Long-term care options for the frail elderly

Early diagnosis of frailty: Technological and non-intrusive devices for clinical detection

This work analyses different concepts for frailty diagnosis based on affordable standard technology such as smartphones or wearable devices. The goal is to provide ideas that go beyond classical diagnostic tools such as magnetic resonance imaging or tomography, thus changing the paradigm; enabling the detection of frailty without expensive facilities, in an ecological way for both patients and medical staff and even with continuous monitoring. Fried's five-point phenotype model of frailty along with a model based on trials and several classical physical tests were used for device classification. This work provides a starting point for future researchers who will have to try to bridge the gap separating elderly people from technology and medical tests in order to provide feasible, accurate and affordable tools for frailty monitoring for a wide range of users.

The essence of frailty: A systematic review and qualitative synthesis on frailty concepts and definitions

BACKGROUND

One of the major threats looming over the growing older population is frailty. It is a distinctive health state characterised by increased vulnerability to internal and external stressors. Although the presence of frailty is well acknowledged, its concept and operationalisation are hampered by the extraordinary phenotypical and biological complexity. Yet, a widely accepted conception is needed to offer tailored policies and approaches. The ADVANTAGE Group aims to analyse the diverse frailty concepts to uncover the essence of frailty as a basis for a shared understanding.

METHOD

A systematic literature review was performed on frailty concepts and definitions from 2010 onwards. Eligible publications were reviewed using concept analysis that led to the extraction of text data for the themes "definition", "attributes", "antecedents", "consequences", and "related concepts". Qualitative description was used to further analyse the extracted text passages, leading to inductively developed categories on the essence of frailty.

RESULTS

78 publications were included in the review, and 996 relevant text passages were extracted for analysis. Five components constituted a comprehensive definition: vulnerability, genesis, features, characteristics, and adverse outcomes. Each component is described in more detail by a set of defining and explanatory criteria. An underlying functional perspective of health or its impairments is most compatible with the entity of frailty.

DISCUSSION

The recent findings facilitate a focus on the relevant building blocks that define frailty. They point to the commonalities of the diverse frailty concepts and definitions. Based on these components, a widely accepted broad definition of frailty comes into range.

Frailty beyond the clinical dimension: discussion about the underlying aspect of the social capital

It is repeatedly advocated in the medical literature the need of reshaping the care process in order to better address the unmet clinical needs of the highly vulnerable and complex ageing population. In the past twenty years, frailty has assumed the role of an arising and independent geriatric condition, different from disability and multimorbidity. Frailty is highly prevalent in older persons. The proper management of frailty relies on the accurate collection and interpretation of a wide spectrum of information about the health status of the individual. However, the optimal intervention plan cannot be correctly designed and implemented without the evaluation of the social characteristics of the frail older person. Unfortunately, this aspect has frequently been overlooked and research is still lagging on the topic. The main scope of this review is to present current evidence and propose possible axes of investigation in this field.

Emerging roles for histone deacetylases in age-related muscle atrophy

BACKGROUND: Skeletal muscle atrophy during aging, a process known as sarcopenia, is associated with muscle weakness, frailty, and the loss of independence in older adults. The mechanisms contributing to sarcopenia are not totally understood, but muscle fiber loss due to apoptosis, reduced stimulation of anabolic pathways, activation of catabolic pathways, denervation, and altered metabolism have been observed in muscle from old rodents and humans.

OBJECTIVE: Recently, histone deacetylases (HDACs) have been implicated in muscle atrophy and dysfunction due to denervation, muscular dystrophy, and disuse, and HDACs play key roles in regulating metabolism in skeletal muscle. In this review, we will discuss the role of HDACs in muscle atrophy and the potential of HDAC inhibitors for the treatment of sarcopenia.

