Characterizing the Heterogeneity of Aging: A Vision for a Staging System for Aging.

Introduction: Older adulthood encompasses several decades of change and heterogeneity. Primary care providers need a geriatric comprehensive vision for defining older adult subpopulations. Methods: Using PubMed and Google searches, we reviewed the literature on epidemiology of age-related physiological changes, age-related diseases and geriatric syndromes, functional state, and emotional and social changes. We divided old age into strata based on chronological age and strata based on functional state, disease burden, and geriatric syndromes. Results: We describe 4 chronological-age strata beginning at age 60, and 4 functional-age strata based on frailty according to a modified clinical frailty scale. We provide clinical considerations and anticipatory guidance topics for each of the age strata and functional strata. Conclusion: Chronological age, functional status, chronic disease burden and geriatric syndromes, and life expectancy are all important domains that impact clinical care and appropriate anticipatory guidance for individual older adults. Better knowledge for differentiating subpopulations of older adults may improve clinical care, reduce medical overuse, improve personalized anticipatory guidance, and focus on the impact of functional state on the quality of life.

Neural reactivity parameters of awareness predetermine one-year survival in patients with disorders of consciousness.

Objective: The current investigation evaluated the sensitivity of neural-reactivity markers of awareness versus standard clinical assessments in predicting 1-year survival in nonresponsive-awake patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC).Methods: Pre-attentive auditory mismatch-negativity (MMN) event-related potentials (ERP's), globally induced electroencephalography (EEG) spectral power following verbal command, and clinical parameters were assessed. The study included 10 patients with DOC with mixed etiology and 10 healthy controls (HC) at baseline. The clinical status of patients with DOC was reassessed after 1 year.Results: Unlike baseline clinical assessment scores, baseline MMN amplitudes of non-survivors and induced theta-power following verbal-command clearly distinguished the non-surviving patients versus surviving patients. Baseline MMN peak-amplitude latencies in survivors with DOC were significantly related to clinical outcome over a 1-year period.Conclusion: Current findings underscore the increased sensitivity of EEG-reactivity markers of awareness versus standard clinical scores in predicting 1-year clinical outcome and survival in patients with DOC. Further longitudinal research in larger DOC samples is needed to confirm the prognostic-reliability, and validity of neural reactivity parameters of awareness in patients with DOC. Current finding may have implications for clinical care and medical-legal decisions in unresponsive-awake patients, and could assist clinicians to predict their survival up to 1 year from admission.

Impact of Experience Corps® Participation on Children's Academic Achievement and School Behavior.

This article reports on the impact of the Experience Corps® (EC) Baltimore program, an intergenerational, school-based program aimed at improving academic achievement and reducing disruptive school behavior in urban, elementary school students in Kindergarten through third grade (K-3). Teams of adult volunteers aged 60 and older were placed in public schools, serving 15 h or more per week, to perform meaningful and important roles to improve the educational outcomes of children and the health and well-being of volunteers. Findings indicate no significant impact of the EC program on standardized reading or mathematical achievement test scores among children in grades 1-3 exposed to the program. K-1st grade students in EC schools had fewer principal office referrals compared to K-1st grade students in matched control schools during their second year in the EC program; second graders in EC schools had fewer suspensions and expulsions than second graders in non-EC schools during their first year in the EC program. In general, both boys and girls appeared to benefit from the EC program in school behavior. The results suggest that a volunteer engagement program for older adults can be modestly effective for improving selective aspects of classroom behavior among elementary school students in under-resourced, urban schools, but there were no significant improvements in academic achievement. More work is needed to identify individual- and school-level factors that may help account for these results.

An overview of co-morbidities and the development of pressure ulcers among older adults.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of pressure ulcers particularly in the frail older adult population continues to be high and very costly especially in those suffering from chronic diseases and has brought a higher awareness to comprehensive, preventive and therapeutic measures for treatment of pressure ulcers. Internal risk factors highlighted by comorbidities play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of pressure ulcers. MAIN BODY: Focusing on the impact of common chronic diseases (comorbidities) in aging on pressure ulcers (e.g., cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic pulmonary diseases, renal diseases and neurodegenerative disorders) and the significant complicating conditions e.g., anemia, infectious diseases, malnutrition, hospitalization, incontinence and polypharmacy, frailty and disability becomes important in developing a more complete, inclusive and multidisciplinary approach to prevention of PU in older patients. OBJECTIVE: To describe chronic and acute conditions which are risk factors in elderly patients for developing PU. METHODS: We present an overview of comorbidities seen with PU in three diverse patient locations. The inclusion criteria are sites (community, acute hospital and long term facilities), older patients, chronic diseases and pressure ulcers grade 2 and over. Using a recently developed conceptual framework accepted by European and National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panels, we examined chronic diseases to identify the risk factors of chronic conditions and complicating conditions which potentially influence risk for PU development. CONCLUSION: Multiple chronic diseases and complicating factors which associated with immobility, tissue ischemia, and undernutrition are caused to PU in community settings, hospitals, and nursing facilities.

