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Geriatrics research

Everything we have read on geriatrics. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

1,154 PAPERS · PAGE 9 OF 24 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTSLPCohort2017Predictive Indices for Functional Improvement and Deterioration, Institutionalization, and Death Among Elderly Medicare Beneficiaries.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationA new scoring system predicts which Medicare patients aged 65 or older will deteriorate, be institutionalized, or die within two years. It identifies risk factors like advanced age, living alone, and vision impairment to help clinicians plan care and prevent poor outcomes.
• PTOTOther2017Effects of single and dual tasks during walking on spatiotemporal gait parameters of community-dwelling older.Journal of physical therapy scienceWalking while carrying a cup with the elbow bent at 90 degrees reduced walking speed and shortened steps in healthy older adults. The change was largest in people aged 80 to 84. Carrying something while walking may be harder than walking alone.
• PTOTPilot2017Effects of silver gymnastic exercises on aging-related hormones in elderly women living alone.Journal of physical therapy scienceTwelve weeks of group gymnastics raised growth hormone and estrogen levels in twenty elderly women living alone. Because there was no control group and the study was small, this shows a change in blood markers, not that the exercises prevent disease or reverse aging.
• PTOTQualitative2018Patient-centered mobility outcome preferences according to individuals with stroke and caregivers: a qualitative analysis.Disability and rehabilitationStroke survivors often prioritized walking independently. Caregivers often prioritized safety, falls, home changes, driving, and realistic mobility prognosis. Ask each person and caregiver before choosing mobility goals.
• PTOTOther2017Effect of pain on fear of falling in patients with femoral proximal fracture.Journal of physical therapy scienceFour weeks after surgery for femoral proximal fracture, age and higher pain intensity were linked to lower confidence about avoiding falls. Walking, balance and daily independence did not differ across confidence groups, so pain is worth asking about.
• PTOTCohort2018Timed mobility: description of measurement, performance, and dimensionality among older adults.Disability and rehabilitationTimes for five everyday mobility tasks in 189 adults over 75 were related enough to look like one mobility construct. If a patient rises or walks quickly, other timed tasks often are quicker too.
• PTOTCohort2018The association of discharge destination with 30-day rehospitalization rates among older adults receiving lumbar spinal fusion surgery.Musculoskeletal science & practiceOlder adults discharged to rehabilitation services after spinal fusion had higher 30-day readmission rates than those discharged home. This likely reflects sicker, more complex patients needing skilled care, not harm from the therapy itself. Clinicians should expect higher medical instability in this group.
• OTSLPOther2017Measurement of confidence: the development and psychometric evaluation of a stroke-specific, measure of confidence.Clinical rehabilitationA 27-item stroke confidence questionnaire covers self-confidence, positive attitude and social confidence, with consistent scores over time in 202 adults, but it is not yet shown to guide treatment or predict recovery.
• OTOther2017The role of meaning in life: mediating the effects of perceived knowledge of stroke on depression and life satisfaction among stroke survivors.Clinical rehabilitationAmong 192 older stroke survivors, higher perceived knowledge of stroke was linked to fewer depressive symptoms and greater life satisfaction. Meaning in life appeared to carry this link. These were baseline data, so giving information was not shown to cause improvement.
• PTOTOther2018The effects of a client-centered leisure activity program on satisfaction, self-esteem, and depression in elderly residents of a long-term care facility.Journal of physical therapy scienceResidents who received usual activities plus chosen individual leisure activities and elastic-band group exercise showed better performance and satisfaction, higher self-esteem, lower depression, and better upper-limb function. In the control group, upper-limb, self-esteem, and depression outcomes did not change significantly.
• PTOTOther2018Age-dependent changes in dynamic standing-balance ability evaluated quantitatively using a stabilometer.Journal of physical therapy scienceDynamic standing balance declines with age, dropping sharply after 60. A new stabilometer index tracks this decline without hitting a ceiling, offering age-specific reference values for assessing balance in healthy adults.
• OTSLPCase Series2018Feasibility of a cognitive strategy training intervention for people with Parkinson's disease.Disability and rehabilitationSeven people with Parkinson's and subjective cognitive decline found a home-based strategy training intervention feasible and satisfying. They reported clinically important improvements in self-identified functional problems, but this case series cannot prove the treatment works.
