European Geriatric Medicine

PURPOSE: To investigate whether the willingness to exercise (WTE) and exercise habits affect the incidence of disability among older adults. METHODS: This study included 8,354 individuals (72.5 ± 6.2 years, 55.9% female). The participants were divided into three categories based on their WTE: unwillingness to exercise, willingness to exercise (but without exercise habits), and exercise habits. The incidence of disability was prospectively determined within 24 months of the follow-up...

PURPOSE: Sarcopenia is a geriatric syndrome characterized by progressive loss of muscle mass and function. Meteorin-like (Metrnl) is a secretory protein that has protective effects on skeletal muscle injury. However, the association of Metrnl level with sarcopenia remains unclear. METHODS: A total of 772 community-dwelling older adults (median age = 76 years), comprising 409 males and 363 females, from both urban and rural areas were enrolled...

BACKGROUND: Global aging is leading to an increase in frailty patients, and physical activity (PA) may have an impact on frail in middle-aged and older population. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the frequency of different PA intensities and the incidence and prevalence of frailty in middle-aged and older adults based on the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). METHOD: Self-reported questionnaires were used to obtain information on demographics and PA, and frailty was assessed using the SHARE Frailty Instrument (SHARE-FI)...

PURPOSE: One third of Dutch nursing home residents relocated at least once during length of stay. Roughly 75 percent were individual relocations and the other 25 percent concerned group relocations. The average yearly number of individual relocations was about 3 times as high in the first 4 months after admission compared with later periods. METHODS: We performed an historical cohort study of pseudonymized registration data from a Dutch electronic health record...

PURPOSE: To examine the prognostic accuracy of the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and Braden Scale (BS) separately and combined for 90-day mortality. Furthermore, to examine the effect of frailty on mortality depending on different levels of the Braden score. METHODS: The study included acutely admitted medical patients ≥ 65 years. We used an optimum cutoff for CSF and BS at ≥ 4 and ≤ 19, respectively...

PURPOSE: Sarcopenia is a potentially reversible syndrome that increases the risk of cardiogenic cachexia and adverse outcomes in older patients with heart failure (HF). Despite its clinical significance, sarcopenia remains underdiagnosed due to the complexities of comprehensive assessment in patients with acute HF. This study aimed to evaluate whether the SARC-F questionnaire, its inviduals components, and the handgrip strength test (HGS) can predict short-term prognostic risk in very old patients recently discharged after acute HF...

INTRODUCTION: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a treatment for people with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis, particularly those living with frailty. Increasing frailty is associated with poorer outcomes post-TAVI. Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) has been shown in other settings to improve outcomes in those with frailty, including perioperatively. This systematic review aims to determine whether CGA, or interventions targeting its components, improves outcomes for older people undergoing TAVI...

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to gain insight into the perspectives of older adults on the quality of geriatric rehabilitation (GR) during the trajectory of GR from admission until six weeks after discharge. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal qualitative study. Participants were interviewed three times: at the start of rehabilitation, at discharge, and six weeks after discharge. The data were analysed using a thematic analysis. RESULTS: In total, 50 interviews were conducted, with 18 participants being interviewed multiple times...

PURPOSE: Several vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are being developed. The objective of this systematic review is to determine the efficacy of these vaccines in preventing RSV disease in adults over 60 years of age, especially regarding severe illness. METHODS: We researched MEDLINE, CENTRAL, Scopus, medRxiv, bioRxiv and ClinicalTrials.gov until April/2024. Randomized controlled trials studying an anti-RSV vaccine in adults above 60 years and reporting RSV-related acute respiratory infection/disease (ARI/ARD), lower respiratory tract infection/disease (LRTI/LRTD) and severe LRTI/LRTD were included...

PURPOSE: The objective of this systematic literature review was to: (1) estimate the prevalence of (symptoms of) rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) and (2) explore how (symptoms of) RMDs are identified and documented in studies among nursing home residents. METHODS: Prevalence data of (symptoms of) RMDs in permanently admitted nursing home residents ≥ 60 years were included. Data extraction, data synthesis and risk of bias assessment were performed by two reviewers independently...

