Geriatrics News

• New Frailty Index Promising in Cancer Surgery Patients A new frailty index for use in older surgical patients with cancer is simple and easy to use and could help guide postoperative care for these patients, say the developers.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2019
• AGS 2019Good Nutrition Essential for Healthy Aging 'What we eat contributes to both disease and wellness,' says one expert, but as people age, access to nutritious food can become a challenge. Geriatricians can help with that.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2019
• VIONE Deprescribing Tool Helps Veterans Stop Unnecessary Meds A tool called VIONE is helping veterans, families and staff at VA hospitals identify and reduce or discontinue unnecessary, ineffective, and inappropriate medications.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2019
• AGS 2019Dedicated Teams Keep Seniors Out of Hospital Programs focused on the needs of elderly patients can reduce visits to the emergency department and keep seniors who have been discharged from the hospital from being readmitted, new data show.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2019
• Physicians Starting to Claim Climate Change Is 'In My Lane' Clinicians recently gathered at a conference outside Washington, DC, to focus on climate change and its impacts on health -- and to learn what they can do about it.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2019
• AAN 2019Medical Cannabis Safe, Effective in the Elderly Researchers reported that the drug provided relief from chronic pain, sleep disorders, and anxiety related to a variety of diseases.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2019
• Loneliness a Common Health Threat for Older Adults Loneliness is strongly linked to poor health and risk of death in older adults, but doctors can play an important role in identifying and addressing the problem, researchers say.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2019
• Upping Hypertension Meds in Hospital Can Harm Older Patients The common practice of intensifying antihypertensive medications for older patients in the hospital for a noncardiac condition should stop, new research shows.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2019
• Impaired Mobility Tied to Higher Readmission Risk in Elderly With MI Impaired functional mobility is the strongest predictor of 30-day hospital readmission for older adults hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, April 2019
• Middle-Class Seniors Will Struggle With Housing, Study Shows About 7.8 million senior citizens may be in the "forgotten middle" by 2029; they will be too well-off for government assistance, but unable to pay for needed housing and healthcare, a study found.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2019
• Long-term Mortality Risk Linked to Poor Sense of Smell According to a recent study among older adults, poor sense of smell is linked with higher long-term mortality, with neurodegenerative disease and weight loss only partly driving the association.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2019
• Better Survival After Geriatric Emergency Surgery Seen With Higher Hospital Operative Volume Geriatric patients who have emergency surgery at hospitals with higher operative volumes fare better than those operated at lower-volume hospitals, according to a retrospective study.
  Reuters Health Information, April 2019
• Novel CAR T-Cell Approach Reduces Toxicities, Retains Efficacy The modified molecule for the anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy shows signs of reducing the risk for severe cytokine release syndrome while maintaining efficacy.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2019
• Congress Faces Challenge With Future Medicare Physician Pay The latest report from Medicare's trustees reiterates a 2026 expected date for the depletion of a key hospital fund, an event that would trigger reduced pay for many services unless Congress acts.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2019
• Medically Tailored Meal Delivery Improves Outcomes, Cuts Costs Participation in a medically tailored meals program cut inpatient and skilled nursing admissions and lowered care costs for people with chronic illness and food insecurity, new data suggest.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2019
• Diabetes Has Lethal Consequences in Asia Pooled analysis that included over 1 million adults showed substantially increased risk for all-cause and cause-specific death among those with diabetes; Asian-specific management programs are needed.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2019
• Older People Feel More Youthful When They Also Feel in Control Older adults may feel younger than their age on days when they feel most in control of their lives, a small study suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, April 2019
• TMS Boosts Long-term Memory in Older Adults Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) improves function of the hippocampal-cortical brain networks and improves long-term memory in older adults.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2019
• Many Older U.S. Gun Owners Don't Store Firearms Safely Roughly one-third of older people in the U.S. may live in households with guns and a new study suggests that many of those firearms are not stored in the safest way: locked and unloaded.
  Reuters Health Information, April 2019
• Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Found on Patient Hands, Surfaces Multidrug-resistant bacteria were found on many hospitalized patients' hands and on commonly touched surfaces in their rooms. They could be a reservoir for hospital-acquired infections, a study indicates.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2019