Predicting early death in older adults with cancer.

Background: Predicting early death after a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is very difficult in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to develop a scoring system to estimate risk of death at 100 days in elderly cancer patients to assist the therapeutic decision.

Methods: This was a multicentric, prospective cohort study approved by an ethics committee.

[Connected home, monitoring and improved care].

New technologies offer a new approach to healthcare management that benefits the patient, especially at home: better living spaces, improved safety and preservation of communication. Professionals concerned and family caregivers should be trained in these new technologies to discover and explore everyday their possibilities and uses.

Clinical evaluation of an over-the-counter hearing aid (TEO First®) in elderly patients suffering of mild to moderate hearing loss.

Background: Presbycusis has a direct influence on autonomy of the elderly but hearing aids lack of affordability. Moreover a recent review demonstrate that electroacoustic characteristics of OTC hearing aids were generally not suitable for the elderly people. In our study, we assessed the clinical value of a new over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid device (TEO First®) in the elderly.

[Transfusions in the elderly: peculiarities and the role of nurses].

Given the prevalence of anaemia in elderly people and its consequences in terms of morbidity and mortality, transfusions are common procedures in geriatrics. A survey was carried out of 41 nurses working in geriatrics to discover the conditions in which these transfusions are carried out and the particularities of a transfusion in an elderly person.

[Gerontologic technologies and society].

Gerontechnologies, a concept dating back to the 1990s, are a blend of gerontology and technology. They have a well-defined role, their main objective being one of observation and intervention. Even though gerontechnologies are directly aimed at elderly people, they are not necessarily suitable for everyone.