Association of oral frailty with falls in long-term care residents.

Purpose: We investigated the relationship between oral frailty (OFr) and falls among long-term care residents.

Methods: Residents (N = 254, mean age 84 y, 79% women) participated in this longitudinal cohort study in 2018-2021. OFr was defined by six signs.

Secular trends in frailty among community-dwelling 75-95-year-old cohorts over three decades in Helsinki, Finland.

Background: Frailty Index (FI) reflects health, functioning and well-being of older people. It is valuable to compare how frailty has changed over time in ageing cohorts. This study aims to examine trends in frailty among 75-95-year-old men and women over three decades.

Prescribing Appropriate Medicines to Older Adults: A Finnish Experience with the Web-Based Meds75+ Database.

The Finnish web-based Meds75+ database supports rational, safe and appropriate prescribing to older adults in primary care. This article describes the content and updating process of Meds75+ and demonstrates its applicability in everyday clinical practice. Meds75+ contains a classification (A-D) and recommendation texts for 450-500 drug substances when used in the treatment of older adults aged 75 years or older.

Changes in location and number of nurse consultations as the supply of general practitioners decreases in primary health care: six-year register-based follow-up cohort study in the city of Vantaa, Finland.

Objective: To investigate whether the location and the number of nurse consultations have changed in response to the continuously decreasing number of GP consultations in the fourth-largest city in Finland. It has been suggested that nurse consultations are replacing GP consultations.

Design: A retrospective register-based follow-up cohort study.

Oral frailty among dentate and edentate older adults in long-term care.

Background: The objectives of this study were to compare oral frailty (OFr) among edentate and dentate older adults living in long-term care facilities (LTCF) and to clarify how edentulism and oral disease burden (ODB) of dentate older adults are associated with OFr.

Methods: The population of this study comprised 94 edentate and 209 dentate residents in LTCF in Helsinki, Finland, who had previously participated in a nutritional study. The participants underwent a clinical oral examination.

Relationship between oral frailty, health-related quality of life, and survival among long-term care residents.

Purpose: We evaluated oral frailty (OFr) and its association with health-related quality of life (HRQoL), energy and protein intake, and survival among older long-term care residents.

Methods: This cross-sectional study with a 3-year follow-up for survival assessed 349 residents in long-term care facilities (73% female, mean age 82 years). We defined OFr with six signs (dry mouth, food residue on oral surfaces, unclear speech, inability to keep mouth open or pain expression during the clinical oral examination, diet pureed/soft) and OFr severity was categorized as Group 1, (mild) = 0-1 signs, Group 2 (moderate) = 2-4 signs, and Group 3 (severe) = 5-6 signs.

Association of medication use with falls and mortality among long-term care residents: a longitudinal cohort study.

Background: Falls in long-term care are common. The aim of our study was to explore how medication use is associated with incidence of falls, related consequences, and all-cause mortality among long-term care residents.

Methods: Five hundred thirty two long-term care residents aged 65 years or older participated in this longitudinal cohort study in 2018-2021.

Comparison of two GP service provider models in older adults: a register-based follow-up study.

Background: In Finland, there have been various strategies attempting to provide access to GPs. The 'restricted-List General Practitioner model' (rLGP) was launched in primary health care (PHC) in the city of Vantaa after the 'named General Practitioner model' (nGP) failed to provide sufficient access to GPs. This was done to improve access to GP appointments for those most needing care.

Subgingival microbiome at different levels of cognition.

Oral health and declining cognition may have a bi-directional association. We characterized the subgingival microbiota composition of subjects from normal cognition to severe cognitive decline in two cohorts. Memory and Periodontitis (MINOPAR) include 202 home-living participants (50-80 years) in Sweden.

Temporal Trends Over Two Decades in the Use of Anticholinergic Drugs Among Older Community-Dwelling People in Helsinki, Finland.

Background: Knowledge of the adverse effects of drugs with anticholinergic properties (DAPs) has increased in recent decades. However, research on the temporal trends of the clinical use of DAPs is still sparse.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the temporal trends of DAP use over two decades in the older community-dwelling population and to explore the medication classes contributing to the use of DAPs.

