Harvard Health Content API

Some hospitals are trying to prevent a common problem among older patients — they are frailer after a hospital stay than they were before. The Associated Press (AP) wrote about this March 9. Experts told AP that hospital care has focused only on illness or surgery. Less attention has been given to preventing weakness that can occur from being away from regular activities. Staying in bed can increase the risk of infection and slow recovery. It also can lead to rapid loss of muscle strength. AP profiled two hospitals that try to preserve older patients’ strength. At Northwest Community Hospital, in a Chicago suburb, older patients are encouraged to walk every day. Volunteers walk with them. Highlands Hospital, in Birmingham, Ala., uses volunteers at mealtimes. They remove plastic wrap that may not yield to arthritic hands.

Mixing bone marrow from transplant patients and organ donors may help some patients to stop taking anti-rejection drugs. That’s the conclusion of a small study published March 7. Most people with transplants take drugs to prevent their immune system from attacking the new organ. The study included eight people who were getting kidney transplants. Researchers first treated them with drugs to draw out stem cells from their bone marrow. These cells produce all of the cells in blood, including immune cells. Other drugs or radiation were used to reduce but not destroy the patients’ bone marrow. Two weeks later, they received their kidney transplants. They also received a mixture of their own bone marrow, stem cells and bone marrow from the kidney donor. Cells had been added and subtracted to make it more transplant-friendly.

Continuing to take the drug donepezil (Aricept) can help even people with more advanced Alzheimer’s disease, new research finds. The study included 295 people with moderate or severe Alzheimer’s. All of them had been taking donepezil for at least 3 months. They were randomly divided into 4 groups. One group kept taking donepezil. One switched to memantine. The other groups received either both drugs or placebo (fake pills) only. After a year, tests showed less decline in people who kept taking donepezil. The tests measured mental function and ability to do everyday tasks. The difference was equal to 3 to 4 months of decline compared with those who took the placebo, the lead author told HealthDay News. Memantine also showed a benefit, but not as much as donepezil. The study did not find any greater benefit from adding combining both drugs. But other research has disagreed.

About 92% of U.S. cases of a dangerous intestinal infection are related somehow to health care, a government study finds. About 3 out of 4 people began to show symptoms outside of hospitals. But most had recently been in a nursing home, hospital or doctor’s office. The study focused on Clostridium difficile (C. diff). The infection often occurs in people who recently took antibiotics for another reason. These drugs also kill “good” bacteria, allowing C. diff to grow and release toxins. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did the study. They used laboratory data on stool tests in 8 regions. Only 1 out of 4 patients was in a hospital when symptoms began. Another 1 out of 4 had been in a nursing home. But about 2 out of 3 nursing home cases had been in the hospital recently. Some hospital cases also had been in nursing homes recently.

Doctors should honestly discuss the downsides as well as the benefits of treatments for severe heart disease, a new report says. The new American Heart Association statement calls for shared decision making with patients. The advice focuses on people with advanced heart failure. Their hearts don’t pump blood efficiently. Many patients may face decisions about procedures that might extend life. These could include a pacemaker, automated defibrillator or pump to help the heart beat properly. Some people may get procedures to open clogged arteries or replace a failing valve. But these treatments don’t cure heart failure. Some people may live longer while symptoms continue or get worse. People who also have other conditions, such as failing kidneys, might not even live longer.