The global population of older adults has grown at an unprecedented rate, and projections indicate that the number of older adults will continue to increase considerably in the coming decades. The clinical complexity of older adults living in retirement homes, also known as assisted living settings, is also increasing, and the regulations to ensure quality and safety standards in retirement homes are highly variable. The purpose of this scoping review is to map and summarise the methods used to monitor and measure the safety of older adults living in retirement homes, providing an overview of existing approaches and areas requiring further investigation.
This scoping review will follow the five stages of the Arksey and O’Malley scoping review process. We will report this review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. A comprehensive search of four electronic databases (MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO) and Web of Science Core Collection) will be performed, and reference lists of included articles will be searched. We will conduct a two-step screening process, data extraction and analysis of the included studies. We will include all primary study designs that report on safety measurement and monitoring of any type of harms. Relevant grey literature will also be identified. We will exclude studies that only report results from facilities providing 24-hour skilled nursing care or specialised care services, and those not published in English or French. This protocol is registered on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/8rheq).
No ethical approval is needed for the review, and we plan to present the results at research conferences and in a peer-reviewed article. Our findings may inform future research studies that seek to support and improve safety practices in retirement homes.
A large bowel cancer chemoprevention potential has been demonstrated by the consumption of carrots, which represent the major dietary source of polyacetylenes. Their interaction with cancer cells and enzyme systems of animals and humans has been systematically investigated over the last 15 years and has now been characterised as anti-inflammatory compounds with antineoplastic effect. Our objective is to investigate whether selected carrot species with a high content of the polyacetylenes falcarinol (FaOH) and falcarindiol (FaDOH) prevent neoplastic transformation and growth in humans, without side effects.
We will conduct a multicentre prospective binational (Denmark and Sweden) randomised controlled trial, with the aim to test the clinical effects of adjuvant treatment with carrot juice in patients who had an excision of high-risk colon adenomas. Patients from six centres will be randomised to receive either anti-inflammatory juice made of carrots high in FaOH and FaDOH or placebo. We will compare the proportion of participants with recurrent adenoma and mean size of them, found in the 1-year follow-up colonoscopy between the two randomised groups.
Informed written consent will be obtained from all participants before randomisation. The study was approved by the regional ethics committee in Denmark (ref. S-20230072) and Sweden (ref. 2024-04732-01). After completion of the trial, we plan to publish two articles in high-impact journals: one article on primary and secondary outcomes, respectively.
Lynch syndrome (LS) carriers have a 20–46% lifetime risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) due to mismatch repair gene variants. Mesalamine (5-ASA, 5-aminosalicylic acid), used safely in patients with ulcerative colitis, may reduce CRC risk in LS by decreasing microsatellite instability, a key driver of LS-related cancer. This study evaluates 5-ASA’s efficacy as a tolerable chemopreventive drug, aiming to improve long-term CRC prevention in LS.
This multicentre, multinational, randomised, double-blind, two-arm, phase II clinical study will compare the effects of a 2-year daily intake of 5-ASA (2000 mg) to placebo in LS carriers. The primary objective is to assess whether mesalamine reduces colorectal neoplasia, both benign and malignant, compared with placebo in LS carriers, as detected by colonoscopy at the end of the treatment period (24 months±1 month) and on study completion. Secondary objectives include evaluating whether 5-ASA reduces neoplasia/tumour multiplicity and progression compared with placebo at specified time points, examining variations in the effects of 5-ASA versus placebo based on cancer history, sex and age (
The trial is currently open for enrolment, having received ethical approval from the Regional Ethical Review Board in Stockholm and funding from the Swedish Research Council. The study protocol is the finalised V.10.0 (11 April 2024), transitioned to the European Clinical Trials Information System. LS remains underdiagnosed, which may limit recruitment. The results are of global interest and will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific conferences.
ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04920149. EudraCT: 2019-003011-55. EU CT: 2024-514765-19-01.