INTRODUCTION: Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technological innovation with wide applicability in daily life, which could help elderly people. However, it raises potential conflicts, such as biases, omissions and errors. METHODS: Descriptive study through the negative stereotypes towards aging questionnaire (CENVE) conducted on chatbots ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, YOUChat, and Copilot was conducted. RESULTS: Of the chatbots studied, three were above 50% in responses with negative stereotypes, Copilot with high ageism level results, followed by Perplexity...

There is a mismatch between the healthcare needs of the ageing population worldwide and the amount of education medical students receive in geriatric medicine. In 2014, Mateos-Nozal et al. published a systematic review of all undergraduate education surveys in geriatric medicine-a decade on, it is timely for an up-to-date overview of the state of undergraduate geriatric medicine education globally. In this review, we outline the international evidence in the field, exploring the results of national and multi-national teaching surveys, and discussing the relative strengths and weaknesses of nationally recommended curricula...

Ageism is still acceptable in our society, as age-focused criticism during the last American presidential campaign shows. Media and social media discourse on ageism, sexism, and racism shows the need of raising the awareness of ageism. We present Eugene Braunwald as an example of excellence at an advanced age. Dr. Braunwald, aged 95, has just published his article number 1,618. Preventing and counteracting ageism should be an objective of health-care workers, journalists, governments, companies, and civil society organizations...

PURPOSE: To identify the predictive variables for post-stroke dysphagia (PSD) among anterior circulation large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke patients who underwent endovascular thrombectomy (EVT). METHODS: This retrospective cohort study enrolled hospitalized patients with anterior LVO stroke who underwent EVT between January 1, 2018 and October 31, 2022. PSD was defined as the unsuccessful removal of the nasogastric (NG) tube. Factors, such as premorbid characteristics, laboratory results, EVT, rehabilitation-related parameters, and neuro-imaging, were analyzed for correlations to PSD at 4 and 12 weeks...

PURPOSE: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a common and serious neuropsychiatric syndrome that leads to higher morbidity and mortality. We investigated the association between serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and the occurrence of POD in older hip fracture patients, and whether CRP predicted POD better than a clinical model. METHODS: Patients aged ≥ 75 years admitted for surgical repair of an acute hip fracture were recruited. We compared serum CRP levels between patients with and without POD...

PURPOSE: Gastric cancer (GC) is mostly a disease of aging, and older patients with GC are generally frailer. This study aimed to describe the characteristics and in-hospital outcomes, both overall and stratified by gender and resection, and to explore factors associated with outcomes of first hospitalization, in older GC patients. METHODS: Data on GC patients ≥ 65 years hospitalized from January 2016 until December 2020 were retrieved from the electronic medical records of a large tertiary hospital...

PURPOSE: We compared the performance of SARC-F, SARC-CalF, calf circumference (CC), and body mass index (BMI)-adjusted CC for sarcopenia case-finding in community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: Data of Finnish participants (women/men n = 192/36, mean age (SD) of 76.9 (4.8) years) recruited in the SPRINTT trial (NCT02582138) were used. Sarcopenia was determined as a combination of low muscle function (chair-stand-test) and low appendicular lean mass (ALM) detected by whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry...

PURPOSE: There is a need for further research on older adults' experiences of fall risk screening to improve health communication strategies. The purpose of this study was to describe and explore older adults' experiences of being screened for risk of an injurious fall, using the first-time injurious falls (FIF) screening tool. METHODS: A qualitative study with five focus group interviews was carried out including 17 older adults (11 women and six men, with a mean age of 77...

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) and sarcopenia are bidirectionally linked and commonly co-occur among middle-aged and elderly individuals. This study aims to examine the combined effect of DM and sarcopenia on depressive symptoms and cognitive function. METHODS: This was a nationwide cohort study using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. The definition of DM was self-reported and based on hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) ≥ 6...

BACKGROUND: Cultural gerontology - understanding ageing through the lens of arts and humanities-has emerged as an important element of epistemology of ageing. As a boundary area between geriatric medicine/gerontology and arts/humanities disciplines, joint-working/interdisciplinarity is desirable. This project aims to assess the degree of joint-working manifested in cultural gerontology by authorship and acknowledgements in papers dedicated to cultural gerontology in five journals. METHODS: Observational survey of authorship in 5 journals from the founding of the specific sections on cultural gerontology or specific dedicated journals, assessing number of authors, disciplinary identities, and evidence of joint working within cultural gerontology...