CONCLUSIONS: Several HDAC isoforms are potential targets for intervention in sarcopenia. Inhibition of HDAC1 prevents muscle atrophy due to nutrient deprivation. HDAC3 regulates metabolism in skeletal muscle and may inhibit oxidative metabolism during aging. HDAC4 and HDAC5 have been implicated in muscle atrophy due to denervation, a process implicated in sarcopenia. HDAC inhibitors are already in use in the clinic, and there is promise in targeting HDACs for the treatment of sarcopenia.

The Raval Nord Study: Descriptive Analysis of Survival Rates During 10 Years of Home Care

This longitudinal study describes the urban population of chronic patients treated at home and analyzes survival rates of the first 10 years (1992 to 2002) of a primary health care team. Participants included all of the 1,357 home care chronically ill patients registered since the beginning of a home care program (May 1994 to December 2002). The average age was 82 years, 68% were female, 76% lacked elevators, 18% cited loneliness, 11% were totally dependent, and 20% suffered severe cognitive alterations. Cox’s proportional risk method and survival probability curves by the Kaplan-Meier method were used. Factors linked to lower survival (p < .001) included being male (relative risk, RR = 1.67), existence of terminally ill patients because of neoplastic pathologies (RR = 7.72), living accompanied by other people (RR = 2.39), deteriorated cognitive function status (slight moderate, RR = 1.74; severe, RR = 2.71), and worsening degree of autonomy (partially dependent, RR = 1.63; totally dependent, RR = 3.54).

A mobile and ubiquitous approach for supporting frailty assessment in elderly people

BACKGROUND

Frailty is a health condition related to aging and dependence. A reduction in or delay of the frailty state can improve the quality of life of the elderly. However, providing frailty assessments can be difficult because many factors must be taken into account. Usually, measurement of these factors is performed in a noncentralized manner. Additionally, the lack of quantitative methods for analysis makes it impossible for the diagnosis to be as complete or as objective as it should be.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a centralized mobile system to conduct elderly frailty assessments in an accurate and objective way using mobile phone capabilities.

METHODS

The diagnosis of frailty includes two fundamental aspects: the analysis of gait activity as the main predictor of functional disorders, and the study of a set of frailty risk factors from patient records. Thus, our system has several stages including gathering information about gait using accelerometer-enabled mobile devices, collecting values of frailty factors, performing analysis through similarity comparisons with previous data, and displaying the results for frailty on the mobile devices in a formalized way.

RESULTS

We developed a general mechanism to assess the frailty state of a group of elders by using mobile devices as supporting tools. In collaboration with geriatricians, two studies were carried out on a group of 20 elderly patients (10 men and 10 women), previously selected from a nursing home. Frailty risk factors for each patient were collected at three different times over the period of a year. In the first study, data from the group of patients were used to determine the frailty state of a new incoming patient. The results were valuable for determining the degree of frailty of a specific patient in relation to other patients in an elderly population. The most representative similarity degrees were between 73.4% and 71.6% considering 61 frailty factors from 64 patient instances. Additionally, from the provided results, a physician could group the elders by their degree of similarity influencing their care and treatment. In the second study, the same mobile tool was used to analyze the frailty syndrome from a nutritional viewpoint on 10 patients of the initial group during 1 year. Data were acquired at three different times, corresponding to three assessments: initial, spontaneous, and after protein supplementation. The subsequent analysis revealed a general deterioration of the subset of elders from the initial assessment to the spontaneous assessment and also an improvement of biochemical and anthropometric parameters in men and women from the spontaneous assessment to the assessment after the administration of a protein supplement.

CONCLUSIONS

The problem of creating a general frailty index is still unsolved. However, in recent years, there has been an increase in the amount of research on this subject. Our studies took advantage of mobile device features (accelerometer sensors, wireless communication capabilities, and processing capacities among others) to develop a new method that achieves an objective assessment of frailty based on similarity results for an elderly population, providing an essential support for physicians.

[Relationship between nutritional status and the risk of having pressure ulcers in patients included in a home care program]

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between the nutritional status and the risk of pressure ulcers (PU) in patients within home care programs (ATDOM). We also evaluated the relationship between the level of cognitive impairment, physical dependence, underlying diseases and the nutritional status.

