Proceedings of the Canadian Frailty Network Workshop: Identifying Biomarkers of Frailty to Support Frailty Risk Assessment, Diagnosis and Prognosis. Toronto, January 15, 2018.

The Canadian Frailty Network (CFN), a pan-Canadian not-for-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada through the Networks of Centres of Excellence Program, is dedicated to improving the care of older Canadians living with frailty. The CFN has partnered with the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) to measure potential frailty biomarkers in biological samples (whole blood, plasma, urine) collected in over 30,000 CLSA participants. CFN hosted a workshop in Toronto on January 15 2018, bringing together experts in the field of biomarkers, aging and frailty. The overall objectives of the workshop were to start building a consensus on potential frailty biomarker domains and identify specific frailty biomarkers to be measured in the CLSA biological samples. The workshop was structured with presentations in the morning to frame the discussions for the afternoon session, which was organized as a free-flowing discussion to benefit from the expertise of the participants. Participants and speakers were from Canada, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States. Herein we provide pertinent background information, a summary of all the presentations with key figures and tables, and the distillation of the discussions. In addition, moving forward, the principles CFN will use to approach frailty biomarker research and development are outlined. Findings from the workshop are helping CFN and CLSA plan and conduct the analysis of biomarkers in the CLSA samples and which will inform a follow-up data access competition.

The need to clot: a review of current management strategies for adverse bleeding events with new oral anticoagulants.

The new factor Xa inhibitors and direct thrombin inhibitors have offered alternatives to traditional anticoagulants, with benefits of no routine monitoring, less drug interactions, and oral administration. Current approved uses of these agents include prophylaxis of stroke in non-valvular atrial fibrillation and prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) following hip and knee arthroplasty. However, concern over bleeding risk in the context of having no specific antidotes available is a topic of focus for many physicians in an acute care setting. This manuscript examines the recent literature in the management of acute bleeding and the various methods of reversing anticoagulation in this setting. Literature published over the last 18 months (2011/07/01-present) was gathered from PubMed, Ovid, and Medline under a combined search strategy covering bleeding, reversal, and new oral anticoagulants, both factor Xa and direct thrombin inhibitors. The use of prothrombin complex concentrate, fresh frozen plasma, activated recombinant factor VII, activated prothrombin complex concentrate, as well as adjuncts of charcoal, hemodialysis, and antifibrinolytics are discussed. Recommendations are based on the determination of the severity of the bleed and physiological markers of anticoagulation, and involve the use of prothrombin complex concentrate, activated recombinant factor VII, and adjunctive therapy as appropriate.