Precipitating factors for delirium in hospitalized elderly persons: predictive model and interrelationship with baseline vulnerability

Article Abstract:

Several risk factors appear to predict the likelihood that hospitalized elderly people will develop delirium. Researchers discovered that five risk factors could significantly predict the development of delirium in 196 hospitalized elderly patients. The risk factors were malnutrition, physical restraint, use of a bladder catheter, prescribing more than three different medications and any medical complication caused by hospitalization such as hospital-acquired infections or drug reactions. Thirty-five patients developed delirium by the ninth day of hospitalization and those with three or more risk factors were 22 times more likely to develop delirium than those with none. The rates of delirium were 3% in those with no risk factors, 20% in those with one or two and 59% in those with three or more. These results were confirmed in another group of 312 patients admitted to the same hospital over the next 12 months.

Psychological aspects, Risk factors, Aged patients, Elderly patients, Delirium

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Medicare coverage, supplemental insurance, and the use of mammography by older women

Article Abstract:

American women age 65 or over may not pursue mammography screening for breast cancer because they have to pay part of the cost. An analysis of Medicare bills in 1991 and 1992 of 4,110 women 65 and over revealed that only 36.9% took advantage of the screening mammography benefit of Medicare. Medicare pays for most of the cost of screening mammography, but people without supplemental insurance have to pay copayments, deductibles, or balance bills. Balance bills are issued by health care providers who charge above the Medicare amount. Less than 15% of women without supplemental insurance had mammography, compared to 44.7% of women with employer- supplemented insurance, 40.1% with self-purchased supplemental insurance, and 23.9% with Medicaid supplemental insurance.

Usage, Economic aspects, Services, Insurance, Aged women, Mammography, Elderly women, Medicare, Medigap

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