Angst voor vallen op een valpolikliniek geriatrie: Een pilotstudy

Objective. In this pilot study we want to determine how often fear of falling occurs in geriatric patients visiting a fall clinic and to study the characteristics of fear of falling and its consequences. Design. Retrospective study of patient's records. Method. A random sample of 100 medical records of geriatric patients of the fall clinic of the Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis in Den Bosch was systematical examined. Results. The mean age of the patients was 79.8 ± 6 years. Before visiting the fall clinic, the patients had a history of falling during 34.6 months, and 62% of them visited a hospital due to the consequences of falling. In the fall clinic a mean number of 2.5 probable causes per fall was diagnosed. In this study 31% of the patients had fear of falling. The demographic characteristics and the causes of falling of the patients with or without fear of falling, were almost the same. Patients with fear of falling had a hip prothesis in 26%, whereas patients without fear of falling only in 7% had a hip prothesis (

Differences in Nutritional Status Between Very Mild Alzheimer's Disease Patients and Healthy Controls

Background: Studies on the systemic availability of nutrients and nutritional status in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are widely available, but the majority included patients in a moderate stage of AD. Objective: This study compares the nutritional status between mild AD outpatients and healthy controls. Methods: A subgroup of Dutch drug-naive patients with mild AD (Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) >/=20) from the Souvenir II randomized controlled study (NTR1975) and a group of Dutch healthy controls were included. Nutritional status was assessed by measuring levels of several nutrients, conducting the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA(R)) questionnaire and through anthropometric measures. Results: In total, data of 93 healthy cognitively intact controls (MMSE 29.0 [23.0-30.0]) and 79 very mild AD patients (MMSE = 25.0 [20.0-30.0]) were included. Plasma selenium (p < 0.001) and uridine (p = 0.046) levels were significantly lower in AD patients, with a similar trend for plasma vitamin D (p = 0.094) levels. In addition, the fatty acid profile in erythrocyte membranes was different between groups for several fatty acids. Mean MNA screening score was significantly lower in AD patients (p = 0.008), but not indicative of malnutrition risk. No significant differences were observed for other micronutrient or anthropometric parameters. Conclusion: In non-malnourished patients with very mild AD, lower levels of some micronutrients, a different fatty acid profile in erythrocyte membranes and a slightly but significantly lower MNA screening score were observed. This suggests that subtle differences in nutrient status are present already in a very early stage of AD and in the absence of protein/energy malnutrition