METHODOLOGY: Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey in ten different nursing homes in the state of Penang, Malaysia. Participants were selected through convenience sampling were interviewed face-to-face using a questionnaire. Information concerning demographic characteristics, fall risk and depression status were collected.
RESULTS: Of the 357-elderly aged 60 years and above interviewed in the nursing homes, 32.8% (n=354) reported having one or more falls in the past 12 months whereas 13.3% were at moderate/high risk of fall. Depression (Adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR)=1.71, 95%CI: 1.00 to 2.91) and respiratory illnesses (aOR=3.38, 95%CI: 1.11 to 10.30) were shown to be associated with prevalence of falls. Depression (aOR=2.12, 95%CI: 1.06 to 4.23) and history of fall more than once in the past 12 months (aOR=3.90, 95%CI: 1.72 to 8.8) were found to be associated with moderate/high risk of falls.
CONCLUSION: This study showed that the prevalence of fall was higher among depressed elderly and those with respiratory illness. Elderly with higher history of falls were also at higher risk of falls. These findings suggest the importance of screening the elderly for the risk factors of falls as a preventive measure.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at various old age homes in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia involving the geriatric population aged 60 years and above. A detailed questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic data including sex, age, household income, and dental variables such as the number of teeth and chewing difficulty was obtained. The Tinetti test (TT) was used to evaluate the patients' ability to walk, to maintain postural balance, and to determine their risk of falling. The short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale was used to assess depression among the participants, and the Barthel Scale was used to analyze the subject's ability to perform the activities of daily living (ADL).
Results: Statistically significant association was observed in relation to the number of teeth present and risk of falls (p < 0.05). Subjects who had 19 teeth or less in total had moderate to highest risk of falls (p=0.001) in comparison with subjects who had 20 teeth or more. Those aged 70 years and above showed the highest risk of falls (p=0.001) in comparison with the subjects aged between 60 and 69 years. Subjects with depression (p=0.03) and presence of illness related to fall showed statistically significant difference (p=0.001) in comparison with those who did not suffer from the same. Compromised ADL (p=0.001) (which included ability to perform several tasks like indoor mobility, climbing stairs, toilet use, and feeding) and low monthly income (p=0.03) was also observed among subjects who had higher risk of falls.
Conclusion: According to the results achieved, there was a high statistically significant association observed between the number of teeth present, age, depression, ADL, and presence of illness in relation to the risk of falling among the geriatric population. Henceforth, oral rehabilitation of elderly patients with less number of teeth may reduce their risk of falls.
METHODS: Unstructured observations and a focus-group discussion were carried out with 18 participants involved in a six-week SRT program in a residential care facility in Kuala Lumpur.
RESULTS: Analysis revealed four themes: (i) Enthusiastic participation; (ii) Connections across boundaries; (iii) Expressing and reflecting; and (iv) Successful use of triggers.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the process of reminiscence, on which the program was based, was enjoyable for the participants and created opportunities to form connections with other members of the group. The use of relevant triggers in the SRT program that related to Malaysian cultures, ethnicities and religions was helpful to engage the participants and was acceptable across the different religions and ethnicities.
OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to assess the impact of medication reviews in aged care facilities, with additional focus on the types of medication reviews, using randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies.
METHODS: A systematic searching of English articles that examined the medication reviews conducted in aged care facilities was performed using the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL, IPA, TRiP, and the Cochrane Library, with the last update in December 2015. Extraction of articles and quality assessment of included articles were performed independently by 2 authors. Data on interventions and outcomes were extracted from the included studies. The SIGN checklist for observational studies and the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias in RCTs were applied. Outcomes assessed were related to medications, reviews, and adverse events.
