Development of a rapid screener to elicit patient preferences for antiseizure medication discontinuation.

Objective: While guidelines encourage individualized discussions of the risks and benefits of antiseizure medication (ASM) withdrawal after a period of seizure-freedom, no formal methods exist for assessing patient preferences. We report the initial development of a rapid patient preferences screener.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study of adults who were ≥1 year seizure-free and seen for epilepsy across three institutions.

Frailty in older adults with systemic lupus erythematosus and emergency department utilization: an administrative claims data analysis of Medicare beneficiaries.

Introduction / Objectives: While presence of concomitant SLE and frailty has been associated with greater emergency department (ED) use than SLE alone in young/mid-aged adults, whether frailty increases ED use in older adults with SLE remains unknown. In a nationally representative United States administrative claims dataset, we investigated the association of frailty duration with use of ED services in the SLE population compared with individuals without systemic rheumatic disease (SRD).

Method: We identified Medicare beneficiaries ≥ 65 years with SLE and matched them (1:4) by age and gender with non-SRD comparators with osteoarthritis.

Correlates of neurocognitive performance in older adults with chronic pain and negative emotions: baseline data from the problem adaptation therapy for pain (PATH-pain) randomized controlled trial.

Chronic pain is highly prevalent among older adults, is associated with cognitive deficits, and is commonly treated in primary care. We sought to document the extent of impairment across specific neurocognitive domains and its correlates among older adults with chronic pain in primary care. We analyzed baseline data from the Problem Adaptation Therapy for Pain trial, which examined a psychosocial intervention to improve emotion regulation in 100 adults ≥ 60 years with comorbid chronic pain and negative emotions, who did not have evidence of moderate-to-severe cognitive impairment.

What Makes Life Go Well? A Network Topic Modeling Analysis of Well-Being Practices in Adults with Chronic Pain.

Objective: This study leverages natural language processing techniques to identify specific practices older adults with chronic pain adopt to enhance well-being.

Method: We applied network topic modeling to open-ended survey responses from 683 adults (57% female) who reported experiencing chronic pain in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, analyzing responses to the question "What do you do to make your life go well?" Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between identified topics and measures of pain interference and prescription pain medication use, adjusting for sociodemographics and well-being indicators.

Results: The analyses revealed twelve key topics, including avoiding stress, maintaining social connections, and practicing spirituality and faith.