Prevalence and Risk Factors of Postprandial Hypotension among Elderly People Admitted in a Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit : An Observational Study.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the prevalence and potential risk factors of postprandial hypotension (PPH) among elderly patients in an acute geriatric ward. DESIGN: A prospective observational study. SETTING: Geriatric Unit in a Belgian tertiary-care University Hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-six hospitalized elderly patients after stabilization of their acute conditions. MEASUREMENTS: PPH and orthostatic hypotension (OH) measured by a non-invasive automated blood pressure device, demographic data, Katz's Basic Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Lawton's instrumental ADL, Short Physical Performance Battery, Charlson Comorbidity Index, Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form, Timed Up and Go test, Get-up Early test, grip strength and 7 classes of drugs. RESULTS: Overall, the prevalence of PPH was 46% (n=35/76), and it was symptomatic in 31% of the patients (n=11/35). PPH is associated with OH in one-third of the cases (n=12/35). Two-thirds of the patients with HPP had a significant drop in systolic blood pressure within the first 75 minutes after a meal. In univariate analyses, risk factors of PPH were nursing home residence, alpha-blocker consumption, help needed for eating and a good level of global functional status. However, patients with a good functional status were at increased risk of alpha-blocker exposure. In multivariate analyses, only alpha-blocker consumption and help needed for eating remained statistically significant. CONCLUSION: PPH is frequent among hospitalized elderly people in a Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit, affecting nearly one out of two people. The use of alpha-blockers is an important risk factor and may alert clinicians to the risk of PPH.

Early diagnosis of dehydration in hospitalized geriatric patients using clinical and laboratory criteria.

CONTEXT: Dehydration is a common yet underdiagnosed condition, which is associated with poor prognosis in older patients. The clinical and laboratory criteria for assessing dehydration are of variable or poor diagnostic value in this population and require further validation. OBJECTIVES: To test different clinical and laboratory criteria for the early diagnosis of dehydration in hospitalized older patients as compared to the standard diagnosis based on a body weight gain ≥ 3% during the first week of admission. DESIGN: Prospective study using clinical and laboratory criteria for dehydration selected by an expert panel. SETTING: Acute geriatric unit. PARTICIPANTS: Geriatric patients (n = 112; aged 83 ± 6 years) admitted to the unit. MEASUREMENTS: Using selected criteria (skin fold, dry mouth, calf muscle consistency, systolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg, orthostatic blood pressure drop, postural dizziness, thirst, apathy or delirium, urea, creatinine, uric acid, proteins, hemoglobin), expert clinicians prospectively assessed the patients to make a clinical diagnosis of dehydration upon admission. Clinicians were asked to provide a yes/no answer for each criterion and a global yes/no answer for dehydration, along with its estimated probability. Body weight was measured at admission and at Day 7. Laboratory parameters were assessed at baseline and at Day 7. The clinical diagnosis made at admission was retrospectively compared to the standard diagnosis made at Day 7 (> 3% weight gain) to test the values of each criterion separately, the global diagnosis, and its estimated probability. RESULTS: In total, 100 patients with complete data (mean age 83 ± 6 years) were considered for analysis. Dehydration was the principal reason for admission in three patients only but was clinically diagnosed as part of the study in 39 patients, whereas the standard diagnosis of dehydration was ascertained in 20. Inter-rater agreement (kappa) was fair for the clinical criteria and clinical diagnosis, moderate to near perfect for the laboratory criteria, and substantial for the estimated probability of dehydration. When matched with the standard diagnosis, the final clinical diagnosis of dehydration had 70% sensitivity and 69% specificity, with a 90% negative predictive value. Individually, both clinical and laboratory criteria had good specificity (65-90%), but poor sensitivity (< 55%). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the standard diagnosis, dehydration was overdiagnosed by systematic clinical assessment upon admission in this frail population. However, clinicians performed better at excluding dehydration. Clinical acumen seems better than any individual clinical symptom or sign.

Evaluation of the Xpert MRSA assay for rapid detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from nares swabs of geriatric hospitalized patients and failure to detect a specific SCCmec type IV variant.

