Background. Cognitive decline and dementia are associated with disability and premature death in old age. We examined whether low handgrip strength predicts subsequent cognitive decline in older Mexican Americans. Methods. We worked with a 7-year prospective cohort of 2160 noninstitutionalized Mexican Americans aged 65 years or older from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE) who had a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score ≥ 21 at baseline. Measures included: (i) sociodemographic factors (age, gender, and education), handgrip strength, and near and distant visual impairment from baseline interview; and (ii) MMSE, body mass index (BMI), and medical conditions (stroke, heart attack, diabetes, depression, and hypertension) from four waves of data collection. Results. Using general linear mixed models, we found a significant trend with scores in the lowest quartile of handgrip strength at baseline to be associated with lower MMSE scores over time (estimate = −1.28, standard error = 0.16; p <.0001). There was a significant handgrip Strength-by-Time interaction with MMSE scores. Participants in the lowest handgrip strength quartile had a greater cognitive decline over time (estimate = −0.26, standard error = 0.07; p <.001) than did those participants in the highest quartile. This association remained statistically significant after controlling for potential confounding factors. Conclusion. Older Mexican Americans with reduced handgrip strength at baseline demonstrated a statistically significant decline in cognitive function over a 7-year period. By contrast, participants in the highest handgrip strength quartile maintained a higher level of cognitive function.

National and population-based information on the increase in patient care by hospitalists in the United States is lacking. Using a 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries in 1995, 1997, 1999, and the period from 2001 through 2006, we identified 120,226 physicians in general internal medicine who were providing care to older patients in 5800 U.S. hospitals. We defined hospitalists as general internists who derived 90% or more of their Medicare claims for evaluation-and-management services from the care of hospitalized patients. We then calculated the percentage of all inpatient Medicare services provided by hospitalists and identified patient and hospital characteristics associated with the receipt of hospitalist services. The percentage of physicians in general internal medicine who were identified as hospitalists increased from 5.9% in 1995 to 19.0% in 2006, and the percentage of all claims for inpatient evaluation-and-management services by general internists that were attributed to hospitalists increased from 9.1% to 37.1% during this same period. Accompanying the increase in care by hospitalists was an increase in the percentage of all hospitalized Medicare patients who were treated by general internists (both hospitalists and traditional, non–hospital-based general internists), from 46.4% in 1995 to 61.0% in 2006. In a multilevel, multivariable analysis controlling for patient and hospital characteristics, the odds of receiving care from a hospitalist increased by 29.2% per year from 1997 through 2006. In 2006, there was marked geographic variation in the rates of care provided by hospitalists, with rates of more than 70% in some hospital-referral regions. These analyses of data from Medicare claims showed a substantial increase in the care of hospitalized patients by hospitalist physicians from 1995 to 2006.

The use of nurse practitioners (NPs) is one way to address the shortage of physician primary care providers. NP training programs and the number of practicing NPs have increased in the past two dec...

OBJECTIVE—The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between inconsistency in use of diabetes drugs and risk of renal, eye, and circulation problems and death over a 7-year period in community-dwelling older Mexican Americans. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Data are from the four waves of the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly. In-home interviewers assessed consistency in use of diabetes medications among 908 diabetic Mexican Americans, aged ≥65 years. Diabetes and complications were by self-report. Subjects with poor consistency in use of medication were those who, at any time during the 7-year follow-up, discontinued or inconsistently used their diabetes medications and those who had no diabetic medications at home despite self-report of taking medicine for diabetes. RESULTS—Thirty-six percent of our sample were inconsistent with diabetes medication usage. Older age and lack of supplemental health insurance were significantly associated with inconsistency of use of medication. In a multivariate logistic regression model, subjects with poor consistency in use of medication were more likely to report kidney problems (odds ratio [OR] 1.59; 95% CI 1.13–2.23; P = 0.008) at follow-up compared with those with good consistency, after controlling for age, sex, medication type, duration of diabetes, education, income, marital status, language of interview, insurance status, cognitive function, presence of depressive symptoms, activities of daily living, and instrumental activities of daily living. In Cox regression models, poor consistency with diabetic medication was also associated with increased all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 1.43; 95% CI 1.13–1.82; P = 0.003) and diabetes-related deaths (1.66; 1.20–2.30; P = 0.002) over a 7-year period after adjusting for relevant confounders. CONCLUSIONS—Inconsistent use of diabetic medication was associated with an increased risk of kidney problems and deaths over a 7-year period in older Mexican Americans.

Most studies of hospitalist care have focused on the inpatient stay. This study compared hospitalized patients who were cared for by primary care physicians with those cared for by hospitalists. Ho... Background: Hospitalist care has grown rapidly, in part because it is associated with decreased length of stay and hospital costs. No national studies examining the effect of hospitalist care on ho...