Benefit of using an assistive listening device in a hospital setting.

High levels of noise in hospital settings can make communication difficult, especially for older adults. Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) are personal amplifiers that can improve hearing in background noise. This study investigated the impact of providing ALDs to hospitalized patients 60 years of age and older without using hearing screenings to determine eligibility.

Vaccinations in older adults: Optimization, strategies, and latest guidelines.

This article is a summary of the first AGS Symposium entitled "Update on Vaccination Strategies for Older Adults: Matching the Approach to the Individual and the Care Setting." Given declines in host defenses and immune function with aging, vaccinations play a pivotal role in fortifying older adults against preventable infections, resulting diseases, disability, and death. Current guidelines generally list recommendations applicable for an average older adult of a given chronological age.

Promoting diversity in clinical trials: insights from planning the ALUMNI AD study in historically underrepresented US populations with early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease.

Unlabelled: Clinical trial participation across disease areas, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), has been biased towards White participants of European ancestry. To support clinical decision-making across diverse populations, we must recognize and address barriers to trial participation. To inform the design of ALUMNI AD, a trial focused on historically underrepresented AD populations, we held advice-seeking fora with key stakeholders to understand barriers and identify potential solutions to maximize trial participation of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the US.

Improved Outcomes When Home-Dose Carbidopa-Levodopa Is Continued in the Geriatric Emergency Department in Patients With Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a debilitating condition that affects 1.8% of people 65 years of age and older. Patients with PD often require hospitalization and are frequently admitted through the emergency department (ED).

Evidence for a novel neuronal mechanism driving Alzheimer's disease, upstream of amyloid.

This perspective offers an alternative to the amyloid hypothesis in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We review evidence for a novel signaling mechanism based on a little-known peptide, T14. T14 could drive neurodegeneration as an aberrantly activated process of plasticity selective to interconnecting subcortical nuclei, the isodendritic core, where cell loss starts at the pre-symptomatic stages of the disease.

The Relationships between Caregiver Burden, Physical Frailty, Race, Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms (BPSD), and Other Associated Variables: An Exploratory Study.

For persons with dementia, the relationships between caregiver burden, physical frailty, race, behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD), and other associated variables are poorly understood. Only one prior study examined the relationships among these variables but did not include race, which is an important social determinant of health outcomes in the United States. To examine these interactions, we conducted a cross-sectional exploratory study based on a model by Sugimoto and colleagues.

Multisectoral Collaborations to Increase Recruitment and Retention of Diverse Older Adults in Biomedical Research.

Background: Older adults, especially minoritized racial-ethnic groups, are historically underrepresented in biomedical research. This study summarizes the development and assesses the impact of a review board involving a multisectoral group of stakeholders with the goal of increasing the diversity of older adults in biomedical research.

Methods: A 25-member board of community members, caregivers, researchers, and clinicians from Upstate New York reviewed 3 projects presented by researchers, clinician-scientists, and a pharmaceutical company between January and December 2022.

Early Identification of Cognitive Impairment: Utility of the Mini-Cog in Non-Clinical Settings.

While we currently cannot cure Alzheimer's disease or change the course of the disease, there are advantages to early detection. Routine, evidence based, brief cognitive screens offer destigmatized opportunities for diagnosis and improve the possibility of early identification of cognitive impairment. This community-based participatory research project evaluated the use of the Mini-Cog™ instrument to detect cognitive impairment in vulnerable community-dwelling older adults when administered by trained social services providers.

Achieving diversity in study populations: The importance of community engagement.

The majority of clinical trials currently and historically do not include older adults or non-white participants. While more women are being recruited, their numbers are still limited. It is very hard to interpret trial results and apply them to older adults when their participation in clinical trials is limited.

Longitudinal Evaluation of a Deprescribing Protocol in Skilled Nursing Facilities.

To determine whether a deprescribing effort reduced several key classes of medications, and the overall number of medication classes per patient, among long-term residents of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Retrospective, longitudinal pre/post evaluation. Data from before and during the implementation of the deprescribing effort (2017 through 2019) were compared with data from the post-intervention year (2020).

Impact of a Clinical Pharmacist Telehealth Service in a Geriatrics Assessment Clinic.

Evaluate the impact of a telepharmacy service at a geriatrics assessment clinic. Retrospective, single-center, nonblinded cohort study. Geriatrics assessment clinic.

Efficacy and Safety of Megestrol in the Hospitalized Older Person.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of megestrol for off-label use in older patients with weight loss. Retrospective, nonblinded cohort study. Upstate University Hospital is a 420-bed facility and academic medical center with a level 1 trauma center.

Frailty and Biomarkers of Frailty Predict Outcome in Veterans After Open and Endovascular Revascularization.

Background: Frailty predicts poor outcome after vascular surgery. We determined the predictive utility of the modified frailty index (mFI) after first-time revascularization and identified biomarkers of frailty predictive of outcome in veterans with peripheral arterial disease.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed of first-time revascularizations (open surgery [OS] and endovascular surgery [ES]) in male veterans (2003-2016).

Co-creation by the ABIM Geriatric Medicine Board and the AGS - Helping Move Geriatrics Forward.

The American board of internal medicine (ABIM) establishes standards for physicians. The American geriatrics society (AGS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of nearly 6,000 health professionals devoted to improving the health, independence, and quality of life of all older people. Beginning in 2013, ABIM redesigned its governance structure, including the role of the specialty boards.

Use of Tethered Enzymes as a Platform Technology for Rapid Analyte Detection.

Background: Rapid diagnosis for time-sensitive illnesses such as stroke, cardiac arrest, and septic shock is essential for successful treatment. Much attention has therefore focused on new strategies for rapid and objective diagnosis, such as Point-of-Care Tests (PoCT) for blood biomarkers. Here we use a biomimicry-based approach to demonstrate a new diagnostic platform, based on enzymes tethered to nanoparticles (NPs).

Curricular framework: core competencies in multicultural geriatric care.

Strategies to reduce the documented disparities in health and health care for the rapidly growing numbers of older patients from diverse ethnic populations include increased cultural competence of providers. To assist geriatric faculty in medical and other health professional schools develop cultural competence training for their ethnogeriatric programs, the University of California Academic Geriatric Resource Program partnered with the Ethnogeriatric Committee of the American Geriatrics Society to develop a curricular framework. The framework includes core competencies based on the format of the Core Competencies for the Care of Older Patients developed by the Education Committee of the American Geriatrics Society.

Long-term cholinesterase inhibitor therapy for Alzheimer's disease: implications for long-term care.

As the population ages and Alzheimer's disease (AD) becomes more prevalent, nursing facilities will be faced with managing more AD patients than in previous decades. Managing this population will pose a significant challenge for the resources of long-term care facilities. In short- and long-term studies, cholinesterase (ChE) inhibitor treatment has been shown to benefit the symptoms of mild to moderate AD.