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Background: Drug-related readmissions (DRAs) are defined as rehospitalizations with an adverse drug event as their main or significant contributory cause. DRAs represent a major adverse health burden for older patients. A prediction model which identified older hospitalized patients at high risk of a DRA <1 year was previously developed using the OPERAM trial cohort, a European cluster randomized controlled trial including older hospitalized patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. This study has performed external validation and updated the prediction model consequently., Methods: The MedBridge trial cohort (a multicenter cluster randomized crossover trial performed in Sweden) was used as a validation cohort. It consisted of 2516 hospitalized patients aged ≥65 years. Model performance was assessed by: (1) discriminative power, assessed by the C-statistic with a 95% confidence interval (CI); (2) calibration, assessed by visual examination of the calibration plot and use of the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test; and (3) overall accuracy, assessed by the scaled Brier score. Several updating methods were carried out to improve model performance., Results: In total, 2516 older patients were included in the validation cohort, of whom 582 (23.1%) experienced a DRA <1 year. In the validation cohort, the original model showed a good overall accuracy (scaled Brier score 0.03), but discrimination was moderate (C-statistic 0.62 [95% CI 0.59-0.64]), and calibration showed underestimation of risks. In the final updated model, the predictor "cirrhosis with portal hypertension" was removed and "polypharmacy" was added. This improved the model's discriminative capability to a C-statistic of 0.64 (95% CI 0.59-0.70) and enhanced calibration plots. Overall accuracy remained good., Conclusions: The updated OPERAM DRA prediction model may be a useful tool in clinical practice to estimate the risk of DRAs in older hospitalized patients subsequent to discharge. Our efforts lay the groundwork for the future development of models with even better performance., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.)

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of single, multiple, and multifactorial interventions to prevent falls and fall-related fractures in community-dwelling older persons., Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were systematically searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effectiveness of fall prevention interventions in community-dwelling adults aged ≥65 years, from inception until February 27, 2019. Two large RCTs (published in 2020 after the search closed) were included in post hoc analyses. Pairwise meta-analysis and network meta-analysis (NMA) were conducted., Results: NMA including 192 studies revealed that the following single interventions, compared with usual care, were associated with reductions in number of fallers: exercise (risk ratio [RR] 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.77-0.89) and quality improvement strategies (e.g., patient education) (RR 0.90; 95% CI 0.83-0.98). Exercise as a single intervention was associated with a reduction in falls rate (RR 0.79; 95% CI 0.73-0.86). Common components of multiple interventions significantly associated with a reduction in number of fallers and falls rate were exercise, assistive technology, environmental assessment and modifications, quality improvement strategies, and basic falls risk assessment (e.g., medication review). Multifactorial interventions were associated with a reduction in falls rate (RR 0.87; 95% CI 0.80-0.95), but not with a reduction in number of fallers (RR 0.95; 95% CI 0.89-1.01). The following single interventions, compared with usual care, were associated with reductions in number of fall-related fractures: basic falls risk assessment (RR 0.60; 95% CI 0.39-0.94) and exercise (RR 0.62; 95% CI 0.42-0.90)., Conclusions: In keeping with Tricco et al. (2017), several single and multiple fall prevention interventions are associated with fewer falls. In addition to Tricco, we observe a benefit at the NMA-level of some single interventions on preventing fall-related fractures., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.)

Objective: To assess the efficacy of medication review as an isolated intervention and with several co-interventions for preventing hospital readmissions in older adults., Methods: Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and CINAHL were searched for randomized controlled trials evaluating the effectiveness of medication review interventions with or without co-interventions to prevent hospital readmissions in hospitalized or recently discharged adults aged ≥65, until September 13, 2019. Included outcomes were "at least one all-cause hospital readmission within 30 days and at any time after discharge from the index admission.", Results: Twenty-five studies met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 11 studies (7,318 participants) contributed to the network meta-analysis (NMA) on all-cause hospital readmission within 30 days. Medication review in combination with (a) medication reconciliation and patient education (risk ratio (RR) 0.45; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.26-0.80) and (b) medication reconciliation, patient education, professional education and transitional care (RR 0.64; 95% CI 0.49-0.84) were associated with a lower risk of all-cause hospital readmission compared to usual care. Medication review in isolation did not significantly influence hospital readmissions (RR 1.06; 95% CI 0.45-2.51). The NMA on all-cause hospital readmission at any time included 24 studies (11,677 participants). Medication review combined with medication reconciliation, patient education, professional education and transitional care resulted in a reduction of hospital readmissions (RR 0.82; 95% CI 0.74-0.91) compared to usual care. The quality of the studies included in this systematic review raised some concerns, mainly regarding allocation concealment, blinding and contamination., Conclusion: Medication review in combination with medication reconciliation, patient education, professional education and transitional care, was associated with a lower risk of hospital readmissions compared to usual care. An effect of medication review without co-interventions was not demonstrated. Trials of higher quality are needed in this field., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.)

