European position paper on polypharmacy and fall-risk-increasing drugs recommendations in the World Guidelines for Falls Prevention and Management: implications and implementation.

Falls prevention and management in older adults is a critical global challenge. One of the key risk factors for falls is the use of certain medications. Therefore, to prevent medication-related falls, the following is recommended in the recent World Guidelines for Falls Prevention and Management: (1) assess for fall history and the risk of falls before prescribing potential fall-risk-increasing drugs (FRIDs), (2) use a validated, structured screening and assessment tool to identify FRIDs when performing a medication review, (3) include medication review and appropriate deprescribing of FRIDs as a part of the multifactorial falls prevention intervention, and (4) in long-term care residents, if multifactorial intervention cannot be conducted due to limited resources, the falls prevention strategy should still always include deprescribing of FRIDs.In the present statement paper, the working group on medication-related falls of the World Guidelines for Falls Prevention and Management, in collaboration with the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) Task and Finish group on FRIDs, outlines its position on how to implement and execute these recommendations in clinical practice.Preferably, the medication review should be conducted as part of a comprehensive geriatric assessment to produce a personalized and patient-centered assessment. Furthermore, the major pitfall of the published intervention studies so far is the suboptimal implementation of medication review and deprescribing. For the future, it is important to focus on gaining which elements determine successful implementation and apply the concepts of implementation science to decrease the gap between research and practice.

Effects of different doses of exercise and diet-induced weight loss on beta-cell function in type 2 diabetes (DOSE-EX): a randomized clinical trial.

Diet-induced weight loss is associated with improved beta-cell function in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) with remaining secretory capacity. It is unknown if adding exercise to diet-induced weight loss improves beta-cell function and if exercise volume is important for improving beta-cell function in this context. Here, we carried out a four-armed randomized trial with a total of 82 persons (35% females, mean age (s.d.) of 58.2 years (9.8)) with newly diagnosed T2D (<7 years). Participants were randomly allocated to standard care (n = 20), calorie restriction (25% energy reduction; n = 21), calorie restriction and exercise three times per week (n = 20), or calorie restriction and exercise six times per week (n = 21) for 16 weeks. The primary outcome was beta-cell function as indicated by the late-phase disposition index (insulin secretion multiplied by insulin sensitivity) at steady-state hyperglycemia during a hyperglycemic clamp. Secondary outcomes included glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and sensitivity as well as the disposition, insulin sensitivity, and secretion indices derived from a liquid mixed meal tolerance test. We show that the late-phase disposition index during the clamp increases more in all three intervention groups than in standard care (diet control group, 58%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 16 to 116; moderate exercise dose group, 105%; 95% CI, 49 to 182; high exercise dose group, 137%; 95% CI, 73 to 225) and follows a linear dose-response relationship (P > 0.001 for trend). We report three serious adverse events (two in the control group and one in the diet control group), as well as adverse events in two participants in the diet control group, and five participants each in the moderate and high exercise dose groups. Overall, adding an exercise intervention to diet-induced weight loss improves glucose-stimulated beta-cell function in people with newly diagnosed T2D in an exercise dose-dependent manner (NCT03769883).

