[Specificity of epileptic seizures in the elderly: A proposed electro-clinical scale]. / Spécificités des crises d'épilepsie chez le sujet âgé : proposition d'un score électro-radioclinique d'orientation.

Diagnosis of epileptic seizure may be difficult in older patients because seizure manifestations are often unusual: confusion, paresis... and because there are multiple differential diagnoses (syncope, transient ischemic attack, transient global amnesia...). To promote and facilitate the diagnosis of seizures in the elderly, neurologists and gerontologists must work together and focus their strategy on two points: firstly, the knowledge of the specific presentation of seizures in elderly patients, and secondly, the adoption of a reasoning based on seizures and not epileptic syndromes. A multidisciplinary group worked on epilepsy of the elderly to elaborate an electro-clinical score which aims to help establish the diagnosis of epilepsy in elderly patients in different clinical settings. This electro-clinical score is based on a systematic review of scientific literature and the recommendations are explicitly linked to supporting evidence. Further, clinical validation of the electro-clinical score is required.

Prospective audit of diabetes care and outcomes in a group of geriatric French care homes.

BACKGROUND: In geriatric institutions, diabetes prevalence varies from 10 to 20%. However, little is known about patterns of care and their outcomes. To assess both, an 18-month prospective audit was conducted in 240-bed nursing and 80-bed residential care homes. METHODS: In diabetic subjects, items of care were compared to the corresponding French guideline end-points. Dependency in activities for daily living (ADL) was evaluated at inclusion and at the end of the survey for survivors. Diabetic residents were compared to others for age, sex, mortality and one-year change of iso-resource group ranging (IRG), a need-of-care scale. RESULTS: The 73 diabetic patients among 494 residents (14.8%) were not different from the others for age and sex (respectively age: 76.0 y +/- 7.9 compared to 78.2 y +/- 9.4; M/F sex ratio: 0.59 compared to 0.31). Oral hypoglycemic agents were prescribed in 29 (39.7%) and insulin in 26 (35.6%). Control of diabetes with HbA(1C) was in keeping with guidelines in 23.3%, HbA(1C) was never performed in 26%, and > 8% in 20.5%. Rates of items of guidelines that were never addressed ranged from 2 to 80%. During the stay, ADL dependency worsened in diabetic patients, but their one-year change in GIR range was not different from that in the others. Mortality was 30.1% compared to 37.1% in the others (NS). This mortality rate and the evolution of functional dependency were not influenced by the quality of diabetes control. CONCLUSION: In these disabled elderly patients, diabetes management needs to be improved. However, mortality and the evolution of functional dependency were similar in diabetic people than in others. Interventional studies for controlling with reference to geriatric evaluation, i.e. function, nutrition and mental health, are needed in order to establish specific guidelines based on benefit-burden analysis.

Prospective audits of quality of PEM recognition and nutritional support in critically ill elderly patients.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Undereating is a frequent concern in acute care geriatric settings and is supposed to worsen the outcomes of the underlying diseases, while the quality of nutritional support could be improved. METHODS: Two consecutive and prospective audits (A and B) with team training over a 1 year period investigated the quality of malnutrition recognition and nutritional support and outcomes in immobilized, critically ill elderly subjects. RESULTS: Audit A included 170 patients (86.3+/-6.1 years old) and audit B, 232 patients (86.3+/-6.3), respectively 20.6% and 31.4% of the hospitalized population. Misclassifications occurred in A in 54.0% compared to 34.05% in B (P < 0.001). 32.6% in A versus 86.9% in B adequately received oral supplements (P = 0.02). Significant risk factors for the adverse outcomes in the combined two audits were: dementia (RR: 1.8, 95%CI: 1.0 to 3.0, P= 0.04) and dehydration (RR: 2.0, 95%CI:1.0 to 4.1, P= 0.05) for pressure ulcer incidence; stroke (RR: 8.8, 95%CI: 4.8 to 16.0, P < 0.001) for pressure ulcer prevalence at discharge; neoplasms (RR: 1.1, 95%CI: 1.0 to 1.2, P = 0.02) for nosocomial infections; bladder indwelling for urinary tract infections (RR: 4.8, 95%CI: 2.9 to 7.7, P<< 0.001); swallowing problems for pulmonary infections (RR: 5.4, 95%CI: 2.8 to 10.5, P < 0.001); venous indwelling for septicaemia (RR: 5.4, 95%CI: 1.3 to 23. 3, P= 0.02). However, after adjustment on significant risk factors, the outcome rate was similar in audit B: death rate: A (15.6%), B (14.2%); length of stay: A (17.3+/-10.4 days), B (17.4+/-10.0); pressure ulcer incidence: A (26.4%), B (20.2%), (83% were erythema); pressure ulcer prevalence at discharge: A (14.7%), B (10.3%), (40% were erythema); nosocomial infections: A (26.4%), B (19.0%). CONCLUSION: The improvement of malnutrition recognition and nutritional support was not followed by a perceptible decrease in adverse outcome rate, this latter being mainly related to the underlying conditions of these critically ill elderly patients.

