scholarly journals Tablet Splitting in Elderly Patients with Dementia: The Case of Quetiapine

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1523
Author(s):  
Roberta Ganzetti ◽  
Serena Logrippo ◽  
Matteo Sestili ◽  
Alessandro Caraffa ◽  
Marco Cespi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Elderly Patients ◽  
Psychological Symptoms ◽  
Bipolar Depression ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Content Uniformity ◽  
European Pharmacopoeia ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Quetiapine Fumarate ◽  
Tablet Splitting ◽  
The Impact

Quetiapine is an atypical antipsychotic approved for treating schizophrenia, bipolar depression, and mania but is frequently used in an off-label manner to control the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in elderly patients with dementia. Due to the need to personalize doses for elderly patients with dementia, quetiapine tablet manipulation is widespread in hospital settings, long-term care facilities, and patient homes. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the different splitting techniques on quetiapine fumarate tablets by analysing the obtained sub-divided tablets and to discuss compliance with the European Pharmacopoeia limits on whole and split tablets. Quetiapine fumarate tablets of two dose strengths were taken at random (in a number able to assure a power of 0.8 during statistical comparison) and were split with a kitchen knife or tablet cutter. The weight and the drug content were determined for each half tablet. The obtained data were compared to the European Pharmacopoeia limits. The differences between the different splitting techniques were statistically tested. Data showed that split tablets, independently of the dose strength and the technique employed, were not compliant with the European Pharmacopoeia specifications for both entire and subdivided tablets in terms of weight and content uniformity. Thus, such a common practice could have potential effects on treatment efficacy and toxicity, especially when also considering the fragility of the elderly target population in which polypharmacotherapy is very common. These results indicate a compelling need for flexible quetiapine formulations that can assure more accurate dose personalization.

scholarly journals Impact of Frailty on Medical and Long-Term Care Expenditures for the Elderly Age 75 or Over in Japan

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 176-176
Author(s):  
Hiroto Yoshida ◽  
Yuriko Kihara
Keyword(s):  
Long Term Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Elderly Age ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Intentional Weight Loss ◽  
Long Term Care Insurance ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This study examined the impact of frailty on medical and long-term care expenditures in an older Japanese population. The subjects were those aged 75 years and over who responded to the survey (March 2018) in Bibai, Hokkaido, Japan (n=1,203) and have never received certification of long-term care insurance at the survey. We followed up 867 individuals (72.1%) until the end of December 2018 (10 month-period). We defined frailty as a state in performing 4 items and over of 15 items which were composed of un-intentional weight loss, history of falls, etc. Among 867 subjects, 233 subjects (26.9%) were judged to be frailty group, and 634 subjects (73.1%) non-frailty group. We compared period to the new certification of long-term care insurance (LTCI), accumulated medical and long-term care expenditures adjusted for age and gender between the two groups during the follow-up period. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the association between baseline frailty and the new certification of LTCI. The relative hazard ratio (HR) was higher in frailty group than non-frailty group (HR=3.51, 95% CI：1.30-9.45, P=.013). The adjusted mean accumulated medical and long-term care expenditures per capita during the follow-up were significantly (P=.002) larger for those in the frailty group (629,699 yen), while those in the non-frailty group were 450,995 yen. We confirmed strong economic impact of frailty in the elderly aged 75 or over in Japan.

scholarly journals 412 - An Affect Education Model for Caregivers: Managing Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (S1) ◽  
pp. 128-128
Author(s):  
Ken Schwartz ◽  
Robert Madan ◽  
Rosalind Sham ◽  
Sandra Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Psychological Symptoms ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Personal Support ◽  
Behavioural And Psychological Symptoms ◽  
Education Model ◽  
The Impact

Introduction:Providing care for people with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia is stressful as these individuals are commonly labelled as aggressive or resistant to care. Few studies have evaluated the impact of providing support to professional caregivers working in long-term care. Our mixed methods pilot study evaluated the impact of the innovative Affect Education Model among health care providers from two Toronto nursing homes.Methods:The two-person centred Affect Educational Model through the use of seven questions that encourage self-reflection teaches that problematic behaviours are co-constructed between individuals with BPSD and caregivers. Study procedures included recruiting nursing staff and personal support workers and teaching them the model in five weekly 30-minute group sessions. Qualitative measures in the form of focus groups were obtained. Quantitative measures were obtained through the use of five questionnaires.Results:Qualitative findings from focus groups identified four themes: facilitators and barriers perceived in current care delivery, the impact of the model experience on staff care delivery, reflections on being taught the model, and future model implementation. Quantitative results were also collected and discussed.Conclusions:The use of both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment of individuals with BPSD may be greatly enhanced by an interpersonal two-person Affect Education Model that emphasizes the importance of calming down and self-reflection. Future directions include expanding the model to family caregivers through the use of multimedia resources.

