Monitoring the Well-being of Older People by Energy Usage Patterns: Systematic Review of the Literature and Evidence Synthesis.

Background: Due to the aging population, there is a need for monitoring well-being and safety while living independently. A low-intrusive monitoring system is based on a person's use of energy or water.

Objective: The study's objective was to provide a systematic overview of studies that monitor the health and well-being of older people using energy (eg, electricity and gas) and water usage data and study the outcomes on health and well-being.

Implementation of a medicine management plan (MMP) to reduce medication-related harm (MRH) in older people post-hospital discharge: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Medication-related harm (MRH) is an escalating global challenge especially among older adults. The period following hospital discharge carries high-risk for MRH due to medication discrepancies, limited patient/carer education and support, and poor communication between hospital and community professionals. Discharge Medical Service (DMS), a newly introduced NHS scheme, aims to reduce post-discharge MRH through an electronic communication between hospital and community pharmacists.

A Systematic Review of the Current Evidence from Randomised Controlled Trials on the Impact of Medication Optimisation or Pharmacological Interventions on Quantitative Measures of Cognitive Function in Geriatric Patients.

Background: Cognitive decline is common in older people. Numerous studies point to the detrimental impact of polypharmacy and inappropriate medication on older people's cognitive function. Here we aim to systematically review evidence on the impact of medication optimisation and drug interventions on cognitive function in older adults.

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.

The Association Between the Kyphosis Angle and Physical Performance in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Background: We investigated prospectively among community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older whether a larger kyphosis angle is associated with poorer physical performance (balance, muscle strength, or both), and whether this association is unidirectional.

Methods: Male and female participants performed a multicomponent physical performance test with subscores for gait, muscle strength, and balance at baseline and after 2 years. Hand grip strength was also measured at baseline and at follow-up.

The association between hyperkyphosis and fall incidence among community-dwelling older adults.

Unlabelled: Hyperkyphosis, an increased kyphosis angle of the thoracic spine, was associated with a higher fall incidence in the oldest quartile of a large prospective cohort of community-dwelling older adults. Hyperkyphosis could serve as an indicator of an increased fall risk as well as a treatable condition.

Introduction: Hyperkyphosis is frequently found in adults aged 65 years and older and may be associated with falls.

Know-Me: A Toolkit for Designing Personalised Dementia Care.

Personalisation is a crucial element in providing person-centred care for people with dementia. This paper presents the development and evaluation of a design toolkit to facilitate the work of designers and healthcare professionals in personalising dementia care. This toolkit, named "Know-me", was grounded in the findings of Ergonomics in Aging, Co-design, and Data-enabled Design, derived from literature review and from the field during a four-year doctorate project.

A Digital Platform for Facilitating Personalized Dementia Care in Nursing Homes: Formative Evaluation Study.

Background: Care personalization is key to the well-being of people with dementia according to person-centered care. With the development of the internet of things, a large quantity of personal data can be collected securely and reliably, which has the potential to facilitate care personalization for people with dementia. Yet, there are limited assistive technologies developed for this purpose, and the user acceptance of assistive technologies is low in nursing homes.

New horizons in falls prevention and management for older adults: a global initiative.

Background: falls and fall-related injuries are common in older adults, have negative effects both on quality of life and functional independence and are associated with increased morbidity, mortality and health care costs. Current clinical approaches and advice from falls guidelines vary substantially between countries and settings, warranting a standardised approach. At the first World Congress on Falls and Postural Instability in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in December 2019, a worldwide task force of experts in falls in older adults, committed to achieving a global consensus on updating clinical practice guidelines for falls prevention and management by incorporating current and emerging evidence in falls research.

STOPPFall (Screening Tool of Older Persons Prescriptions in older adults with high fall risk): a Delphi study by the EuGMS Task and Finish Group on Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs.

Background: Healthcare professionals are often reluctant to deprescribe fall-risk-increasing drugs (FRIDs). Lack of knowledge and skills form a significant barrier and furthermore, there is no consensus on which medications are considered as FRIDs despite several systematic reviews. To support clinicians in the management of FRIDs and to facilitate the deprescribing process, STOPPFall (Screening Tool of Older Persons Prescriptions in older adults with high fall risk) and a deprescribing tool were developed by a European expert group.