[Effects of aging on kidney function and implications for medical practice]. / Les effets du vieillissement sur la fonction rénale et leurs implications en pratique médicale.

PHYSIOLOGICAL AGING: Anatomical and physiological renal changes occur during normal aging in humans. These changes are different from the renal effects of many diseases frequently linked to aging and which require specific diagnosis, prevention and therapy. Renal aging varies from one patient to another or from one population to another. During common aging, anatomical changes are mild and physiological changes mainly affect glomerular filtration rate and water and salt metabolism regulation. IN THE ELDERLY: Glomerular filtration rate decreases slowly in healthy elderly people to reach 80 ml/mn at 80 years without any metabolic consequence. However, in old hospitalized patients, acute renal failure is frequent and occurs mainly during inflammatory or infectious disorders, dehydration or drug combinations enhancing regulation of glomerular filtration. Tubular function changes expose the elderly to increasing risk of dehydration which could be prevented in highly predictable situations such as gastrointestinal symptoms, poorly salted diets or anorexia. Estimation of the creatinine clearance is necessary whenever an acute medical events, mostly infectious diseases, occur in elderly people to adapt drugs doses to renal catabolism.

Characteristics of patients who stop falling after a risk-based multidisciplinary intervention initiated in a geriatric day hospital.

BACKGROUND: Multidisciplinary interventions for fallers have provided conflicting results in part due to the diversity of fallers' profiles. OBJECTIVES: to determine the characteristics of the subgroup of patients with a positive response to a multidisciplinary fall prevention program initiated in a geriatric day hospital. DESIGN: Prospective observational study in day hospital. METHODS: Patients > 75 years referred for falls during the last 3 months benefited from a multidisciplinary assessment to record their characteristics at baseline and to tailor a risk-based multidisciplinary intervention for fall prevention. Patients free from falls at the 3rd or 6th month were compared to persistent fallers for baseline characteristics. RESULTS: Sixty-nine patients were assessed at baseline (mean age 85.2 y (SD=0.6)), 44 at the 3rd month and 21 at the 6th month. Baseline characteristics of the patients free from falls at the 3rd month were the lower number of previous non-serious falls (p=0.013), living in nursing home (p=0.045), a higher Berg balance score (p=0.02) and a better mental health-related quality of life (M HQol, p=0.045). On multivariate analysis restricted to home-dwelling patients, the positive predictive factors were less isolation at home (OR=0.028, 95%CI [0-0.813], p=0.037), a lower number of non-serious previous falls (OR= 0.526 [0.309- 0.894], p=0.018), a better M HQol (OR=1.205 [1.000-1.452], p=0.050) and a trend for younger age (OR= 0.662, [0.426-1.027], p=0.066). CONCLUSION: Being able to call upon a support person (familial or institutional) to apply advice and a less serious risk of falling may be preliminary conditions for success in a multidisciplinary intervention initiated in a day hospital.

Five-year mortality in elderly French subjects from the PAQUID epidemiologival survey: the burden of diabetes.

We describe the 5-year mortality and its risk factors in a cohort of elderly people with and without known diabetes mellitus. The PAQUID cohort was representative of the population older than 65 living in Gironde, south-west France. Potential mortality risk factors were collected during a baseline evaluation, using a health questionnaire, from 68.9% of a randomly selected sample of over-65s in 1988. A total of 237 subjects (8.5%) had diabetes. Annual review occurred for 5 years and cause of any death was ascertained from family doctors. After 5 years, 623 people (22.3%) had died, of whom 576 were non-demented; 30.0% of the diabetic group versus 20.3% of the non-diabetic group had died. Survival of the known diabetic group was lower than that of the non-diabetic group (p < 0.001), although this excess mortality was significant only in the 65 to 75 age range (relative risk 1.8; 95% confidence interval 1.2 to 2.8, p = 0.04). Cardiovascular mortality rate did not differ between the diabetic and non-diabetic groups (RR 1.2 [0.8-2.0]). Death related to neoplasia was significantly higher in the known diabetic group (RR 2.2 [1.2-3.3], p = 0.01). In the final model, integrating diabetes as a mortality risk factor in the total cohort, known diabetes at the baseline examination was an independent risk factor for mortality (RR 1.4 [1.0-1.8], p = 0.01), in addition to tobacco use, hypertension and functional dependency. These results confirm suggestions that diabetes increases mortality in the over-65 age group, perhaps with an adverse interaction with other pathology.

Incidence and predictors of drug-treated diabetes in elderly French subjects. The PAQUID Epidemiological Survey.