Medication reviews and deprescribing as a single intervention in falls prevention: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: our aim was to assess the effectiveness of medication review and deprescribing interventions as a single intervention in falls prevention. DESIGN: systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, PsycINFO until 28 March 2022. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: randomised controlled trials of older participants comparing any medication review or deprescribing intervention with usual care and reporting falls as an outcome. STUDY RECORDS: title/abstract and full-text screening by two reviewers. RISK OF BIAS: Cochrane Collaboration revised tool. DATA SYNTHESIS: results reported separately for different settings and sufficiently comparable studies meta-analysed. RESULTS: forty-nine heterogeneous studies were included. COMMUNITY: meta-analyses of medication reviews resulted in a risk ratio (RR) of 1.05 (95% confidence interval, 0.85-1.29, I2 = 0%, 3 studies(s)) for number of fallers, in an RR = 0.95 (0.70-1.27, I2 = 37%, 3 s) for number of injurious fallers and in a rate ratio (RaR) of 0.89 (0.69-1.14, I2 = 0%, 2 s) for injurious falls. HOSPITAL: meta-analyses assessing medication reviews resulted in an RR = 0.97 (0.74-1.28, I2 = 15%, 2 s) and in an RR = 0.50 (0.07-3.50, I2 = 72% %, 2 s) for number of fallers after and during admission, respectively. LONG-TERM CARE: meta-analyses investigating medication reviews or deprescribing plans resulted in an RR = 0.86 (0.72-1.02, I2 = 0%, 5 s) for number of fallers and in an RaR = 0.93 (0.64-1.35, I2 = 92%, 7 s) for number of falls. CONCLUSIONS: the heterogeneity of the interventions precluded us to estimate the exact effect of medication review and deprescribing as a single intervention. For future studies, more comparability is warranted. These interventions should not be implemented as a stand-alone strategy in falls prevention but included in multimodal strategies due to the multifactorial nature of falls.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020218231.

Does geriatric follow-up visits reduce hospital readmission among older patients discharged to temporary care at a skilled nursing facility: a before-and-after cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: Hospital readmission is a burden to patients, relatives and society. Older patients with frailty are at highest risk of readmission and its negative outcomes. OBJECTIVE: We aimed at examining whether follow-up visits by an outgoing multidisciplinary geriatric team (OGT) reduces unplanned hospital readmission in patients discharged to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). DESIGN: A retrospective single-centre before-and-after cohort study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Study population included all hospitalised patients discharged from a Danish geriatric department to an SNF during 1 January 2016-25 February 2020. To address potential changes in discharge and readmission patterns during the study period, patients discharged from the same geriatric department to own home were also assessed. INTERVENTION: OGT visits at SNF within 7 days following discharge. Patients discharged to SNF before 12 March 2018 did not receive OGT (-OGT). Patients discharged to SNF on or after 12 March 2018 received the intervention (+OGT). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Unplanned hospital readmission between 4 hours and 30 days following initial discharge. RESULTS: Totally 847 patients were included (440 -OGT; 407 +OGT). No differences were seen between the two groups regarding age, sex, activities of daily living (ADLs), Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) or 30-day mortality. The cumulative incidence of readmission was 39.8% (95% CI 35.2% to 44.8%, n=162) in -OGT and 30.2% (95% CI 25.8% to 35.2%, n=113) in +OGT. The unadjusted risk (HR (95% CI)) of readmission was 0.68 (0.54 to 0.87, p=0.002) in +OGT compared with -OGT, and remained significantly lower (0.72 (0.57 to 0.93, p=0.011)) adjusting for age, length of stay, sex, ADL and CCI. For patients discharged to own home the risk of readmission remained unchanged during the study period. CONCLUSION: Follow-up visits by OGT to patients discharged to temporary care at an SNF significantly reduced 30-day readmission in older patients.

Predicting falls in community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review of prognostic models.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review and critically appraise prognostic models for falls in community-dwelling older adults. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Prospective cohort studies with any follow-up period. Studies had to develop or validate multifactorial prognostic models for falls in community-dwelling older adults (60+ years). Models had to be applicable for screening in a general population setting. INFORMATION SOURCE: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, PsycINFO and Web of Science for studies published in English, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish until January 2020. Sources also included trial registries, clinical guidelines, reference lists of included papers, along with contacting clinical experts to locate published studies. DATA EXTRACTION AND RISK OF BIAS: Two authors performed all review stages independently. Data extraction followed the Critical Appraisal and Data Extraction for Systematic Reviews of Prediction Modelling Studies checklist. Risk of bias assessments on participants, predictors, outcomes and analysis methods followed Prediction study Risk Of Bias Assessment Tool. RESULTS: After screening 11 789 studies, 30 were eligible for inclusion (n=86 369 participants). Median age of participants ranged from 67.5 to 83.0 years. Falls incidences varied from 5.9% to 59%. Included studies reported 69 developed and three validated prediction models. Most frequent falls predictors were prior falls, age, sex, measures of gait, balance and strength, along with vision and disability. The area under the curve was available for 40 (55.6%) models, ranging from 0.49 to 0.87. Validated models' The area under the curve ranged from 0.62 to 0.69. All models had a high risk of bias, mostly due to limitations in statistical methods, outcome assessments and restrictive eligibility criteria. CONCLUSIONS: An abundance of prognostic models on falls risk have been developed, but with a wide range in discriminatory performance. All models exhibited a high risk of bias rendering them unreliable for prediction in clinical practice. Future prognostic prediction models should comply with recent recommendations such as Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis or Diagnosis. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42019124021.

