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Introduction Constipation has a high prevalence of 30-40% in those aged over 65. It can lead to complications including delirium, faecal impaction, stercoral ulceration, and bowel obstruction. Although stool charts are used in geriatric wards to monitor bowel movements to guide management of constipation, they are often inconsistently recorded. Similarly, regular laxatives are often not prescribed for constipated patients due to ward pressures or unawareness regarding their importance. Aims Our aims were to audit the rates of recording on stool charts and laxative prescription in a geriatrics department, and to assess whether a multifactorial intervention aimed at both doctors and nursing staff improved these rates. Methods Two independent assessors audited the recording of stool charts, and rates of constipating medications and laxative prescription in two geriatrics wards in a tertiary UK hospital. A multifactorial intervention was implemented, consisting of didactic sessions for doctors and nurses, healthcare assistant champions to promote the recording of stool charts, and consolidation of bowel movement recording onto a single paper stool chart by the bedside rather than multiple charts. After the intervention, the data was re-audited on the same wards. Descriptive statistics and frequency tabulation were used for data analysis. Results Data was collected from 33 patients. Pre-intervention, stool charts were recorded daily in 13 patients, 10 patients had no stool chart record, 20 patients were on at least one constipating medication, 12 patients were prescribed at least one laxative, and 5 out of 7 patients with opiates had laxatives co-prescribed. Post-intervention, stool charts were recorded daily in 21 patients, all patients had a stool chart record, 20 patients were on at least one constipating medication, 23 patients were prescribed at least one laxative, and 2 out of 4 patients with opiates had laxatives co-prescribed. Our intervention improved daily recording on stool charts by 24%, resulted in all patients having a current stool chart and improved prescription of regular laxatives by 34%. Conclusions A multifactorial intervention based on educational sessions, healthcare assistants acting as champions, and consolidation of recording of bowel movements into a single chart, improved stool chart recording and prescription of regular laxatives in a tertiary geriatrics department. Future auditing will extend the sample size and generalise the intervention to other hospital departments.

BACKGROUND: We determined the impact of a system-wide multicomponent intervention to improve recognition and documentation of cognitive frailty syndromes on hospital administrative coding for delirium. METHODS: A multicomponent intervention including introduction of structured patient assessment including cognitive/delirium screen, regular audit/feedback and educational seminars was undertaken (2012–17). Sensitivity and specificity of administrative International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) delirium codes for the gold standard of prospectively clinically diagnosed delirium were calculated in consecutive patients admitted to acute medicine over five 8-week cycles (2010–18). RESULTS: Among 1,281 consecutive unselected admissions to acute medicine overall (mean / standard deviation age = 70.0/19.2 years; n=615 (48.0%) male), 320 had clinical delirium diagnosis (n=220 delirium only; n=100 delirium on dementia). Sensitivity of delirium coding increased from 12.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 5.6–26.7) in 2010 to 60.2% (95% CI 50.1–69.7; p(trend)99% throughout. CONCLUSION: A multicomponent intervention increased sensitivity of hospital administrative diagnostic coding for delirium almost six-fold without increasing the false positive diagnosis rate.

Henna Wong,1,2 Nicola Lovett,3 Nicola Curry,1 Ku Shah,2 Simon J Stanworth1,2,4 1Department of Clinical Haematology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 2Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford BRC Haematology Theme, 3Department of Geratology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 4Department of Haematology, NHS Blood and Transplant, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK Abstract: The ageing population has resulted in a change in the demographics of trauma, and older adult trauma now accounts for a growing number of trauma admissions. The management of older adult trauma can be particularly challenging, and exhibits differences to that of the younger age groups affected by trauma. Frailty syndromes are closely related with falls, which are the leading cause of major trauma in older adults. Comorbid disease and antithrombotic use are more common in the older population. Physiological changes that occur with ageing can alter the expected clinical presentation of older persons after injury and their susceptibility to injury. Following major trauma, definitive control of hemorrhage remains essential for improving outcomes. In the initial assessment of an injured patient, it is important to consider whether the patient is taking anticoagulants or antiplatelets and if measures to promote hemostasis such as reversal are indicated. After hemostasis is achieved and bleeding has stopped, longer-term decisions to recommence antithrombotic agents can be challenging, especially in older people. In this review, we discuss one aspect of management for the older trauma patients in greater detail, that is, acute and longer-term management of antithrombotic therapy. As we consider the health needs of an ageing population, rise in elderly trauma and increasing use of antithrombotic therapy, the need for research in this area becomes more pressing to establish best practice and evidence-based care. Keywords: injury, elderly, anticoagulation, antiplatelet, antithrombotic

We thank Cao et al. for their interest in our study.1 We acknowledge the importance of delayed scan time in DWI sensitivity and have previously highlighted this issue.2,3 Accordingly, there was a declining prevalence of DWI positivity with time, although 65% of our patients were scanned within 5 days.

