Depression during the treatment phase was associated with significant health resource utilization, costs and mortality among men with prostate cancer. These findings emphasize the need to effectively identify and treat depression in the setting of prostate cancer.
The results of this study suggest that there is a need to develop interventions that focus on the symptom experience to help patients-particularly older ones-in somatic awareness and symptom interpretation. It may be useful to explore patients' statements about how they feel: "Compared to what? How do you feel today compared to yesterday?"
Dehydration is the most common fluid and electrolyte disorder among the elderly, yet risk factors are not known. This study identifies risk factors for dehydration in acutely ill nursing home residents. All 339 elderly resident of two nursing homes who developed an acute illness requiring hospitalization during 1984 were included in the study. The 173 patients having a serum Na less than 150 mg/dL and blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio (BUN:Cre) less than 20 were designated controls; 91 patients having a serum Na greater than 150 mg/dL or a serum BUN:Cre greater than 25 were designated cases. Odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals were calculated for age, sex, chronic conditions, acute illnesses, medications, functional status measures, and season. Acutely ill dehydrated patients were female (OR, 3.3); over 85 years old (OR, 2.2); had more than four chronic conditions (OR, 4.0); took more than four medications (OR, 2.8); and were bedridden (OR, 2.9). Among the most severely dehydrated (serum Na greater than 150 mg/dL and BUN:Cre greater than 25), the odds ratios for the above factors were strengthened and other factors, such as inability to feed oneself and type of acute diagnosis, emerged as risk factors. Among the variables unrelated to functional status, laxatives (OR, 3.2) and chronic infections (OR, 1.8) were risk factors. We conclude that a group at high risk for dehydration can be defined and that they are better characterized by the number of chronic diseases and debilitated functional status than by acute disease processes.
This paper examines the effectiveness of a nursing intervention for elderly hospitalized patients (N = 235) as measured by functional outcomes. A nursing intervention targeted at factors which influence acute confusion or delirium employed strategies to educate nursing staff, mobilize patients, monitor medication and make environmental and sensory modifications. Subjects who received the intervention were more likely to improve in functional status from admission to discharge than subjects who did not receive the intervention.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.