Stakeholder perspectives of the dementia-friendly hospital: A qualitative descriptive focus group study.

The term dementia-friendly hospital is increasingly used to describe a variety of initiatives and strategies that are implemented to meet the challenges faced by patients with dementia during hospitalization. However, no definition of the dementia-friendly hospital currently exists. This qualitative focus group study aimed to describe stakeholders' perspectives of the dementia-friendly hospital. Four stakeholder groups were included: people with dementia, relatives, hospital staff, and representatives from the Danish Alzheimer Association. The thematic analysis suggests that a person-centered approach is a key feature. This approach is described as a continuously reflexive awareness of how to see the person behind the dementia diagnosis. We discuss possible revision of the current dementia discourse and the implications of the findings for future practice and research.

Effect of blood-flow restriction exercise on falls and fall related risk factors in older adults 60 years or above: a systematic review.

This systematic review investigated the effect of low-load resistance training combined with blood-flow restriction (LL-BFR) on falls in older adults ≥60 years of age. The databases Embase, Medline, and Cochrane Library were searched from inception to October 1st, 2019 and reference lists of retrieved publications. Main outcomes were fall rates or proportion of fallers. Additional outcomes were physical performance, lower extremity muscle strength or function, and balance. Mean difference ±SD on falls and fall related outcomes were reported and Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool was used to evaluate quality of evidence. Eight RCT-studies met the inclusion criteria. None reported falls data. Assessing physical performance tests (n=12), 8/12 of the LL-BFR groups showed a significant within-group improvement and 5/12 significant between-group effects comparing LL-BFR to respective controls. For muscle strength tests (n=16), 9/16 showed significant positive within-group improvement and 3/16 significant between-group effects. One study reported data on balance with conflicting results. In conclusion, LL-BFR might increase physical performance and muscle strength in older adults ≥60 years of age. None of the included studies investigated the effect on falls. Larger adequately powered studies are required before introducing LL-BFR as an alternative exercise modality to decrease fall risk.

"Even Though I Have Dementia, I Prefer That They Are Personable": A Qualitative Focused Ethnography Study in a Danish General Hospital Setting.

Patients with dementia often face challenges in hospital settings due to cognitive impairment. The aim of this study is to explore the encounter between patients with dementia and hospital staff, from the patient perspective. Focused ethnography guided the method for data collection and the analytical approach was abductive. The findings, based on 10 observations of patients with dementia and their encounter with hospital staff in a variety of hospital settings, reveal that staff often seem to not see the person beyond the dementia diagnosis. The findings also show, however, that significant moments are constantly negotiated during encounters between patients with dementia and hospital staff, moments which occasionally allow staff to see the patients to be seen as the person they are. A rethinking of the current dementia discourse is discussed, recommending attention to the two-way interaction between patients with dementia and hospital staff, and within this an awareness of a personable approach.

Physical, mental, and social functioning in women age 65 and above with and without a falls history: An observational case-control study.