Dietary fat intake and quality in long-term care residents in two cohorts assessed 10 years apart.

Purpose: To describe and compare detailed dietary fat intake, fat quality and associative factors between two measuring points 10 years apart of residents living in long-term care facilities, and to reflect how fat composition and fat quality corresponds to current nutrition recommendations.

Methods: In 2007 long-term care residents (n = 374) of 25 assisted-living facilities and nursing homes and in 2017-18 long-term care residents (n = 486) of 17 respective facilities in Helsinki metropolitan area were recruited for this study. Information on the residents' heights, demographic information and use of calcium and vitamin D supplementation were retrieved from medical records.

Relationship between Fried's frailty phenotype and oral frailty in long-term care residents.

Background: oral frailty (OFr) may be called a syndrome lacking a consensus on its definition.

Objective: the aim was to prove the relationship between OFr to the phenotype of frailty, general health and nutrition in long-term care.

Design: the FINnish ORAL Health Study in Long-Term Care study is a cross-sectional clinical research comprising findings on oral and general health and nutrition.

Oral hygiene and health-related quality of life in institutionalized older people.

Purpose: We evaluated the level of oral hygiene and its association with oral health status and need for oral treatment among older residents in long-term care facilities. In addition, the association between oral hygiene level and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was explored.

Methods: This cross-sectional study assessed 231 dentate residents in long-term care facilities (71% female, mean age 81 years, 70% had dementia).

Temporal trends in nutrition intake among older long-term care residents.

Background & Aims: The temporal trends in protein and other nutrient intakes among older long-term care residents have not been studied. The aim of this study was to explore the changes in energy, protein, and other nutrient intakes between 2007 and 2017-8 in two cross-sectional samples of older long-term care residents in the Helsinki metropolitan area. We also studied how the residents' disability and stage of cognition modified the association between observation year and protein intake (g/body weight kg).

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms as Predictors of Falls in Long-Term Care Residents With Cognitive Impairment.

Objectives: Falls and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are common among long-term care residents with cognitive impairment. Despite the high prevalence of falls and NPS, little is known about their association. The aim of our study was to explore how NPS, particularly the severity of NPS and specific NPS subgroups, are associated with falls and how psychotropics modify this association.

Delirium Café: interactive learning to enhance delirium care.

Purpose: The aim of Delirium Café was to try a new learning method to increase awareness of delirium and improve delirium care in an acute hospital setting in Helsinki, Finland.

Method: World Café-an active learning method, with four facilitators and four stations covering important aspects of delirium recognition and management, was used.

Results: 22 junior doctors and 4 members of the senior staff participated in the event on 13th of March 2019, the World Delirium Awareness Day (WDAD).

Temporal Trends in the Use of Anticholinergic Drugs Among Older People Living in Long-Term Care Facilities in Helsinki.

Background: The use of drugs with anticholinergic properties (DAPs) is common among older adults despite their known adverse effects, such as cognitive decline. Professionals should pay attention to DAPs, since evidence on their adverse effects has been accumulating during the last decade. However, to our knowledge previous studies exploring temporal trends in the use of DAPs are scarce.

Severity of both neuropsychiatric symptoms and dementia is associated with quality of life in nursing home residents.

Purpose: The primary focus in long-term care is to maintain quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and their interaction with dementia severity among institutionalized older people with dementia.

Methods: 352 long-term care residents aged 65 years or over with dementia participated in this cross-sectional study.

Use of Anticholinergic Drugs According to Various Criteria and Their Association With Psychological Well-Being and Mortality in Long-Term Care Facilities.

Objectives: To compare 3 internationally established criteria for drugs with anticholinergic properties (DAPs) and their associated factors in long-term care facilities, and to investigate the association between use of DAPs and psychological well-being (PWB) or mortality.

Design: Cross-sectional study and 1-year follow-up of all-cause mortality.

Setting And Participants: Of all 4449 residents living in long-term care facilities in Helsinki in 2011, 2432 (≥65 years of age) participated after exclusion of residents with severe dementia.