SCOPE

Patients in home care program in Primary Health Care.

PATIENTS

100 home care patients.

MAIN VARIABLES

age, sex, caregiver, illness, BMI, haemoglobin, haematocrit, lymphocyte count, albumin, cholesterol, Barthel index, Pfeiffer, nutritional assessment (MNA) and Braden scale.

RESULTS

Fourteen percent of the ATDOM patients had malnutrition and 46% a high risk of malnutrition. The degree of dependency, and the level of cognitive impairment increased (P<001) the risk of pressure ulcers. Furthermore, the nutritional status affected the risk of pressure ulcers (P<001) with OR 3.73 higher in malnourished patients. Values of 3.76±0.05g/dL albumin and cholesterol of 176.43±6.38 were associated with an increased risk of ulceration. There was a significant relationship between nutritional status (P<01) and the degree of dependence. In malnourished patients albumin levels decreased to 3.46±0.098, with averages of 11.41±154.95mg/dL cholesterol. Finally, a lower BMI was significantly related to malnutrition.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study demonstrates that 14% of the ATDOM patients showed malnutrition, and 46% a high risk of malnutrition. Malnutrition, the degree of physical dependence and severity of cognitive impairment is associated with an increased risk of ulceration, which justify the need for carrying out some personalised measurements on ATDOM patients.

Rapid cognitive decline, one-year institutional admission and one-year mortality: analysis of the ability to predict and inter-tool agreement of four validated clinical frailty indexes in the SAFEs cohort

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the predictive ability of four clinical frailty indexes as regards one-year rapid cognitive decline (RCD - defined as the loss of at least 3 points on the MMSE score), and one-year institutional admission (IA) and mortality respectively; and to measure their agreement for identifying groups at risk of these severe outcomes.

DESIGN

One-year follow-up and multicentre study of old patients participating in the SAFEs cohort study.

SETTING

Nine university hospitals in France.

PARTICIPANTS

1,306 patients aged 75 or older (mean age 85±6 years; 65% female) hospitalized in medical divisions through an Emergency department.

MEASUREMENTS

Four frailty indexes (Winograd; Rockwood; Donini; and Schoevaerdts) reflecting the multidimensionality of the frailty concept, using an ordinal scoring system able to discriminate different grades of frailty, and constructed based on the accumulation of identified deficits after comprehensive geriatric assessment conducted during the first week of hospital stay, were used to categorize participants into three different grades of frailty: G1 - not frail; G2 - moderately frail; and G3 - severely frail. Comparisons between groups were performed using Fisher's exact test. Agreement between indexes was evaluated using Cohen's Kappa coefficient.

RESULTS

All patients were classified as frail by at least one of the four indexes. The Winograd and Rockwood indexes mainly classified subjects as G2 (85% and 96%), and the Donini and Schoevaerdts indexes mainly as G3 (71% and 67%). Among the SAFEs cohort population, 250, 1047 and 1,306 subjects were eligible for analyses of predictability for RCD, 1-year IA and 1-year mortality respectively. At 1 year, 84 subjects (34%) experienced RCD, 377 (36%) were admitted into an institutional setting, and 445 (34%) had died. With the Rockwood index, all subjects who experienced RCD were classified in G2; and in G2 and G3 when the Donini and Schoevaerdts indexes were used. No significant difference was found between frailty grade and RCD, whereas frailty grade was significantly associated with an increased risk of IA and death, whatever the frailty index considered. Agreement between the different indexes of frailty was poor with Kappa coefficients ranging from -0.02 to 0.15.

CONCLUSION

These findings confirm the poor clinimetric properties of these current indexes to measure frailty, underlining the fact that further work is needed to develop a better and more widely-accepted definition of frailty and therefore a better understanding of its pathophysiology.

[Home care of patients with chronic disease: full physical and cognitive assessment and falls over 3 years of follow-up]

OBJECTIVE

To assess the physical and cognitive capacity of chronically ill homebound patients, and the falls they suffered during three years of monitoring.

