Development of a healthy ageing index in Latin American countries - a 10/66 dementia research group population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Our population is ageing and in 2050 more than one out of five people will be 60 years or older; 80% of whom will be living in a low-and-middle income country. Living longer does not entail living healthier; however, there is not a widely accepted measure of healthy ageing hampering policy and research. The World Health Organization defines healthy ageing as the process of developing and maintaining functional ability that will enable well-being in older age. We aimed to create a healthy ageing index (HAI) in a subset of six low-and-middle income countries, part of the 10/66 study, by using items of functional ability and intrinsic capacity. METHODS: The study sample included residents 65-years old and over (n = 12,865) from catchment area sites in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Items were collected by interviewing participants or key informants between 2003 and 2010. Two-stage factor analysis was employed and we compared one-factor, second-order and bifactor models. The psychometric properties of the index, including reliability, replicability, unidimensionality and concurrent convergent validity as well as measurement invariance per ethnic group and gender were further examined in the best fit model. RESULTS: The bifactor model displayed superior model fit statistics supporting that a general factor underlies the various items but other subdomain factors are also needed. The HAI indicated excellent reliability (ω = 0.96, ωΗ = 0.84), replicability (H = 0.96), some support for unidimensionality (Explained Common Variance = 0.65) and some concurrent convergent validity with self-rated health. Scalar measurement invariance per ethnic group and gender was supported. CONCLUSIONS: A HAI with excellent psychometric properties was created by using items of functional ability and intrinsic capacity in a subset of six low-and-middle income countries. Further research is needed to explore sub-population differences and to validate this index to other cultural settings

The development of the concept of return-on-investment from large-scale quality improvement programmes in healthcare: an integrative systematic literature review

BACKGROUND: Return on Investment (ROI) is increasingly being used to evaluate financial benefits from healthcare Quality Improvement (QI). ROI is traditionally used to evaluate investment performance in the commercial field. Little is known about ROI in healthcare. The aim of this systematic review was to analyse and develop ROI as a concept and develop a ROI conceptual framework for large-scale healthcare QI programmes. METHODS: We searched Medline, Embase, Global health, PsycInfo, EconLit, NHS EED, Web of Science, Google Scholar using ROI or returns-on-investment concepts (e.g., cost–benefit, cost-effectiveness, value). We combined this terms with healthcare and QI. Included articles discussed at least three organisational QI benefits, including financial or patient benefits. We synthesised the different ways in which ROI or return-on-investment concepts were used and discussed by the QI literature; first the economically focused, then the non-economically focused QI literature. We then integrated these literatures to summarise their combined views. RESULTS: We retrieved 10 428 articles. One hundred and two (102) articles were selected for full text screening. Of these 34 were excluded and 68 included. The included articles were QI economic, effectiveness, process, and impact evaluations as well as reports and conceptual literature. Fifteen of 68 articles were directly focused on QI programme economic outcomes. Of these, only four focused on ROI. ROI related concepts in this group included cost-effectiveness, cost–benefit, ROI, cost-saving, cost-reduction, and cost-avoidance. The remaining articles mainly mentioned efficiency, productivity, value, or benefits. Financial outcomes were not the main goal of QI programmes. We found that the ROI concept in healthcare QI aligned with the concepts of value and benefit, both monetary and non-monetary. CONCLUSION: Our analysis of the reviewed literature indicates that ROI in QI is conceptualised as value or benefit as demonstrated through a combination of significant outcomes for one or more stakeholders in healthcare organisations. As such, organisations at different developmental stages can deduce benefits that are relevant and legitimate as per their contextual needs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Review registration: PROSPERO; CRD42021236948. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-08832-3

Socioeconomic position and use of hospital-based care towards the end of life: a mediation analysis using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license Background: Many patients prefer to avoid hospital-based care towards the end of life, yet hospitalisation is common and more likely for people with low socioeconomic position. The reasons underlying this socioeconomic inequality are not well understood. This study investigated health, service access, and social support as potential mediating pathways between socioeconomic position and receipt of hospital-based care towards the end of life. Methods: For this observational cohort study, we included deceased participants from the nationally representative English Longitudinal Study of Ageing of people aged 50 years or older in England. We used a multiple mediation model with age-adjusted and gender-adjusted probit regression to estimate the direct effect of socioeconomic position (measured by wealth and education) on death in hospital and three or more hospital admissions in the last 2 years of life, and the indirect effects of socioeconomic position via three mediators: health and function, access to health-care services, and social support. Findings: 737 participants were included (314 [42·6%] female, 423 [57·4%] male), with a median age at death of 78 years (IQR 71–85). For death in hospital, higher wealth had a direct negative effect (probit coefficient −0·16, 95% CI −0·25 to −0·06), which was not mediated by any of the pathways tested. For frequent hospital admissions, health and function mediated the effect of wealth (−0·04, −0·08 to −0·01), accounting for 34·6% of the total negative effect of higher wealth (−0·13, −0·23 to −0·02). Higher wealth was associated with better health and function (0·25, 0·18 to 0·33). Education was associated with the outcomes only indirectly via wealth. Interpretation: Our findings suggest that worse health and function could partly explain why people with lower wealth have more hospital admissions, highlighting the importance of socioeconomically driven health differences in explaining patterns of hospital use towards the end of life. The findings should raise awareness about the related risk factors of low wealth and worse health for patients approaching the end of life, and strengthen calls for resource allocation to be made on the basis of health need and socioeconomic profile. Funding: Dunhill Medical Trust Fellowship Grant (RTF74/0116)

