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Background and Aims: Impaired glucose tolerance based on 2-h glucose levels is more predictive of future cardiovascular disease and more sensitive in detecting earlier diabetes compared to impaired fasting glucose. However, the 1-h OGTT may be even more sensitive than the 2-h. We assessed the relative value of 1-h OGTT by exploring its relationship with adiposity and other measures of glucose homeostasis., Methods and Results: Ninety four overweight/obese individuals free of diabetes and major cardiovascular conditions were included in the analyses. We adjusted for age, gender, smoking status and physical activity. One-h OGTT showed similar partial correlations with fasting glucose and 2-h OGTT (r=0.60 and 0.64 respectively). Fasting glucose, fasting insulin and HOMA correlated better with 1-h OGTT (r=0.60, 0.47 and 0.52) than with 2-h OGTT (r=0.50, 0.41, and 0.45). BMI and waist circumference also showed stronger correlation with 1-h (r=0.31, 0.29), compared to 2-h OGTT (r=0.16, 0.16) or fasting glucose (r=0.23, 0.22). Metabolic syndrome was associated similarly with 1-h and 2-h OGTT., Conclusions: The 1-h OGTT correlates well with both fasting glucose and 2-h OGTT and shows similar or higher associations with obesity measures. The 1-h OGTT has potential utility in epidemiologic studies., (Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.)

Purpose: To establish the prevalence of nutritional problems and their related socio-demographic and health-related risk factors in the homebound elderly population., Methods: Subjects included 239 men and women, ages 65 to 105 years. Trained, two-person field teams conducted comprehensive in-home assessments. Medical record reviews assessed co-morbidity and medication use., Results: The majority of these urban study subjects are of very advanced age (mean age 81 years), female (72%), non-white (73%), living alone (51%), of low income (76%), and somewhat socially isolated (26% had no weekly social contact). More older women than men were widowed (60 vs. 33%, respectively) and poor (80 vs. 67%). The disease burden and functional dependency were both high in men and women; 77% had three or more chronic medical conditions; 76% were functionally dependent in one or more ADL's and 95% in one or more IADL's. Poor dietary quality was universal in these older men and women; half or more consumed diets that deviated from recommended standards for at least 13 of the 24 nutritional guidelines studied. Five percent of subjects were underweight (Body Mass Index (BMI) <18.5); 22% were overweight (BMI 25.0-29.9); and 33% were obese (BMI >30.0). Fasting albumin, hemoglobin, and absolute lymphocyte concentrations were borderline to very low in 18-32%. Dyslipidemia was more common in women; however, men and women had similar Total:HDL cholesterol ratios., Conclusions: Nutritional status is poor in homebound persons of very advanced age with substantial co-morbidity and functional dependency. The complexities of nutritional risk necessitate multi-disciplinary and individualized nutritional intervention strategies.

Acute pancreatitis is a disease process that begins with an initial injury to the pancreatic acinar cell due to the erroneous premature activation and intracellular release of digestive enzymes. The local injury is amplified through the induction of a systemic inflammatory response, mediated by the generation and release of cytokines and an aggressive inflammatory cell recruitment. Failure to maintain gut integrity may exacerbate the stress response and the systemic inflammatory reaction associated with this process, worsening the overall clinical severity of the pancreatitis and contributing further to complications of organ failure and nosocomial infection. Emphasis in the clinical nutritional management of these patients has shifted from efforts to minimize stimulation of the gland, to attaining enteral access, starting tube feeds low in the gastrointestinal tract, and monitoring tolerance. While clinical guidelines help identify those patients with acute pancreatitis at greatest need for aggressive nutritional support, the proper timing to initiate feeding, the optimal composition of the enteral formula, and whether or not enteral feeding is better than no nutritional therapy is still not clear from the current literature., (Copyright 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.)

This paper attempts to describe the many reasons why it is difficult to recruit homebound older adults to participate in research studies. The reasons, not surprisingly, are more practical than theoretical. Complicated procedures for participants to follow, cross-cultural communication, fear of the medical establishment, convoluted consent forms, making contact on the telephone, finding the participants' homes, and a host of other nagging problems combine to erect enormous barriers to running successful studies. It is our hope that in identifying these difficulties we will also shed light on how to design studies that minimize their impact.

The purposes of this study were to assess comprehensively the nutritional status of frail older adults living in an urban area and to identify factors associated with nutritional insufficiency. Subjects were 49 adults aged > or = 65 y followed by the Jefferson County Home Health Department. Twenty-nine percent of the women and 63% of the men had a body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) < 24. Nineteen percent had serum albumin concentrations < 35 g/L (3.5 g/dL). More than one-half of the subjects reported symptoms of oral health problems. The key dependent variables were serum albumin concentration and BMI. In univariate analyses, a lower BMI correlated with oral symptoms, male sex, increased age, and less education. Lower serum albumin concentrations were associated with advanced age, increased dependence in Activities of Daily Living (ADL), oral symptoms, and presence of a caregiver. A stepwise multiple-regression model for BMI and serum albumin showed that predictors of low BMI were increased age, less education, difficulty in chewing, and absence of dentures. Variables in the model for lower serum albumin concentrations were sex, increased age, increased dependence in ADLs, and wearing of dentures. In a secondary analysis that controlled for age, education level, functional status, and sex, oral symptoms remained associated with lower BMI but not with lower serum albumin concentrations. This study found a high prevalence of undernutrition in urban homebound older adults and suggests that oral health disability may affect nutritional status in this population.

Caring for older patients who need surgery presents challenging medical situations. The clinical paradigm involves identifying coexisting disease, defining the urgency of the intervention, and predicting postoperative complications based on the type of surgery planned. The prime function of the medical consultant is searching for correctable medical conditions. The consultant must carefully identify coexisting and comorbid conditions. Emergency surgery should be avoided, if possible, by elective planning. The risk of surgery varies with the procedure. Non-body cavity surgery, with the exception of hip fracture repair, is usually tolerated well. Age is a risk factor for surgery, but coexisting disease is more important than age alone. The net effect of improvements in surgical outcome advances the age at which surgical risk becomes prohibitive.