic (EEG) monitors may reduce the incidence of postoperative NCD. However, none of these studies controlled for intraoperative nociception levels or personalized blood pressure targets. Their results remain unclear if the reduction in the incidence of postoperative NCD relates to avoidance of any electroencephalographic pattern suggesting excessive anesthesia depth. Objective The objective of this trial is to investigate–in patients ≥ 70 years old undergoing major non-cardiac surgery–the effect of EEG-guided anesthesia on postoperative NCD while controlling for intraoperative nociception, personalized blood pressure targets, and using detailed information provided by the EEG monitor (including burst suppression ratio, density spectral array, and raw EEG waveform). Material and methods This prospective, randomized, controlled trial will be conducted in a single Canadian university hospital. Patients ≥ 70 years old undergoing elective major non-cardiac surgery will be included in the trial. The administration of sevoflurane will be adjusted to maintain a BIS index value between 40 and 60, to keep a Suppression Ratio (SR) at 0%, to keep a direct EEG display without any suppression time and a spectrogram with most of the EEG wave frequency within the alpha, theta, and delta frequencies in the EEG-guided group. In the control group, sevoflurane will be administered to achieve an age-adjusted minimum alveolar concentration of [0.8–1.2]. In both groups, a nociception monitor will guide intraoperative opioid administration, individual blood pressure targets will be used, and cerebral oximetry used to tailor intraoperative hemodynamic management. The primary endpoint will be the incidence of NCD at postoperative day 1, as evaluated by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Secondary endpoints will include the incidence of postoperative NCD at different time points and the evaluation of cognitive trajectories up to 90 days after surgery among EEG-guided and control groups. Study registration NCT04825847 on ClinicalTrials.gov.


2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (12) ◽  
pp. 892-902
Author(s):  
Ning Qi Pang ◽  
Stephanie Shengjie He ◽  
Joel Qi Xuan Foo ◽  
Natalie Hui Ying Koh ◽  
Tin Wei Yuen ◽  
...  

Introduction: Prehabilitation may benefit older patients undergoing major surgeries. Currently, its efficacy has not been conclusively proven. This is a retrospective review of a multimodal prehabilitation programme. Methods: Patients aged 65 years and above undergoing major abdominal surgery between May 2015 and December 2019 in the National University Hospital were included in our institutional programme that incorporated aspects of multimodal prehabilitation and Enhanced Recovery After Surgery concepts as 1 holistic perioperative pathway to deal with issues specific to older patients. Physical therapy, nutritional advice and psychosocial support were provided as part of prehabilitation. Results: There were 335 patients in the prehabilitation cohort and 256 patients whose records were reviewed as control. No difference in postoperative length of stay (P=0.150) or major complications (P=0.690) were noted. Patients in the prehabilitation group were observed to ambulate a longer distance and participate more actively with their physiotherapists from postoperative day 1 until 4. In the subgroup of patients with cancer, more patients underwent neoadjuvant therapy in the prehabilitation group compared to the control group (21.7% versus 12.6%, P=0.009). Prehabilitation patients were more likely to proceed to adjuvant chemotherapy (prehabilitation 87.2% vs control 65.6%, P<0.001) if it had been recommended. Conclusion: The current study found no differences in traditional surgical outcome measures with and without prehabilitation. An increase in patient mobility in the immediate postoperative period was noted with prehabilitation, as well as an association between prehabilitation and increased adherence to postoperative adjuvant therapy. Larger prospective studies will be needed to validate the findings of this retrospective review. Keywords: Frailty, general surgery, geriatric surgery, perioperative care, prehabilitation


