Loss of Independence in Older Adults With Operable Oral Cavity Cancer: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the effect of curative-intent surgery on loss of independence (LOI) in patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC). STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective observational study of patients diagnosed from 2014 to 2021. SETTING: Single tertiary care academic center. Patients having undergone curative-intent surgical treatment for OCSCC from 2014 to 2021 in the cancer registry. METHODS: LOI as the primary outcome was measured based on a combination of decrease in activities of daily living (ADLs) and/or decline in mobility during treatment. Descriptive statistics were used to compare baseline demographics and multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between LOI and perioperative variables of interest. RESULTS: Of the 180 patients included in this study, 139 (79%) were fully independent in ADLs/instrumental ADLs prior to surgery. The average age of the cohort was 74 with 49% males. Thirty-seven (21%) experienced a decline in mobility or increased care needs following surgery, and 18 (10%) experienced an independent decline in functional status. Increasing age, osseous flap reconstruction, high Charlson Comorbidity Index, and major postoperative adverse events were associated with LOI. Fifty-five percent of patients with LOI had recovered to baseline within 7 months from surgery. LOI was associated with poor treatment tolerance (odds ratio: 4.77, 95% confidence interval: 1.87-12.2) while adjusting for multiple confounders. CONCLUSION: LOI is common in older adults undergoing curative-intent surgery for OCSCC and associated with poor treatment tolerance.

Organizational Risk Factors and Clinical Impacts of Unplanned Extubation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the association between organizational factors and unplanned extubation events in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and to evaluate the association between unplanned extubation event and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) among infants born at <29 weeks of gestational age. STUDY DESIGN: This is a retrospective cohort study of infants admitted to a tertiary care NICU between 2016 and 2019. Nursing provision ratios, daily nursing overtime hours/total nursing hours ratio, and unit occupancy were compared between days with and days without unplanned extubation events. The association between unplanned extubation events (with and without reintubation) and the risk of BPD was evaluated in infants born at <29 weeks who required mechanical ventilation using a propensity score-matched cohort. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between exposures and outcomes while adjusting for confounders. RESULTS: On 108 of 1370 days there was ≥1 unplanned extubation event for a total of 116 unplanned extubation event events. Higher median nursing overtime hours (20 hours vs 16 hours) and overtime ratios (3.3% vs 2.5%) were observed on days with an unplanned extubation event compared with days without an unplanned extubation event (P = .01). Overtime ratio was associated with higher adjusted odds of a unplanned extubation event (aOR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.01-1.18). In the subgroup of infants born at <29 weeks, those with an unplanned extubation event who were reintubated had a longer postmatching duration of mechanical ventilation (aOR, 13.06; 95% CI, 4.88-37.69) and odds of BPD (aOR, 2.86; 95% CI, 1.01-8.58) compared with those without an unplanned extubation event. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing overtime ratio is associated with an increased number of unplanned extubation events in the NICU. In infants born at <29 weeks of gestational age, reintubation after an unplanned extubation event is associated with a longer duration of mechanical ventilation and increased risk of BPD.

Faster Cortical Thinning and Surface Area Loss in Presymptomatic and Symptomatic C9orf72 Repeat Expansion Adult Carriers.

OBJECTIVE: C9orf72 expansion is the most common genetic cause of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). We examined aging trajectories of cortical thickness (CTh) and surface area in C9orf72 expansion adult carriers compared to healthy controls to characterize preclinical cerebral changes leading to symptoms. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Genetic Frontotemporal Dementia Initiative. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans were processed with CIVET 2.1 to extract vertex-wide CTh and cortical surface area (CSA). Symptomatic and presymptomatic subjects were compared to age-matched controls using mixed-effects models, controlling for demographic variables. Aging trajectories were compared between carriers and noncarriers by testing the "age by genetic status" interaction. False discovery rate corrections were applied to all vertex-wide analyses. RESULTS: The sample included 640 scans from 386 subjects, including 54 symptomatic C9orf72 carriers (72.2% behavioral variant FTD), 83 asymptomatic carriers, and 249 controls (age range = 18-86 years). Symptomatic carriers showed fairly symmetric reduction in CTh/CSA in most of the frontal lobes, in addition to large temporoparietal areas. Presymptomatic subjects had reduced CTh/CSA in more restricted areas of the medial frontoparietal lobes, in addition to scattered lateral frontal, parietal, and temporal areas. These differences were explained by faster cortical thinning linearly throughout adulthood in a similar anatomical distribution, with differences emerging in the early 30s. CSA reduction was also faster in mutation carriers predominantly in the ventrofrontal regions. INTERPRETATION: C9orf72 mutation carriers have faster cortical thinning and surface loss throughout adulthood in regions that show atrophy in symptomatic subjects. This suggests that the pathogenic effects of the mutation lead to structural cerebral changes decades prior to symptoms. ANN NEUROL 2020 ANN NEUROL 2020;88:113-122.