DESIGN

Descriptive, longitudinal study.

SETTING

"Raval Nord" Health District, Barcelona.

PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS

All the 243 homebound chronic patients registered in the home care programme in May 1996 (67% women, average age 84).

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

After three years 16% had gone into an old people's home, 9% had moved house and 38% had died. The probability of not continuing in the programme after three years monitoring was related to less autonomy, presence of comorbidity, and worse cognitive capacity (p < 0.05). Of the 90 patients (37%) who remained active in May 1999, 41% showed disorders on the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ), with a significant relationship to greater age, less autonomy and the presence of comorbidity. Numerous alterations in analysis (21.6%) and linked illnesses (18.9%) were found in the patients with cognitive deterioration. 42% of the patients active in May 99 had fallen during the monitoring period. 10% of the falls involved fractures. The number of falls was higher when there was visual-auditory loss, consumption of psychiatric drugs or absence of use of orthopaedic aids. There was also a greater probability of falls in patients who only had a part-time carer (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

It is important to assess the autonomy, cognitive capacity and comorbidity of home-bound chronic patients when monitoring them. Likewise, cognitive disorders and falls must be properly weighed, as they are common in this class of patient.

A prospective study of acute illness in the nursing home

Managing acute illness is an important aspect of medical care for nursing home residents, but little data is available on the nature of acute illness in this setting. The aims of this study were to determine the incidence, etiologies, risk factors and outcomes of acute illness in nursing home residents. This was a prospective cohort study of residents at one Veterans Administration nursing home (N = 140). Acute illness episodes were identified prospectively for one year through staff interviews and medical record review. Etiologies of acute illness were determined based on standardized criteria. Subjects were followed for three years to determine hospital utilization, discharge location and survival. There were 113 acute illness episodes identified (0.59 episodes per subject per month). The most common etiologies were pneumonia (33% of episodes), and urinary tract infection (27%). Significant risk factors for acute illness included anemia, dependence in mobility and surveillance time (i.e., duration of time monitored for illness episodes) in the nursing home (model chi 2 27.16, p < 0.001). Subjects who developed acute illness had increased hospital utilization during the first year of follow-up (p = 0.034); they were also less likely to be discharged home by both one year (chi 2 12.37, p < 0.001) and two years of follow-up (chi 2 9.45, p = 0.009). When hospice and respite residents with short stay were excluded, subjects who developed acute illness had lower 3-year survival (Log rank 4.97, p = 0.026), and the rate of acute illness episodes (i.e., number per month monitored) predicted 3-year mortality (Cox proportional hazards, p < 0.001). In conclusion, acute illness is extremely common among nursing home residents, and is most often due to infection. The occurrence of acute illness identifies residents who have increased hospital utilization, are less likely to return home, and have decreased long-term survival.

Do geriatric programs decrease long-term use of acute care beds?

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether the introduction of coordinated geriatric and discharge planning services at teaching and community hospitals in Toronto has changed the number of beds occupied by patients awaiting transfer to long-term care institutions.

DESIGN

Retrospective review of social work records for the period 1985-1992.

SETTING

Two tertiary and four primary acute care hospitals in Metropolitan Toronto.

PARTICIPANTS

Hospitals were matched for location, acuity, and teaching affiliation.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The numbers of beds occupied by patients awaiting transfer to nursing homes or chronic care hospitals were noted.

RESULTS

In those teaching and community hospitals that had introduced coordinated geriatric and discharge planning services, there was a reduction in the percentage of beds occupied by patients awaiting long-term care placement (average-51%), whereas in hospitals without geriatric services, the percentage of beds occupied by patients awaiting long-term care placement increased (average + 25%) (P = .05 by Fisher's exact method, 95% confidence limit odds ratio 0, .9999).

CONCLUSION

The introduction of coordinated geriatric and discharge planning services was associated with a decrease in the percentage of beds occupied by patients awaiting long-term care in both teaching and community hospitals.