Latest Clinical & Research News
Specialty: Geriatric
Gait speed and grip strength are objective measures of physical health that have been shown to predict important health outcomes in older adults such as functional decline, acute care use and death. According to a recent study, these measures are particularly important to assess in older patients with hematologic malignancies including leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
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Delirium, a sudden onset of confusion frequently seen in older patients, was once thought to be a temporary condition that patients “snapped out of” after being discharged from the hospital. However, it is now recognized that delirium may lead to longer-term cognitive impairment and poor health outcomes, including an increased risk of death, nursing home placement and memory problems.
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Many older patients with hematologic cancers have another condition to worry about—one they don’t always feel comfortable discussing with their health care team. As people are living longer, memory problems have become increasingly prevalent. However, little is known about the impact of cognitive impairment, and specific domains of cognitive impairment, on older cancer patients and their survival.
As a primary care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Laura N. Frain, MD, MPH, saw firsthand the challenges of caring for older adults, particularly those living with frailty, cognitive impairment/dementia and multiple geriatric syndromes within the primary care system. Now, as a geriatrician in the Brigham’s Division of Aging, she leads collaborations with primary care to develop and implement new models for co-managing outpatient geriatric patients.
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When an older person suffers a trauma resulting in multiple broken bones and other injuries, often due to a fall or car accident, ensuring he or she gets appropriate care can be challenging. This is especially true when health care providers don’t have training or experience in geriatrics.
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Falls that lead to bone fractures occur frequently in older people. These injuries, especially those that require surgery, often start patients down a path toward mounting health problems that threaten their ability to live independently or maintain a good quality of life.
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Treating cancer is always a challenge, but elderly patients can add another level of complexity. For that reason, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute banded together to create the Older Adult Hematologic Malignancy Program.
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Why do some people with bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder (MDD) struggle with cognitive dysfunction, while others don’t? That is a focal point for Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) researcher Katherine Burdick, PhD, within the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Mood and Psychosis Research Program, who is looking to identify predictors of outcome including inherited risk, aging, clinical factors, and long-term effects of recurrent illness. Read More
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is expected to award up to $70 million over five years to three physician-scientists to launch the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC) – a network of 35 Alzheimer’s disease trial sites across the country – with the goal of finding new ways to treat or prevent Alzheimer’s. Read More
Lack of exercise or physical activity is estimated to cause as many deaths each year as smoking. Current guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity physical activity, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity (or a combination of the two), and muscle-strengthening exercises two or more days a week. Read More