Objective To evaluate postoperative quality of life （QOL） of patients aged over 65 after mitral valvereplacement （MVR）. Methods Ninety patients aged over 65 undergoing MVR by the same surgical group in Departmentof Cardiovascular Surgery of Anzhen Hospital were prospectively enrolled in this study. There were 62 male and 28 femalepatients with their age of 65-76 （68.6±6.8） years. There were 55 patients with hypertension，38 patients with type 2 diabetes，and all the patients had persistent atrial fibrillation. Nottingham Healthy Profile （NHP，Part I） and Duke Activity StatuIndex （DASI） were used to evaluate preoperative and postoperative QOL. According to the choice of prosthetic heart valves they received，all the patients were divided into two groups with 45 patients in each group: biological valve group and mechanical valve group. All the patients received MVR via the interatrial groove approach under general anesthesia and cardiopulmonary bypass. Mechanical valve replacement was performed using continuous suture without preserving the posterior leaflet of the mitral valve. Biological valve replacement was performed using interrupted suture and some of the posteriorleaflet of the mitral valve was routinely preserved. Patients in both groups underwent intraoperative bilateral pulmonary vein isolation and left atrial appendage ablation using a bipolar radiofrequency ablation device. The left atrial appendage was not excised or ligated. Results Postoperative QOL of all the patients was significantly better than preoperative QOL. There was no statistical difference in NHP and DASI at the 6th month after discharge between the 2 groups. But from the 1st year after discharge，QOL of the biological valve group was significantly better than that of the mechanical valve group. At the 3rd year after discharge，NHP and DASI of the mechanical valve group was not statistically different from those at the 1st year after discharge，but NHP and DASI of the biological valve group was significantly better than those at the 1st year after discharge. Conclusions QOL of elderly patients are significantly improved after MVR. Patients who receive biologicalvalve replacement may acquire better long-term QOL than patients who receive mechanical valve replacement.
Objective To evaluate the cardiovascular risk for non-cardiac thoracic surgery （NCTS） in elderly patients with dobutamine stress echocardiography and to decrease surgical risk for NCTS in the geriatrics. Methods Dobutamine stress echocardiography was used for cardiovascular evaluation in 32 NCTS candidates aged over 65 years. Patients with positive echocardiography underwent coronary angiography. Postoperative course and all complications were carefully recorded for the study. Results No serious cardiovascular events occurred during the test except for atrial or ventricular premature contracts in 5 cases. In 2 patients （6.7%,2/30） dobutamine test was positive and coronary artery occlusion was proved by further angiography. Thoracotomy was performed in 28 cases, including 2 cases with dubious result at dobutamine test. Cardiopulmonary complications occurred in 13 patients （46.4%,13/28） after surgery. Supraventricular tachyarrhythmia was the most common complication, occurred in 8 patients （28.6%,8/28）. One of the 2 patients with dubious result at dobutamine test developed definitive angina in the 5th postoperative day. The negative predictive value of dobutamine test was 100%. Conclusion Dobutamine stress echocardiography is a safe and effective method to evaluate major cardiovascular risk of NCTS in the geriatrics. But it is not predictive of tachyarrhythmia after surgery.
The aging of the population has generated significant challenges and unprecedented opportunities for the development of geriatrics in China. The core idea of its overall concept, treatment according to syndrome differentiation and the characteristics of " preventive treatment of disease” have unique advantages, which are required to be explored and studied. This paper reviewed the development history of modern geriatrics in the west and China, analyzed and summarized the research hotspots in the field of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine for geriatrics in the past five years. It then described the current development status and advantages of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine in the treatment of common clinical geriatric diseases. Finally, it summarized and visioned the development of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine for geriatrics.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the purchase willingness rate and influencing factors of long-term care insurance in Chinese population.MethodsCNKI, VIP, WanFang Data, EMbase and PubMed databases were electronically searched to collect cross-sectional studies on the purchase willingness rate of long-term care insurance in China from inception to March 2021. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed using Stata 16.0 software.ResultsA total of 66 cross-sectional studies involving 151 231 subjects were included. The results of the meta-analysis showed that the purchase willingness rate of long-term care insurance in China was 52.4% (95%CI 48.1% to 56.8%). Subgroup analysis showed that: among the sample characteristic factors, residents who were from the central region of China (56.4%), being studied after 2016 (53.3%), and residing in pilot regions (53.1%) had a higher willingness rate to purchase long-term care insurance. Among demographic factors, the research considered factors of residence and family size (56.2%) contributed to a higher willingness to purchase long-term care insurance, and residents with monthly income from 1 000 yuan to 5 000 yuan (55.4%) and who were unmarried (55.3%) had a higher willingness to purchase long-term care insurance. Among health and concept factors, the research considered factors of insurance and government trust (57.3%), factor of number of chronic diseases (55.0%), and factor of health risk cognition (52.4%) contributed to a higher willingness to purchase long-term care insurance. Among the factors of long-term care insurance system, factor of the government subsidy (60.6%), factor of long-term care insurance price (58.0%) and factor of payment methods (56.2%) contributed a higher willingness to purchase long-term care insurance.ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that over half of residents are willing to purchase long-term care insurance. However, different factors still affect their purchase willingness. The influencing factors reflect numerous difficulties in the current long-term care insurance system, which requires attention and continuous improvement of policy formulators and related researchers.