scholarly journals Pacemaker therapy in the elderly and very elderly: comorbidity-burden vs age, as prognostic factors for excess of length of in-hospital stay, complications and mortality

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Marschall ◽  
H Del Castillo Carnevali ◽  
F Goncalves Sanchez ◽  
M Torres Lopez ◽  
F A Delgado Calva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prognostic Factors ◽  
Elderly Patients ◽  
Hospital Stay ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Very Elderly ◽  
Pacemaker Therapy ◽  
Clinical Scenarios ◽  
Comorbidity Burden ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Complications And Mortality

Abstract Background The number of elderly patients undergoing pacemaker (PM) implantation is constantly growing. However, information on survival and prognostic factors of this particular patient group is scarce. Recent studies suggest that comorbidity burden may have an equal, if not greater, effect on length of in-hospital stay (LOS), complications and mortality, as age in a variety of clinical scenarios. Objective The objective of this study was to determine the survival of elderly and very elderly patients undergoing PM implantation, as well as to investigate the impact of comorbidities, as compared to age, on excess of length of in-hospital stay and mortality. Methods This is a retrospective observational study of a single centre. Patients that underwent (both elective and non-elective) PM implantation between June 2016 and December 2018 in our centre, were included for chart review. Elderly patients were defined as those with age 80–89 years, whereas very elderly patients were defined as those with ≥90 years of age. Excess in LOS was defined as an in-hospital stay >3 days. Results A total of 507 patients were included in the study with a mean age of 80.6 (±8.5) years. 255 elderly and 60 very elderly patients were included. Median follow-up time was 24 months. Baseline clinical characteristics are presented in Table 1. The mortality rate for elderly patients was 18.8% for the elderly and 36.7% for the very elderly (p=0.002). The presence of ≥2 comorbidities (defined in Table 1) resulted to be a significant predictor for the excess of LOS, whereas age did not significantly predict excess of LOS (HR: 7.1 (4.4–11.4), p<0.001); HR: 1.01 (0.9–1.1), p=0.56, respectively). Neither age, nor comorbidity burden predicted the appearance of device related complications. Both comorbidites and age predicted mortality. However, the association was stronger for the presence of comorbidites, than for age (HR: 1.9 (1.1–3.1), p=0.002 vs HR: 1.1 (1.1–1.2), p<0.001, respectively). Elderly patients with low comorbidity burden (<2 comorbidities) showed no significant differences with regards to LOS and mortality when compared to younger patients (2 (2–4) vs 3 (2–5) days, p=0.529 and 18.3% vs 17.4%, p=0.702; respectively). Conclusions Our study shows a good life expectancy of elderly and very elderly patients, that underwent PM implantation, with a survival rate that is comparable to the general population. Comorbidity burden, rather than age, significantly predicts excess of LOS and should therefore be the driving factor in the approach of patients undergoing new PM implantation. FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

Associate Members: A Life Worth Living

1986 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 362-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Parker
Keyword(s):  
Elderly Patients ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Life Worth Living ◽  
Meaningful Existence ◽  
Time And Energy

Long-term care patients need a meaningful existence. It is our responsibility to ensure that time and energy are channelled into purposeful solutions for the disease of ‘time with nothing to do’. The author has taken up this challenge. Working as an activities organizer with the elderly for 11 years, she was determined never to take the role of a baby-sitter. The recreation unit has grown from its first eight guests to a purpose-built unit with approximately 1,500 attendances per month. A busy happy atmosphere now prevails where once there was a sea of dead faces. The choice to retain a sense of dignity and purpose should be available to all elderly patients who require long-term care.

