Prediction of Adverse Outcomes in Nursing Home Residents According to Intrinsic Capacity Proposed by the World Health Organization.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of the domains of intrinsic capacity (ie, cognition, locomotion, sensory, vitality, and psychosocial) proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 3-year adverse health outcomes of nursing home residents.

Methods: A 3-year incidence of mortality, falls, repeated falls, and autonomy decline (ie, a one-unit increase in the Katz score) was assessed in a cohort of Belgian nursing home residents. Cognition was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).

Using supervised learning machine algorithm to identify future fallers based on gait patterns: A two-year longitudinal study.

Introduction: Given their major health consequences in the elderly, identifying people at risk of fall is a major challenge faced by clinicians. A lot of studies have confirmed the relationships between gait parameters and falls incidence. However, accurate tools to predict individual risk among independent older adults without a history of falls are lacking.

Normative data for isometric strength of 8 different muscle groups and their usefulness as a predictor of loss of autonomy among physically active nursing home residents: the SENIOR cohort.

Objectives: To provide normative values for isometric strength of 8 different muscle groups among nursing home residents and to investigate their predictive value for the decline of autonomy.

Methods: This is an analysis of the 1-year follow-up of the SENIOR cohort. At baseline, isometric muscle strength of residents has been assessed for 8 muscle groups using the MicroFET2.

Gait symmetry in the dual task condition as a predictor of future falls among independent older adults: a 2-year longitudinal study.

Background: Given the potential consequences of falls among older adults, a major challenge is to identify people at risk before the first event. In this context, gait parameters have been suggested as markers of fall risk.

Aim: To examine, among older people, the prospective relationship between gait patterns assessed in comfortable and challenging walking conditions, and future fall(s).

Assessment of Muscle Function and Physical Performance in Daily Clinical Practice : A position paper endorsed by the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases (ESCEO).

It is well recognized that poor muscle function and poor physical performance are strong predictors of clinically relevant adverse events in older people. Given the large number of approaches to measure muscle function and physical performance, clinicians often struggle to choose a tool that is appropriate and validated for the population of older people they deal with. In this paper, an overview of different methods available and applicable in clinical settings is proposed.

The authors reply: Letter on: "Pitfalls in the measurement of muscle mass: a need for a reference standard" by Clark et al.

However, semantics aside, we think that DXA can indeed serve as a reference standard for measuring muscle mass. Obviously, CT and MRI are advanced techniques that can and have been used to obtain important information such as muscle size/volume and more recently amount and distribution of intra- and intermuscular adipose tissue. Also individual muscles can be assessed separately.

European postgraduate curriculum in geriatric medicine developed using an international modified Delphi technique.

Background: the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS-GMS) recommendations for training in Geriatric Medicine were published in 1993. The practice of Geriatric Medicine has developed considerably since then and it has therefore become necessary to update these recommendations.

Methods: under the auspices of the UEMS-GMS, the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) and the European Academy of Medicine of Ageing (EAMA), a group of experts, representing all member states of the respective bodies developed a new framework for education and training of specialists in Geriatric Medicine using a modified Delphi technique.

Assessment of the energy expenditure of Belgian nursing home residents using indirect calorimetry.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the energy expenditure of Belgian nursing home residents using indirect calorimetry and compare the energy expenditure with energy intake.

Methods: Indirect calorimetry was performed in nursing home residents to estimate their basal metabolism. The basal metabolism was multiplied by a physical activity level coefficient and energy expenditure that was related to thermogenesis (i.

Three-Year Adverse Health Consequences of Sarcopenia in Community-Dwelling Older Adults According to 5 Diagnosis Definitions.

Objectives: To assess the occurrence of 3 major adverse outcomes of sarcopenia (ie, physical disabilities, institutionalizations and deaths) observed over a 3-year follow-up in older adults and compare the risk of these outcomes using 5 definitions of sarcopenia.

Design: The study is a part of the ongoing SarcoPhAge (for Sarcopenia and Physical Impairment with advancing Age) longitudinal project.

Setting And Participants: The SarcoPhAge study follows 534 community-dwelling older adults.

Technology in geriatrics.

Recently, the interest of industry, government agencies and healthcare professionals in technology for aging people has increased. The challenge is whether technology may play a role in enhancing independence and quality of life and in reducing individual and societal costs of caring. Information and communication technologies, i.

Pitfalls in the measurement of muscle mass: a need for a reference standard.

