Feasibility and Effectiveness of Virtual Group Advance Care Planning Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the transition from in person to virtual advance care planning (ACP) engagement efforts. This pilot initiative evaluated virtual group visits (GVs) and in-person GVs for ACP to determine their feasibility and effectiveness.

Methods: Participants included patients in a Geriatric Medicine clinic who were referred by their primary care physician to an ACP GVs intervention.

Variation in Receipt of Cancer Screening and Immunizations by 10-year Life Expectancy among U.S. Adults aged 65 or Older in 2019.

Importance: The likelihood of benefit from a preventive intervention in an older adult depends on its time-to-benefit and the adult's life expectancy. For example, the time-to-benefit from cancer screening is >10 years, so adults with <10-year life expectancy are unlikely to benefit.

Objective: To examine receipt of screening for breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer and receipt of immunizations by 10-year life expectancy.

Association of dementia diagnosis with urinary tract infection in the emergency department.

Objectives: Overdiagnosis of urinary tract infections (UTI) among people living with dementia is a nationally recognized problem associated with morbidity from antibiotics as well as multidrug-resistant bacteria. However, whether this problem also exists in the emergency department (ED) is currently unknown.

Methods: To examine the association between dementia and UTI diagnosis in the ED we performed a retrospective analysis of Medicare beneficiaries older than 65 years old who presented to an ED in 2016.

Evaluation of Time to Benefit of Statins for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Adults Aged 50 to 75 Years: A Meta-analysis.

Importance: Guidelines recommend targeting preventive interventions toward older adults whose life expectancy is greater than the intervention's time to benefit (TTB). The TTB for statin therapy is unknown.

Objective: To conduct a survival meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials of statins to determine the TTB for prevention of a first major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) in adults aged 50 to 75 years.

Perceptions of successful aging among diverse elders with late-life disability.

Purpose: Researchers often use the term "successful aging" to mean freedom from disability, yet the perspectives of elders living with late-life disability have not been well described. The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of successful aging among a diverse sample of community-dwelling elders with late-life disability.

Design And Methods: Using qualitative grounded theory methodology, we interviewed 56 African American, White, Cantonese-speaking Chinese, and Spanish-speaking Latino disabled elders who participate in On Lok Lifeways, a Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly.

Quality of life in late-life disability: "I don't feel bitter because I am in a wheelchair".

Objectives: To determine perceived quality of life in a diverse population of elderly adults with late-life disability.

Design: Qualitative cross-sectional study.

Setting: Community-dwelling participants were recruited from San Francisco's On Lok Lifeways program, the first Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly.

Prognostic indices for older adults: a systematic review.

Context: To better target services to those who may benefit, many guidelines recommend incorporating life expectancy into clinical decisions.

Objective: To assess the quality and limitations of prognostic indices for mortality in older adults through systematic review.

Data Sources: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, and Google Scholar from their inception through November 2011.

"Knowing is better": preferences of diverse older adults for discussing prognosis.

Background: Prognosis is critical in individualizing care for older adults with late life disability. Evidence suggests that preferences for prognostic information may be culturally determined. Yet little is known about the preferences of diverse elders for discussing prognosis.

Use of computer decision support interventions to improve medication prescribing in older adults: a systematic review.

Background: Older adults take multiple medications and are at high risk for adverse drug effects.

Objective: This systematic review was conducted to describe the impact of computer decision support (CDS) interventions designed to improve the quality of medication prescribing in older adults.

Methods: PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched from January 1980 through July 2007 (English-language only); studies were eligible if they described a CDS intervention intended to improve medication prescribing in adults aged > or =60 years.