RESULTS: Because of the heterogeneity of the measurements, it was deemed inappropriate to conduct a meta-analysis and thus a narrative approach was employed. Twenty-two studies (10 observational studies and 12 controlled trials) were included from 1141 evaluated references. Of the 12 trials, 8 studies reported findings of pharmacist-led medication reviews and 4 reported findings of multidisciplinary team-based reviews. The medication reviews performed in the included trials were prescription reviews (n = 8) and clinical medication reviews (n = 4). In the case of the observational studies, the majority of the studies (8/12 studies) reported findings of pharmacist-led medication reviews, and only 2 studies reported findings of multidisciplinary team-based reviews. Similarly, 6 studies employed prescription reviews, whereas 4 studies employed clinical medication reviews. The majority of the recommendations put forward by the pharmacist or a multidisciplinary team were accepted by physicians. The number of prescribed medications, inappropriate medications, and adverse outcomes (eg, number of deaths, frequency of hospitalizations) were reduced in the intervention group.
CONCLUSION: Medication reviews conducted by pharmacists, either working independently or with other health care professionals, appear to improve the quality of medication use in aged care settings. However, robust conclusions cannot be drawn because of significant heterogeneity in measurements and potential risk for biases.
METHODS: This study included 302 ambulating Malaysian institutionalised older adults. Frailty was identified using Fried's frailty criteria. Cognitive status was assessed using the Mini Mental State Examination and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination. Functional fitness was assessed using the Senior Fitness test. The association between frailty groups, cognitive status and functional fitness was analysed using binary logistic regression.
RESULTS: Prevalence of frailty, prefrailty and robustness in the older adults was 56.6%, 40.7% and 2.9%, respectively. Frailty was found to be associated with hypertension (OR 2.15, 95% CI: 1.11-4.16, p = 0.024), lower cognitive status (Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination) (OR 0.98, 95% C.I: 0.96-0.99, p = 0.038), and lower dynamic balance and mobility (Timed Up and Go test) (OR 1.09, 95% CI: 1.01-1.16, p = 0.024).
CONCLUSION: Frailty is highly prevalent among Malaysian institutionalised older adults. Hypertension, cognitive impairment and lower dynamic balance and mobility were found to be risk factors of frailty. Screening of frailty and its associated factors should be prioritized among institutionalised older adults in view of early prevention and rehabilitation.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted July-August 2018 in three regions in Indonesia. Adults aged 60 years and above (n=427) were recruited via random sampling from community clinics and public and private elderly homes. They responded to interview-administered questions and provided measurements on sociodemographics and various health variables, including falls and fall risk. Fall risk was assessed with the STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, & Injuries) screen. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to estimate associations with fall and fall risk.
Results: In the year immediately preceding the study, 29.0% of participants had suffered a fall. Approximately one-third of women (31.1%) and one-fifth of men (20.4%) reported a fall in the past year, and 25.4% of community dwellers and 32.7% of institutionalized older adults had fallen. The overall proportion of fall risk was 45.4%, 49.0% among women, 38.0% among men, 50.5% in the institutionalized setting, and 40.4% in the community setting. In adjusted logistic regression analysis, older age (OR: 1.89, CI: 1.06, 3.37), private elderly home setting (OR:2.04, CI: 1.10, 3.78), and being female (OR: 0.49, CI: 0.30, 0.82) were associated with falls in the preceding 12 months. Older age (80-102 years) (OR: 2.55, CI: 1.46, 4.46), private elderly home residence (OR: 2.24, CI: 1.19, 4.21), lack of education (OR: 0.51, CI: 0.28, 0.93), memory problems (OR: 1.81, CI: 1.09, 2.99), and arthritis (OR: 2.97, CI: 1.26, 7.00) were associated with fall risk by the STEADI screen. In stratified analysis by setting, being female (OR: 0.49, CI: 0.25, 0.95) and living in urban areas (OR: 1.97, CI: 1.03, 3.76) were associated with falls in the institutionalized setting, and having near vision problems (OR: 2.32, CI: 1.09, 4.93) was associated with falls in the community setting. Older age (OR: 2.87, CI: 1.36, 6.07) was associated with fall risk in the institutionalized setting, and rural residence (OR: 0.37, CI: 0.15, 0.93) and having a joint disorder or arthritis (OR: 4.82, CI: 1.28, 16.61) were associated with fall risk in the community setting.