OBJECTIVES: There is a lack of knowledge about how falls are associated with the older person's physical, mental, and social functioning which would help find effective methods for identifying rehabilitation needs in the older population to ensure appropriate follow-up. The aim was to investigate and compare functioning in women with and without a falls history. METHODS: This was an observational case-control study. Study participants were fallers aged ≥65 years recruited consecutively from a hospital; age matched randomly selected community controls (fallers without contact with the healthcare system due to falls and non-fallers). Fallers were classified as once only fallers and recurrent fallers. RESULTS: The sample constituted a group of older women with and without a falls history; 117 fallers from the Falls Clinic, and 99 fallers and 106 non-fallers community controls, median age 80 years. Both fallers from the clinic and the community had significantly lower functioning compared to non-fallers in all three domains. Recurrent fallers had poorer functioning compared to once only fallers. CONCLUSION: This study contributes to knowledge about older people's functioning and disability in conjunction with a high fall-risk and highlights the importance of rehabilitation and prevention strategies that focus on early identification of disability in the older population regardless of falls history.

Effect of whole-body vibration exercise in preventing falls and fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of whole-body vibration exercise (WBV) on fracture risk in adults ≥50 years of age. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis calculating relative risk ratios, fall rate ratio and absolute weighted mean difference using random effects models. Heterogeneity was estimated using I2 statistics, and the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool and the GRADE approach were used to evaluate quality of evidence and summarise conclusions. DATA SOURCES: The databases PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Central Register from inception to April 2016 and reference lists of retrieved publications. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Randomised controlled trials examining the effect of WBV on fracture risk in adults ≥50 years of age. The primary outcomes were fractures, fall rates and the proportion of participants who fell. Secondary outcomes were bone mineral density (BMD), bone microarchitecture, bone turnover markers and calcaneal broadband attenuation (BUA). RESULTS: 15 papers (14 trials) met the inclusion criteria. Only one study had fracture data reporting a non-significant fracture reduction (risk ratio (RR)=0.47, 95% CI 0.14 to 1.57, P=0.22) (moderate quality of evidence). Four studies (n=746) showed that WBV reduced the rate of falls with a rate ratio of 0.67 (95% CI 0.50 to 0.89, P=0.0006; I2=19%) (moderate quality of evidence). Furthermore, data from three studies (n=805) found a trend towards falls reduction (RR=0.76, 95% CI 0.48 to 1.20, P=0.24; I2=24%) (low quality of evidence). Finally, moderate to low quality of evidence showed no overall effect on BMD and only sparse data were available regarding microarchitecture parameters, bone turnover markers and BUA. CONCLUSIONS: WBV reduces fall rate but seems to have no overall effect on BMD or microarchitecture. The impact of WBV on fractures requires further larger adequately powered studies. This meta-analysis suggests that WBV may prevent fractures by reducing falls. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42016036320; Pre-results.

Head-to-head comparison of intensive lifestyle intervention (U-TURN) versus conventional multifactorial care in patients with type 2 diabetes: protocol and rationale for an assessor-blinded, parallel group and randomised trial.

INTRODUCTION: Current pharmacological therapies in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are challenged by lack of sustainability and borderline firm evidence of real long-term health benefits. Accordingly, lifestyle intervention remains the corner stone in the management of T2D. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the optimal intervention programmes in T2D ensuring both compliance as well as long-term health outcomes. Our objective is to assess the effects of an intensive lifestyle intervention (the U-TURN intervention) on glycaemic control in patients with T2D. Our hypothesis is that intensive lifestyle changes are equally effective as standard diabetes care, including pharmacological treatment in maintaining glycaemic control (ie, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c)) in patients with T2D. Furthermore, we expect that intensive lifestyle changes will decrease the need for antidiabetic medications. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study is an assessor-blinded, parallel group and a 1-year randomised trial. The primary outcome is change in glycaemic control (HbA1c), with the key secondary outcome being reductions in antidiabetic medication. Participants will be patients with T2D (T2D duration <10 years) without complications who are randomised into an intensive lifestyle intervention (U-TURN) or a standard care intervention in a 2:1 fashion. Both groups will be exposed to the same standardised, blinded, target-driven pharmacological treatment and can thus maintain, increase, reduce or discontinue the pharmacological treatment. The decision is based on the standardised algorithm. The U-TURN intervention consists of increased training and basal physical activity level, and an antidiabetic diet including an intended weight loss. The standard care group as well as the U-TURN group is offered individual diabetes management counselling on top of the pharmacological treatment. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has been approved by the Scientific Ethical Committee at the Capital Region of Denmark (H-1-2014-114). Positive, negative or inconclusive findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals, at national and international conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02417012.

