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Background: Screening and monitoring for chronic kidney disease (CKD) could lead to earlier interventions that improve clinical outcomes. Purpose: To summarize evidence about the benefits and harms of screening for and monitoring and treatment of CKD stages 1 to 3 in adults. Data Sources: MEDLINE (1985 through November 2011), reference lists, and expert suggestions. Study Selection: English-language, randomized, controlled trials that evaluated screening for or monitoring or treatment of CKD and that reported clinical outcomes. Data Extraction: Two reviewers assessed study characteristics and rated quality and strength of evidence. Data Synthesis: No trials evaluated screening or monitoring, and 110 evaluated treatments. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (relative risk, 0.65 [95% CI, 0.49 to 0.88]) and angiotensin II-receptor blockers (relative risk, 0.77 [CI, 0.66 to 0.90]) reduced end-stage renal disease versus placebo, primarily in patients with diabetes who have macroalbuminuria. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors reduced mortality versus placebo (relative risk, 0.79 [CI, 0.66 to 0.96]) in patients with microalbuminuria and cardiovascular disease or high-risk diabetes. Statins and [beta]-blockers reduced mortality and cardiovascular events versus placebo or control in patients with impaired estimated glomerular filtration rate and either hyperlipidemia or congestive heart failure, respectively. Risks for mortality, end-stage renal disease, or other clinical outcomes did not significantly differ between strict and usual blood pressure control. The strength of evidence was rated high for angiotensin II-receptor blockers and statins, moderate for angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and [beta]-blockers, and low for strict blood pressure control. Limitations: Evidence about outcomes was sometimes scant and derived from post hoc analyses of subgroups of patients enrolled in trials. Few trials reported or systematically collected information about adverse events. Selective reporting and publication bias were possible. Conclusion: The role of CKD screening or monitoring in improving clinical outcomes is uncertain. Evidence for CKD treatment benefit is strongest for angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II-receptor blockers, and in patients with albuminuria combined with diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Primary Funding Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common male sexual disorder. The relative benefits and harms of pharmacologic therapies for ED, as well as the value of hormonal testing in men with ED, are uncertain. PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and harms of oral phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors and hormonal treatments for ED and assess the effect of measuring serum hormone levels on treatment outcomes for ED. DATA SOURCES: English-language studies from MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, AMED, and SCOPUS through April 2009. Trial reference lists also were scanned. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) of oral PDE-5 inhibitors and hormonal treatment for ED, and observational studies reporting measurement of serum hormone levels, prevalence of hormonal abnormalities, or both in men with ED. DATA EXTRACTION: Two independent reviewers abstracted data on study, participant, and treatment characteristics; efficacy and harms outcomes; and prevalence of hormonal abnormalities. DATA SYNTHESIS: Data, primarily from short-term trials (

OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy and safety of treatments for nursing home residents with urinary incontinence (UI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A systematic review was conducted of randomized controlled trials published from January 1985 through May 2008. Data sources were MEDLINE and Cochrane Library databases, proceedings of the 3rd International Consultation on Incontinence, and reference lists of retrieved clinical trials and review articles. Trials were eligible if they consisted of nursing home or long-term institutionalized residents with UI. Eligible trials compared interventions for improving UI with controls, including comparisons of UI outcomes and/or adverse events between randomized groups. RESULTS: Fourteen unique clinical trials, consisting of 1161 patients, met inclusion criteria. Treatments included antimuscarinic medications, oral estrogen plus progesterone, and behavioral interventions (eg, prompted voiding). Compared with usual care, prompted voiding alone or prompted voiding plus exercise reduced daytime incontinence and increased appropriate toileting. Efficacy outcomes indicated that neither prompted voiding plus exercise nor