Rash induced by enteral vancomycin therapy in an older patient in a long-term care ventilator unit: case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Oral vancomycin is a first-line treatment for severe Clostridium difficile colitis. Oral vancomycin is perceived to lack systemic absorption or systemic adverse effects; however, a few cases of hypersensitivity to oral vancomycin have been reported, all in hospitalized patients. CASE PRESENTATION: In the present case, a 66-year-old woman with end-stage neurodegenerative disease residing in a long-term care facility developed a maculopapular rash following treatment with enteral vancomycin for recurrent C. difficile colitis. The rash resolved after withdrawal of the drug. CONCLUSION: Rashes associated with oral vancomycin treatment include maculopapular rash, urticaria, red man syndrome, and linear IgA bullous dermatitis. Risk factors for systemic vancomycin absorption include renal insufficiency, severe intestinal inflammation, and high vancomycin dose and duration. Routine serum testing of vancomycin levels, even in these high risk cases, is not recommended. Clinicians should be aware that enteral vancomycin can cause hypersensitivity reactions which may be serious.

Age-Related Diseases and Clinical and Public Health Implications for the 85 Years Old and Over Population.

By 2050, the American 85 years old and over population will triple. Clinicians and the public health community need to develop a culture of sensitivity to the needs of this population and its subgroups. Sensory changes, cognitive changes, and weakness may be subtle or may be severe in the heterogeneous population of people over age 85. Falls, cardiovascular disease, and difficulty with activities of daily living are common but not universal. This paper reviews relevant changes of normal aging, diseases, and syndromes common in people over age 85, cognitive and psychological changes, social and environmental changes, and then reviews common discussions which clinicians routinely have with these patients and their families. Some hearing and vision loss are a part of normal aging as is decline in immune function. Cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis and dementia are common chronic conditions at age 85. Osteoarthritis, diabetes, and related mobility disability will increase in prevalence as the population ages and becomes more overweight. These population changes have considerable public health importance. Caregiver support, services in the home, assistive technologies, and promotion of home exercise programs as well as consideration of transportation and housing policies are recommended. For clinicians, judicious prescribing and ordering of tests includes a consideration of life expectancy, lag time to benefit, and patient goals. Furthermore, healthy behaviors starting in early childhood can optimize quality of life among the oldest-old.

Impact of Experience Corps(®) participation on school climate.

We examined the impact of the Experience Corps(®) (EC) program on school climate within Baltimore City public elementary schools. In this program, teams of older adult volunteers were placed in high intensity (>15 h per week), meaningful roles in public elementary schools, to improve the educational outcomes of children as well as the health and well-being of volunteers. During the first year of EC participation, school climate was perceived more favorably among staff and students in EC schools as compared to those in comparison schools. However, with a few notable exceptions, perceived school climate did not differ for staff or students in intervention and comparison schools during the second year of exposure to the EC program. These findings suggest that perceptions of school climate may be altered by introducing a new program into elementary schools; however, research examining how perceptions of school climate are impacted over a longer period is warranted.

The short-term and long-term impact of a brief aging research training program for medical students.

Summer training in aging research for medical students is a strategy for improving the pipeline of medical students into research careers in aging and clinical care of older adults. Johns Hopkins University has been offering medical students a summer experience of mentored research, research training, and clinical shadowing since 1994. Long-term outcomes of this program have not been described. The authors surveyed all 191 participants who had been in the program from 1994-2010 (60% female and 27% underrepresented minorities) and received a 65.8% (N = 125) response rate. The authors also conducted Google and other online searches to supplement study findings. Thirty-seven percent of those who have completed training are now in academic medicine, and program participants have authored or coauthored 582 manuscripts. Among survey respondents, 95.1% reported that participation in the Medical Student Training in Aging Research program increased their sensitivity to the needs of older adults. This program may help to build commitment among medical students to choose careers in aging.

