Co-morbidity adjustment for functional outcomes in community-dwelling older adults

AbstractAlthough community services support ageing-in-place, older adults often report feelings of loneliness and social isolation. Unmet emotional needs are associated with poorer health, reduced functional abilities and increased mortality in this population. Pet ownership is an avenue worth exploring to reduce these adverse outcomes. This scoping review maps main findings and identifies key gaps with respect to the pros and cons of pet ownership in community-dwelling older adults pertaining to psycho-social, physical and functional outcomes. Scientific and grey literature published from January 2000 to July 2018 was searched. Data selection and extraction were performed by the first author and a sub-sample was co-validated by two co-authors. A total of 62 sources were included for descriptive and thematic analysis. A variety of pros (increased physical activity, wellbeing) and cons (grief, risk of falls) pertaining to psycho-social and physical outcomes were identified. Not many functional outcomes (support for daily routines) were mentioned, and few studies explored the simultaneous balance between the pros and cons of pet care. Further research exploring both clinicians’ and older pet owners’ perspectives is needed to deepen our understanding of the importance of considering companion animals in older adults’ daily lives and to strike a balance between perceived risks and benefits.

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Impact of specialized oral nutritional supplement on clinical, nutritional, and functional outcomes: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial in community-dwelling older adults at risk of malnutrition

Clinical Nutrition ◽

10.1016/j.clnu.2020.10.015 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Samuel Teong Huang Chew ◽

Ngiap Chuan Tan ◽

Magdalin Cheong ◽

Jeffery Oliver ◽

Geraldine Baggs ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

At Risk ◽

Functional Outcomes ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Nutritional Supplement ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Oral Nutritional Supplement ◽

Community Dwelling Older Adults

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Sex-Specific 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Threshold Concentrations for Functional Outcomes in Older Adults

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.1814 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 471-471

Author(s):

Jack Guralnik ◽

Eleanor Simonsick ◽

Stephen Kritchevsky ◽

Peggy Cawthon ◽

Michelle Shardell

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Functional Outcomes ◽

Serum Levels ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Validation Sample ◽

Hydroxyvitamin D ◽

25 Hydroxyvitamin D ◽

Skeletal Effects ◽

Intervention Trials ◽

Community Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract 25-Hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] has extra-skeletal effects, but it is not known whether the minimum sufficient serum levels for such targets, like muscle, differ from those for bone health (typically recommended at 20 or 30 ng/dL). Therefore, we derived and validated sex-specific thresholds for serum 25(OH)D predictive of poor physical function using 5 cohorts comprising 16,388 community-dwelling older adults (60.9% women). Using a cohort-stratified random two-thirds sample, we found incident slow gait was best discriminated by 25(OH)D<24.0 versus 25(OH)D>=24.0 ng/mL among women (Relative Risk=1.29; 95% CI 1.10-1.50) and 25(OH)D<21.0 versus 25(OH)D >=21.0 ng/mL among men (RR=1.43; 95% CI 1.01-2.02). Estimates from the remaining one-third validation sample were similar. Empirically identified and validated sex-specific 25(OH)D thresholds from multiple well-characterized cohorts of older adults may yield more biologically meaningful definitions in important sub-populations. Such thresholds may serve as candidate reference concentrations or inform design of vitamin D intervention trials in older adults.

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