Geriatric

The American Geriatrics Society, or AGS, recently issued a policy brief to urge the federal government to take action to protect some of the most vulnerable Americans against COVID-19 — patients in nursing homes.

Cognitive impairment among geriatric orthopedic patients admitted to rehabilitation may be associated with discharge destination, functional outcomes and length of stay, according to published results.

In older patients, lower BP was associated with elevated risk for all-cause mortality. Additionally, age, not frailty, demonstrated a stronger correlation to mortality in relation to systolic and diastolic BP.

February 9 to 15, 2020 is Cardiac Rehabilitation Week. In recognition, Healio and Cardiology Today have aggregated a list of the top news articles in cardiac rehabilitation. Readers were interested in Medicare beneficiary participation in cardiac rehabilitation as well as the impacts of referral rates, poverty, distance, anxiety and depression on overall participation.

Impaired mobility during hospitalization for acute MI may be a risk factor for functional decline among older patients who survived the event, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

For older adults with multiple chronic conditions, an intervention program designed to align patient care with individual health goals may be associated with reductions in treatment burden and unwanted health care, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Over a 25-year period, the number of women enrolled in internal medicine residencies increased, but the prevalence of women in subspecialty fellowships decreased, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Older adults have the lowest mental health service use despite having a high prevalence of mental health conditions, according to a viewpoint published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Just 18% of older adults admitted to a long-term acute care hospital were alive after 5 years, making the prognosis for these patients worse than those associated with terminal illnesses, including advanced cancer and end-stage heart failure, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Dietary supplements, particularly multivitamins, can cause choking and dysphagia in older adults, according to findings published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.