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Background: Suicide is a major cause of death worldwide. While studies have been conducted on the predictors of suicide behaviors, these have not covered how lethality and the various predictors differ by age. We explored these age differences in the present study. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of suicidal patients in the emergency department (ED) of a university hospital in Seoul, South Korea, between September 2017 and August 2018.We extracted participants' data fromthe National Emergency Department Information System of Korea and their individual electronic medical records (EMRs), including demographic information (e.g., age, gender), details of their ED visit (e.g., suicide method), and medical history (e.g., physical illness, alcohol co-ingestion).We also used EMR data to complete the Risk-Rescue Rating Scale (RRRS). Results: Of the 499 patients referred to the ED for suicide attempts, 427 were analyzed. We found that while younger participants were more likely to have repeated attempts, older participants' attempts were more likely to be fatal (e.g., higher RRRS risk scores and lower accessibility-to-rescue scores). After adjusting for demographics, older participants showed significantly higher scores on RRRS risk, impaired consciousness, and treatment required than younger participants. Conclusion: Our findings clarified the characteristics of high-risk suicide attempters based onage, which could influence suicide-prevention policies (e.g., younger people tend to repeat suicide attempts, and thus may require continued surveillance). However, as older adults showed higher lethality and were more difficult to save, they may require suicide prevention coupled with social support interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this study, we developed the Screening Test for At-risk Drinking in the Elderly (STAD-E), a newabbreviated version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) intended for use in the elderly populations. This test comprises three questions that reflect the structure of the AUDIT 10 questionnaire and the characteristics of the Korean population and was developed using nationally representative data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Methods:We performed exploratory factor analysis for each question from the AUDIT questionnaire that was responded by elderly (≥ 65 years) participants of KNHANES IV-V to derive our abbreviated test based on the structure of each AUDIT item. For validation, we analyzed the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of the new abbreviated test using KNHANES VI datasets (excepting KNHANES VI-2). Results:We selected question (Q) 1, Q3, and Q7 on the three-factor structure for the elderly population. The cut-off values of STAD-E were 4 for elderly males and 3 for elderly females. During the validation test, STAD-E yielded significantly greater AUROC values than AUDIT-QF and similar values to AUDIT-C. Conclusions: Unlike previous abbreviated tests, STAD-E reflects the item structure of AUDIT and the alcohol consumption patterns in an elderly population. Therefore, it can be used as a simple and reliable screening test for at-risk drinking in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral hygiene care (OHC) is associated with in-hospital infection. Among the many materials used for OHC, gauze is one of the most common. However, many patients receiving OHC are in a poor state of consciousness and thus at high risk of foreign-body aspiration or ingestion. Here we present three cases of unusual foreign-body obstruction that developed in cognitively impaired patients. These cases highlight the need for increased clinical awareness regarding vulnerable patients at risk of complications related to a foreign body in the gastrointestinal tract or the airway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]