Geriatric Medicine News

Breaking news and emerging research on the COVID-19 pandemic dominated headlines this year. However, there were other important updates that impact practice.

Approximately one-fifth of patients may be experiencing discrimination in the United States health care system, according to a survey published in JAMA Network Open.

In a study of older adults hospitalized with influenza and other acute respiratory illnesses, functional decline was common, and persistent and catastrophic for some, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living are urging governors and public health authorities to prioritize residents and staff of long-term care facilities in the first wave of COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Now that the COVID-19 vaccine codeveloped by Pfizer and BioNTech has received emergency use authorization from the FDA, experts said physicians need to begin preparing their patients — and themselves — for vaccination.

An electronic health record alert that reminded clinicians to ask patients aged older than 55 years about their hearing significantly increased the number referrals to an audiologist, data show.

Among older adults with an elevated fall risk and low serum 25-dydroxyvitamin D levels, daily vitamin D3 supplementation at doses of 1,000 IU did not prevent falls compared with a 200 IU dose, according to a randomized clinical trial.

Statin use for primary prevention was associated with CV benefits in older adults, without significant risk for development of new-onset diabetes, according to research published in the American Journal of Medicine.

Patients with a history of traumatic brain injury experienced the clinical onset of Alzheimer’s disease several years earlier than those without TBI, data show.

Delirium represented a common symptom among older adults with COVID-19 presenting to U.S. EDs and was often seen in the absence of other typical signs or symptoms of the virus, according to findings published in JAMA.