A matched case-control study on polypharmacy and co-medications one year before drug treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia, characterized by amyloid-β plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. With an aging population, both AD and comorbidities are increasingly common. Managing comorbidities often requires multiple medications, leading to polypharmacy, defined as the concurrent use of five or more medications.

Shared Decision-Making in Patients with an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm or Peripheral Artery Disease: A Scoping Review.

Background: This review provides an overview of the literature on shared decision-making (SDM) in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) or peripheral artery disease (PAD) and identifies barriers and facilitators.

Methods: A systematic scoping review was conducted, in which 4 databases were systematically searched for the period January 2007 to November 2024. All articles were reviewed by 2 independent authors and asses for quality using the mixed-methods appraisal tool (MMAT).

Additional value of geriatric parameters to Quick Sepsis Related Organ Failure Assessment score for predicting clinical deterioration in older emergency department patients with a suspected infection: post-hoc analysis of a prospective observational study.

Aim: To investigate the additional value of geriatric parameters such as physical impairment to the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) tool for predicting clinical deterioration in older ED patients with a suspected infection and to validate the final prediction model.

Methods: Post-hoc multivariable regression analysis from a prospective observational cohort study of adult patients visiting the ED of a university hospital to develop a prediction model. External validation of the prediction model was performed using the prospective data-biobank Acutelines.

Surgical Outcomes After Preoperative Embolization in Hypervascular Spinal Metastases: A Propensity Scored Study of 191 Patients.

Study Design: Retrospective propensity-score matched, case control study at 2 academic tertiary care centers.

Objective: To assess the effect of PE on (1) intraoperative blood loss, defined as conventional estimates of blood loss (EBL) and hemoglobin mass loss, and (2) secondary outcomes in patients with spinal metastases from hypervascular histologies.

Background Context: Preoperative embolization (PE) intends to reduce blood loss during surgery for spinal metastases of hypervascular tumors such as renal cell carcinoma.

[Limited cognitive assessment in primary care: are GP referrals to the memory clinic always appropriate?].

Objective: To investigate whether referrals of general practitioners (GPs) to the memory clinic align with the regional and national dementia guidelines.

Design: For this single center retrospective study, data was collected from electronic patient files.

Method: GP referrals to the memory clinic over a 1-year period were categorized and evaluated according to the regional and national guidelines.

Doing the Right Thing? General Practitioners' Considerations in Achieving a Timely Dementia Diagnosis.

Objectives: Timely detection and diagnosis of dementia are beneficial for providing appropriate, anticipatory care and preventing acute situations. However, initiating diagnostic testing is a complex and dynamic process that requires general practitioners (GPs) to balance competing priorities. Previously identified barriers, such as a lack of time, knowledge, and resources, may not fully represent the challenges involved in this process.

The relation between preoperative radiological sarcopenia and postoperative recovery of physical activity in older surgical cancer patients; an explorative study.

To identify older surgical cancer patients at risk of decreased postoperative recovery of physical activity (PA), this study assesses whether preoperative radiological sarcopenia (RS) is associated with a decreased ability to return to baseline PA. RS was defined as decreased psoas muscle mass or -density by gender-specific cut-offs on CT-scans at level of vertebra L3. PA was assessed as steps/day measured with PA tracker and recovery of PA was defined as >90% of preoperative steps/day at 3 months postoperatively.

Comparing Guidelines to Daily Practice When Screening Older Patients for the Risk of Functional Decline in Hospitals: Outcomes of a Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) Study.

Objectives: Dutch hospitals are required to screen older patients for functional decline using 4 indicators: malnutrition, delirium, physical impairment, and falls, to recognize frail older patients promptly. The Functional Resonance Analysis Method was employed to deepen the understanding of work according to the protocols (work-as-imagined [WAI]) in contrast to the realities of daily practice (work-as-done [WAD]).

Methods: Data have been collected from 3 hospitals (2 tertiary and 1 general) and 4 different wards: an internal medicine ward, surgical ward, neurology ward, and a trauma geriatric ward.

The performance of metabolomics-based prediction scores for mortality in older patients with solid tumors.

Prognostic information is needed to balance benefits and risks of cancer treatment in older patients. Metabolomics-based scores were previously developed to predict 5- and 10-year mortality (MetaboHealth) and biological age (MetaboAge). This study aims to investigate the association of MetaboHealth and MetaboAge with 1-year mortality in older patients with solid tumors, and to study their predictive value for mortality in addition to established clinical predictors.

Preparing for future pandemics: frailty associates with mortality in hospitalised older people during the entire COVID-19 pandemic, a Dutch multicentre cohort study.

Purpose: Viral mutations and improved prevention or treatment options may have changed the association of frailty with mortality throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated how associations of frailty with in-hospital mortality changed throughout the pandemic in older people hospitalised for COVID-19.