Calcaneal quantitative ultrasound and phalangeal radiographic absorptiometry alone or in combination in a triage approach for assessment of osteoporosis: a study of older women with a high prevalence of falls.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to investigate if application of United Kingdom National Osteoporosis Society (UK-NOS) triage approach, using calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (QUS), phalangeal radiographic absorptiometry (RA), or both methods in combination, for identification of women with osteoporosis, would reduce the percentage of women who need further assessment with Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) among older women with a high prevalence of falls. METHODS: We assessed 286 women with DXA of hip and spine (Hologic Discovery) of whom 221 were assessed with calcaneal QUS (Achilles Lunar), 245 were assessed with phalangeal RA (Aleris Metriscan), and 202 were assessed with all three methods. Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curve for QUS, RA, and both methods in combination predicting osteoporosis defined by central DXA were performed. We identified cutoffs at different sensitivity and specificity values and applied the triage approach recommended by UK-NOS. The percentage of women who would not need further examination with DXA was calculated. RESULTS: Median age was 80 years (interquartile range [IQR]) [75-85], range 65-98. 66.8% reported at least one fall within the last 12 months. Prevalence of osteoporosis was 44.4%. Area under the ROC-curve (AUC) (95% confidence interval (CI)) was 0.808 (0.748-0.867) for QUS, 0.800 (0.738-0.863) for RA, and 0.848 (0.796-0.900) for RA and QUS in combination. At 90% certainty levels, UK-NOS triage approach would reduce the percentage of women who need further assessment with DXA by 60% for QUS, and 43% for RA. The false negative and false positive rates ranged from 4% to 5% for QUS and RA respectively. For the combined approach using 90% certainty level the proportion of DXAs saved was 22%, the false negative rate was 0% and false positive rate was 0.5%. Using 85% certainty level for the combined approach the proportion of DXAs saved increased to 41%, but false negative and false positive values remained low (0.5%, and 0.5% respectively). CONCLUSIONS: In a two-step, triage approach calcaneal QUS and phalangeal RA perform well, reducing the number of women who would need assessment with central DXA. Combining RA and QUS reduces misclassifications whilst still reducing the need for DXAs.

Choice of osteoporosis guideline has important implications for the treatment decision in elderly women referred to a fall clinic.

INTRODUCTION: Different guidelines are used worldwide to make decisions on treating osteoporosis. Some are based on fracture risk calculations, whereas others use criteria based on bone mineral density (BMD) T-scores, risk factors, or fragility fractures. The aim of this study was to explore how osteoporosis treatment decisions in a group of elderly women with falls would be affected if fracture risk-based guidelines were used as compared to guidelines based on BMD T-scores. METHODS: We studied 88 women attending a falls clinic. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and vertebral fracture assessment were performed and clinical risk factors were identified. We calculated the percentage of women recommended for treatment using five guidelines: Danish Bone Society (DBS-DK), UK National Osteoporosis Guideline Group (NOGG-UK), US National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF-US); and we applied a 20% cut-off to fracture risk calculations by the Garvan Fracture Risk Calculator and Q-fracture 2012. Agreement was calculated using kappa statistics. RESULTS: The median age (interquartile range) was 81 years (75-85.5 years). The proportion of women (95% confidence interval) recommended for treatment was DBS-DK 56% (44.7-66.3%), NOGG-UK 51% (40.1-62.1%), NOF-US 88% (78.5-93.5%), Garvan 91% (82.9-96.0%), Q-fracture 58% (47.0-68.4%). The guidelines agreed on treatment recommendations for 23 (26%) of the 88 women studied. The kappa score was 0.13 (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: This study showed that the choice of guideline has a major impact on the treatment decisions in elderly women with falls. FUNDING: not relevant. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrial.gov (NCT01600547).