Background: reliable delirium risk stratification will aid recognition, anticipation and prevention and will facilitate targeting of resources in clinical practice as well as identification of at-risk patients for research. Delirium risk scores have been derived for acute medicine, but none has been prospectively validated in external cohorts. We therefore aimed to determine the reliability of externally derived risk scores in a consecutive cohort of older acute medicine patients. Methods: consecutive patients aged ≥65 over two 8-week periods (2010, 2012) were screened prospectively for delirium using the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM), and delirium was diagnosed using the DSM IV criteria. The reliability of existing delirium risk scores derived in acute medicine cohorts and simplified for use in routine clinical practice (USA, n = 2; Spain, n = 1; Indonesia, n = 1) was determined by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Delirium was defined as prevalent (on admission), incident (occurring during admission) and any (prevalent + incident) delirium. Results: among 308 consecutive patients aged ≥65 (mean age/SD = 81/8 years, 164 (54%) female), existing delirium risk scores had AUCs for delirium similar to those reported in their original internal validations ranging from 0.69 to 0.76 for any delirium and 0.73 to 0.83 for incident delirium. All scores performed better than chance but no one score was clearly superior. Conclusions: externally derived delirium risk scores performed well in our independent acute medicine population with reliability unaffected by simplification and might therefore facilitate targeting of multicomponent interventions in routine clinical practice.

Background and Purpose— Visit-to-visit variability in systolic blood pressure (SBP) is associated with an increased risk of stroke and was reduced in randomized trials by calcium channel blockers and diuretics but not by renin–angiotensin system inhibitors. However, time of day effects could not be determined. Day-to-day variability on home BP readings predicts stroke risk and potentially offers a practical method of monitoring response to variability-directed treatment. Methods— SBP mean, maximum, and variability (coefficient of variation=SD/mean) were determined in 500 consecutive transient ischemic attack or minor stroke patients on 1-month home BP monitoring (3 BPs, 3× daily). Hypertension was treated to a standard protocol. Differences in SBP variability from 3 to 10 days before to 8 to 15 days after starting or increasing calcium channel blockers/diuretics versus renin–angiotensin system inhibitors versus both were compared by general linear models, adjusted for risk factors and baseline BP. Results— Among 288 eligible interventions, variability in SBP was reduced after increased treatment with calcium channel blockers/diuretics versus both versus renin–angiotensin system inhibitors (−4.0 versus 6.9 versus 7.8%; P =0.015), primarily because of effects on maximum SBP (−4.6 versus −1.0 versus −1.0%; P =0.001), with no differences in effect on mean SBP. Class differences were greatest for early-morning SBP variability (3.6 versus 17.0 versus 38.3; P =0.002) and maximum (−4.8 versus −2.0 versus −0.7; P =0.001), with no effect on midmorning ( P =0.29), evening ( P =0.65), or diurnal variability ( P =0.92). Conclusions— After transient ischemic attack or minor stroke, calcium channel blockers and diuretics reduced variability and maximum home SBP, primarily because of effects on morning readings. Home BP readings enable monitoring of response to SBP variability-directed treatment in patients with recent cerebrovascular events.

Background In previous studies of treated hypertensives, nocturnal-BP was a stronger predictor than daytime-BP of residual risk of stroke and cardiovascular events (CVEs). However, it is unclear whether nocturnal hypertension (NH) explains residual risk of recurrent stroke after TIA/ischaemic stroke. Methods In a population-based study (Oxford Vascular Study), consecutive patients with TIA/non-disabling stroke had 24 hour ambulatory BP-monitoring (ABPM) at one-month follow-up. Mean daytime and mean night-time-BP were related to risk of recurrent stroke and cardiovascular events on follow-up after age/sex-adjustment. NH was defined as asleep mean SBP ≥120 mmHg and daytime-hypertension (DH) as awake mean SBP ≥140 mmHg. Results Among 1035 patients with ABPM (mean/SD age 68.67/12.74), 372 (36.4%) had residual NH and 190 (18.4%) had residual DH (p Conclusion Residual nocturnal hypertension was more common than daytime hypertension, but it was not a major risk factor for stroke or cardiovascular events.

Background and Purpose— Lack of reduced cognitive impairment with blood pressure (BP) lowering in trials may reflect use of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), which is insensitive to mild cognitive impairment after cerebrovascular events compared with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. We determined relationships between impairment on MMSE versus Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) with the major physiological determinant of vascular cognitive impairment: hypertension and hypertensive arteriopathy. Methods— Cognitive impairment in consecutive patients 6 months after transient ischemic attack or minor stroke was defined as significant, mild, or none (MMSE Results— Of 463 patients, 45% versus 28% had at least mild cognitive impairment on the MoCA versus MMSE ( P Conclusions— The stronger relationship between impairment on the MoCA with hypertensive arteriopathy, independent of age, indicates a greater sensitivity for vascular-origin cognitive impairment. Use of MoCA should improve sensitivity for cognitive impairment and treatment effects in future studies.

Background Current evidence suggests that prolonged cardiac monitoring after cerebral ischaemia to detect paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (pAF) is likely to be cost effective, but the optimal duration of monitoring remains unclear. Methods We performed a systematic review (studies published to December 2012) of all prospective and retrospective studies of rates of pAF early after TIA or ischaemic stroke in which consecutive patients underwent ≥12 hour cardiac monitoring, including unpublished data from our population–based study. Pooled estimates of rates of newly detected pAF were stratified by monitoring type and duration, study type, publication year and pre–defined pAF duration (any or ≥30 sec). Results Among 19 retrospective and 21 prospective studies, the pooled rate of newly detected AF was 8.3% (851/10283; 95% CI 6.7–9.9, phet Conclusion Cardiac monitoring after TIA or ischaemic stroke detects clinically important rates of pAF in studies of unselected populations, with high rates of subsequent anticoagulation. A monitoring period of 5–7 days appears to be adequate.