The Health Benefits of Visual Art Activities in the Geriatric Population

Purpose: The purpose of this poster presentation is to assess the efficacy of visual art therapy on the physical and mental health of the geriatric population. Description: The potential impact of art therapy on cognition and dementia is a growing field of research in the rehabilitative world. Some researchers have found support for certain mediums, such as ceramic painting, while others have explored multimodal treatment programs that integrate art into physical activities. Combining physical activity with an arts and crafts program could posit a significant impact on ADL function and quality of life in older adults. As a growing list of ailments accompany aging, it would be of interest to explore the effects of visual art therapy on life satisfaction, cognitive status, ADLs, and levels of depression in older adults. Methods: A literature review was conducted on visual art activities and health in the geriatric population using the following search terms: art therapy, visual art, mental health, health, cognition, geriatric, and older adults. Five peer-reviewed studies that were published between 2016 and 2019 were selected for review. Conclusion: The current literature supports the inclusion of visual art therapy as treatment for older adults. Research shows that art therapy can decrease grief, mourning, negative emotions, and depression while promoting positive memories, socializing, language function and quality of life in older adults. Art therapy has also been correlated with positive effects on emotional status and cognitive status in patients with dementia. Summary of Use: This poster presentation reviews the benefits of implementing visual art therapy in geriatric rehabilitation in terms of both physical and mental health. Clinical Relevance: Visual art activities are low-intensity interventions that work to improve both gross motor and fine motor skills in the geriatric population. Art activities can specifically help address deficits of upper body strength, stability, proprioception, and tactile skills. In addition to physical improvements, participant engagement, mood, quality of life, and well-being are positively affected as well. Given the potential benefits, further research is needed to bolster support for the integration of visual art activities with traditional exercise.https://soar.usa.edu/casmspring2020/1001/thumbnail.jp

Mortality after surgery in Europe: a 7 day cohort study

Background: Clinical outcomes after major surgery are poorly described at the national level. Evidence of heterogeneity between hospitals and health-care systems suggests potential to improve care for patients but this potential remains unconfirmed. The European Surgical Outcomes Study was an international study designed to assess outcomes after non-cardiac surgery in Europe.Methods: We did this 7 day cohort study between April 4 and April 11, 2011. We collected data describing consecutive patients aged 16 years and older undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery in 498 hospitals across 28 European nations. Patients were followed up for a maximum of 60 days. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcome measures were duration of hospital stay and admission to critical care. We used χ² and Fisher’s exact tests to compare categorical variables and the t test or the Mann-Whitney U test to compare continuous variables. Significance was set at p<0·05. We constructed multilevel logistic regression models to adjust for the differences in mortality rates between countries.Findings: We included 46 539 patients, of whom 1855 (4%) died before hospital discharge. 3599 (8%) patients were admitted to critical care after surgery with a median length of stay of 1·2 days (IQR 0·9–3·6). 1358 (73%) patients who died were not admitted to critical care at any stage after surgery. Crude mortality rates varied widely between countries (from 1·2% [95% CI 0·0–3·0] for Iceland to 21·5% [16·9–26·2] for Latvia). After adjustment for confounding variables, important differences remained between countries when compared with the UK, the country with the largest dataset (OR range from 0·44 [95% CI 0·19 1·05; p=0·06] for Finland to 6·92 [2·37–20·27; p=0·0004] for Poland).Interpretation: The mortality rate for patients undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery was higher than anticipated. Variations in mortality between countries suggest the need for national and international strategies to improve care for this group of patients.Funding: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, European Society of Anaesthesiology