• PTOTCohort2018Patient reported outcomes in GNE myopathy: incorporating a valid assessment of physical function in a rare disease.Disability and rehabilitationThree patient-reported function measures were usable and stable in 35 people with GNE myopathy, but they did not separate low from moderate impairment and may not fit advanced disease.
• PTOTOther2017Relationship Between Head-Turn Gait Speed and Lateral Balance Function in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationOlder adults with poor lateral balance slowed down significantly more when turning their heads while walking than when looking forward. Head-turn gait speed was the strongest predictor of lateral balance stability, suggesting this simple observation may help identify fall risk.
• PTOTSLPOther2018Changes in thickness of the transversus abdominis during the abdominal drawing-in manoeuvre and expiratory muscle training in elderly people.Journal of physical therapy scienceExpiratory muscle training thickened the deep abdominal muscle more than the standard drawing-in maneuver in elderly people. Both exercises increased thickness compared to rest, but expiratory training produced a greater effect. This suggests breathing against resistance may be an easier way to target deep abdominal muscles in older adults.
• OTOther2018Cross-cultural adaptation and construct validity of the Korean version of a physical activity measure for community-dwelling elderly.Journal of physical therapy scienceThe Korean physical activity measure ranked community-dwelling elders' daily tasks from easy to hard and matched elders with lower and moderate ability, but it topped out for some high-ability people.
• PTOTOther2018Could Activity Modifications Indicate Physical Decline Among Adults With Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis?American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationAdults with knee OA who changed how or how often they walked, without feeling limited, had more pain, poorer function, worse global health and poorer balance than those who changed nothing. People who changed stair climbing without feeling limited also walked less in 6 minutes.
• PTOTCohort2018Dynamic stability during split-belt walking and the relationship with step length symmetry.Gait & postureHealthy adults became less stable and less symmetrical when walking on split-belt treadmills. Anterior-posterior stability and symmetry improved together over 15 minutes, but side-to-side stability did not recover. Higher baseline stability predicted better symmetry during the perturbation.
• PTOTSLPCohort2018Aging effects on leg joint variability during walking with balance perturbations.Gait & postureOlder adults did not scale their hip, knee, and ankle joint adjustments to increasing visual perturbations, unlike younger adults. They showed disproportionately large variability even at the smallest disturbance, suggesting a saturated or misgraded balance response.
• PTOTCohort2018Association between knee extensor strength and pulmonary function in the female elderly.Journal of physical therapy scienceKnee extensor strength correlates with lung capacity in older women, explaining about a third of the variance in vital capacity. Stronger legs are associated with better breathing, but the cross-sectional design cannot prove that leg exercises improve lung function.
• OTRCT2017Brain Changes Following Executive Control Training in Older Adults.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairGoal-oriented attention training increased brain activity in attention networks during a selective attention task, but did not improve reaction time or accuracy compared to a control group. The training also did not significantly improve memory for relevant information.
• PTOTQualitative2018Falls in people with multiple sclerosis: experiences of 115 fall situations.Clinical rehabilitationPeople with multiple sclerosis described falls as happening indoors during everyday tasks, often when MS symptoms fluctuated, fatigue or distraction reduced attention. Walking aids were often involved, sometimes used as usual but not enough support, and sometimes not used as intended.
• OTPilot2018The effects of an occupation-centered cognitive rehabilitation program on elderly individuals with mild cognitive impairment.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn six older women with mild cognitive impairment, after the combined handicraft and reminiscence program, cognitive test scores did not improve enough to be counted as a real change, but instrumental daily living scores and an EEG attention measure increased.
• PTOTRCT2018Effect of physical activity on cognition and daily living activities of the elderly with mild dementia.Journal of physical therapy scienceAdding 30-minute strength and balance exercises to cognitive training improved cognition and daily function more than cognitive training alone in 60 older adults with mild dementia. Both groups also received cognitive training.
• PTOTCohort2017Hypervigilance to pain affects activities of daily living: an examination using the Japanese version of the pain vigilance awareness questionnaire.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn 50 elderly patients with chronic pain, hypervigilance and pain intensity were the only factors significantly linked to disability. Anxiety, depression, fear of movement, and catastrophizing did not independently predict daily living limitations.
