ZiMM: A deep learning model for long term and blurry relapses with non-clinical claims data.

This paper considers the problems of modeling and predicting a long-term and "blurry" relapse that occurs after a medical act, such as a surgery. We do not consider a short-term complication related to the act itself, but a long-term relapse that clinicians cannot explain easily, since it depends on unknown sets or sequences of past events that occurred before the act. The relapse is observed only indirectly, in a "blurry" fashion, through longitudinal prescriptions of drugs over a long period of time after the medical act.

Self-administered Vitamin D Status Predictor: Older adults are able to use a self-questionnaire for evaluating their vitamin D status.

Background: The 16-item Vitamin D Status Predictor (VDSP) questionnaire helps to identify, without resorting to a blood test, older adults with low vitamin D concentrations. Our objective was to determine whether a self-administered VDSP was concordant with the VDSP administered by a physician, and to examine the concordance of every single item of the VDSP.

Methods: A total of 349 older in- and outpatients (mean, 83.

Clinical Identification of Geriatric Patients with Hypovitaminosis D: The 'Vitamin D Status Predictor for Geriatrics' Study.

The 16-item Vitamin D Status Predictor (VDSP) tool identifies healthy older community-dwellers at risk of hypovitaminosis D and may guide the use of blood tests in this population. The objective of the present hospital-based study was to test the efficacy of the VDSP to identify geriatric patients with hypovitaminosis D. The study included 199 nonsupplemented geriatric in- and outpatients consecutively admitted to Angers University Hospital, France (mean ± SD, 82.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of rifaximin-α administration for the reduction of episodes of overt hepatic encephalopathy in recurrence compared with standard treatment in France.

Background: Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a complex neuropsychiatric syndrome that occurs most often in a context of acute or chronic liver disease. Despite the seriousness of the pathology, only a few treatments have been developed for improving its management. Rifaximin-α is the first treatment that has been clinically developed for overt HE (OHE) episodes.

Falling in the elderly: Do statistical models matter for performance criteria of fall prediction? Results from two large population-based studies.

Objective: To compare performance criteria (i.e., sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, area under receiver operating characteristic curve and accuracy) of linear and non-linear statistical models for fall risk in older community-dwellers.

Derivation and validation of a clinical diagnostic tool for the identification of older community-dwellers with hypovitaminosis D.

Objectives: Hypovitaminosis D is highly prevalent among seniors. Although evidence is insufficient to recommend routine vitamin D screening in seniors, universal vitamin D supplementation is not desirable either. To rationalize vitamin D determination, our objective was to elaborate and test a clinical diagnostic tool for the identification of seniors with hypovitaminosis D without using a blood test.

Artificial neural network and falls in community-dwellers: a new approach to identify the risk of recurrent falling?

Background: Identification of the risk of recurrent falls is complex in older adults. The aim of this study was to examine the efficiency of 3 artificial neural networks (ANNs: multilayer perceptron [MLP], modified MLP, and neuroevolution of augmenting topologies [NEAT]) for the classification of recurrent fallers and nonrecurrent fallers using a set of clinical characteristics corresponding to risk factors of falls measured among community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: Based on a cross-sectional design, 3289 community-dwelling volunteers aged 65 and older were recruited.

Screening for older emergency department inpatients at risk of prolonged hospital stay: the brief geriatric assessment tool.

Background: The aims of this study were 1) to confirm that combinations of brief geriatric assessment (BGA) items were significant risk factors for prolonged LHS among geriatric patients hospitalized in acute care medical units after their admission to the emergency department (ED); and 2) to determine whether these combinations of BGA items could be used as a prognostic tool of prolonged LHS.

Methods: Based on a prospective observational cohort design, 1254 inpatients (mean age ± standard deviation, 84.9±5.

The influence of fear of falling on gait variability: results from a large elderly population-based cross-sectional study.

Objective: To compare gait variability among older community-dwellers with and without fear of falling and history of falls, and 2) to examine the association between gait variability and fear of falling while taking into account the effect of potential confounders.

Methods: Based on a cross-sectional design, 1,023 French community-dwellers (mean age ± SD, 70.5 ± 5.

Quantified self and comprehensive geriatric assessment: older adults are able to evaluate their own health and functional status.

Background: There is an increased interest of individuals in quantifying their own health and functional status. The aim of this study was to examine the concordance of answers to a self-administered questionnaire exploring health and functional status with information collected during a full clinical examination performed by a physician among cognitively healthy adults (CHI) and older patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease (AD).

Methods: Based on cross-sectional design, a total of 60 older adults (20 CHI, 20 patients with MCI, and 20 patients with mild-to-moderate AD) were recruited in the memory clinic of Angers, France.