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We assessed the impact of malnutrition on 14-day, 28-day, and 3-month mortality risk in oldest-old inpatients aged ≥80 years with COVID-19 in the hospital-based GERIA-COVID cohort. Malnutrition was assessed on hospital admission using the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI). Potential confounders were age, sex, functional abilities, number of acute health issues, CRP level, hypertension, cardiomyopathy, malignancies, use of antibiotics, and respiratory treatments. Seventy-eight participants (88.9 ± 4.3 years old, 55% women) were included. Of these, 82.1% had survived at day 14, 78.2% at day 28, and 70.5% after 3 months. No association between malnutrition according to the GNRI and 14-day (P = 0.324), 28-day (P = 0.166), or 3-month mortality (P = 0.109) was found. Thus, malnutrition according to the GNRI was not associated with mortality within the first 3 months of diagnosis of COVID-19 among oldest-old inpatients.

Olfactory identification disorder is regarded as an early marker of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and of similar diagnostic significance of biological or cognitive markers. Premature damage of the entorhinal olfactory cortex, the hippocampus and the orbitofrontal cortex characterize AD and suggest a specific impairment of olfactory identification. The use of psychophysical olfactory identification tests in clinical diagnostic practice is therefore strongly recommended, but not required. As these widespread tests are rarely used, an innovative test, adapted to this target group has been developed. It has been used and validated in a routine care protocol at different Memory Centers in France and in Quebec, Canada. A total of 157 participants were recruited: including 63 Alzheimer's patients and 94 healthy controls. The test was composed of 14 odorants diluted into 4 different concentrations. A computer interface generated randomization of 6 odors per participant and the automatic calculation of identification scores, of perceptual thresholds and of composite scores. All participants underwent a Mini Mental Scale Examination within the previous three months or on the same day of the olfactory test. The Alzheimer's patients had a score between 20 and 30 and healthy controls participants had a score above 28 without any loss of points on recalled items. The results show that our olfactory identification test is able to significantly differentiate Alzheimer's patients from healthy controls (p < 0.001), and to distinguish the French population tested from the Quebec population (p < 0.001). This study highlights an olfactory identification disorder as a target for early diagnosis of AD. Its cultural qualities make it a potential candidate for differentiated calibration between France and Quebec. Published version

International audience; This review was conducted to emphasize the complex interplay between atrial fibrillation (AF) and myocardial infraction (MI). In type 1 (T1) MI, AF is frequent and associated with excess mortality. Moreover, AF after hospital discharge for T1MI is not rare, suggesting the need to improve AF screening and to develop therapeutic strategies for AF recurrence. Additionally, AF is a common trigger for type 2 MI (T2MI), and recent data have shown that tachyarrhythmia or bradyarrhythmia could be a causal factor in, respectively, 13–47% or 2–7% of T2MI. In addition, AF is involved in T2MI pathogenesis as a result of severe anemia related to anticoagulants. AF is also an underestimated and frequent cause of coronary artery embolism (CE), as a situation at risk of myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries. AF-causing CE is difficult to diagnose and requires specific management. Moreover, patients with both AF and chronic coronary syndromes represent a therapeutic challenge because the treatment of AF include anticoagulation, depending on the embolic risk, and ischemic heart disease management paradoxically includes antiplatelet therapy.

Background Technological communication methods such as telephone calls and video calls can help prevent social isolation and loneliness in frail older adults during confinement. Objective Our objectives were to determine which virtual communication method (ie, telephone call or video call) was preferred by confined older hospital patients and nursing home residents and the variables influencing this preference. Methods The TOVID (Telephony Or Videophony for Isolated elDerly) study was a cross-sectional study that was designed to examine the preference between telephone calls and video calls among frail older adults who were either hospitalized in a geriatric acute care unit or institutionalized in a long-term care and nursing home during the COVID-19 confinement period. Results A total of 132 older people were surveyed between March 25 and May 11, 2020 (mean age 88.2 years, SD 6.2); 79 (59.8%) were women. Patients hospitalized in the geriatric acute care unit were more able to establish communication independently than residents institutionalized in the long-term care and nursing home (P=.03) and were more satisfied with their communication experiences (P=.02). Overall, older people tended to favor telephone calls (73/132, 55.3%) over video calls (59/132, 44.7%); however, their satisfaction degree was similar regardless of the chosen method (P=.1), with no effect of age (P=.97) or gender (P=.2). In the geriatric acute care unit, the satisfaction degrees were similar for telephone calls (40/41, 98%) and video calls (33/38, 87%) in older patients (P=.10). Conversely, in the long-term care and nursing home, residents were more satisfied with the use of video calls to communicate with their relatives (14/15, 93%) versus the use of telephone calls (6/12, 50%; P=.02). Conclusions Older people confined to health care settings were able to complete telephone calls more independently than video calls, and they tended to use telephone calls more often than video calls. The satisfaction degrees were similar with both modalities and even greater with video calls among long-term care and nursing home residents when they were given assistance to establish communication. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04333849: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04333849.