• OTOther2017Assessing the adjustability of grasping force using the iWakka in elderly individuals.Journal of physical therapy scienceWhen older adults repeated the same grasping force task on the iWakka, their first and second scores shifted by a consistent small amount, but the error did not grow with larger targets.
• PTOTRCT2018Functional Reach, Depression Scores, and Number of Medications Are Associated With Number of Falls in People With Chronic Stroke.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationIn people with chronic stroke, more medications and higher depression scores predicted more falls. Functional reach distance also predicted falls, with a cutoff of 18.15 cm for recurrent falls. Other common tests like Berg Balance and Timed Up and Go did not distinguish fallers.
• PTOTCohort2018Prediction of falling risk after discharge in ambulatory stroke or history of fracture patients using Balance Evaluation Systems Test (BESTest).Journal of physical therapy scienceIn ambulatory stroke patients, low scores on the BESTest sections for Anticipatory Postural Adjustments and Sensory Orientation were significantly associated with falls within six months. These two specific balance components may help identify high-risk patients who appear stable enough for discharge.
• OTOther2017The effects of aging and HIV disease on employment status and functioning.Rehabilitation psychologyOlder adults with HIV were least likely to be employed and had high disability rates. Among those still working, self-reported work functioning was poorer only compared with younger adults without HIV.
• PTOTOther2018Effects of a 12-week marching in place and chair rise daily exercise intervention on ADL and functional mobility in frail older adults.Journal of physical therapy scienceFrail nursing home residents who marched in place and rose from a chair for 25 minutes daily for 12 weeks improved their ability to perform daily tasks and their walking speed. The exercise group also generated significantly more power when standing up. The non-exercise group showed no such gains.
• PTOTSLPCohort2018The Association of Clinic-Based Mobility Tasks and Measures of Community Performance and Risk.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationNormal walking speed was the strongest predictor of community function and fall risk for most outcomes. Stair climbing time specifically identified those with balance confidence issues and past falls. Complex dual-task tests best captured engagement in cognitive leisure activities.
• PTOTCohort2018Premorbid Activity Limitation Stages Are Associated With Posthospitalization Discharge Disposition.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationOlder adults who had more difficulty before hospitalization were more likely to go to post-acute care facilities or home with services. Self-care and household-task limitation stages were linked to different patterns, so ask about both.
• PTOTRCT2018Effects of long-term balance training with vibrotactile sensory augmentation among community-dwelling healthy older adults: a randomized preliminary study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationEight weeks of in-home balance training improved balance in older adults, but adding vibrotactile feedback to a smartphone trainer produced significantly greater gains. Both groups trained safely at home, though the small sample size means these results are preliminary.
• PTOTCohort2018Preoperative Risk Factors for Postoperative Falls in Persons Undergoing Hip or Knee Arthroplasty: A Longitudinal Study of Data From the Osteoarthritis Initiative.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationPatients who had fallen in the year before hip or knee replacement, or who reported higher depressive symptoms, were significantly more likely to fall two or more times in the two years after surgery. Hip replacement carried over double the risk of multiple falls compared to knee replacement.
• PTOTCohort2018What Types of Treatment Are Provided for Patients With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? A Retrospective Analysis of Commercial Insurance.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationMost commercially insured patients with carpal tunnel syndrome received no documented treatment or only one visit. Splinting was the most common early conservative care. Surgery occurred in 24% of patients, typically after initial conservative management. Actual practice largely matched guideline recommendations.
• PTOTCohort2018Three-Year Changes in Physical Activity and Subsequent Loss of Ability to Walk 400 m in Older Adults: The InCHIANTI Study.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationOlder adults who stayed or became more active over 3 years were less likely to later be unable to complete a 400 m walk. The paper reports a link, not proof that activity prevents mobility loss.
• PTOTOther2018Promoting activity, independence and stability in early dementia and mild cognitive impairment (PrAISED): development of an intervention for people with mild cognitive impairment and dementia.Clinical rehabilitationPrAISED is a home-based, tailored balance, strength, dual-task and functional activity programme for mild dementia or mild cognitive impairment. It is not proven to reduce falls or improve independence; it is ready for testing.
