Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) provides detailed information on clinical, functional and cognitive aspects of older patients and is especially useful for assessing frail individuals. Although a large proportion of hospitalized older adults demonstrate a high level of complexity, CGA was not developed specifically for this setting. Our aim was to evaluate the application of a CGA model for the clinical characterization and prognostic prediction of hospitalized older adults. This was a prospective observational study including 746 patients aged 60 years and over who were admitted to a geriatric ward of a university hospital between January 2009 and December 2011, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The proposed CGA was applied to evaluate all patients at admission. The primary outcome was in-hospital death, and the secondary outcomes were delirium, nosocomial infections, functional decline and length of stay. Multivariate binary logistic regression was performed to assess independent factors associated with these outcomes, including socio-demographic, clinical, functional, cognitive, and laboratory variables. Impairment in ten CGA components was particularly investigated: polypharmacy, activities of daily living (ADL) dependency, instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) dependency, depression, dementia, delirium, urinary incontinence, falls, malnutrition, and poor social support. The studied patients were mostly women (67.4%), and the mean age was 80.5±7.9 years. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed the following independent factors associated with in-hospital death: IADL dependency (OR=4.02; CI=1.52-10.58; p=.005); ADL dependency (OR=2.39; CI=1.25-4.56; p=.008); malnutrition (OR=2.80; CI=1.63-4.83; p<.001); poor social support (OR=5.42; CI=2.93-11.36; p<.001); acute kidney injury (OR=3.05; CI=1.78-5.27; p<.001); and the presence of pressure ulcers (OR=2.29; CI=1.04-5.07; p=.041). ADL dependency was independently associated with both delirium incidence and nosocomial infections (respectively: OR=3.78; CI=2.30-6.20; p<.001 and OR=2.30; CI=1.49-3.49; p<.001). The number of impaired CGA components was also found to be associated with in-hospital death (p<.001), delirium incidence (p<.001) and nosocomial infections (p=.005). Additionally, IADL dependency, malnutrition and history of falls predicted longer hospitalizations. There were no significant changes in overall functional status during the hospital stay. CGA identified patients at higher risk of in-hospital death and adverse outcomes, of which those with functional dependence, malnutrition and poor social support were foremost.

The human prefrontal cortex has been considered different in several aspects and relatively enlarged compared to the rest of the cortical areas. Here we determine whether the white and gray matter of the prefrontal portion of the human cerebral cortex have similar or different cellular compositions relative to the rest of the cortical regions by applying the Isotropic Fractionator to analyze the distribution of neurons along the entire anteroposterior axis of the cortex, and its relationship with the degree of gyrification, number of neurons under the cortical surface, and other parameters. The prefrontal region shares with the remainder of the cerebral cortex (except for occipital cortex) the same relationship between cortical volume and number of neurons. In contrast, both occipital and prefrontal areas vary from other cortical areas in their connectivity through the white matter, with a systematic reduction of cortical connectivity through the white matter and an increase of the mean axon caliber along the anteroposterior axis. These two parameters explain local differences in the distribution of neurons underneath the cortical surface. We also show that local variations in cortical folding are neither a function of local numbers of neurons nor of cortical thickness, but correlate with properties of the white matter, and are best explained by the folding of the white matter surface. Our results suggest that the human cerebral cortex is divided in two zones (occipital and non-occipital) that differ in how neurons are distributed across their gray matter volume and in three zones (prefrontal, occipital, and non-occipital) that differ in how neurons are connected through the white matter. Thus, the human prefrontal cortex has the largest fraction of neuronal connectivity through the white matter and the smallest average axonal caliber in the white matter within the cortex, although its neuronal composition fits the pattern found for other, non-occipital areas.

Background: Although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disproportionally affects older adults, the use of conventional triage tools in acute care settings ignores the key aspects of vulnerability. Objective: This study aimed to determine the usefulness of adding a rapid vulnerability screening to an illness acuity tool to predict mortality in hospitalised COVID-19 patients. Design: Cohort study. Setting: Large university hospital dedicated to providing COVID-19 care. Participants: Participants included are 1,428 consecutive inpatients aged ≥50 years. Methods: Vulnerability was assessed using the modified version of PRO-AGE score (0–7; higher = worse), a validated and easy-to-administer tool that rates physical impairment, recent hospitalisation, acute mental change, weight loss and fatigue. The baseline covariates included age, sex, Charlson comorbidity score and the National Early Warning Score (NEWS), a well-known illness acuity tool. Our outcome was time-to-death within 60 days of admission. Results: The patients had a median age of 66 years, and 58% were male. The incidence of 60-day mortality ranged from 22% to 69% across the quartiles of modified PRO-AGE. In adjusted analysis, compared with modified PRO-AGE scores 0–1 (‘lowest quartile’), the hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) for 60-day mortality for modified PRO-AGE scores 2–3, 4 and 5–7 were 1.4 (1.1–1.9), 2.0 (1.5–2.7) and 2.8 (2.1–3.8), respectively. The modified PRO-AGE predicted different mortality risk levels within each stratum of NEWS and improved the discrimination of mortality prediction models. Conclusions: Adding vulnerability to illness acuity improved accuracy of predicting mortality in hospitalised COVID-19 patients. Combining tools such as PRO-AGE and NEWS may help stratify the risk of mortality from COVID-19.

Objectives: To compare variables of access to healthcare between the LGBT+ population aged 50 and over and those non-LGBT+.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Brazil through a confidential online questionnaire. The use of the health system was characterized by the number of preventive tests performed and measured by the PCATool-Brasil scale (a 10-point scale in which higher scores were associated with better assistance in healthcare). The association between being LGBT+ and access to health was analyzed in Poisson regression models.Results: 6693 participants (1332 LGBT+ and 5361 non-LGBT+) with a median age of 60 years were included. In the univariate analysis, it was observed not only lower scores on the PCATool scale (5.13 against 5.82, p < 0.001), but a greater proportion of individuals among those classified with the worst quintile of access to healthcare (< 4 points), 31% against 18% (p < 0.001). Being LGBT+ was an independent factor associated with worse access to health (PR = 2.5, 95% CI 2.04-3.06). The rate of screening cancer, for breast, colon, and cervical cancer was also found to be lower in the LGBT+ population. Conclusion: Healthcare access and health service experiences were worse in the LGBT+ group than in their non-LGBT peers. Inclusive and effective healthcare public policies are essential to promote healthy aging for all.

Objective To evaluate the learning effect of computerized cognitive testing in the elderly.Methods Cross-sectional study with 20 elderly, 10 women and 10 men, with average age of 77.5 (±4.28) years. The volunteers performed two series of computerized cognitive tests in sequence and their results were compared. The applied tests were: Trail Making A and B, Spatial Recognition, Go/No Go, Memory Span, Pattern Recognition Memory and Reverse Span.Results Based on the comparison of the results, learning effects were observed only in the Trail Making A test (p=0.019). Other tests performed presented no significant performance improvements. There was no correlation between learning effect and age (p=0.337) and education (p=0.362), as well as differences between genders (p=0.465).Conclusion The computerized cognitive tests repeated immediately afterwards, for elderly, revealed no change in their performance, with the exception of the Trail Making test, demonstrating high clinical applicability, even in short intervals.