Background: All proposed definitions of sarcopenia include the measurement of muscle mass, but the techniques and threshold values used vary. Indeed, the literature does not establish consensus on the best technique for measuring lean body mass. Thus, the objective measurement of sarcopenia is hampered by limitations intrinsic to assessment tools.

Comparison of the performance of five screening methods for sarcopenia.

Background: Sarcopenia leads to serious adverse health consequences. There is a dearth of screening tools for this condition, and performances of these instruments have rarely been evaluated. Our aim was to compare the performance of five screening tools for identifying elders at risk of sarcopenia against five diagnostic definitions.

Quality of life in sarcopenia measured with the SarQoL®: impact of the use of different diagnosis definitions.

Background: The SarQoL® is a recently developed quality of life questionnaire specific to sarcopenia.

Aim: To compare the quality of life (QoL) of subjects identified as sarcopenic with that of non-sarcopenic subjects when using six different operational definitions of sarcopenia.

Methods: Participants of the SarcoPhAge study (Belgium) completed the SarQoL®.

Prediction of the Incidence of Falls and Deaths Among Elderly Nursing Home Residents: The SENIOR Study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate, among nursing home residents, the extent to which the various operational definitions of frailty predict mortality and falls at 1 year.

Methods: We studied 662 participants from the Sample of Elderly Nursing home Individuals: An Observational Research (SENIOR) cohort aged 83.2 ± 8.

Perceptions and types of support coming from families caring for patients suffering from advanced illness in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Background: Perceptions of families who take care of patients suffering from advanced illness are rarely considered in Kinshasa medical practices; nevertheless, these families are the main actors involved in such care. The objective of this present study was to illustrate, in a Congolese context, the perceptions of families on the care of patients suffering from advanced illness, and to identify the possible aids provided by healthcare facilities.

Methods: A qualitative study was performed among focus groups in six hospitals in Kinshasa.

Chronic illness needing palliative care in Kinshasa hospitals, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Background: Chronic illnesses are a major public health problem in low-income countries. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), few data are available, especially in palliative care. In this context, the present study aimed at describing the patterns of diseases in Kinshasa hospitals as well as risk factors associated with patients' evolving status and length of hospital stay.

Adverse Health Events Related to Self-Medication Practices Among Elderly: A Systematic Review.

Background: Older adults often resort to self-medication to relieve symptoms of their current illnesses; however, the risks of this practice are multiplied in old age. In particular, this age group is more vulnerable to adverse drug events because of the physiological changes that occur due to senescence.

Objective: The aim of the study was to obtain an overview of the adverse health events related to self-medication among subjects aged 60 years and over through a systematic review of the literature.

Validation of the SarQoL®, a specific health-related quality of life questionnaire for Sarcopenia.

Background: A specific self-administrated health-related quality of life questionnaire for sarcopenia, the Sarcopenia and Quality Of Life (SarQoL®), has been recently developed. This questionnaire is composed of 55 items translated into 22 questions and organized into seven domains of quality of life. The objective of the present work is to evaluate the psychometric properties (discriminative power, validity, reliability, floor and ceiling effects) of the SarQoL® questionnaire.

Sarcopenia in daily practice: assessment and management.

Background: Sarcopenia is increasingly recognized as a correlate of ageing and is associated with increased likelihood of adverse outcomes including falls, fractures, frailty and mortality. Several tools have been recommended to assess muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance in clinical trials. Whilst these tools have proven to be accurate and reliable in investigational settings, many are not easily applied to daily practice.

[Quality of life of sarcopenic patients: contribution of the SarcoPhAge study].

The consequences of sarcopenia on quality are difficult to evaluate and consequently are quite poorly studied. The few studies assessing the quality of life in sarcopenic subjects currently use generic quality of life questionnaires such as SF-36 and EQ-5D. The SarcoPhAge study, conducted on a cohort developed in Liège including 534 subjects of 65 years or older, suggested that sarcopenic subjects present a significant worse quality of life in the domains of physical function compared to non-sarcopenic subjects.

Development of a self-administrated quality of life questionnaire for sarcopenia in elderly subjects: the SarQoL.

Background: The impact of sarcopenia on quality of life is currently assessed by generic tools. However, these tools may not detect subtle effects of this specific condition on quality of life.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a sarcopenia-specific quality of life questionnaire (SarQoL, Sarcopenia Quality of Life) designed for community-dwelling elderly subjects aged 65 years and older.