Exploring three perspectives on feasibility of a patient portal for older adults.

INTRODUCTION: It is not clear whether older adults with chronic disease and their caregivers are likely to use patient portals. METHODS: Older adults with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or congestive heart failure were evaluated as well as their caregivers. We explored whether these patients and/or their caregivers were able to use common portal elements. The perspective of informatics experts was ascertained using cognitive walkthrough methodology. RESULTS: Fourteen patients and nineteen caregivers were evaluated. Patients required more time on all tasks than caregivers. Patient comments included a request for written instructions for using the system and a guide for interpreting lab results. Caregiver suggestions included improving color contrast and presentation of the current medication list. In the cognitive walkthrough, numerous problems were identified. CONCLUSIONS: Older adults with chronic illness and caregivers were interested in using a patient portal however multiple barriers were identified.

A tool to strengthen the older patient-companion partnership in primary care: results from a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the acceptability of a pre-consultation checklist for older adults who attend medical visits with an unpaid companion and to evaluate its effects on visit communication. DESIGN: Randomized controlled pilot study. SETTING: Academic geriatrics ambulatory clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two individuals aged 65 and older and their unpaid companions. INTERVENTION: A self-administered checklist was compared with usual care. The checklist was designed to elicit and align patient and companion perspectives regarding health concerns to discuss with the doctor and stimulate discussion about the companion's role in the visit. PRIMARY OUTCOME: ratio of patient-centered communication, coded from visit audiotapes. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: checklist acceptability; visit duration; patient-companion verbal activity; patient- and physician-reported perspectives of the visit. RESULTS: All intervention patients and companions (n = 17) completed the checklist, and all participants (n = 32 dyads) completed the study. Patients and companions stated that the checklist was easy to complete (88%) and useful (91%), and they uniformly (100%) recommended it to other patients. Communication was significantly more patient-centered in intervention group visits (ratio of 1.22 vs 0.71; P = .03). Visit duration (35.0 and 30.6 minutes; P = .34) and percentage of total verbal activity contributed by patients and companions (58.2% and 56.3% of visit statements; P = .50) were comparable in the intervention and control groups, respectively. Physicians were more likely to indicate that intervention companions "helped them provide good care to the patient" (94% vs 60%; P = .02). Intervention patients were more likely to indicate that they "better understood their doctor's advice and explanations" because their companion was present (82% vs 47%; P = .03). CONCLUSION: A checklist to elicit and align perspectives of older adults and their companions resulted in enhanced patient-centered medical visit communication.

Experience Corps: a dual trial to promote the health of older adults and children's academic success.

BACKGROUND: As the population ages, older adults are seeking meaningful, and impactful, post-retirement roles. As a society, improving the health of people throughout longer lives is a major public health goal. This paper presents the design and rationale for an effectiveness trial of Experience Corps™, an intervention created to address both these needs. This trial evaluates (1) whether senior volunteer roles within Experience Corps™ beneficially impact children's academic achievement and classroom behavior in public elementary schools and (2) impact on the health of volunteers. METHODS: Dual evaluations of (1) an intention-to-treat trial randomizing eligible adults 60 and older to volunteer service in Experience Corps™, or to a control arm of usual volunteering opportunities, and (2) a comparison of eligible public elementary schools receiving Experience Corps™ to matched, eligible control schools in a 1:1 control:intervention school ratio. OUTCOMES: For older adults, the primary outcome is decreased disability in mobility and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). Secondary outcomes are decreased frailty, falls, and memory loss; slowed loss of strength, balance, walking speed, cortical plasticity, and executive function; objective performance of IADLs; and increased social and psychological engagement. For children, primary outcomes are improved reading achievement and classroom behavior in Kindergarten through the 3rd grade; secondary outcomes are improvements in school climate, teacher morale and retention, and teacher perceptions of older adults. SUMMARY: This trial incorporates principles and practices of community-based participatory research and evaluates the dual benefit of a single intervention, versus usual opportunities, for two generations: older adults and children.