• PTOTSLPRCT2018Changes in cognitive function after a 12-week exercise intervention in adults with Down syndrome.Disability and health journalTwelve weeks of home-based video exercise did not significantly change attention or reaction time. However, participants doing two sessions per week showed large improvements in memory tasks compared to those doing one, though the study was not powered to confirm this.
• PTOTRCT2018The effects of gait training using powered lower limb exoskeleton robot on individuals with complete spinal cord injury.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationTwo men with complete spinal cord injury walked faster and reported less effort using a new powered exoskeleton than with a traditional knee-ankle-foot orthosis. They also put the device on and took it off more quickly. No falls or skin injuries occurred.
• PTOTCohort2018Rehabilitation Utilization for Falls Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in the United States in the National Health and Aging Trends Study.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationRecurrent falls strongly predict receiving fall-related rehabilitation, but lower education and Hispanic ethnicity reduce access even after accounting for falls. Therapists should not assume clinical need alone drives referrals, as demographic barriers persist.
• PTOTOther2018Quantification of upper limb position sense using an exoskeleton and a virtual reality display.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA robot and virtual arm let 30 healthy adults identify the smallest elbow angle differences of 7.0 and 5.9 degrees. Repeated scores were fair to good, but shifted slightly after one week, and only healthy adults were tested.
• PTOTRCT2018Recalibrating disparities in perceived and actual balance abilities in older adults: a mixed-methods evaluation of a novel exergaming intervention.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationOlder adults who played a supervised balance game for eight short sessions showed a closer match between perceived and actual balance. Some gained confidence; others recognised limits and reduced risky movements. Falls were not measured.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2018What influences decisions about ongoing stroke rehabilitation for patients with pre-existing dementia or cognitive impairment: a qualitative study?Clinical rehabilitationStroke clinicians said dementia knowledge, family history, gut instinct and service limits drove decisions. Many expected pre-existing dementia to mean poor rehab potential, so patients needing more time were deprioritised or moved to compensatory care.
• PTOTSurvey2018Occupation-based differences in shared perceptions of older resident needs within multidisciplinary care teams: a cross-sectional study of care workers, nurses, and therapists linked to older residents.Journal of physical therapy scienceStaff in Japanese care facilities disagreed with each other on what residents wanted. They also missed autonomy needs, underestimating desires for household chores, money management, and exercise.
• PTOTSLPCohort2018Can Older Adults Accurately Report Their Use of Physical Rehabilitation Services?Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationMost older Medicare patients accurately reported using PT, OT or speech therapy in the past year. But under-reporting was more likely for Black adults, adults 85 or older, those with less than high school, proxy answers, and inpatient rehab.
• PTOTCohort2018Age-related changes in the tactile pressure sensitivity threshold in the sole of the foot in diabetic patients.Journal of physical therapy scienceOlder diabetic patients had higher tactile pressure sensitivity thresholds in their feet, meaning they needed stronger pressure to feel it. This age-related decline was stronger than the effect of how long they had had diabetes. Clinicians should test the heel as well as the forefoot.
• OTQualitative2017Enablers and challenges to occupational therapists' research engagement: A qualitative study.The British journal of occupational therapyOccupational therapists delivering dementia research found paperwork, videoing, recruitment and a new intervention overwhelming. Peer and management support, protected funded time, and positive attitudes helped them stay involved.
• OTCohort2018Does a regular Wessex Head Injury Matrix assessment identify early signs of infections in people with Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness?Brain injuryIn people with prolonged disorders of consciousness, WHIM behavioural scores often dropped when infection was present. It happened in 17 of 21 retrospective and 15 of 22 prospective patients, but vegetative-state scores may not change.
• OTRCT2018Activity-Based Goals Generated by Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment.OTJR : occupation, participation and healthOlder adults with mild cognitive impairment generated 55 activity-based goals with an occupational therapist, averaging 4.23 goals each. Most goals concerned instrumental daily tasks, especially exercise, not basic self-care, education, or work.
• OTPilot2018Feasibility of a Novel Intervention to Improve Participation after Stroke.The British journal of occupational therapyA home-based occupational therapy program adding modifications and strategy training to usual stroke care was feasible and safe. Participants in the intervention group showed large, clinically meaningful improvements in community participation and daily activity performance at six months compared to an education-only control group.