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.

[Equality across ages : addressing gender discrimination among older patients].

The aim of this article is to draw attention to sex- and gender-related differences in the management of elderly patients. This issue is illustrated with two diseases linked to gender and sex: osteoporosis and high blood pressure. On one hand, patients of the sex less affected by the disease may feel less concerned; on the other hand, these patients are at greater risk of being under-diagnosed by medical and nursing staff.

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.

Older patients referred for geriatric consultation in the emergency department: characteristics and healthcare utilization.

Background: Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is difficult to perform in the emergency department (ED) environment and performance of screening tools in identifying vulnerable older ED patients who are best candidates for a geriatric consultation remain questionable.

Aim: To determine the characteristics of older patients referred for a geriatric consultation by ED staff and to investigate these patients' subsequent healthcare utilization.

Methods: Secondary analysis of data previously collected for a prospective observational study of patients aged 75 + years visiting the ED of an academic hospital in Switzerland over four months (Michalski-Monnerat et al.

Health System Performance and Resilience in Times of Crisis: An Adapted Conceptual Framework.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the notion of health system (HS) performance has been discussed, and the notion of resilience has become increasingly important. Lacking a recognised framework that measures the performance of HSs throughout a crisis, i.e.

Older people's experience of the partial lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate older people's experience of a COVID-19 partial lockdown (16 March-11 May 2020) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Setting And Participants: Community-dwelling participants of the Lausanne cohort (Lc65+) in 2020, aged 71-86 years (n=2642).

Design And Outcome: This cross-sectional study was nested within the Lc65+ longitudinal study.

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.

Trends in the disability-free life expectancy in Switzerland over a 10-year period: an analysis of survey-based data.

Introduction: Increasing life expectancy raises concerns whether the years gained will be spent free of disability. Lately, trends across countries have been heterogeneous. This work examined recent trends in disability-free life expectancy and life expectancy with mild  or severe disability in Switzerland.

Identifying common patterns of health services use: a longitudinal study of older Swiss adults' care trajectories.

Background: Population ageing puts pressure on health systems initially designed to handle acute and episodic illnesses. Segmenting an ageing population based on its healthcare utilization may enable policymakers to undertake evidence-based resource planning. We aimed to derive a typology of healthcare utilization trajectories in Swiss older adults.

Fear of falling and all-cause mortality among young-old community-dwelling adults: a 6-year prospective study.

This study investigated whether fear of falling (FOF) measured by two different instruments, the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) and the single question on FOF and activity restriction (SQ-FAR), is associated with mortality at 6-year follow-up. Participants ( = 1359, 58.6% women) were community-dwelling persons enrolled in the Lausanne cohort 65 + , aged 66 to 71 years at baseline.

Government recommendations during the COVID-19 epidemic in Switzerland: clarity, compliance and impact on the daily life of seniors in a population-based cohort.

Context: In March 2020, the Swiss Federal Council issued recommendations for a partial lockdown, with an emphasis on people aged 65 years and over because of their vulnerability to COVID-19. This study investigated whether seniors clearly understood the meaning of four recommendations (do not go grocery shopping; do not use public transport; avoid personal contact; stay at home), whether they complied with them, and what was the impact of the partial lockdown on their daily life, including difficulties and opportunities.

Methods: In April 2020, a questionnaire about how seniors experienced the partial lockdown was sent to the participants in the Lausanne Cohort Lc65+, a population-based study.

Development and validation of a knowledge-based score to predict Fried's frailty phenotype across multiple settings using one-year hospital discharge data: The electronic frailty score.

Background: Most claims-based frailty instruments have been designed for group stratification of older populations according to the risk of adverse health outcomes and not frailty itself. We aimed to develop and validate a tool based on one-year hospital discharge data for stratification on Fried's frailty phenotype (FP).

Methods: We used a three-stage development/validation approach.

Volunteering transitions and change in quality of life among older adults: A mixed methods research.

Background: The activity theory posits that productive activities are beneficial to older people's well-being. This study examined how quality of life (QoL), globally and in its different dimensions, may be affected by stopping or initiating volunteering, and which psychosocial mechanisms might be at work in such associations.

Method: This study used an explicative sequential mixed method design: analyses of 2011 and 2016 data from participants to the Lausanne cohort 65+ (n = 1,976, age 68-77 years in 2011) were followed by qualitative analyses of focus groups made of volunteers participating in the same cohort.

Potentially inappropriate prescriptions: Associations with the health insurance contract and the quality of the patient-physician relationship?

Context: Potentially Inappropriate Prescriptions (PIP) are often used as an indicator of potential drug overuse or misuse to limit adverse drug events in older people.

Objective: To determine whether PIP exposure differs as a function of the patient's health insurance scheme and the patient-physician relationship.

Methods: Our dataset was collected from two surveys delivered to two cohorts of the Swiss Lc65+ study, together with a stratified random sample of older people in the Swiss canton of Vaud.

Swiss Frailty Network and Repository: protocol of a Swiss Personalized Health Network's driver project observational study.

Introduction: Early identification of frailty by clinical instruments or accumulation of deficit indexes can contribute to improve healthcare for older adults, including the prevention of negative outcomes in acute care. However, conflicting evidence exists on how to best capture frailty in this setting. Simultaneously, the increasing utilisation of electronic health records (EHRs) opens up new possibilities for research and patient care, including frailty.

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).

Is Fear of Falling Associated With Incident Disability? A Prospective Analysis in Young-Old Community-Dwelling Adults.

Objectives: Fear of falling (FOF) is common in older people and is related to negative outcomes. This study aimed to investigate whether 2 different instruments, the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) and the single question on FOF and activity restriction (SQ-FAR), were associated with incident disability at 3 years.

Design: Prospective observational study.

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).

A Single Question as a Screening Tool to Assess Fear of Falling in Young-Old Community-Dwelling Persons.

Objectives: Fear of falling (FOF) is common in older persons and related to negative outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between 2 FOF measures: the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) and the single question on FOF and activity restriction (SQ-FAR). Factors associated with disagreement between the 2 measures were further examined.

Older People's Health-Related Behaviors: Evidence from Three Cohorts of the Lc65+ Study.

Baby-boomers might be more health-conscious than earlier birth cohorts, but limited evidence has been produced so far. To investigate such changes, this study compared health-related behaviors at age 65 to 70 among three successive five-year birth cohorts (pre-war: born 1934-1938; war: born 1939-1943 and baby-boom: born 1944-1948) representative of the community-dwelling population. Information about alcohol use, smoking, physical activity, and nutrition was compared across the three cohorts ( = 4,270 participants) using Chi-squared test.

Advance care planning dispositions: the relationship between knowledge and perception.

Background: Legal dispositions for advance care planning (ACP) are available but used by a minority of older adults in Switzerland. Some studies found that knowledge of and perception of those dispositions are positively associated with their higher usage. The objective of the present study is to test the hypothesis of an association between increased knowledge of ACP dispositions and a more positive perception of them.