Advance Statements for Black African and Caribbean people (AdStAC):protocol for an implementation study

Background Advance Choice Documents (ACDs) have been recommended for inclusion in new mental health legislation for England and Wales. This is based on evidence-based interventions to reduce compulsory psychiatric admission, with particular benefit for Black people, whose rates of compulsory psychiatric admission in the UK are over three times higher than those of White British people. Our aim was to explore potential barriers and enablers to effective implementation of ACDs for use by Black people with previous experience of compulsory admission. Methods Seven online and in-person workshops were held with: Black service users who had previously been compulsorily admitted, carers/supporters of Black service users, and mental health professionals. Workshops were recorded and transcribed. Results Inductive analysis was employed to identify recommendations and determine where there was a lack of consensus. Thematic analysis identified key themes of ‘people’, ‘process’ and ‘power’ pertaining to ACD implementation. Discussion Our results reinforce the need for independent facilitation for ACD creation and their potential to empower Black service users in relation to their care. They suggest that explicit acknowledgement of, and time spent listening to, the historical and individual poor experiences that underlie the treatment preferences Black people express are important aspects of ACD creation

A multi-centre cohort study on healthcare use due to medication-related harm: the role of frailty and polypharmacy

Objectives To determine the association between frailty and medication-related harm requiring healthcare utilisation. Design Prospective observational cohort study. Setting Six primary and five secondary care sites across South East England, September 2013–November 2015. Participants One thousand and two hundred and eighty participants, ≥65 years old, who were due for discharge from general medicine and older persons’ wards following an acute episode of care. Exclusion criteria were limited life expectancy, transfer to another hospital and consent not gained. Main outcome measures Medication-related harm requiring healthcare utilisation (including primary, secondary or tertiary care consultations related to MRH), including adverse drug reactions, non-adherence and medication error determined via the review of data from three sources: patient/carer reports gathered through a structured telephone interview; primary care medical record review; and prospective consultant-led review of readmission to recruiting hospital. Frailty was measured using a Frailty Index, developed using a standardised approach. Marginal estimates were obtained from logistic regression models to examine how probabilities of healthcare service use due to medication-related harm were associated with increasing number of medicines and frailty. Results Healthcare utilisation due to medication-related harm was significantly associated with frailty (OR = 10.06, 95% CI 2.06–49.26, P = 0.004), independent of age, gender, and number of medicines. With increasing frailty, the need for healthcare use as a result of MRH increases from a probability of around 0.2–0.4. This is also the case for the number of medicines. Conclusions Frailty is associated with MRH, independent of polypharmacy. Reducing the burden of frailty through an integrated health and social care approach, alongside strategies to reduce inappropriate polypharmacy, may reduce MRH related healthcare utilisation

Predictors of care home and hospital admissions and their costs for older people with Alzheimer’s disease: findings from a large London case register

Objectives. To examine links between clinical and other characteristics of people with Alzheimer’s disease living in the community, likelihood of care home or hospital admission, and associated costs. Design. Observational data extracted from clinical records using natural language processing and Hospital Episode Statistics. Statistical analyses examined effects of cognition, physical health, mental health, sociodemographic factors and living circumstances on risk of admission to care home or hospital over 6 months and associated costs, adjusting for repeated observations. Setting. Catchment area for South London and Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust, provider for 1.2 million people in Southeast London. Participants. Every individual with diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease seen and treated by mental health services in the catchment area, with at least one rating of cognition, not resident in care home at time of assessment (n=3075). Interventions. Usual treatment. Main outcome measures. Risk of admission to, and days spent in three settings during 6-month period following routine clinical assessment: care home, mental health inpatient care, and general hospital inpatient care. Results. Predictors of probability of care home or hospital admission and/or associated costs over 6 months include cognition, functional problems, agitation, depression, physical illness, previous hospitalisations, age, gender, ethnicity, living alone, and having a partner. Patterns of association differed considerably by destination. Conclusions. Most people with dementia prefer to remain in their own homes, and funding bodies see this as cheaper than institutionalisation. Better treatment in the community that reduces health and social care needs of Alzheimer’s patients would reduce admission rates. Living alone, poor living circumstances and functional problems all raise admission rates, and so major cuts in social care budgets increase the risk of high-cost admissions which older people do not want. Routinely collected data can be used to reveal local patterns of admission and costs

