Lessons learned from a multidisciplinary heart failure clinic for older women: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: many heart failure disease management programs are primarily conducted in the male population. An approach incorporating disciplines such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, social work, dietary and pharmacy in a standardized clinical pathway merits further investigation in older women with HF.

Methods: in this randomized controlled trial, female patients in the intervention group received the multidisciplinary clinical pathway consisting of a series of 12 visits over a 6-week period in an outpatient clinic.

Gender differences in dementia risk factors.

Background: With the aging of the population, dementia has become an important health concern in most countries. There is a growing body of literature on the importance of cardiovascular risk factors in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia, and mixed dementia (AD with cerebrovascular disease).

Objective: This article reviews the role of major risk factors in dementia between both sexes.

Hospitalized patients' preference in the treatment of insomnia: pharmacological versus non-pharmacological.

Background: Insomnia is common in hospitalized patients, who become significantly vulnerable to the adverse effects of the benzodiazepines (BZDs) used to treat this condition. Consequently, there has been a logical search for non-drug alternatives (NDAs) for the treatment of insomnia.

Method: Inpatient insomnia cases were surveyed over the Summer of 1999.

Adverse drug events in the elderly population admitted to a tertiary care hospital.

Older adults take almost one-third of the drugs prescribed today yet represent only about 12 percent of the population. Adverse drug events are common in this population, but often these events appear to be preventable. Interest in adverse events related to the use of prescription drugs has rarely been higher or broader.