Editor's Note In this study, postoperative delirium in patients averaging 80 years old was linked to long-term detrimental outcomes after major orthopedic surgical procedures. Of 130 patients analyzed, 34 developed postoperative in-hospital delirium. Patients with postoperative delirium had a greater decline in activities of daily living at 2 to 3…

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Editor's Note In this study, women who averaged approximately 4,400 steps per day had significantly lower mortality rates than women who took approximately 2,700 steps per day. Of 16,741 women with a mean age of 72 years analyzed, their mean step count was 5,499 per day. A step volume of approximately…

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Editor's Note In this study, postoperative delirium significantly increased the risk of postoperative cognitive dysfunction in older adults at 1 month after surgery, but there was no association at 2 and 6 months. Of 560 patients analyzed, 24% developed delirium during hospitalization. At 1 month after surgery, 47% had not…

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Editor's Note Targeting a patient’s mean arterial pressure (MAP) during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) by monitoring cerebral blood flow autoregulation may reduce the incidence of delirium after cardiac surgery in older patients, this Johns Hopkins study finds. In this analysis of 199 patients, the incidence of delirium was significantly greater in…

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Editor's Note Compared with preoperative independent functional status, preoperative dependent functional status was independently associated with worse outcomes after primary total hip arthroplasty in this study. Of 43,179 patients analyzed, those who were less able to care for themselves: were 2 to 3 times more likely to have surgical complications…

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Editor's Note In this study, survival rates for geriatric patients were significantly improved when emergency general surgery procedures were performed at hospitals with higher operative volumes. Of 41,860 surgical procedures evaluated at 200 hospitals, mortality decreased as hospital emergency operative volume increased. For every standardized increase in volume, reduction in…

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Editor's Note A new interdisciplinary care protocol for frail elderly trauma patients significantly decreased delirium and 30-day readmission risk in this study. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, compared the care of 125 patients who were treated before the pathway was implemented with 144 patients after the pathway was…

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Editor's Note In this study of adult surgical patients across all ages, frailty was associated with higher postoperative rates of major illness and readmissions as well as increased costs. Of 14,530 patients (31.9% inpatient, 68.1% outpatient) analyzed, 3.4% had high frailty (5.3% of inpatients and 2.5% of outpatients). Compared with…

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Editor's Note Age 50 to 80 years was a strong predictor of returning to independent living and walking 1 year after hip fracture surgery in this study. Of 600 patients aged 50 and older included in the study, 3.07% aged 50 to 80 years were living in an institution 1…

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Editor's Note In this prospective study, nonfrailty and elective surgery were positively associated with functional recovery of older patients after major surgery. Of 754 community-living patients 70 years or older who were analyzed, 266 survived major surgery with increased disability and were monitored for 6 months. A total of 174…

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