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BackgroundDelirium is a profound neuropsychiatric disturbance precipitated by acute illness. Although dementia is the major risk factor this has typically been considered a binary quantity (i.e., cognitively impaired versus cognitively normal) with respect to delirium risk. We used humans and mice to address the hypothesis that the severity of underlying neurodegenerative changes and/or cognitive impairment progressively alters delirium risk.MethodsHumans in a population-based longitudinal study, Vantaa 85+, were followed for incident delirium. Odds for reporting delirium at follow-up (outcome) were modeled using random-effects logistic regression, where prior cognitive impairment measured by Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) (exposure) was considered. To address whether underlying neurodegenerative pathology increased susceptibility to acute cognitive change, mice at three stages of neurodegenerative disease progression (ME7 model of neurodegeneration: controls, 12 weeks, and 16 weeks) were assessed for acute cognitive dysfunction upon systemic inflammation induced by bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 100 μg/kg). Synaptic and axonal correlates of susceptibility to acute dysfunction were assessed using immunohistochemistry.ResultsIn the Vantaa cohort, 465 persons (88.4 ± 2.8 years) completed MMSE at baseline. For every MMSE point lost, risk of incident delirium increased by 5% (p = 0.02). LPS precipitated severe and fluctuating cognitive deficits in 16-week ME7 mice but lower incidence or no deficits in 12-week ME7 and controls, respectively. This was associated with progressive thalamic synaptic loss and axonal pathology.ConclusionA human population-based cohort with graded severity of existing cognitive impairment and a mouse model with progressing neurodegeneration both indicate that the risk of delirium increases with greater severity of pre-existing cognitive impairment and neuropathology.

Background To better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital healthcare, we studied activity in the emergency department (ED) and acute medicine department of a major UK hospital. Methods Electronic patient records for all adult patients attending ED (n = 243,667) or acute medicine (n = 82,899) during the pandemic (2020–2021) and prior year (2019) were analysed and compared. We studied parameters including severity, primary diagnoses, co-morbidity, admission rate, length of stay, bed occupancy, and mortality, with a focus on non-COVID-19 diseases. Results During the first wave of the pandemic, daily ED attendance fell by 37%, medical admissions by 30% and medical bed occupancy by 27%, but all returned to normal within a year. ED attendances and medical admissions fell across all age ranges; the greatest reductions were seen for younger adults in ED attendances, but in older adults for medical admissions. Compared to non-COVID-19 pandemic admissions, COVID-19 admissions were enriched for minority ethnic groups, for dementia, obesity and diabetes, but had lower rates of malignancy. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, non-COVID-19 pandemic admissions had more hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, liver disease, and obesity. There were fewer low severity ED attendances during the pandemic and fewer medical admissions across all severity categories. There were fewer ED attendances with common non-respiratory illnesses including cardiac diagnoses, but no change in cardiac arrests. COVID-19 was the commonest diagnosis amongst medical admissions during the first wave and there were fewer diagnoses of pneumonia, myocardial infarction, heart failure, cellulitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, urinary tract infection and other sepsis, but not stroke. Levels had rebounded by a year later with a trend to higher levels of stroke than before the pandemic. During the pandemic first wave, 7-day mortality was increased for ED attendances, but not for non-COVID-19 medical admissions. Conclusions Reduced ED attendances in the first wave of the pandemic suggest opportunities for reducing low severity presentations to ED in the future, but also raise the possibility of harm from delayed or missed care. Reassuringly, recent rises in attendance and admissions indicate that any deterrent effect of the pandemic on attendance is diminishing.

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This partnership enabled students on both sides to exploit psychiatry-learning resources at the other's disposal, outside the standard medical education context, illustrating the benefits to medical students in dramatically different locations of partnership through telemedicine. This pilot study presents an innovative, cost-effective, under-used approach to international medical education.

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