Rapid and reliable detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriers is crucial for control of MRSA nosocomial transmission. We aimed to evaluate the performance of the GeneXpert real-time PCR system using the Xpert MRSA assay on a collection of 40 representative Belgian MRSA strains and for MRSA screening of geriatric inpatients. Double nasal swabs were used: the first swab for the Xpert MRSA assay and the second for culture onto chromogenic selective medium and enrichment broth. All but 1 of the 40 collection strains were recognized as MRSA by the Xpert MRSA assay. Nares swabs were prospectively collected from 246 inpatients including 25 nasal MRSA carriers. Compared with enriched cultures, the sensitivity, the specificity, and the positive and negative predictive values of the Xpert MRSA assay were 69.2%, 97.7%, 78.3%, and 96.3% respectively. The 7 evaluable false-negative results according to the assay were due to its possible lack of sensitivity (n = 3) and to the occurrence of a Belgian MRSA clone carrying a particular staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) type IV variant (n = 4) not targeted by the current Xpert MRSA assay. Because of the evolution of SCCmec in MRSA, new primers should be designed and further studies are warranted to ensure continuous monitoring of this assay.

Predicting functional adverse outcomes in hospitalized older patients: a systematic review of screening tools.

BACKGROUND: Functional decline frequently occurs following hospitalisation in older people and may be prevented or minimized by specific management. Such care processes needs appropriate early screening of older hospitalized patients. OBJECTIVE: To identify instruments able to detect on admission older hospitalized patients at risk of functional decline at and after discharge. METHODS: Functional decline is defined as loss of independence in activities of daily living (functional decline) or admission in nursing home. The systematic search used Medline 1970-2007, Web of Science 1981-2007 and references list of relevant papers. An independent epidemiologist assessed methodological quality of the retained articles. RESULTS: We found 12 studies developing predictive tools, including 7145 patients. Functional outcomes were assessed at or after discharge. Preadmission functional status, cognition, and social support were major components for prediction of functional evolution. Few instruments are fully validated and data concerning reliability are often lacking. Operational characteristics are moderate (sensitivity 29-87%, negative likelihood ratio 0.2-0.8). CONCLUSIONS: Instruments predicting functional adverse outcomes are difficult to compare due to heterogeneity of functional outcomes and hospital settings. The reason why so many tools have been developed is probably because none gives full satisfaction: their general predictive validity and performances are insufficient. Further research is needed to improve the screening of frail older patients admitted to hospital with standardized and validated tools.

Risk factors predicting later functional decline in older hospitalized patients.

With the demographic and epidemiological changes, an increasing number of older subjects are admitted to hospital. These patients are at increased risk of adverse health outcomes, including functional decline, increased length of stay, institutionalization, geriatric syndromes (e.g. delirium), hospital readmissions and death. Age, basic demographic data, diagnosis and comorbidities are not sufficient to estimate the risk of a further negative evolution of the frail older patient during and after hospitalization. As functional decline begins soon after admission, it is important to screen vulnerable patients early in order to plan appropriate orientation to geriatric programmes and to target interventions.This narrative review analyses which appropriate parameters, available soon after admission, may help to identify the older patients at risk of functional decline and to stratify their risk. Functional decline was defined here as loss of independence in basic care or admission in nursing home. The main risk factors identified by this analysis are functional status before or at admission, cognitive performance and social characteristics.These data may be easily and quickly collected by the nursing staff on admission, and further assessed by the geriatric liaison team, in order to optimize care management in frail older patients.

Ecthyma gangrenosum in a non-neutropaenic, elderly patient: case report and review of the literature.

Ecthyma gangrenosum is a cutaneous infection most commonly associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteraemia, but it may also be encountered after breakdown of mechanical defence barriers and local infection. The characteristic lesions of ecthyma gangrenosum are haemorrhagic blisters with surrounding erythema that rapidly evolve to necrotic ulcers. A high mortality rate is reported, especially when diagnosis is delayed and in the absence of appropriate therapy. Ecthyma gangrenosum usually occurs in critically ill and immunocompromised patients. Haematological malignancies and neutropaenia are the major risk factors, but other comorbidities (e.g. diabetes mellitus and malnutrition) have also been involved. Here, we report a case of ecthyma gangrenosum in a non-neutropaenic elderly patient with multiple comorbidities and review the literature on ecthyma gangrenosum.

Peripheral parenteral nutrition in geriatric wards.

Poor nutritional status significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality in elderly. Malnutrition and denutrition are amenable to interventions aimed to improve outcomes in acute conditions so that nutritional support is frequently initiated during hospitalisation. If the enteral route remains the first evidence-based choice when the gut is functional, this approach may be difficult to perform in some "geriatric" situations like delirium, agitation, coma or pulmonary congestion. In the first days of the acute condition, when the patient is still stable, an alternative to the enteral route may also be considered. Although there is no evidence that parenteral nutrition is better than enteral nutrition, the peripheral intravenous route may be of interest especially when the enteral route is contraindicated. Moreover, the technique of peripheral parenteral nutition reduces central cannulation-related complications like pneumothorax. We emphasize here the place of this alternative method for a short duration nutritional support when supplement of caloric intake is needed. We discuss indications, a practical approach, our experience and analyze the evidences for this complementary nutritional support.