Objective: To explore the effect of initiating statins for secondary prevention after a first myocardial infarction (MI) in patients aged 80 years and older., Design: Retrospective cohort study., Setting: Clinical Practice Research Datalink (1999-2016)., Participants: Patients, aged 65 years and older, hospitalized after a first MI without a statin prescription in the year before hospitalization. The age group of 65 to 80 years was included to compare our results to current evidence., Measurements: The primary outcome was a composite of recurrent MI, stroke, and cardiovascular mortality; and the secondary outcome was all-cause mortality. A time-varying Cox model was used to account for statin prescription over time. We compared at least 2 years of statin prescription time with untreated and less than 2 years of prescription time. Analyses were adjusted for potential confounders. The number needed to treat (NNT) was calculated based on the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and corrected for deaths during the first 2 years of follow-up., Results: A total of 9020 patients were included. Among the 3900 patients aged 80 years and older, 2 years of statin prescriptions resulted in a lower risk of the composite outcome (adjusted HR = 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.66-0.99) and of all-cause mortality (adjusted HR = 0.84; 95% CI = 0.73-0.97). During 4.5 years of median follow-up, the NNT for prevention of the primary outcome was 59; and for mortality, the NNT was 36. Correcting for 36.2% deaths during the first 2 years increased the NNT on the primary outcome to 93 and to 61 on all-cause mortality., Conclusion: Our data support statin initiation after a first MI in patients aged 80 years and older if continued for at least 2 years. Especially in patients with a low risk of 2-year mortality, statins should be considered. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:329-336, 2020., (© 2019 The Authors. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.)

Background/objectives: Memory clinic patients commonly also have declined physical performance. This may be attributable to white matter injury, due to vascular damage or neurodegeneration. Quantifying white matter injury is made possible by new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of network connectivity. We investigated whether physical performance in memory clinic patients is related to white matter network connectivity., Design: Observational cross-sectional study., Setting: Memory clinic., Participants: Patients referred to a memory clinic with vascular brain injury on MRI (n = 90; average age = 72 years; 60% male; 34% with diagnosis Alzheimer disease)., Measurements: We reconstructed structural brain networks from DWI with fiber tractography and used graph theory to calculate global efficiency, fractional anisotropy (FA), and mean diffusivity (MD) of the white matter, and nodal strength (mean FA or MD of all white matter tracts connected to a node). Assessment of physical performance included gait speed, chair stand time, and Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) score., Results: Lower global efficiency, lower FA, and higher MD correlated with poorer gait speed, SPPB scores, and chair stand times (R range = 0.23-0.42). Global efficiency and FA explained 5% to 16% of the variance in gait speed, chair stand times, and SPPB scores, independent of age and sex. Moreover, global efficiency and FA explained an additional 4% to 5% of variance on top of lacunar infarcts and white matter hyperintensities. Regional analyses showed that, in particular, the connectivity strength of prefrontal, occipital, striatal, and thalamic nodes correlated with gait speed., Conclusion: Poorer physical performance is related to disrupted white matter network connectivity in memory clinic patients with vascular brain injury. The associations of these network abnormalities are partially independent of visible vascular injury. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:1880-1887, 2019., (© 2019 The Authors. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.)

Objectives: To assess the effect of cardiovascular diseases and risk factors on mortality in individuals with dementia., Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. English- and Dutch-language studies in PubMed, EMBASE, and PsycINFO databases were searched in April 2014 with hand-searching of in-text citations and no publication limitations. Inclusion criteria were original studies reporting on cardiovascular risk factors or diseases and their relationship with survival in individuals with dementia. The Quality In Prognosis Studies tool was used to appraise all included articles., Setting: Population-, hospital-, and nursing home-based., Participants: Community-dwelling, hospitalized individuals and nursing home residents with dementia., Measurements: A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to investigate the effect of several cardiovascular diseases and risk factors on overall mortality., Results: Twelve studies with 235,865 participants were included. In pooled analyses, male sex (hazard ratio (HR)=1.67, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.56-1.78), diabetes mellitus (DM) (HR=1.49, 95% CI=1.33-1.68), smoking (ever vs never) (HR=1.37, 95% CI=1.17-1.61), coronary heart disease (CHD) (HR=1.21, 95% CI=1.02-1.44) and congestive heart failure (CHF) (HR=1.37, 95% CI=1.18-1.59) were associated with mortality. Stroke, high blood pressure, being overweight, and hypercholesterolemia were not statistically significantly related to mortality., Conclusion: Individuals with dementia and DM, smoking, CHD, and CHF have a greater risk of death than individuals with dementia without these risk factors or diseases., (© 2015, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2015, The American Geriatrics Society.)

Objectives: To determine whether the Wells clinical prediction rule for pulmonary embolism (PE), which produces a point score based on clinical features and the likelihood of diagnoses other than PE, combined with normal D-dimer testing can be used to exclude PE in older unhospitalized adults., Design: Prospective cohort study., Setting: Primary care and nursing homes., Participants: Older adults (≥60) clinically suspected of having a PE (N = 294, mean age 76, 44% residing in a nursing home)., Measurements: The presence of PE was confirmed using a composite reference standard including computed tomography and 3-month follow-up. The proportion of individuals with an unlikely risk of PE was calculated according to the Wells rule (≤4 points) plus a normal qualitative point-of-care D-dimer test (efficiency) and the presence of symptomatic PE during 3 months of follow-up within these patients (failure rate)., Results: Pulmonary embolism occurred in 83 participants (28%). Eighty-five participants had an unlikely risk according to the Wells rule and a normal D-dimer test (efficiency 29%), five of whom experienced a nonfatal PE during 3 months of follow-up (failure rate = 5.9%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.5-13%). According to a refitted diagnostic strategy for older adults, 69 had a low risk of PE (24%), two of whom had PE (failure rate = 2.9%, 95% CI = 0.8-10%)., Conclusion: The use of the well-known and widely used Wells rule (original or refitted) does not guarantee safe exclusion of PE in older unhospitalized adults with suspected PE. This may lead to discussion among professionals as to whether the original or revised Wells rule is useful for elderly outpatients., (© 2014, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2014, The American Geriatrics Society.)