Author(s):  
Ashraf M. El-Badry ◽  
Ahmed Abdelkahaar Aldardeer

Background: Aging hinders the liver capacity to restitute its volume and function after partial hepatectomy. Concomitant hepatic parenchyma disorders and major resections may increase the susceptibility of elderly patients to worse postoperative outcome.Methods: Prospectively collected medical records of adult patients who underwent elective partial hepatectomy for malignant liver tumors at Sohag University Hospital (June 2014–May 2020) were analyzed. A group of elderly (≥65 years) were compared with a matched control group of non-elderly (<65 years) patients as regards posthepatectomy liver failure (PHLF) and overall complications, including mortality. Markers associated with PHLF and postoperative death were investigated.Results: Forty-eight patients were enrolled, 24 per group. 34 were males (71%). All patients had primary hepatic malignancy or metastatic tumors. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was the most common indication for liver resection in both groups (32 patients, 66.6%). Elderly patients exhibited significantly higher grades of overall postoperative complications (p<0.05). PHLF was significantly increased in the elderly group, in evident connection with significant persistence of higher bilirubin levels and reduced prothrombin concentration (p<0.05) until 5th postoperative day. Subgroup analysis showed that major resections and cirrhosis correlated with increased morbidity among elderly compared with younger patients. Postoperative mortality occurred in 3 elderly cirrhotic patients, who failed to recover normal platelet count postoperatively.Conclusions: In elderly patients, major liver resection for malignant tumors is associated with worse outcome, particularly in those with coexisting cirrhosis. Predictors include early postoperative thrombocytopenia and persistent hyperbilirubinemia and coagulopathy.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph H. Kahn ◽  
Jonathan S. Olshaker

2011 ◽  
pp. 81-87
Author(s):  
Thi Thu Huong Hoang ◽  
Minh Vuong Nguyen

Objectives: Studying on the variation in CA 72-4 levels of the gastric cancer’s patients before and after 10 days and 30 days surgery treatment. Materials and methods: The studying group included 42 gastric cancer’s patients who were examinated and treated in cancerology service of Hue University Hospital and gastroenterology service of Hue Central Hospital. The control group included 30 healthy normal examinated at Hue University Hospital. The study groups were clinical, endoscopic anatopathologic examination diagnosed with gastric cancer and quantitative levels of CA 72-4 in three times points: before surgerying, after surgerying 10 days and 30 days postoperatively. Rerults: The concentration of CA 72-4 in gastric cancer’s patients was 10.06 ± 16.49 U/ml. Clearly higher than the control group 1.2 ± 0.4 U/ml(p <0.01). The rate increased levels of CA 72-4 in gastric cancer’s patients before surgerying was 27.5% and the control group was 0%. After 10 days of surgery, CA 72-4 level was 5.56 ± 8.55 U/ml; 82.5% of patients have reduced levels of CA 72-4 and 17.5% no changes; there are 0% increased cases. After 30 days of surgery, CA 72-4 level was 3.79 ± 6,52 U/ml. CA 72-4 level 10 days after surgering have decreased significantly compared to before surgery (p < 0.05) and 30 days after surgery have decreased significantly compared to after 10 days (p < 0.05). 30 days postoperatively, 90% patients had reduced levels of CA 72-4, 10% no changes, no patient had increased levels of CA 72-4 and no patient be relapsed after 30 days of treatment. Conclusions: CA 72-4 concentrations before surgerying increased 27.5%, after surgery 10 days and 30 days reduced step by step, no case have increased CA 72-4 levels, no case relapsed after 30 days.


2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (8) ◽  
pp. 1466-1472
Author(s):  
Grażyna Kobus ◽  
Jolanta Małyszko ◽  
Hanna Bachórzewska-Gajewska

Introduction: In the elderly, impairment of kidney function occurs. Renal diseases overlap with anatomic and functional changes related to age-related involutionary processes. Mortality among patients with acute renal injury is approximately 50%, despite advances in treatment and diagnosis of AKI. The aim: To assess the incidence of acute kidney injury in elderly patients and to analyze the causes of acute renal failure depending on age. Materials and methods: A retrospective analysis included medical documentation of patients hospitalized in the Nephrology Clinic during the 6-month period. During this period 452 patients were hospitalized in the clinic. A group of 77 patients with acute renal failure as a reason for hospitalization was included in the study. Results: The prerenal form was the most common cause of AKI in both age groups. In both age groups, the most common cause was dehydration; in the group of patients up to 65 years of age, dehydration was 29.17%; in the group of people over 65 years - 43.39%. Renal replacement therapy in patients with AKI was used in 14.29% of patients. In the group of patients up to 65 years of age hemodialysis was 16.67% and above 65 years of age. -13.21% of patients. The average creatinine level in the group of younger patients at admission was 5.16 ± 3.71 mg / dl, in the group of older patients 3.14 ± 1.63 mg / dl. The size of glomerular filtration GFR in the group of younger patients at admission was 21.14 ± 19.54 ml / min, in the group of older patients 23.34 ± 13.33 ml / min. Conclusions: The main cause of acute kidney injury regardless of the age group was dehydration. Due to the high percentage of AKI in the elderly, this group requires more preventive action, not only in the hospital but also at home.


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