prompted voiding plus oral estrogen and progesterone was superior to prompted voiding alone for incontinence management. Prompted voiding plus oxybutynin slightly reduced incontinence compared with prompted voiding plus placebo. CONCLUSION: In nursing home residents with UI, prompted voiding alone and prompted voiding with exercise were associated with modest short-term improvement in daytime UI. Results do not clearly support an independent effect of exercise in improving UI. Oxybutynin may provide small additional benefit when used with prompted voiding. There appears to be no role for oral estrogen in UI treatment. Long-term clinical trials of prompted voiding alone, prompted voiding with exercise, and antimuscarinic medications should be conducted with targeted nursing home residents who have UI. These trials should include measures of UI, patient quality of life, and cost outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A standard phenotype of frailty was associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes including mortality in a recent study of older adults. However, the predictive validity of this phenotype for fracture outcomes and across risk subgroups is uncertain.Methods: To determine whether a standard frailty phenotype was independently associated with risk of adverse health outcomes in older women and to evaluate the consistency of associations across risk subgroups defined by age and body mass index (BMI), we ascertained frailty status in a cohort of 6724 women>or=69 years and followed them prospectively for incident falls, fractures, and mortality. Frailty was defined by the presence of three or more of the following criteria: unintentional weight loss, weakness, self-reported poor energy, slow walking speed, and low physical activity. Incident recurrent falls were defined as at least two falls during the subsequent year. Incident fractures (confirmed with x-ray reports), including hip fractures, and deaths were ascertained during an average of 9 years of follow-up.Results: After controlling for multiple confounders such as age, health status, medical conditions, functional status, depressive symptoms, cognitive function, and bone mineral density, frail women were subsequently at increased risk of recurrent falls (multivariate odds ratio=1.38, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.88), hip fracture (multivariate hazards ratio [MHR]=1.40, 95% CI, 1.03-1.90), any nonspine fracture (MHR=1.25, 95% CI, 1.05-1.49), and death (MHR=1.82, 95% CI, 1.56-2.13). The associations between frailty and these outcomes persisted among women>or=80 years. In addition, associations between frailty and an increased risk of falls, fracture, and mortality were consistently observed across categories of BMI, including BMI>or=30 kg/m2.Conclusion: Frailty is an independent predictor of adverse health outcomes in older women, including very elderly women and older obese women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The association between objectively measured sleep and cognition among community-dwelling elderly persons remains understudied. This observational, cross-sectional analysis examined this association.Methods: Results are from 2932 women (mean age 83.5 years) in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures between 2002 and 2004. Cognitive function was measured by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Trail Making B Test (Trails B). Cognitive impairment was defined as MMSE < 26 or Trails B > 278 seconds. Sleep parameters measured objectively using actigraphy included total sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, wake after sleep onset (WASO), and total nap time.Results: There were 305 women (10.6%) with MMSE < 26 and 257 women (9.3%) with Trails B > 278 seconds. Compared with women with sleep efficiency > or = 70%, those with <70% had a higher risk of cognitive impairment (MMSE < 26 multivariate odds ratio [MOR] = 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20-2.16; Trails B > 278 MOR = 1.96; 95% CI, 1.43-2.67). Higher sleep latency was associated with higher risk of cognitive impairment (per half hour: MMSE < 26 MOR = 1.23; 95% CI, 1.13-1.33; Trails B > 278 MOR = 1.13; 95% CI, 1.04-1.24), as was higher WASO (per half hour: MMSE < 26 MOR = 1.15; 95% CI, 1.06-1.23; Trails B > 278 MOR = 1.24; 95% CI, 1.15-1.34). Women who napped > or = 2 hours per day had a higher risk (MMSE < 26 MOR = 1.42; 95% CI, 1.05-1.93; Trails B > 278 MOR = 1.74; 95% CI, 1.26-2.40). There was no significant relationship for total sleep time.Conclusion: Objectively measured disturbed sleep was consistently related to poorer cognition, whereas total sleep time was not. This finding may suggest that it is disturbance of sleep rather than quantity that affects cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]