A pilot study for a practical screening tool for dementia: validation of 5-minute cognitive test in a geriatric population.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to validate the Turkish version of the 5-minute cognitive test (FCT) in a geriatric population. MATERIALS AND METHOD: In total, 61 participants aged ≥65 years with normal cognitive functions, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and early stage dementia were included. The FCT was compared to the standardised Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Qmci-TR (quick mild cognitive impairment) test. RESULTS: Test reliability for the FCT was strong (Cronbach's α = 0.747). We demonstrated a strong correlation of FCT scores with MMSE and Qmci-TR scores (respectively, r = 0.730, P < 0.001, r = 0.723, P < 0.001). The fact that the scores obtained in the dementia group were significantly lower also showed that the test can be used reliably in the differentiation of MCI and early dementia (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The FCT is a brief, reliable, and valid cognitive screening test for screening dementia at early stages in a Turkish geriatric population.

The role of muscle ultrasound to predict sarcopenia.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to provide data about the role of muscle ultrasound (US) to predict sarcopenia. METHODS: A total of 313 geriatric outpatients (age ≥65 y) were enrolled in the study. After a comprehensive geriatric assessment, anthropometric measurement and handgrip strength (HGS) data were obtained and a bioelectrical impedance analysis was performed. Sarcopenia was diagnosed using HGS and bioelectrical impedance analysis data. Gastrocnemius medialis (GC), rectus femoris (RF), and rectus abdominis (RA) muscle thickness as well as the RF cross-sectional area (CSA) were measured with US. The role of muscle US to predict sarcopenia was defined with a receiver operating characteristics analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of probable and confirmed sarcopenia were 43.8% (n = 137) and 13.4% (n = 42), respectively. All muscle US parameters had positive correlations with both HGS and the fat-free mass index. There were inverse correlations between all muscle US parameters and the five-item sarcopenia questionnaire. The RF CSA had stronger correlations with the five-item sarcopenia questionnaire, HGS, and the fat-free mass index than others. The values of GC, RF, and RA muscle thickness and the RF CSA to predict sarcopenia for women/men were 13.9/13.8 mm (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.817/0.707 mm), 13/15.5 mm (AUC: 0.760/0.736 mm), 4.3/5.2 cm2 (AUC: 0.766/0.773 cm2), and 6.6/7.0 mm (AUC: 0.740/0.688 mm), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: GC, RF, and RA muscle thickness and the RF CSA all may predict sarcopenia accurately in geriatric outpatients.

Best Practice Recommendations for Geriatric Dysphagia Management with 5 Ws and 1H.

BACKGROUND: Dysphagia is a geriatric syndrome. Changes in the whole body that occur with aging also affect swallowing functions and cause presbyphagia. This condition may progress to oropharyngeal and/or esophageal dysphagia in the presence of secondary causes that increase in incidence with aging. However, no study has been published that provides recommendations for use in clinical practice that addresses in detail all aspects of the management of dysphagia in geriatric individuals. This study aimed to answer almost all potential questions and problems in the management of geriatric dysphagia in clinical practice. METHODS: A multidisciplinary team created this recommendation guide using the seven-step and three-round modified Delphi method via e-mail. The study included 39 experts from 29 centers in 14 cities. RESULTS: Based on the 5W and 1H method, we developed 216 detailed recommendations for older adults from the perspective of different disciplines dealing with older people. CONCLUSION: This consensus-based recommendation is a useful guide to address practical clinical questions in the diagnosis, rehabilitation, and follow-up for the management of geriatric dysphagia and also contains detailed commentary on these issues.

Gender distribution among geriatricians: perspective from an ageing and developing country.

PURPOSE: Geriatrician numbers are increasing year by year in Turkey. We aimed to obtain information on licensed geriatricians, trainees, and board of directors of the societies in Turkey and compare this information with other countries' data. METHODS: The study was conducted as a cross-sectional study. The gender, institution, and title of licensed geriatricians and trainees were documented by scanning websites of university, training and research, state hospitals, and the website of Academic Geriatrics Association. Information about the board of directors of the societies was obtained from the websites of the societies. The last day for data inclusion was August 31, 2021. RESULTS: There were 90 licensed geriatricians and 77 trainees in Turkey as of 31 August 2021. While 52.2% (n = 47) of licensed geriatricians were female, the ratio of females among trainees was 76.6% (n = 59). The ratio of females among trainees was statistically higher than licensed geriatricians (p = 0.001). Females constitute 88.9% of the board of directors of the Academic Geriatrics Association and this ratio was higher than the ratio of females on the board of directors of local and international journals. CONCLUSION: Best of our knowledge, our study is the first to examine the gender distribution in geriatrics. The dominance of females in geriatrics is very important in countries where geriatrics is relatively newly established as even countries with a deep-rooted history and structure in geriatrics are trying to increase the number of female geriatricians under their new administrations.

