Physical functioning, frailty and risks of locally-advanced breast cancer among older women.

OBJECTIVE: Women with multiple comorbidities have competing health needs that may delay screening for early detection of breast cancer. Our objective was to determine associations between physical functioning and frailty with risk of locally-advanced breast cancer (BC). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of women 65 years and older diagnosed with first primary stage I-III BC using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Medicare Health Outcome Survey Data Resource. Physical health-related quality of life was measured using Veterans RAND 12 Item Health Survey scales within two years before diagnosis; frailty was determined by calculating deficit-accumulation frailty index (DAFI) scores. Multivariable modified Poisson regression models were used to estimate rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for risk of locally-advanced (stage III) versus early-stage (I-II) BC. RESULTS: Among 2411 women with a median age of 75 years at BC diagnosis, 2189 (91%) were diagnosed with incident stage I-II BC and 222 (9%) were diagnosed at stage III. Compared to women with early-stage disease, women with locally-advanced BC had lower physical component scores (37.8 vs. 41.4) and more classified as pre-frail or frail (55% vs. 50%). In multivariable models, frailty was not associated with increased risk of locally-advanced disease. However, worse physical function subscale scores (lowest vs. upper quartile; RR = 1.56, 95% CI 1.04-2.34) were associated with risk of locally-advanced BC. CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancer screening among non-frail older women should be personalized to include women with limited physical functioning if the benefits of screening and early detection outweigh the potential harms.

Medication discrepancy rates and sources upon nursing home intake: A prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Medication discrepancies at nursing home intake increase the risk of drug-related adverse events. Measuring discrepancy incidence rates and locating the origins of discrepancies can assist in identifying information exchange deficits for high-risk medications. OBJECTIVE: To determine class-specific discrepancy rates, to determine discordance between medication lists, and to explore patient and system-level factors associated with medication discrepancies discovered between the first and second medication reconciliations conducted at nursing home intake. METHODS: Medication discrepancy data were prospectively collected from four long-term care facilities over a 9-month period. Medication discrepancies were defined as mismatched prescribing orders between at least two medication history lists. Discrepancy locations were defined as the pairs or triads of facilities between which medication history lists were discordant. Unadjusted logistic regressions were used to identify medication classes with the highest discrepancy rates and patient factors significantly associated with any medication discrepancy. RESULTS: 40.8% of newly admitted or re-admitted residents and 6.3% of medications reviewed had at least one medication discrepancy discovered during the second medication reconciliation conducted at nursing home intake. Residents prescribed fewer than 14 medications were at less risk of discrepancies. Residents with Charlson Comorbidity Index of 5, COPD, HF, anemia or HTN were at greater risk of discrepancies. Respiratory and analgesic medications were twice as likely as other medication classes to be discrepant (OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.2-4.4; OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.3-3.5). Most discrepancies occurred between hospital and nursing home lists (44.9%), or between the hospital, nursing home, and community pharmacy lists (39.3%) CONCLUSIONS: Given the higher risk of discrepancies within respiratory or analgesics, transitions of care teams need to prioritize residents with respiratory conditions or pain. Although re-admitted residents' increased discrepancy risk is likely due to poorer health status, miscommunications across the nursing home, hospital and community pharmacy require further research to clarify system failures.

Associations between frailty and cancer-specific mortality among older women with breast cancer.

PURPOSE: Frailty is assessed when making treatment decisions among older women with breast cancer (BC), which in turn impacts survival. We evaluated associations between pre-diagnosis frailty and risks of BC-specific and all-cause mortality in older women. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries ages ≥ 65 years with stage I-III BC using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare Health Outcome Survey Data Resource. Frailty was measured using the deficit-accumulation frailty index, categorized as robust, pre-frail, or frail, at baseline and during follow-up. Fine and Gray competing risk and Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate subdistribution hazard ratios (SHR) and hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for BC-specific and all-cause mortality, respectively. RESULTS: Among 2411 women with a median age of 75 years at BC diagnosis, 49.5% were categorized as robust, 29.4% were pre-frail and 21.1% were frail. Fewer frail women compared to robust women received breast-conserving surgery (52.8% vs. 61.5%, frail vs. robust, respectively) and radiation (43.5% vs. 51.8%). In multivariable analyses, degree of frailty was not associated with BC-specific mortality (frail vs robust SHR 1.47, 95% CI 0.97-2.24). However, frail women with BC had higher risks of all-cause mortality compared to robust women with BC (HR 2.32, 95% CI 1.84-2.92). CONCLUSION: Among a cohort of older women with BC, higher degrees of frailty were associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality, but not BC-specific mortality. Future study should examine if preventing progression of frailty may improve all-cause mortality.

Inter-facility communication barriers delay resolving medication discrepancies during transitions of care.

BACKGROUND: Medication discrepancies occurring during transitions of care between hospitals and nursing homes increase the risk of adverse events for patients. Resolving mismatched information between hospitals and nursing homes adds additional burden to nursing home staff. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to characterize challenges facing nursing home staff in receiving and resolving medication discrepancies during resident intake. METHODS: This study used one focus group comprised of five nurses, one pharmacist and two administrators from four nursing homes to explore the staffs' experiences resolving medication discrepancies at resident intake. Thematic analysis was used to determine primary themes and categories arising from focus group transcripts. RESULTS: Three common challenges included 1) Nursing homes relying upon external providers for accurate information that is frequently delayed; 2) Prescribing data shared between hospitals and nursing facilities on incompatible formats with inconsistent content; 3) Following a specific communication workflow between facilities to resolve errors as efficiently as possible. CONCLUSIONS: Improving access to formularies and medical histories for providers across the continuum of care and improving information sharing across transitions would improve communication, decrease discrepancies and increase patient safety during post-acute care transitions.