AIMS: To estimate the incidence and predictors of drug-treated diabetes in elderly subjects. METHODS: The PAQUID epidemiological survey, a population-based study, has followed up 3,777 subjects older than 65 years since 1988. At each visit (baseline, 1, 3, 5 and 8 years), treatment regimen was used to identify new drug-treated diabetic subjects. Potential predictors of drug-treated diabetes were collected during the baseline visit (body mass index (BMI), educational level, cigarette smoking and wine consumption, physical activity, depressive symptomatology, subjective health, treatment, and hypertension) and analysed by using a multivariate backward stepwise regression Cox model with delayed entry. RESULTS: The prevalence rate of drug-treated diabetes was 7.5% at baseline and 7.1% after 8 years' follow-up. The incidence rate of drug-treated diabetes was 3.8/1,000 person-years, 5.9/1,000 person-years in men and 2.4/1,000 person-years in women, with no significant variation according to age group. Male sex (relative risk (RR) 2.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-4.0, P < 0.001, attributable risk (AR) 0.36), elevated BMI (for one point increase, RR 1.1, 95% CI 1.1-1.1, P < 0.001, > or = 25 vs. < 25, RR 2.1, 95% CI 1.2-3.5, AR 0.33), thiazide diuretics used alone (RR 5.9, 95% CI 1.8-19.6, P = 0.02), and poorer subjective health ('the same' vs. 'better' RR 1.8, 95% CI 1.0-3.1, P = 0.04; 'worse' vs. 'better' RR 2.3, 95% CI 0.9-5.7, P = 0.06) were independent predictors of drug-treated diabetes in this population. CONCLUSIONS: In older French individuals, men seem to be particularly exposed to drug-treated diabetes although being overweight was found to be a strong predictor as in younger populations.

Occupation during life and risk of dementia in French elderly community residents.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether principal occupation during life is a risk factor for incident Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, or dementia with parkinsonism. METHODS: This study was carried out from the PAQUID (Personnes Agées QUID) cohort, an epidemiological study on normal and pathological aging after 65 years in the south west of France. At baseline, 2950 non-demented people living at home were identified and re-examined 1, 3, 5, 8, and 10 years later with identical standardised neurological and neuropsychological measures. Cox proportional hazards models with delayed entry were used, taking age as the time scale and adjusting for sex, education, tobacco, and wine consumption to estimate the risk ratio (RR) of incident dementia, Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, and dementia with parkinsonism associated with occupational category. RESULTS: Of the 2950 subjects, 393 became demented, of whom 251 had Alzheimer's disease, 112 had vascular dementia, and 27 had dementia with parkinsonism. The risk of Alzheimer's disease was not related to a given occupation. However the risk of dementia with parkinsonism seemed to be increased in farmers in comparison with professionals and managerials, particularly among women (RR 7.47; 95%CI, 1.80-31.07). CONCLUSION: The data suggest that occupation does not change the risk of Alzheimer's disease, which seems to be more influenced by cognitive abilities in childhood and adolescence than by occupation in adult life. However, being a farmer may increase the risk of dementia with parkinsonism among women; occupation could act by the way of differences in health behaviour or in exposure to environmental factors.

Antioxidant defences and oxidative stress markers in erythrocytes and plasma from normally nourished elderly Alzheimer patients.

OBJECTIVES: to investigate blood markers of oxidative stress, and enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants in normally nourished elderly people with Alzheimer's disease. DESIGN: case-control study. SUBJECTS: twenty patients with Alzheimer's disease and 23 elderly control subjects, living at home, free from disease and not undergoing any treatment known to have a strong influence on blood oxidative stress markers or antioxidant defence systems. METHODS: we performed a nutritional evaluation, including anthropometric and biological measures and a 3-day dietary record. We determined concentrations of antioxidant vitamins (alpha-tocopherol, retinol) and malondialdehyde in plasma and erythrocytes. We also measured erythrocyte enzymatic activities of glutathione peroxidase and copper-zinc superoxide dismutase. RESULTS: the two groups were similar in age, body mass index, dietary record and serum albumin concentration. After adjustment for age, sex and cardiovascular co-morbidity, mean plasma concentration of alpha-tocopherol was lower in those with Alzheimer disease than in control subjects (15+/-3.5 mg/l compared with 18.2+/-3.5; P=0.002), as was the mean plasma concentration of retinol (0.54+/-0.2 mg/l vs 0.7+/-0.2; P=0.014). The mean concentration of free plasma malondialdehyde was higher in those with Alzheimer's disease (0.70+/-0.2 mmol/l vs 0.5+/-0.1; P=0.036). In Alzheimer disease patients, free plasma malondialdehyde concentrations were inversely correlated with levels of alpha-tocopherol (P=0.002) and retinol (P=0.025). Erythrocyte levels of vitamins and enzymatic activities were similar in the two groups. CONCLUSION: lower plasma concentrations of alpha-tocopherol and retinol in normally nourished elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease than in controls could suggest that these antioxidant vitamins had been consumed as a result of excessive production of free radicals.