Sertraline and mirtazapine versus placebo in subgroups of depression in dementia: findings from the HTA-SADD randomized controlled trial

Objective Studies have shown that antidepressants are no better than placebo in treating depression in dementia. The authors examined antidepressant efficacy in subgroups of depression in dementia with different depressive symptom profiles. Methods This study focuses on exploratory secondary analyses on the randomized, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled Health Technology Assessment Study of the Use of Antidepressants for Depression in Dementia (HTA-SADD) trial. The setting included old-age psychiatry services in nine centers in England. The participants included 326 patients meeting National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke/Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association probable/possible Alzheimer disease criteria, and Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD) scores of 8 or more. Intervention was placebo (n = 111), sertraline (n = 107), or mirtazapine (n = 108). Latent class analyses (LCA) on baseline CSDD items clustered participants into symptom-based subgroups. Mixed-model analysis evaluated CSDD improvement at 13 and 39 weeks by randomization in each subgroup. Results LCA yielded 4 subgroups: severe (n = 34), psychological (n = 86), affective (n = 129), and somatic (n = 77). Mirtazapine, but not sertraline, outperformed placebo in the psychological subgroup at week 13 (adjusted estimate: –2.77 [standard error (SE) 1.16; 95% confidence interval: –5.09 to –0.46]), which remained, but lost statistical significance at week 39 (adjusted estimate: –2.97 [SE 1.59; 95% confidence interval: –6.15 to 0.20]). Neither sertraline nor mirtazapine outperformed placebo in the other subgroups. Conclusion Because of the exploratory nature of the analyses and the small sample sizes for subgroup analysis there is the need for caution in interpreting these data. Replication of the potential effects of mirtazapine in the subgroup of those with depression in dementia with “psychological” symptoms would be valuable. These data should not change clinical practice, but future trials should consider stratifying types of depression in dementia in secondary analyses

An integrated primary care-based programme of PRE-Pregnancy cARE to improve pregnancy outcomes in women with type 2 Diabetes (The PREPARED study): protocol for a multi-method study of implementation, system adaptation and performance

Background: The number of women of childbearing age with Type 2 diabetes(T2DM) is increasing, and they now account for > 50% of pregnancies in women with pre-existing diabetes. Diabetes pregnancies without adequate pre-pregnancy care have higher risk for poor outcomes (miscarriages, birth-defects, stillbirths) and are associated with increased complications (caesarean deliveries, macrosomic babies, neonatal intensive-care admissions). The risks and costs of these pregnancies can be reduced with pregnancy preparation (HbA1c, ≤ 6.5%, 5 mg folic acid and stopping potentially harmful medicines). However, 90% of women with T2DM, most of whom are based in primary care, are not adequately prepared for pregnancy. This study will evaluate a programme of primary care-based interventions (decision-support systems; pre-pregnancy care-pathways; pregnancy-awareness resources; professional training; and performance monitoring) to improve pregnancy preparation in women with T2DM. Methods: The study aims to optimise the programme interventions and estimate their impact on pregnancy preparation, pre-pregnancy care uptake and pregnancy outcomes. To evaluate this multimodal intervention, we will use a multi-method research design following Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory, refining the interventions iteratively during the study. Thirty GP practices with ≥ 25 women with T2DM of reproductive age (18–45 years) from two South London boroughs will be exposed to the intervention. This will provide > 750 women with an estimated pregnancy incidence of 80–100 to study. The research involves: a clinical audit of processes and outcomes; a process evaluation informing intervention feasibility, implementation, and behaviour change; and a cost-consequences analysis informing future economic evaluation. Performance data will be collected via audits of GP systems, hospital antenatal clinics and pregnancy outcomes. Following CAS theory, we will use repeated measurements to monitor intervention impact on pregnancy preparation markers at 4-monthly intervals over 18-months. We will use performance and feasibility data to optimise intervention effects iteratively. The target performance for the intervention is a 30% increase in the proportion of women meeting pre-pregnancy care criteria. Discussion: The primary output will be development of an integrated programme of interventions to improve pregnancy preparation, pre-pregnancy care uptake, and reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes in women with T2DM. We will also develop an implementation plan to support the introduction of the interventions across the NHS