Dysregulated nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide metabolome in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) depletion has been postulated as a contributor to the severity of COVID-19; however, no study has prospectively characterized NAD and its metabolites in relation to disease severity in patients with COVID-19. We measured NAD and its metabolites in 56 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and in two control groups without COVID-19: (1) 31 age- and sex-matched adults with comorbidities, and (2) 30 adults without comorbidities. Blood NAD concentrations in COVID-19 group were only slightly lower than in the control groups (p < 0.

Assessing readiness to use electronic health record data for outcome ascertainment in clinical trials - A case study.

Background: Variable data quality poses a challenge to using electronic health record (EHR) data to ascertain acute clinical outcomes in multi-site clinical trials. Differing EHR platforms and data comprehensiveness across clinical trial sites, especially if patients received care outside of the clinical site's network, can also affect validity of results. Overcoming these challenges requires a structured approach.

Validation of a Rule-Based ICD-10-CM Algorithm to Detect Fall Injuries in Medicare Data.

Background: Diagnosis-code-based algorithms to identify fall injuries in Medicare data are useful for ascertaining outcomes in interventional and observational studies. However, these algorithms have not been validated against a fully external reference standard, in ICD-10-CM, or in Medicare Advantage (MA) data.

Methods: We linked self-reported fall injuries leading to medical attention (FIMA) from the Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE) trial (reference standard) to Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) and MA data from 2015-19.

Human-Centered Design and Development of a Fall Prevention Exercise App for Older Adults in Primary Care Settings.

Background:  Falls in older adults are a serious public health problem that can lead to reduced quality of life or death. Patients often do not receive fall prevention guidance from primary care providers (PCPs), despite evidence that falls can be prevented. Mobile health technologies may help to address this disparity and promote evidence-based fall prevention.

Development of an exercise therapy referral clinical support tool for patients with osteoporosis at risk for falls.

Background: The purpose of this study was to develop a clinical support tool for osteoporosis clinic providers to support risk assessment and referrals for evidence-based exercise therapy programs.

Methods: A sequential Delphi method was used with a multidisciplinary group of national falls experts, to provide consensus on referral to exercise therapy for patients at risk for falls. The Delphi study included a primary research team, expert panel, and clinical partners to answer the questions: (1) "What patient characteristics are needed to develop a clinical support tool?"; (2) "What are the recommended exercise referrals for patients with osteoporosis at risk for falls?" The consensus process consisted of two rounds with 8 weeks between meetings.

Development and Usability Testing of an Exercise-Based Primary Care Fall Prevention Clinical Decision Support Tool.

For older patients, falls are the leading cause offatal and nonfatal injuries. Guidelines recommend that at-risk older adults are referred to appropriate fall-prevention exercise programs, but many do not receive support for fall-risk management in the primary care setting. Advances in health information technology may be able to address this gap.

Improved accuracy and efficiency of primary care fall risk screening of older adults using a machine learning approach.

Background: While many falls are preventable, they remain a leading cause of injury and death in older adults. Primary care clinics largely rely on screening questionnaires to identify people at risk of falls. Limitations of standard fall risk screening questionnaires include suboptimal accuracy, missing data, and non-standard formats, which hinder early identification of risk and prevention of fall injury.

A compressed large language model embedding dataset of ICD 10 CM descriptions.

This paper presents novel datasets providing numerical representations of ICD-10-CM codes by generating description embeddings using a large language model followed by a dimension reduction via autoencoder. The embeddings serve as informative input features for machine learning models by capturing relationships among categories and preserving inherent context information. The model generating the data was validated in two ways.

Defining Clinically Meaningful Cut Points for Leg Power Impairment Using Physical Performance in Older Adults: A Secondary Analysis From Boston RISE.

Objective: To identify clinically meaningful thresholds of leg power impairment identified by the stair climb power test (SCPT).

Design: Cross-sectional analysis using the baseline data from an observational cohort study.

Setting: The Boston Rehabilitative Impairment Study of the Elderly.

Costs of fall injuries in the STRIDE study: an economic evaluation of healthcare system heterogeneity and heterogeneity of treatment effect.

Objectives: The Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE) Study cluster-randomized 86 primary care practices in 10 healthcare systems to a patient-centered multifactorial fall injury prevention intervention or enhanced usual care, enrolling 5451 participants. We estimated total healthcare costs from participant-reported fall injuries receiving medical attention (FIMA) that were averted by the STRIDE intervention and tested for healthcare-system-level heterogeneity and heterogeneity of treatment effect (HTE).

Methods: Participants were community-dwelling adults age ≥ 70 at increased fall injury risk.

A Compressed Language Model Embedding Dataset of ICD 10 CM Descriptions.

This paper presents novel datasets providing numerical representations of ICD-10-CM codes by generating description embeddings using a large language model followed by a dimension reduction via autoencoder. The embeddings serve as informative input features for machine learning models by capturing relationships among categories and preserving inherent context information. The model generating the data was validated in two ways.

Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Augmentation in Overweight or Obese Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Physiologic Study.

Context: Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) levels decline with aging and age-related decline in NAD has been postulated to contribute to age-related diseases.

Objective: We evaluated the safety and physiologic effects of NAD augmentation by administering its precursor, β-nicotinamide mononucleotide (MIB-626, Metro International Biotech, Worcester, MA), in adults at risk for age-related conditions.

Methods: Thirty overweight or obese adults, ≥ 45 years, were randomized in a 2:1 ratio to 2 MIB-626 tablets each containing 500 mg of microcrystalline β-nicotinamide mononucleotide or placebo twice daily for 28 days.