The medical management of primary open-angle glaucoma in the elderly patient.

Glaucoma is a frequent cause of blindness in the elderly. It is defined as a neuropathy of the optic nerve for which the main risk factor is an elevated intraocular pressure. The management of glaucoma is described with an emphasis on diagnostic procedure and on the topical drug treatment. The potential side effects of these drugs are discussed from the geriatric point of view.

Patent foramen ovale: a cause of significant post-coronary artery bypass grafting morbidity.

We describe two patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting complicated by postoperative hypoxemia due to a patent foramen ovale with right-to-left shunting. We discuss different hypotheses to explain the shunt: decreased right ventricular compliance, right atrial geometric changes due to septal distension or ischemia, exceeding filling pressure and localised haemorragic pericardial tamponade and low atrial pressure when correcting aortic stenosis. We emphasize the close interplay of pericardectomy and the four cardiac chambers including the distortion of the heart axis. The contrast echo produced by microbubbles of air is the safest and the most accurate procedure to detect the shunt. The two patients progressed positively with an extracorporeal circulation of short duration and without complications linked to the intervention. We conclude that postoperative unexplained hypoxemia must always exclude diagnosis of right-to-left shunting due to a patent foramen ovale (PFO).

Hypercalcemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and multiple myeloma: uncommon association.

A fifty-nine year old woman is admitted with severe hypercalcemia and other metabolic disorders. The buffy coat showed plasmoblasts in association with chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells (CLL). Immunophenotyping revealed different light chains on CLL cells and in plasmoblasts. We discuss the association of hypercalcemia and CLL, its physiopathology and the distinction with Richter's Syndrome. We also review literature descriptions of the uncommon association of CLL and Multiple Myeloma and raise the question of its clonal origin.

Myocardial revascularization for severe left ventricular dysfunction. Factors influencing early and late survival.

The results of coronary bypass surgery have been assessed in 102 patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction who had a preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction of < or = 0.35 (mean (s.e.m.) 0.29 (0.01)). Independent risk factors influencing operative mortality were obesity (P = 0.0290) and the need for preoperative intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation (P = 0.0010). Cox regression analysis using as its end-point 'cardiac-related death' demonstrated three variables; the need for preoperative intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation (P < 0.001), advanced age (P = 0.011), and obesity (P = 0.36). In a subset of 43 patients who did not have these risk factors, the 4-year cardiac-related death rate was 95.1 (3.4)%. The operative mortality and long-term survival can be expected to be satisfactory in patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction, provided they have a viable myocardium rather than myocardial fibrosis.

Operation for unstable angina pectoris: factors influencing adverse in-hospital outcome.

Coronary artery bypass grafting for the treatment of unstable angina is still associated with increased operative risk and postoperative morbidity. The impact of the extended use of arterial grafts on early results is incompletely defined. In a 7-year period (1986 to 1993), 474 patients (average age, 65 years; range, 34 to 85 years) underwent coronary artery bypass grafting for the treatment of unstable angina. Sixty-eight patients were operated on emergently and 406 urgently. They received an average of 3.0 distal anastomoses (range, 1 to 6). Seventy-nine patients had exclusively venous grafts, 316 had one internal thoracic artery graft, 79 had bilateral internal thoracic artery grafts, and 20 had inferior epigastric artery grafts. Sequential internal thoracic artery grafting was performed in 70 patients. Redo operations were performed in 26 patients. Thirty-four patients (7.2%) experienced a new myocardial infarction. Eighty-nine patients (18.8%) had an intraaortic balloon pump inserted preoperatively, intraoperatively, or postoperatively. Eight patients (1.7%) died intraoperatively and 24 patients (5.1%) died postoperatively. Seventy-seven patients (16.2%) had an adverse outcome, as shown by the need for an intraaortic balloon pump (intraoperatively or postoperatively) or hospital death, or by both. Forty variables were examined by multivariate analysis for their influence on the occurrence of an adverse outcome. Aortic cross-clamp time (p = 0.0004), transfer from the intensive care unit (p = 0.0023), female sex (p = 0.0023), operation performed in early years (p = 0.0041), left ventricular aneurysm (p = 0.0068), the number of diseased coronary vessels (p = 0.0312), and reoperation (p = 0.0318) were all found to be significant independent predictors of increased risk.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)