Care needs of higher-functioning nursing home residents.

OBJECTIVES: To quantify and characterize the chronic conditions of older Americans who live in nursing homes (NHs) but have minimal disability and might be able to live in less restrictive and less expensive settings. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of the 1999 National Nursing Home Survey. PARTICIPANTS: NH staff members familiar with the care of residents who were 65 years or older and had resided in the NH for more than 100 days. MEASUREMENTS: We defined "higher-functioning" residents as those who received help from NH staff in 0-2 activities of daily living. We then classified these higher-functioning residents according to their conditions requiring chronic care: impaired mobility, conditions requiring rehabilitation, mental health disorders, incontinence, severe sensory impairment, and medical conditions (congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, Parkinson's disease). RESULTS: One-fifth (19.8%) of the NH residents met the criteria for "higher-functioning" (n=1145). Of these, 64.1% had mental disorders, 40.4% had impaired mobility, 20.6% were incontinent, 18% had conditions requiring rehabilitative therapy, 8.7% had severe sensory impairment, and 43.0% had one or more of the four medical diagnoses. CONCLUSION: Many higher-functioning long-stay nursing home residents have chronic care needs that are similar to those of older adults who live in private residences. Many such persons may be able to live in community settings.

Effects of teriparatide [rhPTH (1-34)] treatment on structural geometry of the proximal femur in elderly osteoporotic women.

INTRODUCTION: We evaluated effects of teriparatide (rDNA origin) injection [teriparatide, rhPTH (1-34), TPTD] on hip structure among a subset 558 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Fracture Prevention Trial. METHODS: Patients were randomized to once-daily, self-administered subcutaneous injections of placebo (N = 189), teriparatide 20 mug (TPTD20; N = 186), or 40 mug (TPTD40; N = 183) for a median of 20 months. Repeated dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) hip scans were analyzed with the Hip Structure Analysis (HSA) program to derive structural geometry. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: There were no significant differences in age or body size between groups at baseline, 1 year, or study termination. At the femoral neck, teriparatide increased bone mass and improved bone geometric strength in both treatment groups compared to the placebo group, with the response being dose-related. The mean difference (95% CI) in bone cross-sectional area (CSA) in the TPTD20 was 3.5% (1.8% to 5.3%), and 6.3% (4.5% to 8.2%) in TPTD40 at study termination, compared to placebo controls. Teriparatide treatment increased bending strength, with the mean difference in section modulus being 3.6% (1.4% to 5.8%) and 6.8% (4.6% to 9.1%) greater in the TPTD20 and TPTD40 groups, respectively. Compared to placebo, local cortical instability characterized by the buckling ratio decreased by 5.5% (3.5% to 7.5%) and 8.6% (6.6% to 10.5%) in the TPTD20 and TPTD40 groups, respectively, during the study period. The changes at the intertrochanteric region were comparable to those at the narrow neck although between-group differences were slightly smaller. Except for an inconsequential (1%) improvement in section modulus in TPTD20, teriparatide effects did not reach significance at the femoral shaft. In conclusion, teriparatide treatment improved axial and bending strength, and increased cortical thickness and stability at the femoral neck and intertrochanteric region. Teriparatide treatment effects were not apparent at the purely cortical femoral shaft.