Impact of Age on the Functional Evaluation of Intermediate Coronary Stenoses With Instantaneous Wave-Free Ratio and Fractional Flow Reserve

Angiology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-69
Author(s):  
Monica Verdoia ◽  
Rocco Gioscia ◽  
Matteo Nardin ◽  
Federica Negro ◽  
Francesco Tonon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Elderly Patients ◽  
Fractional Flow Reserve ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Functional Evaluation ◽  
Fractional Flow ◽  
Flow Reserve ◽  
Minimal Lumen Diameter ◽  
Coronary Stenoses ◽  
The Impact

The optimal strategy for assessing the ischemic significance of intermediate coronary stenoses with adenosine-induced fractional flow reserve (FFR) and instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) is still debated. Few studies have previously assessed the impact of age on FFR and iFR, which was the aim of our study. Patients undergoing FFR and iFR evaluation for intermediate (40%-70%) coronary lesions were included and divided according to age. Fractional flow reserve was performed by intracoronary boluses of adenosine (60-1440 μg). Instantaneous wave-free ratio was automatically calculated. Among 148 patients undergoing FFR measurement of 166 lesions, 45.3% were ≥70 years. Elderly patients had higher minimal lumen diameter ( P = .03). We also observed a linear relationship between iFR and FFR independently of age. Fractional flow reserve values were higher in the elderly patients, whereas iFR was not related to age. A total of 33 lesions had a positive iFR with no difference for age (17.3% vs 22%, P = .56), while FFR <0.80 was more infrequent in the elderly patients (17.1% vs 34.8%, P = .02). In intermediate coronary stenoses, iFR and FFR correlation is unaffected by age. Fractional flow reserve is higher in the elderly patients, whereas iFR is less affected by age. Future large-scale studies are needed to define whether iFR should be the preferred choice in elderly patients.

scholarly journals Impact of clinical pharmacist’s interventions on pharmacotherapy management in elderly patients on polypharmacy with mental health problems including quality of life: A prospective non-randomized study

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matej Stuhec ◽  
Nika Bratović ◽  
Aleš Mrhar
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Elderly Patients ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Randomized Study ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Potentially Inappropriate Medications ◽  
The Impact

AbstractMental health problems (MHPs) are very common in the elderly and can have an important influence on their quality of life (QoL). There is almost no data on the impact of clinical pharmacists’ (CPs) interventions on the QoL including elderly patients and MHPs. The main aim of this study was to determinate the impact of (CP’s) interventions on the QoL and quality of pharmacotherapy. A prospective non-randomized pre-post study was designed which included residents of a nursing home aged 65 age or more with at least one MHP. Each patient also filled out the EQ-5D questionnaire. The medical review MR included drug-related problems (DRPs) and potentially drug-drug interactions (pDDIs), as well as potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). After 2 months, the participants were interviewed again. The mean number of medications before the intervention was 12,2 ± 3,1 per patient and decreased to 10,3 ± 3,0 medications per patient (p < 0,05) (n = 24). The total number of PIMs and pDDIs was also reduced and QoL was also significantly higher (p < 0,05). A collaborative care approach with a CP led to a decrease of DRPs, pDDIs, PIMs, the total number of medications and to an improvement in the patients’ QoL.

Family Burden in Frailty Syndrome Care Givers: Impact of Psychoeducation

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 3032-3035
Author(s):  
Rihmaningtyas ◽  
Elida Ulfiana ◽  
Sylvia Dwi Wahyuni
Keyword(s):  
Caregiver Burden ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Frailty Syndrome ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Care Givers ◽  
The Family ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Impact

Elderly with frailty syndrome experience a disturbance on physical condition, psychology, social, and financial of the family caregivers. This is due to the long-term care. The nurture will be hampered if the burden is not well handled. This study aims to determine the effect of psychoeducation on families who provide care to the elderly with frailty syndrome. Useable design is a non-experimental one group pre post-test. The number of samples is 15 respondents who provide care to family members who have frailty syndrome. Psychoeducation is given five sessions in three meetings. Lastly, one extra meeting for re-measuring the caregiver burden after intervention. The results of pre-test level of caregiver burden before intervention was 20% severe and 80% moderate. After the intervention, the results changed into the 53.3% average and 46.7% mild. Statistical analysis showed p = 0.001 (significance p < 0.05) on the impact of caregiver burden and psychological impact as much as 53%, physical 27%, social 12% and economic 8%. Psychoeducation affects the level of caregiver burden on caregivers who nurture the elderly with frailty syndrome. The impact of caregiver burden is mostly on the psychological aspects.