Methods: The COVID-OLD study included COVID-19 patients aged ≥ 70 years hospitalised during the first (early 2020), second (late 2020), third (late 2021) or fourth wave (early 2022).

Preoperative cognitive performance and its association with postoperative complications in vascular surgery patients: A prospective study.

Background: Cognitive impairment affects nearly half of vascular surgery patients, but its association with postoperative outcomes remains poorly understood. This study explores the link between preoperative cognitive performance and postoperative complications, including postoperative delirium, in vascular surgery patients.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted on vascular surgery patients aged ≥65.

Comparison of Various Functional Assessment Tools to Identify Older Patients Undergoing Aortic Aneurysm Repair at Risk for Postoperative Complications.

Background: To estimate whether the benefits of aortic aneurysm repair will outweigh the risks, determining individual risks is essential. This single-center prospective cohort study aimed to compare the association of functional tools with postoperative complications in older patients undergoing aortic aneurysm repair.

Methods: Ninety-eight patients (≥65 years) who underwent aortic aneurysm repair were included.

A Grounded Theory of Interdisciplinary Communication and Collaboration in the Outpatient Setting of the Hospital for Patients with Multiple Long-Term Conditions.

Interdisciplinary communication and collaboration are crucial in the care of people with multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs) yet are often experienced as insufficient. Through the lens of complexity science, this study aims to explain how healthcare professionals (HCPs) adapt to emerging situations in the care of patients with MLTC by examining interdisciplinary communication and collaboration in the outpatient hospital setting. We used the constant comparative method to analyze transcribed data from seven focus groups with twenty-one HCPs to generate a constructivist grounded theory of 'interdisciplinary communication and collaboration in the outpatient setting of the hospital for patients with multiple long-term conditions'.

Kidney Transplantation Improves Health-Related Quality of Life in Older Recipients.

Kidney transplantation is the best treatment for kidney failure in older patients. However, little is known regarding changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) from before to after transplantation and determinants of HRQoL in older kidney transplant recipients (KTR). We studied both, using data of older (≥65 years) patients waitlisted for kidney transplantation and older KTR 1 year after transplantation from the TransplantLines Biobank and Cohort Study.

Value of the Safety Management System (VMS) frailty instrument as a frailty screener in care for older hospital patients: a systematic review.

Background: Dutch hospitals are required to screen older patients for the risk of developing functional decline using the Safety Management System (VMS) which assesses four domains associated with functional decline; fall risk, risk of delirium, malnutrition, and physical impairment.

Purpose: The aim is twofold, first to compare the VMS frailty instrument as a frailty screener with existing frailty instruments and second to provide an overview of the available evidence.

Methods: We performed a literature search to identify studies that used the VMS instrument as frailty screener to asses frailty or to predict adverse health outcomes in older hospitalized patients.

Nurses' perspectives on shared decision-making in the daily care of hospitalized patients with dementia: An exploratory qualitative study.

Aim: Gain insight into the process of shared decision-making (SDM) in daily hospital care for patients with dementia from nurses' perspectives.

Design: Explorative qualitative design.

Methods: In-depth digital interviews were conducted with 14 registered nurses between June and November 2022.

Health Literacy and Disease Knowledge of Patients With Peripheral Arterial Disease or Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm: A Scoping Review.

Objective: This scoping review summarises health literacy and disease knowledge in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) or peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and the influencing factors.

Data Sources: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, PsychINFO, and CINAHL covering the period January 2012 to October 2022.

Review Methods: This scoping review was undertaken in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR).

The link between the early surgery-induced inflammatory response and postoperative cognitive dysfunction in older patients.

Background: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a common complication in older patients with cancer and is associated with decreased quality of life and increased disability and mortality rates. Systemic inflammation resulting in neuroinflammation is considered important in the pathogenesis of POCD. The aim of this study was to explore the association between the early surgery-induced inflammatory response and POCD within 3 months after surgery in older cancer patients.

Screening and Recognition of Cognitive Impairment in Older People Visiting Hearing Aid Dispensers in the Netherlands.

Objectives: This study aims to determine how prevalent suspected cognitive impairment is in older people visiting hearing aid dispensers, and to assess whether hearing aid dispensers' judgment on cognition was in accordance with the outcome of a cognitive screening.

Design: This observational study was conducted between April and May 2022.

Setting And Participants: Four private hearing aid retail stores in the Netherlands, where cognitive impairment was screened in people aged ≥60 years.

The Delphi Delirium Management Algorithms. A practical tool for clinicians, the result of a modified Delphi expert consensus approach.

Delirium is common in hospitalised patients, and there is currently no specific treatment. Identifying and treating underlying somatic causes of delirium is the first priority once delirium is diagnosed. Several international guidelines provide clinicians with an evidence-based approach to screening, diagnosis and symptomatic treatment.