Testosterone replacement in prostate cancer survivors with testosterone deficiency: Study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer today have organ-confined disease and low risk of disease recurrence after radical prostatectomy. Testosterone deficiency in prostate cancer survivors contributes to impaired health-related quality of life but testosterone treatment is viewed as a contraindication in this population.

Objectives: We describe the design of the first randomized trial to determine the safety and efficacy of testosterone treatment in men who have undergone prostatectomy for non-aggressive prostate cancer and have symptomatic testosterone deficiency.

World guidelines for falls prevention and management for older adults: a global initiative.

Background: falls and fall-related injuries are common in older adults, have negative effects on functional independence and quality of life and are associated with increased morbidity, mortality and health related costs. Current guidelines are inconsistent, with no up-to-date, globally applicable ones present.

Objectives: to create a set of evidence- and expert consensus-based falls prevention and management recommendations applicable to older adults for use by healthcare and other professionals that consider: (i) a person-centred approach that includes the perspectives of older adults with lived experience, caregivers and other stakeholders; (ii) gaps in previous guidelines; (iii) recent developments in e-health and (iv) implementation across locations with limited access to resources such as low- and middle-income countries.

Effect of the STRIDE fall injury prevention intervention on falls, fall injuries, and health-related quality of life.

Background: Falls are common in older adults and can lead to severe injuries. The Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE) trial cluster-randomized 86 primary care practices across 10 health systems to a multifactorial intervention to prevent fall injuries, delivered by registered nurses trained as falls care managers, or enhanced usual care. STRIDE enrolled 5451 community-dwelling older adults age ≥70 at increased fall injury risk.

Engagement of older adults in STRIDE's multifactorial fall injury prevention intervention.

Background: Evidence-based multifactorial fall prevention interventions in clinical practice have been less effective than expected. One plausible reason is that older adults' engagement in fall prevention care is suboptimal.

Methods: This was a post-hoc analysis of 2403 older adults' engagement in a multifactorial fall prevention intervention in the Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE) pragmatic trial.

Clinical Decision Support for Fall Prevention: Defining End-User Needs.

Background And Significance: Falls in community-dwelling older adults are common, and there is a lack of clinical decision support (CDS) to provide health care providers with effective, individualized fall prevention recommendations.

Objectives: The goal of this research is to identify end-user (primary care staff and patients) needs through a human-centered design process for a tool that will generate CDS to protect older adults from falls and injuries.

Methods: Primary care staff (primary care providers, care coordinator nurses, licensed practical nurses, and medical assistants) and community-dwelling patients aged 60 years or older associated with Brigham & Women's Hospital-affiliated primary care clinics and the University of Florida Health Archer Family Health Care primary care clinic were eligible to participate in this study.

Barriers to implementation of STRIDE, a national study to prevent fall-related injuries.

Background/objectives: Evaluations of complex models of care for older adults may benefit from simultaneous assessment of intervention implementation. The STRIDE (Strategies To Reduce Injuries and Develop confidence in Elders) pragmatic trial evaluated the effectiveness of a multifactorial intervention to reduce serious fall injuries in older adults. We conducted multi-level stakeholder interviews to identify barriers to STRIDE intervention implementation and understand efforts taken to mitigate these barriers.

Maximizing Participant and Staff Safety During Assessment of Physical Function in the COVID-19 Era.

Physical performance measures, including cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPXT), are widely used in geriatric practice and aging research. Theoretically, research participants and study personnel could get infected in the closed environment of the exercise laboratory by contact with respiratory droplets from an infected person, by breathing virus-laden aerosols, or by touching fomites. Older adults are at increased risk of developing more severe disease and of dying from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Effect of a Multifactorial Fall Injury Prevention Intervention on Patient Well-Being: The STRIDE Study.

Background/objectives: In the Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE) study, a multifactorial intervention was associated with a nonsignificant 8% reduction in time to first serious fall injury but a significant 10% reduction in time to first self-reported fall injury relative to enhanced usual care. The effect of the intervention on other outcomes important to patients has not yet been reported. We aimed to evaluate the effect of the intervention on patient well-being including concern about falling, anxiety, depression, physical function, and disability.

A Randomized Trial of a Multifactorial Strategy to Prevent Serious Fall Injuries.

Background: Injuries from falls are major contributors to complications and death in older adults. Despite evidence from efficacy trials that many falls can be prevented, rates of falls resulting in injury have not declined.

Methods: We conducted a pragmatic, cluster-randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifactorial intervention that included risk assessment and individualized plans, administered by specially trained nurses, to prevent fall injuries.

Optimizing Retention in a Pragmatic Trial of Community-Living Older Persons: The STRIDE Study.

Objectives: The Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE) study is testing the effectiveness of a multifactorial intervention to prevent serious fall injuries. Our aim was to describe procedures that were implemented to optimize participant retention; report retention yields by age, sex, clinical site, and follow-up time; provide reasons for study withdrawals; and highlight the successes and lessons learned from the STRIDE retention efforts.

Design: Pragmatic cluster randomized trial.

Protocol for serious fall injury adjudication in the Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE) study.

Background: This paper describes a protocol for determining the incidence of serious fall injuries for Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders (STRIDE), a large, multicenter pragmatic clinical trial with limited resources for event adjudication. We describe how administrative data (from participating health systems and Medicare claims) can be used to confirm participant-reported events, with more time- and resource-intensive full-text medical record data used only on an "as-needed" basis.

Methods: STRIDE is a pragmatic cluster-randomized controlled trial involving 5451 participants age ≥ 70 and at increased risk for falls, served by 86 primary care practices in 10 US health systems.