Home-based Rehabilitation After Inpatient Rehabilitation: Utilization Rate and Characteristics of Referred Patients.

Objective: To determine the utilization rate of a home-based rehabilitation program after an inpatient rehabilitation stay, and to investigate the profile of users.

Design: Observational study.

Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation facility in a tertiary hospital.

Unplanned transfer to acute care during inpatient geriatric rehabilitation: incidence, risk factors, and associated short-term outcomes.

Background: Information is scarce on unplanned transfers from geriatric rehabilitation back to acute care despite their potential impact on patients' functional recovery. This study aimed 1) to determine the incidence rate and causes of unplanned transfers; 2) to compare the characteristics and outcomes of patients with and without unplanned transfer.

Methods: Consecutive stays (n = 2375) in a tertiary geriatric rehabilitation unit were included.

Diabetes mellitus in older persons with neurocognitive disorder: overtreatment prevalence and associated structural brain MRI findings.

Background: Tight diabetes control is often applied in older persons with neurocognitive disorder resulting in increased hypoglycemic episodes but little is known about the pattern of brain injury in these overtreated patients. This study aims to: (a) quantify the prevalence of diabetes overtreatment in cognitively impaired older adults in a clinical population followed in an academic memory clinic (b) identify risk factors contributing to overtreatment; and (c) explore the association between diabetes overtreatment and specific brain region volume changes.

Methods: Retrospective study of older patients with type 2 diabetes and cognitive impairment who were diagnosed in a memory clinic from 2013 to 2020.

Impact of an early geriatric rehabilitation program in acutely hospitalised vulnerable patients: a real-life study in an ACE unit in Switzerland.

Introduction: Early geriatric rehabilitation programs are potential means to prevent acute hospitalisation-associated functional decline.

Methods: The objectives were to measure the impact of an interdisciplinary rehabilitation program on patients' administrative in hospital data and on functional trajectories. With a before-and-after design, we compared all patients admitted from January to August 2018 into the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) unit of an Academic hospital in Switzerland who received this type of program to those admitted during the same period in 2016 and 2017.

Mortality in COVID-19 older patients hospitalized in a geriatric ward: Is obesity protective?

Backgrounds: To investigate the relationship between obesity and 30-day mortality in a cohort of older hospitalized COVID-19 inpatients.

Methods: Included patients were aged 70 years or more; hospitalized in acute geriatric wards between March and December 2020; with a positive PCR for COVID-19; not candidate to intensive care unit admission. Clinical data were collected from patients electronic medical records.

Executive function and prospective falls: a 6-year longitudinal study in community-dwelling older adults.

Background: Older people with impaired executive function (EF) might have an increased fall risk, but prospective studies with prolonged follow-up are scarce. This study aimed to investigate the association between a) EF at baseline; b) 6-year decline in EF performance; and fall status 6 years later.

Methods: Participants were 906 community-dwelling adults aged 65-69 years, enrolled in the Lausanne 65 + cohort.

Effectiveness of Information Sessions About COVID-19 Vaccines in Healthcare Professionals Working in Geriatrics.

To determine change in (a) perceived knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines; (b) level of confidence in transmitting information about vaccines; and (c) intention to get vaccinated; among healthcare professionals (HCP) working in a Swiss academic geriatric department who attended a 30-minute information session about COVID-19 vaccines. At the session's end, a self-administered questionnaire collected information about socio-demographics, personnel, and/or relatives' experience with COVID-19. In addition, participants were asked to rate their: (a) perceived knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines; (b) level of confidence in transmitting information about COVID-19 vaccines to patients and relatives; and (c) intention to get vaccinated; before and after the session.

Instrumented 5-Time Sit-To-Stand Test: Parameters Predicting Serious Falls beyond the Duration of the Test.

Background: Falls are a major cause of injuries in older adults. To evaluate the risk of falls in older adults, clinical assessments such as the 5-time sit-to-stand (5xSTS) test can be performed. The development of inertial measurement units (IMUs) has provided the possibility of a more in-depth analysis of the movements' biomechanical characteristics during this test.

Delirium in older patients undergoing aortic valve replacement: incidence, predictors, and cognitive prognosis.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement is increasingly performed in frail older patients who were previously ineligible for a standard surgical procedure. The objectives of this study are to determine delirium incidence, predictors, and relationship with cognitive performance at 3-month follow-up in older patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR).

Methods: Patients (N = 93) aged 70 years and older, undergoing transcatheter (TAVR, N = 66) or surgical (SAVR, N = 27) aortic valve replacement in an academic medical center were enrolled in this prospective cohort study.

Falls Efficacy Is Associated With Better Gait and Functional Outcomes After Rehabilitation in Older Patients.

Objective: To examine the relationship between falls efficacy and the change in gait speed and functional status in older patients undergoing postacute rehabilitation.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Postacute rehabilitation facility.

Factors associated with going outdoors frequently: a cross-sectional study among Swiss community-dwelling older adults.

Objective: This study examines potential risk and protective factors associated with going outdoors frequently among older persons, and whether these factors vary according to physical limitations.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis.

Setting And Participants: Community-dwelling participants of the Lausanne cohort Lc65+ in 2016, aged 68-82 years (n=3419).

Sleep characteristics and self-rated health in older persons.

Purpose: It remains unclear, how much older persons' sleep problems are due to age-related changes in sleep architecture and pattern, or whether they are a consequence of health problems. This work aimed to examine the association between sleep characteristics and self-rated health, taking into account potential confounders.

Methods: Data about sleep, including sleep efficiency (ratio of sleep duration to the amount of time spent in bed, considered as good if > 85%), as well as health-rated characteristics were self-reported by community-dwelling persons enrolled in the Lausanne cohort 65+ study (n = 2712, age 66-75 years).

Impact of staffing a surgical intermediate care unit with a critical care specialist.

Aim: To assess the impact of reorganising an 11-bed surgical intermediate care unit (IMCU) from an open to a semi-closed system in a Swiss University Hospital by adding a critical care specialist (CCS).

Methods: This was a cohort study including adult IMCU patients enrolled in an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocol in the Department of Visceral Surgery, Lausanne University Hospital, from 1 February 2014 to 31 January 2016. Medical supervision by a CCS was implemented on 1 February 2015.

Unknown osteoporosis in older patients admitted to post-acute rehabilitation.

Background: Osteoporotic fractures are associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and increased health care use. As the number of older adults increases, identifying those at increased risk for osteoporotic fractures has become of utmost importance to providing them with preventive and therapeutic interventions.

Aims: To determine the prevalence of unknown clinical and densitometric osteoporosis and to investigate the performance of different diagnostic strategies for osteoporosis in elderly patients admitted to rehabilitation.

Concern about Falling and Complexity of Free-Living Physical Activity Patterns in Well-Functioning Older Adults.

Background: Fall-related psychological concerns are common among older adults, potentially contributing to functional decline as well as to restriction of activities and social participation. To effectively prevent such negative consequences, it is important to understand how even very low concern about falling could affect physical activity behavior in everyday life. We hypothesized that concern about falling is associated with a reduction in diversity, dynamics, and performance of daily activities, and that these features can be comprehensively quantified in terms of complexity of physical activity patterns.