Personalising Management of Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia in Nursing Homes: Exploring the Synergy of Quantitative and Qualitative Data.

Researchers have been exploring how to manage Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) in a personalised way, meanwhile, assistive technologies have been developed to collect a variety of personal data. This urges more research in investigating the combination of: data collected by the care team, which are mainly qualitative; and data collected by assistive technologies, the majority of which are quantitative. Previous studies, however, have yet to explore if and how a combination of quantitative and qualitative data could facilitate the care team to better understand each resident with dementia in the nursing home context for personalised BPSD management.

Serum vitamin D levels are associated with structural and functional properties of the carotid artery in older men and women.

Background And Aims: This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and carotid and brachial artery distensibility in patients older than 55 years, referred to the outpatient clinic of the department of internal medicine and geriatric medicine of the Erasmus Medical Center, in Rotterdam.

Methods And Results: From April to July 2006 we consecutively enrolled 49 elder patients (21 men and 28 women, mean age 78 ± 8 years) without a cardiovascular event within 6 weeks before the visit. Carotid and brachial artery distensibility coefficients and serum 25(OH)D levels (mean 50 ± 28.

Medication-related harm in older adults following hospital discharge: development and validation of a prediction tool.

Objectives: To develop and validate a tool to predict the risk of an older adult experiencing medication-related harm (MRH) requiring healthcare use following hospital discharge.

Design, Setting, Participants: Multicentre, prospective cohort study recruiting older adults (≥65 years) discharged from five UK teaching hospitals between 2013 and 2015.

Primary Outcome Measure: Participants were followed up for 8 weeks in the community by senior pharmacists to identify MRH (adverse drug reactions, harm from non-adherence, harm from medication error).

Shoe design for older adults: Evidence from a systematic review on the elements of optimal footwear.

Due to changes in foot morphology and the occurrence of foot deformities and foot pain with ageing, older people frequently wear ill-fitting shoes. This can lead to discomfort and reduced mobility. A review of the literature was performed in Medline, Scopus and Embase with three aims: (a) to evaluate the effects of shoes or shoe elements on the comfort and mobility of older adults, (b) to summarise the evidence-based elements of a safe and comfortable shoe for older adults, and (c) from that, to compile those elements into design recommendations for a safe and comfortable shoe for older adults.

Co-designing with people with dementia: A scoping review of involving people with dementia in design research.

Co-designing with people with dementia (PwD) can uncover their needs and preferences, which have been often overlooked. It is difficult for PwD to understand designers and express themselves in a conventional co-design session. This study aims to evaluate the effects of involving PwD in design research on both PwD and the design process; to identify the trends of involving PwD in design research; to extract tools, recommendations, and limitations of involving PwD from reviewed studies to update the recommendations on how to co-design with PwD.

Electronic assistive technology for community-dwelling solo-living older adults: A systematic review.

The proportion of older adults who live alone in single households is growing continuously. In the care of these solo-living older adults, electronic assistive technology (EAT) can play an important role. The objective of this review is to investigate the effects of EAT on the wellbeing of community-dwelling older adults living alone in single households.

Differences in potential biomarkers of delirium between acutely ill medical and elective cardiac surgery patients.

Background/aims: The pathophysiology of delirium is poorly understood. Increasing evidence suggests that different pathways might be involved in the pathophysiology depending on the population studied. The aim of the present study was to investigate potential differences in mean plasma levels of neopterin, amino acids, amino acid ratios and homovanillic acid between two groups of patients with delirium.

Association of polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy with frailty states: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: To investigate: (1) the cross-sectional association between polypharmacy, hyperpolypharmacy and presence of prefrailty or frailty; (2) the risk of incident prefrailty or frailty in persons with polypharmacy, and vice versa.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase from 01/01/1998 to 5/2/2018.

A systematic review of non-pharmacological interventions for BPSD in nursing home residents with dementia: from a perspective of ergonomics.

Background: Non-pharmacological interventions for Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) have been developed; however, a systematic review on the effectiveness of this type of intervention from a perspective of ergonomics is lacking. According to ergonomics, the capabilities of Persons with Dementia (PwD) should be considered in the interventions for the outcomes to be reliable. We aimed to systematically review the non-pharmacological interventions for BPSD in nursing home residents with an additional assessment criterion based on ergonomics, specifically, capability consideration.