Metastatic melanoma in the elderly: Case series of clinical outcome and immune characteristics

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e20018-e20018
Author(s):  
U. P. Hegde ◽  
N. Chakraborty ◽  
A. Chhabra ◽  
S. Ray
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Clinical Outcome ◽  
Elderly Patients ◽  
Metastatic Melanoma ◽  
Cutaneous Melanoma ◽  
Proliferative Activity ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
High Dose ◽  
The Impact

e20018 Background: Cutaneous melanoma incidence is rapidly rising in the elderly population. Imbalances of the immune system are described due to aging associated changes between CD4+, CD8+, T helper (Th) 1, Th 2 and T regulatory and T effector lymphocytes (lym). We describe clinical outcome in 10 elderly patients (pts) with cutaneous metastatic melanoma (CMM) and results of the immune studies done in a subgroup. Methods: Between October 2002 and October 2008, 10 elderly pts with treatment naïve CMM, 6 males and 4 female, median ages 76, range 57–84 years were treated at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Metastatic sites included soft tissue in 2 patients (pts), lung and/or liver with lymph node (LN) involvement (6 pts) and distant LN metastasis (2pts). Eight pts opted for treatment and received single or combination chemotherapy (5pts), high dose Interleukin 2 (2 pts), complete tumor resection followed by tumor derived heat shock protein vaccine (1 pt on clinical trial) and bio chemotherapy (1pt). One patient declined treatment (included in follow up). In vitro immune characteristics were studied in HLA-A2 positive subgroup (5pts) and included cytotoxic T lym (CTL) generation against self and non self peptides (Mart-1 27–35 and influenza MP derived peptide flu 58–66), proliferative activity of CD4+ lym in response to anti CD3 antibody under Th1 and Th2 conditions and regulatory T lym activity of CD4+CD25+ lym against CTL. Results: All patients tolerated treatments well resulting in 1 complete response, 4 partial responses, and 4 stable diseases. During 6 year follow up period, 6 patients died while 4 patients are living (one with disease). The median survival of all patients is 28.1 month (mo) while in those surviving (4pts) is 72 mo. Immune studies revealed preserved proliferative activity of CD4+ lym with stronger Th1 induction than Th2. The CTL responses to self and non self antigens were preserved while regulatory T lym showed weak activity against CTL. Conclusions: Some elderly patients with metastatic melanoma demonstrate improved outcomes and favorable immune characteristics. Further studies are needed to understand the impact of aging immune system on cutaneous melanoma. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

scholarly journals The impact of age on approach-related complications with navigated lateral lumbar interbody fusion

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. E8
Author(s):  
Yamaan S. Saadeh ◽  
Clay M. Elswick ◽  
Eleanor Smith ◽  
Timothy J. Yee ◽  
Michael J. Strong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Elderly Patients ◽  
Interbody Fusion ◽  
Multivariable Analysis ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Lumbar Interbody Fusion ◽  
Related Complication ◽  
Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Impact

OBJECTIVEAge is known to be a risk factor for increased complications due to surgery. However, elderly patients can gain significant quality-of-life benefits from surgery. Lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) is a minimally invasive procedure that is commonly used to treat degenerative spine disease. Recently, 3D navigation has been applied to LLIF. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is an increased complication risk in the elderly with navigated LLIF.METHODSPatients who underwent 3D-navigated LLIF for degenerative disease from 2014 to 2019 were included in the analysis. Patients were divided into elderly and nonelderly groups, with those 65 years and older categorized as elderly. Ninety-day medical and surgical complications were recorded. Patient and surgical characteristics were compared between groups, and multivariate regression analysis was used to determine independent risk factors for complication.RESULTSOf the 115 patients included, 56 were elderly and 59 were nonelderly. There were 15 complications (25.4%) in the nonelderly group and 10 (17.9%) in the elderly group, which was not significantly different (p = 0.44). On multivariable analysis, age was not a risk factor for complication (p = 0.52). However, multiple-level LLIF was associated with an increased risk of approach-related complication (OR 3.58, p = 0.02).CONCLUSIONSElderly patients do not appear to experience higher rates of approach-related complications compared with nonelderly patients undergoing 3D navigated LLIF. Rather, multilevel surgery is a predictor for approach-related complication.

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