The medical care of hospitalized geriatric patients must differ from the care of younger adults. Because of reduced "reserve capacity," hospitalized older adults are at high risk of development of geriatric syndromes such as delirium and falls. Geriatric syndromes often lead to functional decline and dependence. Patients who experience geriatric syndromes in the hospital are more likely to have...

BACKGROUND Although most guidelines recommend the use of cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) for mild to moderate Alzheimer's Disease, only a small proportion of affected patients receive these drugs. We aimed to study if geriatric comorbidity and polypharmacy influence the prescription of ChEIs in patients with dementia in Germany. METHODS We used claims data of 1,848 incident patients with de...

Purpose: Evaluation of a customer-designed dental service network across the service sectors for geriatric patients. Context: The lack in accessibility of dental services and the non-awareness of possible dental causes to medical problems by clinicians often prevents the geriatric patient from receiving the dental care needed. In cooperation with the Dental Board a geriatric dentist was appoint...

A randomised controlled trial of two management regimens was carried out in women patients over 65 years of age with hip fractures. Ninety seven patients were admitted to a designated orthopaedic geriatric unit and 125 to orthopaedic wards. No difference was observed in mortality, length of stay, or placement of patients between the two groups. More medical conditions were recognised and treate...

BACKGROUND Studies have identified clinical predictors to guide radiologic evaluation of the cervical spine in geriatric patients. We hypothesized that clinical predictors are not adequate in the identification of cervical spine fractures in geriatric blunt trauma patients with low-energy mechanism. METHODS A retrospective case-control study was performed on geriatric blunt trauma patients su...

BACKGROUND Geriatric syndromes, including frailty, are common in older adults and associated with adverse outcomes. We compared patients described in clinical notes as "frail" to other older adults with respect to geriatric syndrome burden and healthcare utilization. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study on 18,341 Medicare Advantage enrollees aged 65+ (members of a large nonprofit...

Introduction Most developed countries use case-mix systems (APRDRG-type) to define the prospective budgets of their hospitals. However, these case-mix systems are based mainly on the main diagnosis and procedures and do not take into account the specificity of geriatric patients. In the present study, we use all geriatric tools (RAI, RUGs, RIM, etc.) to evaluate the needs of acute geriatric hos...

INTRODUCTION Since the 1990s, a number of weight loss medications have been removed from the USA and or European market because of adverse events associated with these medications. These medications include fenfluramine (heart valve thickening), sibutramine (cardiovascular risk) and rimonabant (depression). This history may affect a patient's desire to consider weight loss medications as an opt...

Medical care for geriatric patients requires physician training that promotes the acquisition of attitudes, knowledge and skills that will permit future practitioners to meet the health needs of increasing numbers of aged patients. MCW has strengthened its traditional curriculum by focusing on student attitudes in the early pre-clinical years through outreach and interest groups programs. Knowl...