Development and validation of a falls-grading scale.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The recording of fall events is usually subjective and imprecise, which limits clinical practice and falls-related research. We sought to develop and validate a scale to grade near-fall and fall events on the basis of their severity represented by the use of health care resources, with the goal of standardizing fall reporting in the clinical and research settings. METHODS: Qualitative instrument development was based on a literature review and semistructured interviews to assess face and content validity. We queried older individuals and health care professionals with expertise in the care of patients at risk of falling about clinically important differences to detect and how to optimize the scale's ease of use. To assess the scale's interrater reliability, we created 30 video-vignettes of falls and compared how health care professionals and volunteers rated each of the falls according to our grading scale. RESULTS: We developed the illustrated 4-point Hopkins Falls Grading Scale (HFGS). The grades distinguish a near-fall (grade 1) from a fall for which an individual did not receive medical attention (grade 2), a fall associated with medical attention but not hospital admission (grade 3), and a fall associated with hospital admission (grade 4). Overall, the HFGS exhibited good face and content validity and had an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.998. CONCLUSION: The 4-point HFGS demonstrates good face and content validity and high interrater reliability. We predict that this tool will facilitate the standardization of falls reporting in both the clinical and research settings.

Potential for intensive volunteering to promote the health of older adults in fair health.

Volunteer service opportunities for older adults may soon be expanded. Although volunteering is thought to provide health benefits for healthier older adults, it is not known whether older adults in less than very good health are suitable candidates for high-intensity volunteering and can derive health benefits. This manuscript presents a prospective analysis of 174 older adult volunteers serving in Experience Corps Baltimore, a high-intensity senior volunteer program in Baltimore, Maryland. Volunteers served > or =15 h per week, for a full school year, in elementary schools helping children with reading and other skills between 1999 and 2002. Volunteers were assessed with standardized questionnaires and performance-based testing including grip strength, walking speed, chair stand speed, and stair-climbing speed prior to school volunteering and at the end of the school year. Results were stratified by health status. Among 174 volunteers, 55% initially reported "good" and 12% "fair" or "poor" health status. At baseline, those in fair health reported higher frequencies of disease and disability than volunteers in excellent or very good health. After volunteering, a majority of volunteers in every baseline health status category described increased strength and energy. Those in fair health were significantly more likely to display improved stair-climbing speed than those in good or excellent/very good health (100.0% vs. 53.4% vs. 37.5%, p = 0.05), and many showed clinically significant increases in walking speed of >0.5 m/s. Satisfaction and retention rates were high for all health status groups. Clinicians should consider whether their patients in fair or good health, as well as those in better health, might benefit from high-intensity volunteer programs. Productive activity such as volunteering may be an effective community-based approach to health promotion for older adults.

Informed consent for research participation in frail older persons.

Informed consent has been the most scrutinized and controversial aspect of clinical research ethics. Institutional review boards (IRBs), government regulatory agencies, and the threat of litigation have all contributed to increasingly detailed consent documents that hope to ensure that subjects are not misled or coerced. Unfortunately, the growing regulatory burden on researchers has not succeeded in protecting subjects, but has rather made the consent process less effective and has discouraged research on vulnerable populations. As a matter of fact, investigators and ethicists continue to identify failures of the consenting process, particularly concerning participation in research of older individuals. The challenges involved in ensuring appropriate consent from the elderly include physical frailty, reduced autonomy and privacy, and impaired decision-making capacity due to dementia, delirium, or other neuropsychiatric illnesses. Ageism among investigators also contributes to failure of informed consent. The evaluation and continuing re-evaluation of an individual's decision-making capacity is critical but difficult. In the most extreme cases, the older adult's ability to participate in the consent process is clearly impaired. However, in many instances, the decision-making capacity is only partially impaired but declines during the course of a research project. Implementing methods of effective communication may enable many frail elderly individuals to make informed decisions. Special challenges are posed by research on end-of-life care, which typically involves frail, older subjects who are uniquely vulnerable, and research is conducted in institutional settings where subtle violations of autonomy are routine. Clearly, the frail elderly represent a vulnerable population that deserves special attention when developing and evaluating an informed consent process. Two important ethical conflicts should be kept in mind. First, although vulnerable older patients must be protected, protection should not prevent research on this important population. Similarly, because informed consent documents are often written to prevent legal jeopardy, these technical documents, expressed in language sometimes difficult to understand, can prevent comprehension of basic issues, defeating the ethical purpose of human protection.