Memory T cell responses in seronegative older adults following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

Generating memory T cell responses besides humoral immune responses is essential when it comes to the efficacy of a vaccine. In this study, the presence of memory T cell responses after aluminum-adjuvanted inactivated whole-virion SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (CoronaVac) in seronegative and seropositive elderly individuals were examined. CD4+ and CD8+ memory T cell proliferation and IFN-γ production capacities were evaluated. Additionally, clinical frailty scale (CFS) and FRAIL scales of the individuals were scored. CD4+ memory T cell responses more prominent than CD8+ memory T cells. In seronegative individuals, 80% of them had memory CD4+ and IFN-γ, whereas 50% of them had memory CD4+ and all of them had IFN-γ responses. Additionally, 40% of seronegative patients and 50% of seropositive patients had memory CD8+ responses. To sum up, humoral immune responses are not associated with memory T cell responses, and in seronegative individuals, memory T cell responses can be detected.

Older adults with colon cancer are not different from younger ones, but treated differently: Retrospective analysis from single centre.

AIM: Decision- making of the treatment of colon cancer for the older patients becomes more complicated in consequence of comorbidities and geriatric syndromes, most importantly frailty. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether there is a difference between tumour characteristics, treatment choices, and outcomes between the younger and older adults. METHOD: The patients who were diagnosed with colorectal carcinoma in our centre between 2010 and 2015 included. Clinicopathological features of tumour, treatment choices and survivals of the patients were recorded. Patients were separated into two groups according to their chronological age. RESULTS: The present study included 465 patients, there were 173 patients aged 65 years and older. Clinicopathological features were similar in both groups. Adjuvant chemotherapy was given in similar rates. Whereas combination chemotherapies were preferred in younger patients as first-line therapy, single agents were given to the older group(p-value < 0.001). No significant differences were observed between combination therapy and monotherapy as progression-free and overall survival in older adults(p value > 0.05). It was observed that 53.2% of the older patients was not treated with any biological treatment (p-value < 0.001). DISCUSSION: Geriatric people are underrepresented in clinical trials,because of the presence of the limitations in the older patients. The results of our study revealed older patients with colon cancer patients underwent surgery less than the younger ones, they recieved monotherapy more frequently as first-line chemotherapy, and less frequently targeted therapy. Their mortality was higher. It was shown that decision-making of colon cancer therapy is influenced by age according to our results.

Is the Effect of Tumor Localization on Prognosis Compatible with Real-life Data in Metastatic Colon Cancer? Single-Center Experience: A Retrospective Analysis.

AIM: In recent years, the prognostic and predictive value of primary tumor localization in colon cancer has become increasingly important. This study aimed to retrospectively analyze the effect of colon cancer tumor localization on progression-free survival, overall survival, and response to treatments and present real-life data. METHOD: Retrospective evaluation was made of 465 patients who were diagnosed with metastatic colorectal carcinoma between 2010 and 2015 in our clinic. The effect of primary tumor localization on progression-free survival, overall survival, and response to therapy was investigated. RESULTS: The right colon cancer (RCC) was determined in 66 patients, 14.2% of the whole group, and left colorectal cancer (LCRC) in 399 patients which is 85.8% of patients. Mucinous adenocarcinoma was 16.7% in RCC; however, only 6.4% of LCRC had a mucinous tumor (p < 0.05). Nodal involvement in any stage (N1 and N2) was 46.9% in right colon cancer whereas in LCRC, it was 41.2% (p < 0.05). Primary tumor surgery (74.2% vs. 70.2%) and metastasectomy (33.3% vs. 19.4%) were also more common in RCC(p < 0.05). k-ras mutation status was similar in both groups (28.8% in RCC vs 26.8% in LCRC, p > 0.05). Median progression-free survival was 12.6 months in RCC, and 15.5 in LCRC (p > 0.05). Median overall survival was 28.4 months in RCC and 33.5 months in LCRC (p > 0.05). In k-ras wild-type patients, the median overall survival was 32.3 months (95% CI 25.2-39.5) in the anti-VEGF antibody treatment group and 55.1 months (95% CI 36.5-73.7) in the anti-EGFR antibody treatment group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Although tumors located in the right colon have been considered to be worse in terms of progression-free and overall survival in clinical trials, the results of this study showed that in daily practice, there was no difference between left and right colon localized tumors in progression-free and overall survival. Further, in k-ras wild-type colon cancers, tumor localization predicts the treatment response. This study is important with the presentation of real-life data and compatibility with the data of the studies to daily life.