Conclusion: A high proportion of older adults in community and institutional care in Indonesia have fallen or were at risk of falling in the preceding 12 months. Health variables for fall and fall risk were identified for the population overall and for specific populations in the home care and community setting that could help in designing fall-prevention strategies.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This multicentre prospective study consists of a prestudy interview questionnaire, and a preintervention and postintervention study to be conducted in the nursing home setting on residents at least 65 years old and on five or more medications. We will employ a cluster randomised stepped-wedge interventional design, based on a five-step (reviewing, checking, discussion, communication and documentation) team-care deprescribing practice coupled with the use of a deprescribing guide (consisting of Beers and STOPP criteria, as well as drug interaction checking), to assess the health and pharmacoeconomic outcome in nursing homes' practice. Primary outcome measures of the intervention will consist of fall risks using a fall risk assessment tool. Other outcomes assessed include fall rates, pill burden including number of pills per day, number of doses per day and number of medications prescribed. Cost-related measures will include the use of cost-benefit analysis, which is calculated from the medication cost savings from deprescribing. For the prestudy interview questionnaire, findings will be analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study is approved by the Domain Specific Review Board of National Healthcare Group, Singapore (2016/00422) and Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (2016-1430-7791). The study findings shall be disseminated in international conferences and peer-reviewed publications. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02863341), Pre-results.
OBJECTIVES: To review the literature on trials conducted among older adults residing in care homes within the UK and collate evidence on their methodological characteristics and outcomes.
METHODS: A systematic rapid review methodology was employed. MEDLINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL were searched in two incremental stages: stage 1 searched for oral health-related trials conducted within the UK care homes up to July 2021, whereas stage 2 sought for general health-related trials in the same setting from 2011 to 2021. The quality of included studies was assessed using Cochrane's RoB 2 and ROBINS-I tools. Findings were summarised descriptively.
RESULTS: Five oral health and 33 general health-related trials involving care home residents were included for analysis. The most common trial design was parallel group with two arms (n = 25) involving individual randomisation (n = 21). Consent was mainly obtained from residents and/or their proxies (n = 24), followed by residents only (n = 13) and care homes only (n = 1). Based on available data, the number needed to screen to recruit one participant ranged from 2 to 40 (median: 3; Q1-Q3: 2-9). Attrition rates ranged from 0% to 73% (median: 21%; Q1-Q3: 13%-32%) for follow-up periods between 1 and 52 weeks. The studies were of mixed methodological quality.
CONCLUSION: This rapid review outlines the methodological characteristics and outcomes of trials conducted among older adults in UK care homes. The findings of this review provide valuable information to assist in navigating and designing future research in this complex setting.
METHODS: A total of 51 subjects qualified to take part in this quasi-experimental study. They were assigned to either the resistance exercise group (n = 26) or control group (n = 25). The mean age of the 45 participants who completed the program was 70.7 (SD = 6.6). The exercise group met twice per week and performing one to three sets of 8 to 10 repetitions for each of nine lower-limb elastic resistance exercises. All exercises were conducted at low to moderate intensities in sitting or standing positions. The subjects were tested at baseline and 6 and 12 weeks into the program.
RESULTS: The results showed statistically significant improvements in lower-limb muscle strength as measured by five times sit-to-stand test (%Δ = 22.6) and dynamic balance quantified by the timed up-and-go test (%Δ = 18.7), four-square step test (%Δ = 14.67), and step test for the right (%Δ = 18.36) and left (%Δ = 18.80) legs. No significant changes were observed in static balance as measured using the tandem stand test (%Δ = 3.25), and one-leg stand test with eyes opened (%Δ = 9.58) and eyes closed (%Δ = -0.61) after completion of the program.
CONCLUSION: The findings support the feasibility and efficacy of a simple and inexpensive resistance training program to improve lower-limb muscle strength and dynamic balance among the institutionalized older adults.