Perioperative Primary Care Utilization and Postoperative Readmission, Emergency Department Use, and Mortality in Older Surgical Patients.

Background: Postdischarge primary care follow-up is associated with lower readmission rates after medical hospitalizations. However, the effect of primary care utilization on readmission has not been studied in surgical patients.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older undergoing major inpatient diagnostic or therapeutic procedures (n = 3,552,906) from 2017 through 2018, examining the association between postdischarge primary care visits within 14 days of discharge (primary exposure), and Annual Wellness Visits in the year prior (secondary exposure), with 30-day unplanned readmission (primary outcome), emergency department visits, and mortality (secondary outcomes).

Prevalence rates of arthritis among US older adults with varying degrees of depression: Findings from the 2011 to 2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Objective: Arthritis and depressive symptoms often interact and negatively influence one another to worsen mental and physical health outcomes. Better characterization of arthritis rates among older adults with different levels of depressive symptoms is an important step toward informing mental health professionals of the need to detect and respond to arthritis and related mental health complications. The primary objective is to determine arthritis rates among US older adults with varying degrees of depression.

Genetic profiling of cancer with circulating tumor DNA analysis.

Circulating cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the blood is DNA released from apoptotic, circulating, and living tumor cells. ctDNA is about 140 nt in length and has a half-life of about 1.5 h.

Pain intensity, depressive symptoms, and functional limitations among older adults with serious mental illness.

Objective: To examine pain-related activity interference as a mediator for the relationship between pain intensity and depressive symptoms among older adults with serious mental illness (SMI).

Method: Ordinary least-squares regressions were used to investigate the mediation analysis among older adults with SMI (n = 183) from community mental health centers. Analyses used secondary data from the HOPES intervention study.