Frailty in community-dwelling older adults: reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Gérontopôle frailty screening tool.

BACKGROUND: Recognizing frailty had a great importance in countries with an increasing geriatric population. The study aims to evaluate the reliability and validation of the Gérontopôle frailty screening tool (GFST), which was developed to screen frailty in the community-dwelling older adults, for the Turkish population. METHODS: In this crosssectional study, participants who applied to the geriatrics outpatient clinic of a university hospital were included. Comprehensive geriatric assessments of all patients were performed. The validity of the GFST was tested by its concordance with the FRAIL scale. Test-retest and interrater reliability analyses were made. RESULTS: Ninety-six patients were included in the study. Sixty-one and five-tenths percent (n = 59) of them are females. The median age was 72.0 (IQR: 10.0). There was a moderate concordance between the GFST and the FRAIL scale (Cohen's kappa: 0.566, p < 0.001). The Gérontopôle frailty screening tool interrater and retest reliabilities were excellent (Cohen's kappa: 0.814, p < 0.001 and 1.0, p < 0.001; respectively). The sensitivity of the GFST determined according to the FRAIL scale is 69.39%, the specificity is 86.36%, the positive predictive value is 85.00%, and the negative predictive value is 71.70%. DISCUSSION: The Gérontopôle frailty screening tool, which can be used by all healthcare professionals, is a valid and reliable tool for the Turkish geriatric population.

Letter to editor: is laboratory index really a practical and valid tool to predict mortality?

We carefully studied the article titled "A practical laboratory index to predict institutionalization and mortality - an 18-year population-based follow-up study" written by Heikkilä et al. and published in BMC Geriatrics on 25 February 2021 with great interest. We would like to make some comments regarding this article and tool. Laboratory Index (LI) has been executed with the data of 728 patients who had followed-up in our center, however the LI score was not able to predict the 10-year and 18-year mortality. Therefore, a question mark has been aroused in our minds at some points. Neither frailty nor comorbidities were considered in this index. For a geriatric patient, it would be inadequate to evaluate laboratory results regardless of the clinical status. Similarly, it would not be appropriate to predict mortality only on the basis of laboratory results without considering the clinical status of the patient.We think that although the recent study has a great impact, it can be improved by incorporating data on the comorbidities and frailty status of the patients into the analysis.

Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Elastography May Predict Acute Rejection in Kidney Transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Allograft biopsy that is done as indicated by clinical and laboratory clues about graft rejection provides a definitive diagnosis. Noninvasive methods that may be useful for predicting or diagnosing rejection are important for early diagnosis of possible rejection. PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between changes in shear wave velocity (SWV) values and renal allograft kidney biopsy findings. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty-four end-stage renal failure patients who underwent living donor renal transplantation between January 2015 and July 2015 were enrolled in this prospective cohort study. Implantation, sixth-month protocol, and biopsies that were performed with suspicion of acute rejection were evaluated with renal Doppler ultrasound and elastography findings of recipients' preimplantation donor ultrasonography findings. RESULTS: Comparison of renal ultrasound and elastography findings of 2 groups revealed a significant elevation in the resistive index (0.81 vs 0.63, P = .005) and pulsatility index (2.08 vs 1.20, P = .008) values in the rejection group, and no significant difference in the SWV values between the 2 groups. Delta (Δ)-SWV was calculated using the difference between acute rejection values and preimplantation, implantation, and sixth-month values showed a positive correlation between acute rejection (Δ-sixth month, r = 0.498, P = .030), tubulitis (Δ-pretransplant, r = 0.509, P = .037), and inflammation (Δ-pretransplant, r = 0.657, P = .004) scores. However, there were no correlations between Δ-SWV values and glomerulitis and peritubular capillaritis score. CONCLUSION: Changes in SWV may predict acute rejection in kidney transplantation patients if the reference measurements were done at a more stable time after the transplantation.