Depressive symptoms during a medical hospitalization may be an overlooked prognostic
factor for adverse events postdischarge. Our aim was to evaluate whether depressive …

Background The use of the interactive communication loop has been recommended as an
effective method to enhance patient understanding and recall of information. Objective The …

Background Early readmissions to hospital after discharge are common, and clinicians cannot
accurately predict their occurrence. We examined whether patients who feel unready at …

BACKGROUND: Frailty is a state of vulnerability to diverse stressors. We assessed the
impact of frailty on outcomes after discharge in older surgical patients. METHODS: We …

Surgeons are increasingly treating seniors with complex care needs who are at high-risk of
readmission and functional decline. Yet, the prognostic importance of post-operative …

Background As populations age, more elderly patients will undergo surgery. Frailty and
complications are considered to increase in-hospital cost in older adults, but little is known on …

Objective Although death or readmission shortly after hospital discharge is frequent,
identifying inpatients at higher risk is difficult. We evaluated whether in-hospital depressive …

This thesis consists of 2 closely linked projects that evaluate the importance of depressive
symptoms (hereafter, for brevity, referred to as “depression”) for short-term prognosis after …

Methods A prospective cohort of patients older than 64, who underwent acute abdominal
surgery at 2 teaching hospitals in Canada, were enrolled. Patients completed a validated …

Background: Readmissions after hospital discharge are common and costly, but prediction
models are poor at identifying patients at high risk of readmission. We evaluated the impact of …