Polypharmacy in nursing home residents with severe cognitive impairment: results from the SHELTER Study.

Objective: Pharmacological treatment of older adults with cognitive impairment represents a challenge for prescribing physicians, and polypharmacy is common in these complex patients. The aim of the current study is to assess prevalence and factors related to polypharmacy in a sample of nursing home (nursing home) residents with advanced cognitive impairment.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 1449 nursing home residents with advanced cognitive impairment participating to the Services and Health for Elderly in Long Term Care (SHELTER) project, a study collecting information on residents admitted to 57 nursing home in eight countries.

Inappropriate drugs in elderly patients with severe cognitive impairment: results from the shelter study.

Background: It has been estimated that Nursing Home (NH) residents with impaired cognitive status receive an average of seven to eight drugs daily. The aim of this study was to determine prevalence and factors associated with use of inappropriate drugs in elderly patients with severe cognitive impairment living in NH in Europe.

Methods: Cross-sectional data from a sample of 1449 NH residents with severe cognitive impairment, participating in the Services and Health for Elderly in Long TERm care (SHELTER) study were analysed.

Drug use and iatrogenic illness in complex older adults with kidney disease.

The aging process is characterized by a high level of complexity, which makes the care of older adults particularly challenging. This complexity results from the presence of an array of concomitant clinical conditions, whose integration and cumulative effect result in different degrees of functional deficits, cognitive deterioration, nutritional problems, geriatric syndromes in addition to lack of social support and financial resources. The presence of these factors may reduce the efficacy of prescribed drugs and increase the risk of iatrogenic illness making the pharmacologic treatment of this complex patient a difficult task for the prescribing physician.

Metabolic syndrome and quality of life in the elderly: age and gender differences.

Purpose: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is highly prevalent in Western older populations. MetS is an intriguing entity, because it includes potentially reversible risk factors. Some studies have suggested an inverse correlation between MetS and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), but data regarding older subjects are scanty and conflicting.